| "Under Pressure" is a 1981 song by Queen and David Bowie. It marked Queen's first released collaboration with another recording artist, and is featured on their 1982 album Hot Space. The song reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s. Queen had been working on the song under the title "Feel Like" but were not yet satisfied with the result. The final version that became "Under Pressure" evolved from a jam session the band had with Bowie at his studio in Montreux, Switzerland, therefore it was credited as co-written by the five musicians. According to Queen bassist John Deacon (as quoted in a French magazine in 1984), however, the song's primary musical songwriter was Freddie Mercury — though all contributed to the arrangement. The earlier, embryonic version of the song without Bowie "Feel Like" is widely available in bootleg form. In more recent interviews, Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor have credited the bass riff to Deacon; Bowie also said on his website that the bassline was already written before he became involved. In any case, the September 2005 edition of online music magazine Stylus singled out the bassline as the best in popular music history. The first title found for this song was "People on Streets". It then became "Under Pressure". |
