Under Pressure: A Song by David Bowie and Queen

by Max Brzezinski

Overview

In 1981, David Bowie and Queen both happened to be in Switzerland: They met and made “Under Pressure.” Recorded on a lark, the song broke the path for subsequent pop anthems. In Under Pressure, Max Brzezinski tells the classic track’s story, charting the relationship between pop music, collective politics, and dominant institutions of state, corporations, and civil society. Brzezinski shows that, like all great pop anthems, “Under Pressure” harnesses collective sentiments in order to model new ways of thinking and acting. As we continue to live under the sign of the global oppressive power the song names, analyzes, and attempts to move beyond, we remain, in Bowie and Freddie Mercury’s phrase, under pressure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781478031192
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	02/11/2025
Series:	Singles
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Max Brzezinski is the author of Vinyl Age: A Guide to Record Collecting Now.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Anthem, Counter-Anthem, Anthemic  1
1. Pressure
2. People
3. Streets
4. Love and Terror
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

In this provocative, cutting-edge, and gorgeously written book, Max Brzezinski complicates the conventional understanding of the duet by making sense of David Bowie’s and Freddie Mercury’s distinct contributions while arguing that the subject of the song is people. Brzezinski’s interpretations are simultaneously clever and historically grounded, leaving no stone unturned. Under Pressure sets the bar for popular music writing.”—Richard T. Rodríguez, author of, A Kiss Across the Ocean: Transatlantic Intimacies of British Post-Punk and US Latinidad

“Max Brzezinski’s riveting and learned account of Queen and David Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’ could not be more timely. Given the turns of recent events too gruesome but also too well known to enumerate, the song’s outro lines—‘This is our last dance / This is our last dance / This is ourselves’—hit the spot marked X in our present moment.”—Eric Lott, author of, Black Mirror: The Cultural Contradictions of American Racism

From the Publisher

Max Brzezinski’s riveting and learned account of Queen and David Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’ could not be more timely. Given the turns of recent events too gruesome but also too well known to enumerate, the song’s outro lines—‘This is our last dance / This is our last dance / This is ourselves’—hit the spot marked X in our present moment.

Black Mirror: The Cultural Contradictions of American Racism - Eric Lott

In this provocative, cutting-edge, and gorgeously written book, Max Brzezinski complicates the conventional understanding of the duet by making sense of David Bowie’s and Freddie Mercury’s distinct contributions while arguing that the subject of the song is people. Brzezinski’s interpretations are simultaneously clever and historically grounded, leaving no stone unturned. Under Pressure sets the bar for popular music writing.

A Kiss Across the Ocean: Transatlantic Intimacies of British Post-Punk and US Latinidad - Richard T. Rodríguez