Queen And David Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’ Soundtracks New Adidas Campaign

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Queen and David Bowie’s monumental hit “Under Pressure” is the soundtrack to a new Adidas campaign that celebrates athletes thriving under pressure.

Stars like Lionel Messi, Patrick Mahomes, Anthony Edwards, and more unite under a shared rallying cry: “You got this.” Check out the campaign below.

The song between Queen and Bowie marked a once-in-a-lifetime pairing and a unique superstar collaboration. The track completed its rapid climb to the top of the UK charts on November 21, 1981.

The track was a genuine, physical collaboration, at the band’s favorite recording location of Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland. Bowie, who had a house nearby, dropped in by one night when Queen were recording. “Under Pressure” grew out of a jam session, from a riff by bassist John Deacon, and had quite an impromptu in its finished version, with Freddie Mercury scatting and he and Bowie trading some impromptu vocal expression.

The single took the record-buying public by surprise, as it wasn’t on an existing album and didn’t appear on an LP until it was included on Queen’s Hot Space the following May. Bowie showed up at the sessions for the album, the original plan being that he would sing backing vocals on the track “Cool Cat.”

But as Queen drummer Roger Taylor recounted in Mark Blake’s Is This The Real Life? The Untold Story of Freddie Mercury and Queen, “David came in one night and we were playing other people’s songs for fun, just jamming. In the end, David said, ‘This is stupid, why don’t we just write one?’”

The B-side, the R&B-influenced slow song “Soul Brother,” was a non-album track too, and would appear on the expanded 2011 edition of Hot Space. Fans took to the release quickly, ushering the 45 into the UK chart at No.8. A week later, it was starting a two-week run at No.1. Queen’s Greatest Hits album began its second week at the top on the same day.

Listen to the best of Queen on Apple Music and Spotify.

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