Under Pressure


"Under Pressure" is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. Released as a single in October 1981, it was later included on Queen's tenth studio album Hot Space. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Queen's second number-one hit in their home country and Bowie's third; it also charted in the top 10 in more than 10 other countries.
The song has been described as a "monster rock track that stood out" on the Hot Space album. "Under Pressure" was listed at number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s, and voted the second-best collaboration of all time in a poll by Rolling Stone. In 2021, it was ranked number 429 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was played live at every Queen concert from 1981 until the end of the band's touring career in 1986. Live recordings appear on Queen live albums, including Queen Rock Montreal and Live at Wembley '86.
The song was included on some editions of Queen's first Greatest Hits compilations, such as the original 1981 Elektra release in North America. It appears on the band's compilation albums Greatest Hits II, Classic Queen, and Absolute Greatest, and on Bowie compilations such as Best of Bowie, The Platinum Collection, "The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987", Nothing Has Changed, Legacy, and Re:Call 3.
"Under Pressure" was sampled by American rapper Vanilla Ice for his 1990 single "Ice Ice Baby". Vanilla Ice initially did not credit Bowie or Queen, who sued and gained a songwriting credit on Ice's song. "Under Pressure" has been recorded by American rock bands My Chemical Romance and the Used, and singer Shawn Mendes, whose version featured singer Teddy Geiger. Xiu Xiu covered the song, with Swans frontman Michael Gira, for Xiu Xiu's 2008 album Women as Lovers.

Background and composition

"Under Pressure" was recorded at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, in September 1981. Queen, working on their 1982 album Hot Space, had been working on a song called "Feel Like", but were not satisfied with the result. Although it was said that the collaboration started from Queen running into David Bowie at Mountain while recording "Cat People ", the story told in interviews was that Bowie happened to be around in Montreux and lived nearby to the studio, so Queen invited Bowie down to the studio and it took off from there. The track was recorded during one marathon evening session at Mountain, with vocals and mixing completed at the Power Station in New York a couple of weeks later.
Bowie sang backing vocals for Queen's song "Cool Cat", but his vocals were removed from the final song because he was not satisfied with his performance. Afterwards, they worked together for a while and wrote "Under Pressure". It was credited as being co-written by the five musicians. The scat singing that dominates much of the song is evidence of the jam-beginnings as improvisation. However, according to Queen bassist John Deacon, the song's primary musical songwriter was Freddie Mercury – though all contributed to the arrangement. As Brian May recalled to Mojo magazine in October 2008, "It was hard, because you had four very precocious boys and David, who was precocious enough for all of us. David took over the song lyrically. Looking back, it's a great song, but it should have been mixed differently. Freddie and David had a fierce battle over that. It's a significant song because of David and its lyrical content." The earlier, embryonic version of the song without Bowie, "Feel Like", is widely available in bootleg form, and was written by Queen drummer Roger Taylor.
Also, some confusion has arisen about who had created the song's bassline. John Deacon said that David Bowie created it. In more recent interviews, Brian May and Roger Taylor credited the bass riff to Deacon. Bowie, on his website, said the bassline was already written before he became involved. Roger Taylor, in an interview for the BBC documentary Queen: The Days of Our Lives, stated that Deacon did indeed create the bassline, and that all through the sessions in the studio, he had been playing the riff over and over again. He also claims that when the band returned from dinner, Deacon misremembered the riff, but Taylor was still able to remember it. According to Brian May in a 2016 article for Mirror Online, it was actually Bowie, not Taylor, who had inadvertently changed the riff. The riff began as "Deacy began playing, 6 notes the same, then one note a fourth down". After the dinner break, Bowie changed Deacon's memory of the riff to "Ding-Ding-Ding Diddle Ing-Ding".

Reception

"Under Pressure" has received critical acclaim since its release, with multiple publications ranking it among Queen and Bowie's best songs and among the greatest songs of all time. On release, Sandy Robertson of Sounds called "Under Pressure" the "cornerstone" of its parent album. Record World said that "Bowie and Freddie Mercury combine for a spellbinding musical experience." Reviewing Hot Space decades later, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called "Under Pressure" as the album's "undeniable saving grace" and "the only reason most listeners remember this album". He described the song as "an utterly majestic, otherworldly duet... that recaptures the effortless grace of Queen's mid-'70s peak, but is underscored with a truly affecting melancholy heart that gives it a genuine human warmth unheard in much of their music." Similarly, Ned Raggett of AllMusic described the song as "anthemic, showy, and warm-hearted, a clear standout for both acts".
Following Bowie's death in 2016, Jack Hamilton of Slate called "Under Pressure" a "masterpiece" and is a reminder to the public that Bowie could be "wonderfully, powerfully human."
The September 2005 edition of online music magazine Stylus singled out the bassline as the best in popular music history. In November 2004, Stylus Magazine music critic Anthony Miccio commented that "Under Pressure" "is the best song of all time" and described it as Queen's "opus". In 2012, Slant Magazine listed "Under Pressure" as the 21st best single of the 1980s. It was listed at number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s and voted the second best collaboration of all time in a poll by Rolling Stone magazine. It is ranked number 429 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Music video

The music video for the song features neither Queen nor David Bowie due to touring commitments. Taking the theme of pressure, director David Mallet edited together stock footage of traffic jams, commuter trains packed with passengers, explosions, riots, cars being crushed, and various pieces of footage from silent films of the 1920s, most notably Sergei Eisenstein's influential Soviet film Battleship Potemkin, The Eagle, My Lady of Whims, the silent Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring John Barrymore, and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, a masterpiece of the German Expressionist movement. The video explores the pressure-cooker mentality of a culture willing to wage war against political machines, and at the same time love and have fun. Top of the Pops refused to show the video in its original form due to it containing footage of explosions in Northern Ireland, so an edited version was instead shown. In 2003, Slant Magazine ranked "Under Pressure" number 27 among the 100 greatest music videos of all time.

"Ice Ice Baby" sampling controversy

After Vanilla Ice sampled the song's intro bassline and piano chords for his 1990 single "Ice Ice Baby", he did not initially give songwriting credit or pay royalties to Queen and Bowie. When asked to do so, he denied having sampled the song, then he acknowledged the sample but said he had modified it. Bowie and Queen sued and received songwriting credit. Vanilla Ice later claimed that he had purchased the publishing rights to "Under Pressure", saying that buying the song made more financial sense than paying out royalties, but a Queen spokesman said Vanilla Ice's statement was untrue.

Track listing

7": EMI / EMI 5250 (UK)

Side one
  1. "Under Pressure" – 4:08
Side two
  1. "Soul Brother" – 3:38

    7": Elektra / E-47235 (US)

Side one
  1. "Under Pressure" – 4:08
Side two
  1. "Soul Brother" – 3:38

    1988 3" CD: Parlophone / QUECD9 (UK)

  2. "Under Pressure" – 4:08
  3. "Soul Brother" – 3:40
  4. "Body Language" – 4:33

    Personnel

According to Bowie biographer Chris O'Leary and Queenvinyls:
  • Freddie Mercury – lead and backing vocals, Hammond organ, piano, handclaps, finger snaps
  • Brian May – electric guitar, handclaps, finger snaps
  • Roger Taylor – drums, backing vocals, handclaps, finger snaps
  • John Deacon – bass guitar, handclaps, finger snaps
  • David Bowie – lead and backing vocals, Jupiter-8, handclaps, finger snaps
  • David Richards – piano

    Live performances

Although very much a joint project, only Queen incorporated the song into their live shows at the time. Mercury sang Bowie's parts, as Bowie was never present for a live performance of the song with him. Bowie chose not to perform the song before an audience until the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, when he and Annie Lennox sang it as a duet. However, after Mercury's death and the Outside tour in 1995, Bowie performed the song at virtually every one of his live shows, with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey taking Mercury's vocal part. The song also appeared in set lists from A Reality Tour mounted by Bowie in 2004, when he frequently would dedicate it to Freddie Mercury. Queen + Paul Rodgers have performed the song. In summer of 2012, Queen + Adam Lambert toured, including a performance of the song by Lambert and Roger Taylor in each show.