However, eventually he seemingly embraced it during live performances also. And Bowie was not too fond of the tune at first (as will be expounded on a bit later). VH1 also placed it on their listing of the “100 Greatest Songs of the ‘80s” (as did Slant Magazine).Īnd it was also a favorite of the Queen themselves, as they regularly rendered it live since its dropping until they had ceased touring in 1986. It has also been certified double-platinum in the US and Italy and platinum in the UK. And just to note the Rah Mix of this song, a remix which appeared on Queen’s 1999 Greatest Hits III album, also managed to chart in the UK and Netherlands during that year.Īnd as far as its critical reception goes, in 2011 Rolling Stone ranked “Under Pressure” as the second ‘Best Collaboration of All Time’. Then in 2016, apparently in light of David Bowie’s passing, the song re-charted again in over a dozen countries, including reappearing on the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100. AchievementsĪnd both the critical and commercial reception of the track is what you would expect from a collaboration between such musical powerhouses. For instance, in terms of chart success, the song reached number one in three different countries, including on the UK Singles Chart.Īnd overall it charted in 15 nations, breaking the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the process. This song came out, via the efforts of Elektra Records, on the date of 26 October 1981. It’s the lead single from Queen’s 1928 album “Hot Space”.Īnd it marked the first and only official collaboration they had with David Bowie (1947-2016), with both acts hailing from the UK. Moreover it was also the first collaboration Queen had ever done with any other artist in general. For example, it resulted in Top of the Pops (original run 1964-2005), the UK’s number one television-music show, banning the clip until an edited version was made. The appearance of the aforementioned footage, at first raised some eyebrows. Some of said footage was from acts of terrorism committed in Northern Ireland. Rather it features harrowing urban footage (including riots and things of the such) intermixed with scenes from a few 1920s’ silent movies. The reason is because both acts were touring at the time it was filmed. The music video to this track is devoid of David Bowie and Queen. So it’s almost like he’s trying to forget everything he knows – make his problems magically disappear so to speak. But of course such a simple, unrealistic tactic does not work. Then in the bridge, in trying to overcome this malady, the narrator speaks of “ (turning) away from it all like a blind man”. In other words, the more you actually know about this world, the sadder you’re going to be in it. Or at least that’s what it sounds like Bowie is talking about when he proclaims in the chorus for instance that the titular “ pressure” is akin to “ the terror of knowing what this world is about”. LyricsĪnd in the process of doing so, David Bowie in particular gets quite philosophical, or perhaps we can even argue Biblical in his approach. For the idea being put across in the chorus and bridge reads like a passage of Ecclesiastes that goes “he that increases knowledge increases sorrow’. the type of stress that can even rend a family in two. the type of anxiety that is part of parcel of living and surviving in the modern world. We can sort of derive that idea, using our imaginations a bit, from the metaphor of ‘a building burning down’ (as well as imagery in the track’s music video).īut again, the vocalists are generally speaking to a more pervasive, shall we say adult-human kind of pressure, i.e. Furthermore, it can be said that they’re speaking to what some would term as a Western level of pressure, i.e.
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