THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

47-Queen and David Bowie-Under Pressure.

1981-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 2.30. If you behave yourself you can listen to Under Pressure, but if you’re naughty I’m gonna make you listen to Ice Ice Baby.

The songs title is very apt, because when two of Pop Music’s greatest legends collaborate you can only hope for something very special, while deep down knowing that when you hear it you will more than likely be disappointed. Not with this one though. I remember being in awe the very first time that I heard it, and over the years it only gets better. The song is a fitting tribute to both David Bowie, (1947-2016) and Freddie Mercury (1946-1991.)

‘Under Pressure’ was recorded at the ‘Mountain Studios’ in Montreux, Switzerland, in July 1981, while Queen (see also best songs 918-615-208-126 and 3) were working on their 10th studio Album ‘Hot Space.’ At that same time David Bowie (see also best songs 807-440-334-302-209-186-118-31 and 5) & (see also for his production work (701-131 and 58) was also at the same studios recording his vocals for ‘Cat People (Putting Out Fire,’) it was this unplanned meeting that brought about the collaboration. As well as working together on ‘Under Pressure,’ Bowie also provided backing vocals for ‘Cool Cat,’ which would later appear on the 1982 ‘Hot Space’ Album, but Bowie was not satisfied with his performance, and had his vocals removed from the final take.

The iconic bass riff for ‘Under Pressure’ actually started out life in a song that Queen had been working on called ‘Feel Like,’ but none of the band members had been happy with the way it had developed. The bass riff had been written and performed by John Deacon of Queen, and it was Bowie who modified it for it’s use in ‘Under Pressure.’ Over the years ‘Feel Like’ has become widely available in bootleg form, and it’s writing is largely credited to Queens drummer Roger Taylor. Queen guitarist Brian May has said,’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.’ Brian May has also added,’Suddenly you’ve got this other person inputting, inputting, inputting…he (David) had a vision in his head, and it’s quite a difficult process, and someone has to back off, and eventually I did back off, which is unusual for me.’

‘Under Pressure’ was released as a single in October 1981, and gave Queen their second UK Number 1 single after ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ (1975) and Bowie his third following ‘Space Oddity,’ (1975) and ‘Ashes to Ashes,’ (1980) ‘Under Pressure’ would later become one of the tracks that made up Queen’s 1982 Album ‘Hot Space.’ The songs writing and production is credited to all four band members of Queen, and David Bowie. ‘Under Pressure’ has appeared on many of the greatest hits compilations of both artists, but Bowie and Mercury never sang the song live together in a concert, in fact Bowie didn’t perform the song live until after the death of Mercury, and after that it became a regular at his shows.

In December 1999 a remixed version of the song called the ‘Rah Mix’ was issued in order to promote Queen’s ‘Greatest Hits 3’ Album, the remixed version charted in the UK reaching Number 14. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart the original 1981 version only reached Number 29, while the ‘Rah Mix’ failed to chart. In 1990 the American rapper Vanilla Ice used the songs iconic bassline for ‘Ice Ice Baby,’ which went on to sell in excess of two million copies worldwide. Vanilla Ice initially did not credit Bowie or Queen for the sample, which resulted in a very expensive lawsuit against Vanilla Ice, which eventually saw him having to add the names of Bowie and Queen to the songwriting credits, and for Vanilla Ice to have to hand over a substantial amount of the royalties of ‘Ice Ice Baby.’

The majority of the lyrics to ‘Under Pressure’ were probably written by Freddie Mercury, and are open to a certain amount of interpretation, with some saying it is a reflection on Mercury’s personnel battles with his own sexuality (see also best songs 3.) A wider view can be taken that it is about the daily struggles with life that we all face, that are being sung about. In the last verse Mercury concludes that if we are to overcome the stresses of everyday life, then we must all learn to love and care for each other.

‘Cause love’s such an old fashioned word, and love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night and love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves. This is our last dance, this is our last dance, this is ourselves.’