A few days ago we shared the isolated vocal track from Freddie Mercury on Queen’s enduring 1977 hit, “We Are The Champions.”
It gave us the feels.
Well, the world lost another irreplaceable artist on Sunday night — David Bowie, we’re happy to know that you’ve made it back to the mothership, but you will be deeply missed, sir.
Related: From Madonna To McCartney, Artists Pay Tribute To David Bowie
The unparalleled musician died at the age of 69 following an 18 month battle with cancer.
In keeping with the a cappella streak, here’s the isolated vocals from Bowie and Mercury’s 1981 “Under Pressue,” which the duo famously wrote together in 24 hours in Switzerland. We won’t ask how they managed to stay up all night.
Listen below:
Julie Willemsen
Played this the other day, never dreaming that it would be the last time I heard David Bowie while he was still alive.
Ian Watson
THIS IS SUCH A SHOCK SO AWFUL!
HE IS SO INCREDIBLE I’M NOW 60 AND DAVE
BOWIE, WAS MY ONLY TEEN IDOL, I HAVE ALL
HIS ALBUM’S EVER RECORDED,
HIS WHOLE FASHION SENCE WAS REALLY
SOMETHING HIS HAIR, DRESS SENCE, WE REALLY LOOKED
UP TO HIM SO MUCH TO HIM BRITAIN WAS A HIGHLY
OPPRESSIVE PLAICE IN DOE’S DAY’S
IF YOU WE’RE GROWING UP AS A GAY YOUNG TEENAGER!
WHEN YOU THINK HE JUST HAD HIS BIRTHDAY AT 70 HE LOOKED BLOODY
AMAZING,
RIP WILL BE SADLY MISSED!
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AS JUST LOST A
TRUE GREAT LEGEND,
Dee Stephens
Incredible shocking
Another one gone too soon
Clive Gabriel
Go BBC6 with Bowie tracks all day
Tracy Pope
RIP David Bowie. Amazing talent. One of the artists that helped me feel confident enough to come out when I was 16 – in an age when you just didn’t do that.
McShane
https://youtu.be/5g6–QoPsDM
Joaquin Sanchez-Barrett
Two great singers
1EqualityUSA
I’m beyond words right now. Not since Jerry Garcia died have I felt so crushed by an artist’s death.
Carl Jay Same
What a talent.
Giancarlo85
This is such shocking news. He is one of my favorite artists up there with the Rolling Stones. 🙁 Mick Jagger and Bowie collaborated a bit and produced that somewhat infamous music video… Well I always thought it was awesome. Bowie is someone who had a profound impact on music as we know it.
Brian
Bowie was amazing. When he adopted that Ziggy Stardust look in the early 1970’s, America’s liberal youth were shocked by its androgyny. Americans aren’t used to seeing androgyny in men, especially androgyny that doesn’t necessarily adopt the look of a woman. Bowie’s androgyny was not of the “I want to look like a woman” type but rather of the “I want to look strange” type.
One element of Bowie’s androgyny during his Ziggy phase was his skinny-mullet hairstyle. It was too much for America even though it was widely accepted throughout Europe and Australia. Both men and women adopted the skinny mullet hairstyle but America’s youth were reviled by it.
Of course, Bowie went on to big commercial success all over the world. He was truly a showman who thrived on being thought of as unorthodox in image and song.
Giancarlo85
@Brian: You can’t even making a post where you don’t sound insulting. Your entire post was condescending towards Bowie as if he was doing something wrong. Take your opinions somewhere else.
Glücklich
@Giancarlo85:
“Dancing in the Streets.” I’m familiar with that video. Too sad.
In Bowie’s honor, I’m wearing red shoes (oxblood anyway) and dancing the blues.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
queerty gorl you fucking better have a better tribute than this tagged on afterthought ..something fucking spectacular too..or you’ll know what under pressure is bitch
Glücklich
@Brian:
Congratulations on aping Harry Reasoner visiting the Haight in the 60’s you skidmark.
What do you think of “America’s youth” dancing their morals away, unchaperoned, to the Devil’s music in late-night discotheques?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zHmi9y-KLo
Giancarlo85
@Glücklich: Don’t pay much attention to Brian. Apparently clicking on his nonexistent Facebook profile it says 1994. That is the year he was born. The kid has a lot to learn. He also thinks Theodore Shoebat is sexy and that sums up how ridiculous he is.
May I also say the Rolling Stones themselves were considered devil worshippers, yet always generated huge crowds in the US. A certain recording of “Sympathy for the Devil” filmed at Altamont comes to mind (On a side note: Under My Thumb is the song were the Hells Angels killed the guy who had a gun).
Glücklich
@Giancarlo85:
My father was at that show. He’d have just come home from Vietnam within the prior year. Altamont’s about half an hour from where I grew up and where my parents still live.
You’d have passed near the site if you’ve ever driven up to the Bay Area via 5 to 580. It is *still* really middle of nowhere and must have felt even more desolate in 1969.
Blackceo
I am so gutted at awaking to this news. I was just listening to his new album yesterday. Very rare that a celebrity/musical death brings me to tears, but this did. As an 80s kid, David Bowie was such a part of the soundtrack of my upbringing and one of the very few artists who I listened to as a child and still listen to presently. He made being different and “weird” be cool and accepted. He was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
I saw him in concert during his A Reality Tour in 2004 and it was amazing. I went with a group of childhood friends who also loved Bowie and it was one of those memories that will be among the best of my life. We had so much fun. Also, his marriage to Iman is one of the most iconic rock royalty marriages. The British music legend marrying the gorgeous Somalian model. My heart goes out to her and his kids. Glad I have the day off work so I can just play his music all day. Starman, Heroes, Dancing in the Street, Ziggy Stardust, Dancing in the Street, Lets Dance, and many other great songs. Huge huge loss!!!!!
Eric Carr
I wonder if they ever slept together 😛
Aromaeus
David Bowie was a r@cist, ped0phile, nazi sympathizer but now that he’s dead we’re supposed to mourn him like it was some great loss for humanity. Just like Joan Rivers I’m happy that demon is dead. Ya’ll are ridiculous.
Avery Alvarez
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your music will live on forever, Starman.
dvlaries
https://youtu.be/N4d7Wp9kKjA
Blackceo
@PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID:
OK!!!! You better GATHER them!!!! I think they took your advice.
Nebbish
He gave new meaning to the word androgyny.
Nebbish
@Aromaeus: Tell us what you really think.
Giancarlo85
@Aromaeus: And you’re a brainless half wit idiot who hasn’t had an original thought in who knows how long. Seriously… go f-k yourself.
Anyways onto a more respectful subject (and no Bowie was not a n@zi sympathizer or whatever the brainless one thinks on here).
This was one of my favorite movies featuring Bowie… he made an awesome Goblin King.
http://www.mtv.com/news/2726700/david-bowie-labyrinth-goblin-king/
David Myers
@Ian Watson: He was born on January 8, 1947 which makes him 69 at the time he died two days after his birthday.
1EqualityUSA
Glucklich, Thanks for the GD vid. You’re spot on with your description of Brian’s inane wikipedia breakdown of Bowie.
onthemark
Damn, this really did get to me. Some gay kids in the early ’70s, like me, found weird David Bowie to be deeply reassuring. He made difference & “oddity” seem possible and somehow, even necessary. By the time of “Under Pressure” he was mainstream, and apparently more at the hetero end of the scale, but still weird. I never thought about it in these terms before, but because of Bowie’s existence I never felt like a total pariah just for being an ordinary gay guy – the way so many STILL do today – so I really had a pretty easy time coming out. He wasn’t a “role model” exactly, for timid souls like me, more of an explorer/pathfinder. But probably a real role model for more adventurous types.
(Although some old photos of me beg to differ! Perhaps I was more influenced by Bowie than I realized. Maybe we all were.)
Thanks to everyone here who posted links & videos.
Curtispsf
With all the tributes to Bowie posted here, my respect for the Queerty “family” increased exponentially. I thought I was the only one; glad to see that I was wrong.
Curtispsf
https://youtu.be/NkefglL9c4c
Franklin
Querty. You really have to do something about this comment policy. You moderate comments for the most absurd reasons. Also, it’s been my experience that when you moderate comments in the past you never get around to approving them. Can you please fix this problem.
Glücklich
@Franklin:
Laugh of the day! Thanks!!