As the world attempts to get to grips with the sad news of David Bowie’s passing after an 18-month battle with cancer, his rarer tracks on YouTube are going viral, gaining millions of new fans and reminding the old ones of his incredible talent.
One such recording is this mindblowing a capella version of Under Pressure, the song Bowie and his pal Freddie Mercury penned after a particularly messy session.
Before the days of autotune and a team of 12 taking months to write a single song, the pair boshed out one of the best, most memorable riffs of the 20th century in just 24 hours – apparently, while a bit intoxicated.
In 1981, Bowie visited Mountain Studios in Switzerland to sing backing vocals on another Queen song, Cool Cat (Bowie subsequently cut his part from the final recording because he wasn’t happy with his performance).
And so the Starman, Mercury and the rest of Queen jammed for a solid day – supposedly fuelled by a lot of wine, among other things – and came up with the record now known as Under Pressure.
Plug in your headphones, close your eyes and listen to the isolated vocal track below while remembering the inconceivable genius of these two men.
