10 Great Songs On Otherwise Terrible Albums
1. Under Pressure - Queen
Towards the mid '80s, Queen started to bite off a little more than they could chew in the pop world. While Freddie Mercury always had one foot firmly in the pop realm, albums like the Game saw them jumping head first into the pop genre, which actually managed to work on tracks like Another One Bites the Dust and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Then they got an idea...an awful idea.
Compared to the more freeflowing melodies on every other Queen record, Hot Space is one of the most forgettable entries in the rock royal's catalog, with songs that feel like blatant retreads of stuff they already did on Another One Bites the Dust. Probably the only thing actually saving this album is that it possesses one of the greatest pop songs of all time in Under Pressure.
Being a one-off with David Bowie, putting a song like this in the middle of Hot Space is almost enough to save the album, with Mercury and Bowie playing off each other to create a wonderful example of musical ecstasy. Since this is the last song on the record though, it feels more like an added-on extension than an integral part of the album experience. Whereas most of Hot Space has aged like milk since the '80s, Under Pressure is probably the one song from this era that might outlive us all.