“Under pressure” is the title of one of the most recognized songs of such an explosive mix as David Bowie & Queen. There are several conflicting stories about its origin and about who started what, but what we want to highlight is that, as Brian May (Queen musician) tells it, it all started with experiments and improvisations without having any idea of ??where they would end. Once they got the famous bass line and incorporated it into the song, the whole band began to explore possibilities to create something bigger.
“David said something like: “We must work by intuition, something will happen.” And he was right. It happened. I added some guitar on top of John’s riff (David was later adamant that it should be played on a 12-string guitar, so I went back over it and corrected it). Then we all contributed ideas for what would be the musical accompaniment. The track had something that sounded like a verse, followed by a quiet snippet designed for a later climax. I embedded my riff there.”
Intuition, without going into more nuances about what happened that creative night, resulted in an unforgettable classic that combines the poetry of Bowie mixed with the ever-changing rock of Queen, in a melody that is shown magnificently by unusual voices of both vocalists.
At Cookie Box we think that, in this case, intuition, understood as the knowledge that musicians possess – consciously or not, as a result of their individual and collective experiences – allowed them to find a space for common expression in which to overcome differences of judgment and style. And get a special work without even knowing the scope of that new thing that they started aimlessly.
As in our VUCA environment, in pure uncertainty, they decided on their intuition by opening up to other projections.
And they were right.
* This post is part of the eLearning Change of plans? Change of plane, on how to move nimbly in a world characterized by a high rate of change and low predictability.
