Under Pressure (song)

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Under pressure
Queen & David Bowie
publication October 26, 1981
length 4:02
Genre (s) skirt
Author (s) Queen and David Bowie
album Hot space

Under Pressure is a rock song by the British band Queen with David Bowie . It appeared on the album Hot Space and was pre-released as a single on October 26, 1981. The play reached number one in Great Britain, number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 21 in Germany .

history

Queen had been working on a piece called Feel Like , but were unhappy with the result. David Bowie had come to Mountain Studios in Montreux to do the backing vocals for another Queen song, Cool Cat . Bowie wasn't happy with that, however, so his vocals were cut out. Starting from a bass line that John Deacon had improvised, the band worked for a while in a jam session with Bowie, so the piece was created in an original version. Allegedly Deacon forgot the bass line after a meal break, but drummer Roger Taylor helped him remember it.

19-year-old Jon Bon Jovi , who at the time worked in New York's Power Station Studios, witnessed the vocal recordings of the song : “I watched Freddie Mercury and David Bowie sing from behind a pane of glass. I wasn't allowed to speak to the musicians, just bring coffee. "

In 1984 John Deacon said Freddie Mercury was the actual songwriter. Brian May told Mojo Magazine in 2008 that Bowie “took over” the song based on the lyrics: “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. " ( "It was tough because of four very smart boys and David, who was as smart as all of us put together. David took care of texting the song. In retrospect it's a great piece, but should have been mixed up differently. Freddie and David had a heated argument about it. It is a meaningful song, because of David and the content. " )

Mercury later said, “It wasn't planned; when it's planned it's boring. We just fooled around a bit and suddenly this song crystallized out. We said: Great, let's work on it a little more. And out came Under Pressure! The song is about the fact that permanent pressure can be harmful and love can be a way out. ” The music video for the piece, a collage with building demolitions, socially critical historical black and white recordings and film snippets from the 1920s was produced by David Mallet .

reception

  • Sounds (Great Britain), 1981: "Queen's performance is surprisingly good, it's Bowie and Mercury's vocals and words that let the whole thing down." ( "Queen's performance is surprisingly good; it's the singing of Bowie and Mercury that does the whole thing ruined. ")
  • Melody Maker (Great Britain), 1981: “Something deep and significant going on here. Rage and pathos bubbling in Bowie's performance, not to mention the squeaking of Mr Mercury's accompaniment. ” (" Something of depth and meaning is happening here. Anger and pathos seething in Bowie's performance, not to mention the screeching in Mercury's contribution. ")

performance

Queen played Under Pressure on their tours in the 1980s. Bowie, on the other hand, did not realize the piece live until the 1990s. Bowie sang the piece together with Annie Lennox for the first time live at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert .

Cover versions

The piece was often covered. So used Vanilla Ice the bass line in 1990 for the hit Ice Ice Baby . There were live cover versions of The Flaming Lips and The Blood Brothers . In 1982 the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded a classic cover version for their album The Queen Collection and dedicated it to the band. In 2014 Volkswagen used the song in a new version for a commercial.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://chartarchive.org/r/9471
  2. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/queen-mn0000858827/awards
  3. ↑ http://www.ultimatequeen.co.uk/songs/unreleasedqueen.htm#feellike
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttfslaPrlDI
  5. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Rock star Jon Bon Jovi: "Related to Sinatra? I laugh myself dead". In: SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved November 10, 2016 .
  6. ↑ http://www.queencuttings.com/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=407
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.swr3.de
  8. ↑ a b quotation after Jacky Gunn, Jim Jenkins: Queen. As It Began. Sidgwick & Jackson, London 1992, pp. 150-156. ISBN 0-283-06052-2
  9. ↑ http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1026429/a/Queen+Collection.htm