| Under Pressure | ||
|---|---|---|
| Single by David Bowie & Queen | ||
| Length | 04:06 | |
| Label(s) | Hollywood Records | |
"Under Pressure" is a song by Queen and David Bowie. The song was released as a single in 1981 and reached number 1 in both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom position on the charts. The song is also on the Queen album Hot Space 1982, verzamelalbums from the Queen Greatest Hits II, Classic Queen, and the Dutch edition of Greatest Hits, as well as on several compilation albums by David Bowie. In 1999, a remix, called Rah mix, released to promote the Queen Greatest Hits IIIverzamelalbum. This version reached the 21st spot in the Mega Top 100 and the 14th position in the British list
Background[][]
David Bowie originally came the Mountain Studios in Montreux (Switzerland) to provide features for another Queen-song, Cool Cat. The version with Bowie, however, is only a demo in circulation. During a jam session of Queen and Bowie, "Under Pressure" was created on the basis of a former Queen version of the song (without Bowie), entitled Feel Like. The working title of "Under Pressure" was People on Streets.
The bass line, conceived and played by Queen bassist John Deacon, grew into an enormously popular bass line. Rapper Vanilla Ice used it for his hit Ice Ice Baby. In 2005 the magazine chose Stylus the bass line to the best bass line of all pop songs.
Music Video[]
The music video was directed by David Mallet. It features footage of things blowing up and being destroyed along with scenes from old movies and television shows.
Tracks[Edit][]
- "Under Pressure" (Bowie, Mercury, Taylor, Deacon, May)-4: 02
- "Soul Brother" (Mercury, Taylor, Deacon, May)-3: 38
EMI brought in 1988 a 3-inch cd version of the single with Body Language as the third track of Queen. In 1999 a remix version (the Rah mix) released. On the cd single were still two other remixes, and the video clip. In the video is by means of modern techniques that Freddie Mercury and David Bowie perform the song on stage at the same time. This released the song never have sung together live. On the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert , the song was sung by Bowie with Annie Lennox.
Chart Positions[Edit][]
| "Under Pressure" in the Dutch Top 40 - inside: 14-11-1981 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Number | 24 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 22 | 32 | from |
| "Under Pressure" in the Dutch Single Top 100 - inside: 14-11-1981 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
| Number | 32 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 29 | 45 | from |
Radio 2 Top 2000[Edit][]
| Number (s) with markings
in the Radio 2 Top 2000 |
' 99 | ' 00 | ' 01 | ' 02 | ' 03 | ' 04 | ' 05 | ' 06 | ' 07 | ' 08 | ' 09 | ' 10 | ' 11 | ' 12 | ' 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under Pressure | 133 | 265 | 332 | 185 | 308 | 273 | 345 | 493 | 524 | 376 | 229 | 352 | 324 | 265 | 192 |
| Predecessor: | Dutch Top 40 number-one single
12 december 18 december 1981 - 1981 1 week |
Successor: |
