Throughout the Seventies and Eighties, David Bowie dominated the UK Top 40 with an astonishing tally of 39 hit singles. Hot on his heels were the extravagant rock legends Queen, who notched up an impressive 34 chart entries during a similar timeframe.

The pairing of Bowie and Queen seemed destined for chart-topping glory, and indeed their joint effort "Under Pressure" clinched the No. 1 spot for two weeks, enjoying an 11-week tenure in the Top 40.

Despite its success across Europe and making it into the Billboard Top 30, there was one notable detractor: Queen's own guitarist Brian May has openly admitted he "never liked" the final version of the track.

Brian recounted to Total Guitar how the song came about: "It was all done spontaneously in the studio very late at night after we had a meal and a lot of drinks," he said.

"And it was a pretty heavy backing track. When it gets to 'Why can't we give love', we were all working on it together, and it sounded like The Who. It sounded massively chord-driven."

He was initially thrilled with the raw sound they had created. However, sharing the studio with two iconic lead singers—Bowie and Queen's Freddie Mercury —meant that compromises were inevitable.

Brian reminisced about a conversation with Bowie: "I remember saying to David, 'Oh, it sounds like The Who, doesn't it?'".

Bowie's response hinted at the transformation to come: "He said, 'Yeah, well it's not going to sound like The Who by the time I've finished with it!' You know, in a joking kind of way... but he didn't want it to be that way."

Brian disclosed that, facing the formidable creativity of two musical legends vying to stamp their identity on a track, he thought it prudent to "bow out" and let them proceed.

He acknowledged the immense talent present, remarking: "David was an awesome creative force."

However, the star added: "But you can't have too many awesome creative forces in the same room. It starts to get very difficult! Something has to give."

There were already sufficient opinions swirling within the confines of the studio, Brian conceded.

Looking back, he said: "I think it's probably the only time in my career I bowed out, because I knew it was going to be a fight. Basically it was Freddie and David fighting it out in the studio with the mix. And what happened in the mix was that most of that heavy guitar was lost."

Additionally, Brian reflected on his musical contributions that didn't make the final cut: "And even the main riff, I played that electric, pretty much in the sort of arpeggiated style which I do live now.

"But that never made it into the mix. What they used was the acoustic bits which were done first as a sort of demo."

Without the input of Queen's other members, however, the iconic song 'Under Pressure' might not have come to fruition. Queen's drummer Roger Taylor revealed it was bassist John Deacon who originated the compelling two-note motif that establishes the foundation of the tune.

In the documentary 'Queen – Days of our Lives,' Roger reminisced about how John constructed the line but then forgetfully lost grasp of it after they had dined out together.

Fortuitously, the motif had etched itself into Roger's memory, enabling him to rekindle the notes for John, thereby playing a crucial role in birthing what would become Queen's second UK Number One hit and Bowie's third.