[5][6] Explaining his choice of musical style for the song, Bowie said: "The film essentially deals with a girl's emotions and what she's going through, discovering about herself and her parents and her relationship to her family.

[5] Lead guitar was played by blues guitarist Albert Collins, whose contribution to the song was described by Bowie as "a very savage, rough, aggressive sound which goes against some of the maybe superficial slickness of the synthesizers.

[7] The video portrays Bowie as a nightclub singer who walks into an ominous alleyway where he encounters various puppet creatures from Labyrinth, including characters such as Hoggle and the Junk Lady.

Before his descent there is a brief montage of numerous past images of Bowie, including musical personae from Ziggy Stardust to Jazzin' for Blue Jean and his film characters from The Man Who Fell To Earth and The Hunger.

[7][8] Labyrinth director Jim Henson was impressed enough with Barron's style to offer him a job directing the pilot episode of The Storyteller.

[13][14] According to Screen Rant, the video can be interpreted as "background and lore to Bowie's character" Jareth, showing an origin story "of how he was an ordinary man that wandered into the Underground (the world of Labyrinth), and became the Goblin King.

Brusie also wrote that "Underground" is "distinctly American-sounding, making for a striking ending" to Labyrinth, as the film's story is "steeped in European influences like Alice In Wonderland and Grimm’s fairy tales.