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Under Pressure

"Under Pressure" is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. Originally released as a single in October 1981, it was later included on Queen's 1982 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, and also charted in the top 10 in more than 10 countries around the world.

This article is about the song by Queen and David Bowie. For other uses, see Under Pressure (disambiguation).

"Under Pressure"

"Soul Brother"

26 October 1981 (1981-10-26) (US)
2 November 1981 (1981-11-02) (UK)[1]

July 1981

4:08

  • Queen
  • David Bowie

The song has been described as a "monster rock track that stood out" on the Hot Space album, as well as "an incredibly powerful and poignant pop song".[3][4] "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 Stone's 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.[5][6][7] Live recordings appear on the Queen live albums 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 is included on the band's compilation albums Greatest Hits II, Classic Queen, and Absolute Greatest, as well as Bowie compilations such as Best of Bowie (2002), The Platinum Collection (2005), Nothing Has Changed (2014), Legacy (2016), and Re:Call 3 (2017).


"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 for the sample, resulting in a lawsuit that gave Bowie and Queen songwriting credit. "Under Pressure" has been covered by American rock bands My Chemical Romance and the Used, and singer Shawn Mendes, whose version featured singer Teddy Geiger. Xiu Xiu also covered the song with Swans frontman Michael Gira, a version that was included on Xiu Xiu's 2008 album Women as Lovers.

Background and composition[edit]

"Under Pressure" was recorded at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, in July 1981.[8] Queen, working on their 1982 album Hot Space, had been working on a song called "Feel Like", but were not satisfied with the result.[9][10] While they were there, David Bowie was also at Mountain recording his vocals for "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)", the title song for the 1982 horror film of the same name.[11] The artists ran into each other during the session.[12] Bowie sang backing vocals for Queen's song "Cool Cat",[13] but his vocals were removed from the final song because he was not satisfied with his performance. Afterward, they worked together for a while and wrote the song.[11][14] 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 (as quoted in a French magazine in 1984),[15] 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."[16] 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.[17]


Also, some confusion has arisen about who had created the song's bassline. John Deacon said (in Japanese magazine Music life in 1982) 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.[18] 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. He also claims that when the band returned from dinner, Deacon misremembered the riff, but Taylor was still able to remember it.[19] Brian May clarified matters in a 2016 article for Mirror Online, writing that 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".[20]

Reception[edit]

"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.[21] Record World said that "Bowie and Freddie Mercury combine for a spellbinding musical experience."[22] 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".[23] 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."[23] Similarly, Ned Raggett of AllMusic described the song as "anthemic, showy, and warm-hearted, [and] a clear standout for both acts".[24]


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."[25] Jack Whatley wrote for Far Out Magazine "with all the animosity, wine, cocaine, and vocal battles, which helped come together to birth the song, what remains is an incredibly powerful and poignant pop song that we will likely not see matched in our lifetimes. The two juggernauts of Freddie Mercury and David Bowie collide here with perfect and enriching precision."[4]


The September 2005 edition of online music magazine Stylus singled out the bassline as the best in popular music history.[26] In November 2004, Stylus music critic Anthony Miccio commented that "Under Pressure" "is the best song of all time" and described it as Queen's "opus".[27] In 2012, Slant Magazine listed "Under Pressure" as the 21st best single of the 1980s.[28] It was listed at number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s[29] and voted the second best collaboration of all time in a poll by Rolling Stone magazine.[30] It is ranked number 429 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[31]

Music video[edit]

The music video for the song features neither Queen nor David Bowie due to touring commitments.[32] 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 silent Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring John Barrymore, and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, a masterpiece of the German Expressionist movement.[32][33] 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 (there is also footage of crowds enjoying concerts, and many black and white kissing scenes).[33] 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.[34] In 2003, Slant Magazine ranked "Under Pressure" number 27 among the 100 greatest music videos of all time.[35]

Track listing[edit]

7": EMI / EMI 5250 (UK)[edit]

Side one

– lead and backing vocals, keyboard, handclaps, finger snaps

Freddie Mercury

– electric guitar, handclaps, finger snaps

Brian May

– bass guitar, handclaps, finger snaps

John Deacon

– drums, backing vocals, handclaps, finger snaps

Roger Taylor

– lead and backing vocals, Jupiter-8, handclaps, finger snaps

David Bowie

– piano

David Richards

According to Bowie biographer Chris O'Leary and Queenvinyls:[13][43]

Live performances[edit]

Although very much a joint project, only Queen incorporated the song into their live shows at the time. 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 (backed by the surviving Queen members).[44] 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 recently performed the song; and in summer of 2012, Queen + Adam Lambert toured, including a performance of the song by Lambert and Roger Taylor in each show.[45] While Bowie was never present for a live performance of the song with Mercury, Taylor instead filled for backing vocals in unison with Mercury, as Mercury took over all of Bowie's parts.

Queen first recorded a live full version of the song at the in Canada on 24 November 1981. This was included in the concert films We Will Rock You and Queen Rock Montreal.[46] Incidentally it is one of the few times in concert where Mercury used falsetto in the song on the line "these are the days it never rains but it pours".

Montreal Forum

A second live version of the song was recorded at , England, in 1982. This was released in 2004 on the live album/DVD Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl. Prior to the concert, rumours circulated that Bowie would appear with Queen to sing his parts on stage, but he probably did not even attend the concert.

Milton Keynes

In September 1982 the band performed the song during an appearance on the of Saturday Night Live, which turned out to be Freddie Mercury's final live performance with Queen in the United States.

eighth-season premiere

Later, Queen recorded a third live version of the song at , London, in 1986. This was released on the live album/DVD Live at Wembley Stadium.[47] Another rendition from this same tour (from Queen's concert in Budapest) appeared in edited form on the album Live Magic in 1986. A recording taken from Queen's last gig in Knebworth Park in 1986, appears, albeit in remixed form, as a B-side from second CD single of "Rah Mix" version of this song, released in 1999. (See below)

Wembley Stadium

During the in 1992, the surviving members of Queen along with Bowie and Annie Lennox (fulfilling Mercury's role) performed the song.[44] The concert was later released on DVD in 2002 for the 10th anniversary.[44]

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

A version recorded by David Bowie's live band in 1995 was released on the bonus disc included with some versions of . This live version was also released on the single "Hallo Spaceboy" in 1996. Two live recordings from the Outside Tour appear on Bowie's live concert albums Ouvre le Chien (Live Dallas 95) (2020) and No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95) (2020).

Outside – Version 2

Bowie's 25 June 2000 performance of the song at the was released in 2018 on Glastonbury 2000.[48]

Glastonbury Festival

Bowie's DVD (2004) and album A Reality Tour (2010) include a November 2003 live version from the A Reality Tour, recorded in Dublin, with Bowie's bassist Gail Ann Dorsey singing Mercury's parts.

A Reality Tour

The 2006 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, featured Queen + Paul Rodgers performing "Under Pressure" along with "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" as a live broadcast.[49]

VH1 Rock Honors

"Under Pressure (Rah Mix)"

6 December 1999

  • 4:08 (album and single)
  • 4:27 (music video)
  • Queen
  • David Bowie
  • Queen
  • David Bowie

It was initially released in the US on the Elektra Records US and Canadian versions of Queen's as a new track.

Greatest Hits

It was released in the UK on Queen's in 1991 (which would later be included in The Platinum Collection (2000, 2002 and 2011) in a version removing the second time David Bowie sings, "This is our last dance."

Greatest Hits II

It was released as a bonus track on the reissue of Bowie's Let's Dance in 1995.

Virgin Records

Hollywood Records remixed the song for their 1992 release, . This version features improved sound quality but also removes Mercury's interjection "that's okay!" at about 0:53.

Classic Queen

It also appeared on the Bowie compilation (1993).

Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993

The original single version appears on disc three of Bowie's (2005). This disc was later released separately as The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987 (2007).

The Platinum Collection

The original single version also appears on Bowie's (2014), Legacy (2016), and the Re:Call 3 compilation included in A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) (2017).

Nothing Has Changed

An instrumental version was performed by the on their 1995 album The Queen Collection.[51][52]

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Use in other media[edit]

A radically remixed version is used in Charlotte Wells 2022 BAFTA winning film Aftersun. The track appears at the climactic ending of the film in a version which gradually strips away most of the instrumentation leaving Bowie and Mercury’s vocals to be accompanied by electronic drones and cello from composer Oliver Coates.[56]

O'Leary, Chris (2019). Ashes to Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie 1976–2016. London: Repeater Books.  978-1-91224-836-0.

ISBN

Pegg, Nicholas (2016). (Revised and Updated ed.). London: Titan Books. ISBN 978-1-78565-365-0.

The Complete David Bowie

Trynka, Paul (2011). David Bowie – Starman: The Definitive Biography. New York City: . ISBN 978-0-316-03225-4.

Little, Brown and Company

Original music video

(from Greatest Hits III)

Lyrics of Rah Mix at Queen official website