Once upon a time, some of the finest musicians who have ever lived were all in the tiny village of Montreux, Switzerland, all at the same time. The artists in question? David Bowie and all four members of the legendary British rock group Queen: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon. Bowie was living there at the time, and Queen owned a small studio in the village. They were all acquaintances but wanted to get to know each other better. As musicians do, they decided that the best way to get to know each other was playing some music together.
They didn’t plan to record a song together. They were just playing around. However, right before they went to dinner, something magical happened. Bass guitarist John Deacon played a short riff consisting of six notes followed by one note a fourth down. This short riff excited the group, but they were hungry, so they went out for food and drinks. Once their hunger was sated, they returned to the studio, and Bowe asked Deacon, “what was that riff you had, Deacy?” What John Deacon played was the first seven notes of “Under Pressure.” And the rest is history.
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A 1986 concert at London’s Wembley Stadium shows Freddie Mercury and Queen in their absolute prime and performing Under Pressure. This concert goes down as one of the finest Queen concerts of all time and is considered by many to be one of the best concerts in history, period. When Freddie Mercury took to the state, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy. Then Brian May and John Deacon started to play the first notes of Under Pressure on their guitars. Then, the crowd went insane as David Bowie himself entered the stage. Watch below, and you’ll also see how perfectly Freddie Mercury controlled a crowd. No one in history has ever handled crowd control in this way. Freddie Mercury’s audience loved him, and he loved them right back.
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You can enjoy this incredible moment in music history in the video below.
