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This introduction provides an overview of the anthem’s evolution in popular culture, tracing its roots from early ecclesiastical, nationalist, and internationalist uses to its more diffuse and diverse role in contemporary popular music. It reads Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure” as a culminating revision of the anthem—a response to the simultaneous crises of neoliberalism, economic stagnation, nuclear terror, anomie, and the demise of a viable leftist alternative ca. 1981.

1980s, pop music, anthem, neoliberalism

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Under Pressure: A Song by David Bowie and Queen

Singles

Under Pressure: A Song by David Bowie and Queen

By

Duke University Press

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478060192

Copyright:

This content is made freely available by the publisher. It may not be redistributed or altered. All rights reserved.

ISBN electronic:

978-1-4780-6019-2

Publication date:

2025

Bibliography

Adorno

,

Theodor W.

Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life

. Translated by

E. F. N.

Jephcott

.

New York

:

Verso

,

2018

.

Badiou

,

Alain

. “

We Have to Break Bourgeois Right

.” Translated by

David

Fernbach

.

Verso Books

(blog),

August

12

,

2020

. https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/4819-we-have-to-break-bourgeois-right.

Bangs

,

Lester

. “

James Taylor Marked for Death

.” In

Lester

Bangs

,

Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung

, edited by

Greil

Marcus

,

53

–

81

.

New York

:

Anchor Books

,

1987

.

Barthes

,

Roland

.

A Lover's Discourse: Fragments

. Translated by

Richard

Howard

.

New York

:

Hill and Wang

,

1978

.

Baumbach

,

Nico

,

Damon R.

Young

, and

Genevieve

Yue

. “

Revisiting Postmodernism: An Interview with Fredric Jameson

.”

Social Text

34

, no.

2

(127) (

2016

):

143

–

60

.

Benitez-Eves

,

Tina

. “

Roger Taylor Releases First Solo Album in Eight Years

.”

American Songwriter

,

2021

. https://americansongwriter.com/roger-taylor-releases-first-solo-album-in-eight-years/.

Blake

,

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.

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New York

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Da Capo

,

2011

.

Borrelli

,

Christopher

. “

Steely Dan Singer Donald Fagen Just ‘Being Honest’ in New Book

.”

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,

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23

,

2013

.

Bowie

,

David

. “

David Bowie

.” Interview by

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Nicholson

.

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, Thames Television,

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2

,

1979

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwTFW4kfHl4.

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,

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.” Interview by

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,

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2020

.

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Simon

.

Bowie

.

New York

:

OR Books

,

2016

.

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Ain't There One Damn Flag That Can Make Me Break Down and Cry?: The Formal, Performative and Emotional Tactics of Bowie's Singular Critical Anthem ‘Young Americans.’

” In

Enchanting David Bowie: Space/Time/Body/Memory

, edited by

Toija

Cinque

,

Christopher

Moore

, and

Sean

Redmond

,

119

–

52

.

London

:

Bloomsbury Academic

,

2015

.

Deleuze

,

Gilles

. “

Postscript on the Societies of Control

.”

October

59

(

1992

):

3

–

7

. http://www.jstor.org/stable/778828.

Deleuze

,

Gilles

, and

Félix

Guattari

.

What Is Philosophy?

Translated by

Hugh

Tomlinson

.

New York

:

Columbia University Press

,

1996

.

Deleuze

,

Gilles

, and

Claire

Parnet

.

Dialogues II

.

New York

:

Columbia University Press

,

2002

.

Ehrenreich

,

Barbara

.

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy

.

New York

:

Henry Holt

,

2006

.

Far Out Magazine

. “

The Story Behind the Song: David Bowie and Queen's Cocaine- Fuelled Romp ‘Under Pressure.’

”

October

27

,

2021

. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-queen-freddie-mercury-under-pressure-story-1981/.

Foucault

,

Michel

. “

Omnes et Singulatim: Towards a Criticism of Political Reason

.” In

The Tanner Lectures on Human Values ١٩٨١

, edited by

Sterling M.

McMurrin

,

2

:

225

–

54

.

Salt Lake City

:

University of Utah Press

,

1981

.

Foucault

,

Michel

.

Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France 1977–1978

. Translated by

Graham

Burchell

.

New York

:

Picador

,

2009

.

Gates

,

Bill

. “

Bill Gates's Desert Island Playlist

.” Interview by

Kirsty

Young

. BBC

News

,

January

31

,

2016

. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35442969.

Gibson

,

William

. “

Burning Chrome

.”

Omni

46

(

July

1982

):

72

–

107

.

Gilroy

,

Paul

.

“There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack”: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation

.

Chicago

:

University of Chicago Press

,

1991

.

Greenleaf

,

Vicki

, and

Stan

Hyman

. “

Queen on the Road Again

.”

International Musician and Recording World

,

November

1982

.

Haden

,

Charlie

.

Back cover notes for Charlie Haden, Liberation Music Orchestra

.

Santa Monica, CA

:

Impulse! AS-9183

,

1970

. LP.

Hall

,

Stuart

.

Policing the Crisis

.

London

:

Macmillan

,

1978

.

Harvey

,

David

.

Spaces of Hope

.

Edinburgh

:

Edinburgh University Press

,

2002

.

Hobsbawm

,

Eric

.

Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991

.

New York

:

Vintage

,

1996

.

Horid

,

Rosy

. “

Queen Deserves Rock's Royal Crown?

”

Circus

,

January

19

,

1978

.

Jackson

,

Laura

.

Freddie Mercury: The Biography

. Rev. ed.

London

:

Piatkus

,

2011

.

Jakobson

,

Roman

. “

Shifters, Verbal Categories, and the Russian Verb

.” In

Selected Writings

,

2

:

130

–

47

.

The Hague

:

Mouton

,

1971

.

James

,

C. L. R.

The Black Jacobins

. 2nd ed.

New York

:

Vintage Books

,

1989

.

Jameson

,

Fredric

.

The Political Unconscious

.

Ithaca, NY

:

Cornell University Press

,

1981

.

Jones

,

Lesley-Ann

.

Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury

.

London

:

Hodder and Stoughton

,

2011

.

Joyce

,

James

.

Ulysses

. Edited by

Hans Walter

Gabler

,

Wolfhard

Steppe

, and

Claus

Melchior

.

New York

:

Vintage

,

1986

.

Keats

,

John

.

The Letters of John Keats

. Edited by

Hyder E.

Rollins

.

2

vols.

Cambridge, MA

:

Harvard University Press

,

1958

.

Kristeva

,

Julia

.

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection

. Translated by

Leon

Roudiez

.

New York

:

Columbia University Press

,

1984

.

Lawrence

,

Tim

.

Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970 – 1979

.

Durham, NC

:

Duke University Press

,

2003

.

Little Richard

. “

1972: Little Richard Interview Is the GOAT

.” Interview by

Ray

Connolly

. bbc Archive,

Late Night Line-Up

,

August

4

,

1972

. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btdzp52AmsE.

Matos

,

Michaelangelo

.

Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year

.

New York

:

Hachette

,

2020

.

May

,

Brian

. “

Exclusive: Brian May Tells How Bowie and Queen Wrote the Legendary Track Under Pressure

.”

Daily Mirror

,

January

11

,

2016

.

May

,

Brian

. “

Fresh Air's Summer Music Interviews: Queen Guitarist Brian May

.” Interview by

Terry

Gross

. npr,

Fresh Air

,

August

29

,

2022

. https://www.npr.org/2022/08/29/1119640665/fresh-airs-summer-music-interviews-queen-guitarist-brian-may.

Mr.

Mixx

. “

2 Live Crew's DJ and Producer Mr. Mixx on the Roots of Miami Bass

.” Interview by

Jesse

Serwer

.

Red Bull Music Academy

,

July

7

,

2016

. https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/07/mr-mixx-interview.

Nancy

,

Jean-Luc

.

The Inoperative Community

.

Minneapolis

:

University of Minnesota Press

,

1991

.

O'Leary

,

Chris

.

Ashes to Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie, 1976 – 2016

.

New York

:

Repeater Books

,

2019

.

Oxford English Dictionary

. 2nd ed.

Oxford

:

Oxford University Press

,

1989

.

Parker

,

Matt

. “

Brian May Says David Bowie Removed His Electric Guitar Riffs on Under Pressure — And He Never Liked The Results

.”

Guitar World,

February 12,

2024

. http://www.guitarworld.com/news/brian-may-under-pressure-riff-david-bowie-mix.

Pegg

,

Nicholas

.

The Complete David Bowie

.

London

:

Reynolds and Hearn

,

2009

.

Raggett

,

Ned

. “

Under Pressure”: David Bowie/Queen track notes

. AllMusic, accessed

May

7

,

2024

. https://www.allmusic.com/song/under-pressure-mt0044908466.

Redmond

,

Shana L.

Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora

.

New York

:

NYU Press

,

2014

.

Reggio

,

Godfrey

, dir.

Koyaanisqatsi

.

San Francisco

:

American Zoetrope

,

1982

.

Scarry

,

Elaine

.

The Body in Pain

.

New York

:

Oxford University Press

,

1985

.

Schneider

,

Martin

. “Radiohead's Thom Yorke in

1993

: Bowie

and Queen's ‘Under Pressure’ Is the Perfect Pop Song

.” Dangerous Minds, February 22, 2017. https://dangerousminds.net/comments/radioheads_thom_yorke_in_1993_bowie_and_queens_under_pressure.

Simmel

,

Georg

. “

The Metropolis and Mental Life

.” In

The Sociology of Georg Simmel

, edited by

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