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As Queen were a significant contributor to EMI's export sales (and as a play-on-words with the "Queen's Award"), it was decided to manufacture a special limited edition of the "Bohemian Rhapsody" single to mark the occasion. The single was pressed in a translucent royal blue vinyl, with a special purple and gold sleeve. A limited run of 200 was pressed, and each record and sleeve was numbered by hand (on the a-side label and the back of the sleeve)
This special single was distributed to the EMI bosses, captains of industry and journalists who were present at the dinner. In fact, a large variety of commemorative freebies were distributed to the assembled throng, including:
A special "EMI Records International Division" outer-envelope was also manufactured. Roughly A4 in size and shaped to resemble a carrier bag, there is some uncertainty what this was for. One EMI insider claimed that a regular black vinyl "Bohemian Rhapsody" was put inside it and it was given to music journalists not attending the dinner. However, the combination mentioned has never been seen, which makes it seem unlikely. The outer-envelopes that have been seen have contained proper sleeved blue vinyls, which makes it seem likely it was simply another freebie given away at the dinner. Whatever it was, there seem to have been very few of them made.
All the freebies seem to be much rarer than the blue vinyl records themselves. However, this is probably because they have become separated over the years. None of them mention Queen in any way, so someone selling their blue vinyl in the 1980s may not have thought the buyer would have been interested in a seemingly unrelated item. It is only in recent years that the full set of items has become desirable.
Over the years, the "blue vinyl" has become the top-of-the-league item in any list of Queen collectables. The full monty (comprising numbered vinyl, sleeve, outer envelope, glass, scarf, matches, pen, invitation, ticket and menu) would be worth a King's ransom. Even an unnumbered vinyl with no sleeve would be a worthwhile addition to anyone's collection.
Issue 167 of Record Collector had a special feature on the blue vinyl, with someone from EMI describing how carefully the records were manufactured and how absolutely no excess copies were manufactured. The latter claim was proved untrue, though, as many fans reported how they wrote to EMI in late 1978 asking for copies of the single and received unnumbered sleeveless copies in return. There was also a competition in the Spring 1979 fan club magazine where two copies (believed to be unnumbered) were given away as prizes. The former claim may also be slightly untrue, as there is at least one case of a record numbered on the b-side and at least one case of a record which was misnumbered and corrected.
| Date | Variation | Value |
|---|---|---|
| up to 1984 | numbered with sleeve | approx £50 |
| early 1987 | numbered with sleeve | approx £100 |
| February 1988 (RC102) | numbered with sleeve | £210 |
| October 1988 (RC110) | numbered with sleeve | £210 |
| 1990 | numbered with sleeve | approx £400 |
| 1992 | numbered with sleeve | approx £750 |
| July 1993 (RC167) | unnumbered without sleeve numbered with sleeve numbered with sleeve and envelope the full monty | £300 £1000 £1200 £1500 |
| January 1996 (RCRRPG) | numbered with sleeve numbered with sleeve and envelope the full monty | £1200 £1500 £2500 |
| January 1998 (RC221) | unnumbered without sleeve numbered with sleeve numbered with sleeve and envelope the full monty | £500 £2000 £2500 £3500 |