Queen’s guitarist Brian May has revealed that he ‘never liked’ the band’s iconic hit ‘Under Pressure’ despite it becoming one of the group’s most successful tunes

Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, David Bowie reigned over the UK Top 40 with a staggering 39 hit singles, closely followed by the flamboyant rock icons Queen, who racked up an impressive 34 chart hits in a similar period.

When Bowie and Queen combined forces, they seemed destined for the top of the charts, and their collaboration “Under Pressure” did just that, securing the No. 1 position for two weeks and staying in the Top 40 for 11 weeks.

Despite its success in Europe and breaking into the Billboard Top 30, not everyone was a fan; Queen’s guitarist Brian May has openly confessed he “never liked” the final mix of the song.

Brian May, who turns 78 today, described to Total Guitar the spontaneous nature of the recording session: “It was all done spontaneously in the studio very late at night after we had a meal and a lot of drinks,” he recalled.

“And it was a pretty heavy backing track. When it gets to ‘Why can’t we give love’, we were all working on it together, and it sounded like The Who. It sounded massively chord-driven.”

Brian wasn’t able to leave his mark on the track (Image: Getty Images)

Initially, he was excited about the powerful sound they had crafted. Yet, working in the studio with two legendary frontmen—Bowie and Queen’s Freddie Mercury—meant that some concessions had to be made.

Reflecting on a past exchange, Brian May shared a memory with Bowie: “I remember saying to David, ‘Oh, it sounds like The Who, doesn’t it?’”.

Bowie’s playful retort about the upcoming transformation was telling: “He said, ‘Yeah, well it’s not going to sound like The Who by the time I’ve finished with it!’ You know, in a joking kind of way… but he didn’t want it to be that way.”

David Bowie had strong views on how the track should sound (Image: Getty Images)

Brian revealed that when confronted with the formidable creative energies of two music icons, he decided it was wise to “bow out” and let them forge ahead.

He praised Bowie’s creativity, stating: “David was an awesome creative force.”

Yet, Brian noted the challenges of having multiple strong creative forces together: “But you can’t have too many awesome creative forces in the same room. It starts to get very difficult! Something has to give.”

Brian admitted that the studio was already brimming with strong opinions.

Reflecting on his decision, he shared: “I think it’s probably the only time in my career I bowed out, because I knew it was going to be a fight. Basically, it was Freddie and David fighting it out in the studio with the mix. And what happened in the mix was that most of that heavy guitar was lost.”

Brian also mused over his musical parts that were omitted from the final version: “And even the main riff, I played that electric, pretty much in the sort of arpeggiated style which I do live now.

“But that never made it into the mix. What they used was the acoustic bits, which were done first as a sort of demo.”

However, without the contributions of the other members of Queen, the legendary song ‘Under Pressure’ may never have been created. According to Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor, bassist John Deacon came up with the captivating two-note motif that forms the backbone of the song.

In the documentary Queen—Days of our Lives, Roger recalls how John crafted the line but absentmindedly forgot it after they had a meal together.

Luckily, the motif had stuck in Roger’s mind, allowing him to jog John’s memory and play a key role in the creation of what would become Queen’s second UK Number One hit and Bowie’s third.