About this song
The collaboration came out of a busy day of partying and songwriting involving David Bowie and the four members of Queen. John Deacon's bass line was famously sampled by Vanilla Ice in his 1990 song "Ice Ice Baby", which Ice had tried to pass off as a different composition. Queen and Bowie sued over the sample, won a settlement, and had their names added to the writing credits.
What it's about
The song is a duet about how the pressure of life can make people nearly crumble.
Fun facts
- Sampled in 23 other songs, like “Addicted by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike & Ummet Ozcan”.
- Covered 24 times, including “Under Pressure by Death Angel”.
- Written by David Bowie, John Deacon, Brian May, Roger Taylor and Freddie Mercury.
- Produced by David Bowie and Queen.
- Recorded at Mountain Studios.
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