The Queen guitarist preferred the original guitar sound, which David Bowie deleted.
Brian May spoke about working on “Under Pressure” in an interview. He also discussed what he regrets about the Queen hit.
David Bowie ditched The Who similarities
This is what the guitarist revealed Conversation with “Total Guitar”that he didn’t like the mix, which was created in collaboration with David Bowie. The song originally had a different guitar voice. It sounded “pretty chord-driven” – played on an electric instead of an acoustic guitar. However, this hard instrumentation was lost through Bowie’s collaboration. May recalled expressing delight at The Who reminiscences, to which Bowie was said to have replied: “It won’t sound like The Who when I’m done with it.” May summarized: “He didn’t want it to sound like that .”
As a reminder: This is what the final version of “Under Pressure” sounds like:
“Under Pressure”: argument in the studio
“Under Pressure” started as a spontaneous late-night jam in the studio. Over time, however, the musicians involved developed different ideas about what the song should sound like. In addition to Bowie, May also named Queen frontman Freddie Mercury as a driving force. “David was a great creative force, but you can’t have too many great creative forces in one room,” said May, describing the work on the song. So too many cooks really spoil the broth. Or, as the Queen guitarist summarized: “Basically Freddie and David argued about the mix in the studio.” The guitar idea that May liked so much was then deleted. Instead, the song uses “acoustic passages that were actually only recorded as a demo”. In the guitarist’s career, the song marks “the only time that I submitted because I knew that otherwise there would be arguments.” May’s verdict on the final version: “To be honest, I never liked it.”
Brian May returns to the original sound
However, the guitarist put this statement directly into context: “I see that it works. It’s a way of looking at the song that works very well. People love it.” Nevertheless, Brian May now plays “Under Pressure” differently live and his performances go more in the direction he originally wanted. “It’s a lot harder and I think the song benefits from that,” said the musician.
Brian May had previously commented on the difficult collaboration between Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. He told “Mojo” that the two had “been at loggerheads without question.” “It wasn’t easy because we were all such precocious boys and David was very… brash,” said May. “But all these things happen in the studio, sparks fly and that’s why it turned out so well in the end.”