With which band did David Bowie collaborate on the 1981 hit “Under Pressure”? Queen. The song was recorded by Queen and David Bowie in September 1981 at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, and released as a single that October. It later appeared on Queen’s 1982 album Hot Space.
The collaboration began when Bowie was working nearby and joined Queen during their studio sessions. The musicians developed the track from an earlier Queen idea called “Feel Like,” with the famous bass line becoming its defining musical feature. Although often described as a Queen song featuring Bowie, it is formally a joint recording by Queen and David Bowie.
The song became Queen’s second UK number-one single and Bowie’s third. It is also frequently linked to Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby,” whose bass line interpolated the opening pattern without initially crediting the original writers. Bowie and Queen’s surviving members finally performed “Under Pressure” together at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.