It’s not unusual to see rockers hate their most famous songs, which was the case with names such as Kurt Cobain and Thom Yorke. As it turns out, Brian May is among those names too. In a new interview with Guitar World, the Queen guitarist revealed why he hates one of the band’s hits, ‘Under Pressure,’ a collaboration between the band and David Bowie. He said:
“I never liked it, to be honest, the way it was mixed. But I do recognize that it works. It’s a point of view, and it’s done very well. And people love it. So we play it quite a bit different live, as you probably noticed, it is a lot heavier and I think it benefits from it.”
Apparently, he loved working with Bowie, but there was a factor about him that made it very difficult to work:
“I mean, David was an awesome creative force. But you can’t have too many awesome creative forces in the same room. It starts to get very difficult! Something has to give.”
In the end, May gave in to the creative differences of Freddie Mercury and Bowie:
“I think it’s probably the only time in my career I bowed out, because I knew it was going to be a fight. So 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.”
Bowie Was Very ‘Forceful’
Despite the song marking their first collaboration, Bowie had been acquainted with Mercury since their teenage years. Still, there was tension in the studio, an aspect that guitarist May didn’t find enjoyable. However, he acknowledged that it ultimately motivated them to achieve greatness. He explained in an earlier interview:
“It wasn’t easy because we were all precocious boys and David was very… forceful… Freddie and David locked horns, without a doubt. But that’s when the sparks fly and that’s why it turned out so great… (They battled) in subtle ways, like who would arrive last at the studio. So it was sort of wonderful and terrible.”
Though May wasn’t satisfied with the finished version of the track, eventually, he reconsidered and grew to appreciate ‘Under Pressure’:
“At the time, I wasn’t happy about the mix. Looking back I still think it’s a very special song.”
So, even though it took some time for the guitarist to adapt to the latest version of the song, Queen reaped the rewards and carved out a classic, which charted at number one.
You can listen to ‘Under Pressure’ below.
