Today’s classic song of the day is a collaboration between two massive rock superstars, David Bowie and the band Queen, led by singer Freddie Mercury. The song is “Under Pressure” and it was released as a single in October of 1981 (in the U.S.; November in the UK). The song went to #29 on the Billboard Hot 100, #22 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #7 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart. It went all the way to #1 in the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands.
There are several varying stories about who wrote what part of the song, which is officially credited to all four members of Queen plus Mr. Bowie. It seems that Queen and Mr. Bowie were in different rooms of the same studio (Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland) and decided to cross-pollinate. Queen’s bassist John Deacon says that Freddie Mercury was the primary songwriter of the tune. Guitarist Brian May gives Bowie more credit:
“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.”
Most involved agree that the distinctive bass line belongs to John Deacon, although Deacon says that Bowie came up with it. Brian May says that while Deacon came up with the riff, Bowie inadvertently changed the riff when Deacon forgot how it went. Whatever; it’s memorable.
The bass line was so memorable, in fact, that white rapper Vanilla Ice ripped it off for his signature song, “Ice Ice Baby.” Mr. Ice (real name: Robert Matthew Van Winkle—really) initially said he didn’t steal anything, that the bass line on his record was totally different from that on “Under Pressure.” A quick listen belies that assertation, however, and the expected lawsuit ensued. Mr. Ice ended up adding all four members of Queen and David Bowie as co-writers on his tune, so they got to share in the royalties.
So here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the extremely distinctive music video for “Under Pressure.” Interestingly, it doesn’t feature either Queen or David Bowie, instead employing stock footage of traffic jams, packed commuter trains, explosions, and other activities that tend to result in undo pressure. It was a huge deal back in the day.
