A Night at the Opera: EPQ

Last year I completed my EPQ (extended project qualification- choosing your own subject then writing a 5000 word essay and doing a 20 minute presentation on it). I've attached the whole essay and the powerpoint presentation if anyone is interested in reading it! My advisor said that he was very pleased that I'd done a completely different subject and one that I liked, as opposed to the other students who did economics.

A quick heads up- the title is: 'A Night at the Opera’ is considered by many to be the finest album ever produced by Queen. By reference to their previous albums and those produced afterwards, to what extent do you consider this statement to be true?'.

Try and guess my grade! (between an A and an E)

...And here is the powerpoint. I presented it note-free and used the presentation to guide me

I can't really see the point in this, to be honest. Taking quotes from various sources doesn't really give us your thoughts on the songs. Also taking a quote from the ludicrous man that is Rick Sky, I find unforgivable. You have only mentioned three songs on the album, the rest was taken up with songs from Sheer Heart Attack and The Game.
I am 48, it is my birthday today, so I was around at the time the album was released and remember it very clearly. Queen were not liked at all by the British music press, in fact they were loathed by them, that is why Freddie stopped giving interviews. But when Bohemian Rhapsody was released a new trend was set amongst British music fans and that was to make sure you was in Thursday night at 7.30PM, when Top Of The Pops was on, as this was the only time you could watch 'that' video, which everyone was talking about.
In my last paragraph, I have told more about the album than you did in your 5000 words. I could say many more, too. But won't.
My favourite album by Queen is the follow up album, A Day At The Races, so your question, was Opera their best album? No, to me it was their 6th best album.
As for your grade? Who cares? But if I would have marked it, you wouldn't have posted it on here. Self praise is no praise at all.

absolutely nothing positive to say? ahh you've just ruined my day....thanks, you massive cunt

He's right though. There absolutely no substance to this presentation. There's nothing for us to read. However, if I point out that the pics have nice colours will you refrain from calling me a cunt? lol

Personally, I hate it when anyone refers to a band as a group - a group (to me) is something like The Spice Girls, Boyzone etc, or a collection of people 'grouped' together. Whereas guys who actually play their own instruments should be referred to as a band.

I equally hate the reverse, when groups like Take That are called bands - they're not!!

horse feather's comments weren't very positive, but they were pretty constructive. Are you going to sit there and dismiss him and call him nasty names or are you going to take his thoughts into consideration and respond thoughtfully? Hint: one response is more mature and helpful to everyone involved than the other. I don't know what your teacher said, but keep in mind that the people here love Queen, many of us having grown up with them, and our opinions are just as valid (if not more so) as your teacher's, who I'll venture a guess as to say isn't as big of a fan.

I understand you probably spent a lot of time on this. However, I enjoy writing creatively, and often show my stuff that I've worked really hard on to my peers to see what they think. Sometimes they're a bit harsh, but almost always constructive, so I shake off any offense I take and instead focus my efforts on making my work even better. In fact, I've recently been showing people a rough draft of a short story version of '39, and although I've gotten plenty of criticsm, it's looking pretty good.

Always strive to make your work better.

my language was inappropriate- i'm sorry and will take into consideration what you've said, thanks.

So you agree your language was inappropriate, jpgthfc? But you still stand by your response to me, it's just your foul mouth you are embarrassed about, is it?

You asked for our opinions, not sycophantic praise, you have 4 replies now, none of them are that kind to you, are they?

You posted something that you basically stole and wanted people to tell you it was the finest literature they had read since, Shakespear, didn't you? If you only wanted 'positives', you should have said that, then no one would have replied to you. The reason you had a go at me, was therefore, because I said I couldn't see the point in it. You will learn more from constructive criticism than you will ever learn from people praising you. I get the impression you are a spoilt little boy.
The object of your post was to convince people that Opera was Queen's finest album. In that case you should have put it up against the rest of Queen's albums and gave us reasons as to why it was. Surely song for song it can't win? Wouldn't Somebody to Love, have fitted nicely on it, for example? You mentioned the use of guitars,drums, bass and piano on the album but no mention of Freddie's and Roger's vocal brass and woodwind sections, were they the 'other' instruments you referred to? Or were you not aware they did that, the sleeve notes would have told you that? Or is your version just an electronic version, downloaded from somewhere? Surely 'Death on two legs', deserves a bit of a mention...? There's a thousand words surely, there, with that song? I could go on and on, but my typing finger is too tired now.
BTW, my name 'Horse Feathers', is the title Freddie gave to the press the album they was recording at the time, which was A Day at the Races? Any ideas why that was? Oh, go on, you must know, you being such a knowledgeable Queen fan?

I'm going to take into account what you said and build on this for the future....

and for the record, what's wrong with rick sky?

Still no apology, to me then? Don't you know who he is? Why quote a quote from him, then?
I take it you are from London, with the 'THFC', thing? He is a summy little journalist who knew nothing about music, but plenty about scandal. Google him, he's a creepy looking guy too, in the 80's, he looked like Bob Dylan's grandfather. He worked for all the red tops, an attrocious little man. I wonder where he is now?

what does it mean to you if I'm from london or not...

Then you will know which newspapers I have been talking about.
You need to let go of your anger and issues.

I tried therapy but they re-directed me here :(

Ridiculous thread, as far as the personal insults are concerned.

We do not know what the professor was looking for in this assignment and therefore must consider that the author was going by those guidelines. I appreciate the effort taken by the author but, from a scholarly standpoint, must offer one suggestion that unless the views and attitudes are solely of the author, then it is only proper to cite your sources.

I agree that it would have been interesting to also hear of your views on the subject instead of simply quoting sources. The Internet makes it too easy to throw a research paper together by simply copying and pasting. You need to cite your sources - otherwise it's plagiarism. Plain and simple.

This, nor are any comments offered in this thread towards your project, are intended to be insulting towards your personal character but we are simply looking to offer suggestions in which and by which you may improve upon your work.

In the end, I enjoyed the read and would assume your professor equally enjoyed the project as well. I think it provides some information to the casual or even new fan to the band while not being too involved.

For what it's worth.