There's nothing in that Rolling Stone link that indicates who wrote the song. The album itself (and I repeat, Bowie never released the song as an original piece, although it appears on live and compilation releases for both Bowie and Queen) credits both Bowie and the band as collaborating on the writing and producing. Bowie and Mercury share lead vocals, though it does appear Bowie has more time 'in front', for lack of a better term. That's probably why Bowie often is credited with the song, but it was definitely a collaboration. And I agree, "Hot Space" is a hot mess. Under Pressure is its only redeeming track.
I caught that as well. Deacon was always very humble about his writing and uncomfortable with the spotlight.
My favorite Bowie work in no order Fame - that shit is just funky as the fuck Modern Love - perfect 80's choon Major Tom - super stoner choon Let's Dance - rapper rip off beats The Diamond Dogs record is one of the most underrated albums of all time. Ziggy Stardust - another underrated album
Deacon was humble beyond and has become pretty much a recluse at this point. "According to Queen bass player John Deacon, Freddie Mercury did most of the songwriting on this, although everyone contributed. The lyrics deal with how pressure can destroy lives, but love can be the answer. The lyrics are characteristic of Mercury's songwriting. Deacon however did come up with the iconic two-note bass riff, although it came very close to vanishing: according to Roger Taylor in the Days of our Lives documentary, Deacon came up with the riff, then the band went for pizza before coming back to continue rehearsals. Upon returning, Deacon had completely forgotten his idea! Luckily, Taylor eventually remembered how the bass line went." "David was living in Switzerland, where we were recording in a studio we owned at the time [Mountain Studios] in Montreux. He basically just popped in to see us. Freddie had met him before. We all had a little chart and then went straight in the studio and started playing around. We played a few old songs and then something new started to happen and we said, "Okay, let's try and record this." It was a truly spontaneous thing. We felt our way through a backing track all together as an ensemble. And then David brought up an unusual idea for creating the vocal. He was kind of famous for writing lyrics by collecting different bits of paper with quotes on them. And we did a corresponding thing as regards writing the top line for the song. When the backing track was done, David said, "Okay, let's each of us go in the vocal booth and sing how we think the melody should go - just off the tops of our heads - and we'll compile a vocal out of that." And that's what we did. Some of the original bits even made it onto the record. Freddie going "b-b-b-boom-ba," that scat singing stuff, was part of the initial track he went in and did off the top of his head. Odd isnt it? That's why the words are so curious, some of them, anyway. There was a point where somebody had to take control, and I think it's fair to say that David took the reins and decided that he wanted to rationalize the lyrics and them say what he felt they should say."- Brian May "We didn't plan anything. [Bowie] just happened to be in town with friends, and he just kept popping into the studio... and we were jamming to some of his songs and ours... and we had a few bottles of wine and things and we suddenly said, 'Why don't we try something totally new?' And out came this song. I remember David half way through said, 'My God, I think it's caught fire! Let's take it!' So suddenly it then became a worthwhile project. Before we were just fooling around, and we said, 'Let's grab this while it's happening, because if we come back tomorrow we will probably go our separate ways and not think about it', so we just carried on. It was virtually a 24-hour session. We just kept on at it, and finally got the crux of the song, and then when we knew it was going to do something we still worked on it another day, and then we finished it"-Freddie Mercury "David Bowie and Freddie and I have been friends for the past few years. 'Under Pressure' was a spontaneous collaboration. We started out just playing some old songs, then worked on a few ideas and liked 'Under Pressure' very much, so we finished it."-Roger Taylor What I think is booze, drugs, and ego tend to have an influence on what and how things get remembered. Rock groups rarely stay together for along time. The one that do often break up once or twice or someone does a solo album. I think Queen and Bowie were in a studio together, they were high as hell, they collaborated together on a song, and now years later, the facts are a little fuzzy.
My post on the death of Boots Garland, an LSU head track and field coach, was moved to "Next celebrity death"? Pretty disrespectful, IMO.
I don't think it's disrespectful because he was certainly a local celebrity. But Boots deserves his own thread in The Tiger's Den, as well.
