Queen & David Bowie

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 (1982).

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.

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 (Putting Out Fire)", the story told in interviews was that Bowie happened to be around in Montreux and lived near 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.

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...

Music video

The music video for the song features neither Queen nor David Bowie due to touring commitments. 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. 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...

Live recordings

Queen first recorded a live full version of the song at the Montreal Forum in Canada on 25 November 1981. This was included in the concert films We Will Rock You and Queen Rock Montreal. 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".