The biggest hit off The Nylon Curtain was "Pressure," Billy's manic ode to paranoia and stress. The song features a 1980s synthesizer sound and relentless pounding beat. I was not a big fan of the song at the time, probably because the shortened radio version of it was played to death in 1982. But when I hear it now I realize it's quite good and complex. Maybe it would be considered an underrated song if it had not been released as a single and overplayed.
Billy said that "[t]he pressure I was writing about in this song wasn't necessarily music business pressure, it was writing pressure. ... At the time, I was saying, 'Well, I gotta write some more stuff for the album'; I was about halfway through, and I said, 'Well, what am I gonna do? I don't have any ideas, it's gone, it's dead, I have nothing, nothing, nothing. There's nothing.' And then the woman who is my secretary came into the house at that point and said, 'Wow, you look like you're under a lot of pressure. I bet you that'd be a good idea for a song.' And I went, 'Thank you!'" From CosmicAmerican blog.  European single cover.
The single version of "Pressure" was shortened for radio play and does not contain the third verse ("Don't ask for help, you're all alone . . .") and the second bridge. It peaked at #20 on US charts in 1982.
The music video for "Pressure" (see below and right) was also played to death on MTV back in the early 80s. The video was innovative for the time, as it was an quite impressionistic take on the song with clever camera effects and scenes, as well as references to science fiction movies such as A Clockwork Orange and Poltergeist. It opens with a writhing Billy sitting in front of a large video screen showing photos from events in the last thirty years (which could have been an apt video for "We Didn't Start The Fire").
The video was directed by well-known music video producer Russell Mulcahy, who also produced the videos for "Allentown" and "She's Right On Time." You must have been living in a cave in 1982 if you never saw this interesting video. Decades later, hard rock band Born From Ashes released a cover of "Pressure" and also made a music video. It's an interesting cover and I give them credit for putting their own spin to it. Here's another good cover from The Evidence an alternative rock band from Canada. |
You have to learn to pace yourself
Pressure You're just like everybody else Pressure You've only had to run so far, so good But you will come to a place Where the only thing you feel Are loaded guns in your face And you'll have to deal with pressure You used to call me paranoid Pressure But even you can not avoid Pressure You turned the tap dance into your crusade Now here you are with your faith And your Peter Pan advice You have no scars on your face And you cannot handle pressure All grown up and no place to go Psych 1, Psych 2, what do you know? All your life is Channel 13 Sesame Street What does it mean? I'll tell you what it means Pressure Pressure Don't ask for help; you're all alone Pressure You'll have to answer to your own Pressure I'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationale But here you are in the ninth Two men out and three men on Nowhere to look but inside Where we all respond to Pressure Pressure All your life is TIME Magazine I read it too What does it mean? Pressure I'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationale But here you are with your faith And your Peter Pan advice You have no scars on your face And you cannot handle Pressure Pressure Pressure One, two, three, four, pressure Vertical Divider
Billy on "Pressure" from a call-in radio show in 1989.
Billy discusses "Pressure" on SiriusXM in 2016.
A contemporary artist whose works I admire is Sage Barnes. See his website. He has a work entitled Pressure #1, shown above (left); the man in the grey suit and black is similar to Billy on The Stranger album cover or in some scenes in the Pressure music video. Sage's paintings call to mind the work of surrealist painter Rene Magritte, including "Son of Man" (1964) (right). "What does it mean?"
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Videos
In its day, the music video to "Pressure" was one of the most interesting and eclectic. It was on heavy rotation on MTV. © 1982 Sony Music Entertainment.
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Live performance of "Pressure" from 1982's Live From Long Island.
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Live performance of "Pressure" from 1987's Live in Lengingrad.
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