Queen & David Bowie: Under Pressure (Music Video 1981) Poster

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10/10
A beautiful clip about the real pressures of the world. Bowie & Queen are pure magic
Rodrigo_Amaro29 March 2018
They ain't lying one bit. The world is constantly on the verge of a breakdown with its deadlines, commitments, schedules, orders and we're in one way or another under extremely pressure...from bosses or leaders to our family and friends. How to deal with everything without cracking up or losing it completely?

And where's the love? Just another word thrown around to make us feel less worried and dreaming that the world isn't such a bad place. Now, "Queen & David Bowie: Under Pressure" explore such notions and realities without making the typical video clip of a band performing the song or using actors to expose their main theme. The short consists of old clips, tribute/references to silent cinema era, from Doctor Caligari to Nosferatu and plenty of romantic flicks and some images more recently at the time (imploding buildings and Woodstock-like festivals). Final result: one of their top moments of all time, both sonorous and visual. And not only they sell the song but they pound the idea into your brain by using such nostalgic images that mirrors exactly what they lyrics tells us - there's horror, panic, stress, lots of people walking around in a hurry, going somewhere at the same they're going nowhere because they're too busy with their daily routines.

And who needs the faces when you have the power of images and a great message to deliver? Superstars Mercury and Bowie challenged MTV views with an unusual spectacle of a music video that only used their magnificent combined voices and the sound of Queen to present their unique world view, conquering audiences and listeners around the globe. World as it is cracking under the insanity, the pressure of atribulations, despair, stress and where's the love to go round?

Like they say: "It's such an old-fashioned word...". Barely they knew what the world would become with technology making us closer in virtuality but far away in humanity and there you have it another pressure where you cannot disconnect yourself from your facebook, snapchat, tinder or whatever instead of reaching out to the person next to you and show a little bit your appreciation, love, care, and relief your stress with just talking, hugging or simply saying a welcome and warming "hello". It's not important to describe the sequences presented in the clip; it's more important to discuss the lyrics, its meaning or its sort of like happy ending, a solution to part of our gigantic obstacles every single person in life feels every day. "Love, love, love!!!".

As for the music, our ears are easily conquered and dominated by John Deacon's unforgettable and singular opening bass line that puts us in the mood, and when the other instruments come, Freddie and David shouting "Pressure!", I actually forget about the worries the writing has to present, I feel simply great, ready for any challenge and day is complete.

At least, despite the same old pressures still existing and new ones always coming up our ways, at least we're glad that someone had the time, the effort and patience to create such a relevant, marvelous and epic song. The world can feel a lit bit lighter with a powerful creation such as this. No complaints about song, video or anything. They achieved perfection with this one. 10/10.
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10/10
Vanilla Ice Ice Baby
safenoe27 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Vanilla Ice was in his teens when Queen and David Bowie released Under Pressure, a song for the ages. And so is the video, which is a very sublime collection of clips to show the pressure in our society.
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