The “blatant ripoff” that Freddie Mercury “couldn’t believe”
Queen‘s collaboration with David Bowie on ‘Under Pressure’ is one for the ages. The song took place at the height of their respective fame, and they teamed up to create a masterpiece. While many collaborations of this stature fail to live up to the hype, thankfully, this wasn’t the case with ‘Under Pressure’, which became a signature track.
Although the recording process was marred with difficulties as Brian May attempted to understand Bowie’s complicated creative mind, the final result was worth every moment of difficulty in the studio. ‘Under Pressure’ became one of the decade’s biggest songs, and their performance of the track at Live Aid proved to be a crowning moment for both acts.
It’s a song that reached perfection, and no remix or cover version could ever eclipse the original’s magic. However, a few years after it was released, Vanilla Ice decided to steal the track without their permission on ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’, much to the frustration of Queen, who would never have green-lit the sample.
Following the release, Queen and Bowie successfully sued Vanilla Ice and are now classed as co-writers on the one-hit wonder’s only notable composition. The case was always likely to rule in their favour, but monetary compensation doesn’t make up for his butchering of ‘Under Pressure’.
Peter ‘Phoebe’ Freestone worked as Mercury’s assistant and was with the Queen frontman when he was first exposed to Vanilla Ice’s monstrosity. In a blog post, he recalled: “He carried on eating his breakfast and suddenly stopped, frowning. I thought there was a problem with his food but he said ‘no’. He started listening intently and couldn’t believe his ears. He was smiling when he said that he couldn’t believe what he was hearing … a blatant ripoff.”
Freestone then called the band’s manager on Mercury’s behalf before deciding it was best if they “left it at that, always remembering that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”.
Mercury’s bemused reaction to ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’ is tame compared to Queen drummer Roger Taylor, who once quipped: “I don’t like the record very much, but he’s a white rapper from Florida. Great. With a funny haircut. It’s taken from our record, there’s no doubt about it. I don’t know why every rap artist that I’ve come across, they… I think arrogance seems to be a definite part of their ‘thing’. Dance your way out of that one, Vanilla!”
Although the song was a huge hit for Vanilla Ice, the disapproval from those who helped make the track possible likely hurt inside. The rapper might have tried to claim the bass lines were different on the two songs, but thankfully, the court of public opinion and the legal court didn’t fall for his faux denial. Furthermore, to rub salt into his wounds, Queen were reportedly paid $4million for their contribution to ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’.
