In 1981 David Bowie and Queen both happened to be in Switzerland: They met and made 'Under Pressure'. Recorded on a lark, the song broke the path for subsequent pop anthems. In his book Under Pressure, Max Brzezinski tells the classic track’s story, charting the relationship between pop music, collective politics, and dominant institutions of state, corporations, and civil society.

Brzezinski shows that, like all great pop anthems, 'Under Pressure' harnesses collective sentiments in order to model new ways of thinking and acting. As we continue to live under the sign of the global oppressive power the song names, analyses and attempts to move beyond, we remain, in Bowie and Freddie Mercury’s phrase, under pressure.

Duke University Press, 144pp, 17.8cm x 17.8cm, paperback, 2025