In 1983, two of the biggest voices in music ended up inside the same home studio.
Michael Jackson was riding the explosion of Thriller.
Freddie Mercury was already one of rock’s most recognizable frontmen.
And for a brief moment, they seriously tried to make music together.
The sessions took place at Michael’s home studio in Encino, California, where the pair worked on three songs: “State of Shock,” “There Must Be More to Life Than This” and “Victory.”
On paper, it looked like a dream collaboration.
But the songs never became the Michael-and-Freddie project fans might have expected.
Freddie later gave the simplest explanation: they were both too busy.
He said they had several tracks underway, but their schedules made it almost impossible to be in the same country long enough to properly finish them. When Michael later asked Freddie to return and complete “State of Shock,” Freddie was tied up with Queen commitments in Munich.
Michael eventually recorded the finished version with Mick Jagger, and it appeared on the Jacksons’ 1984 album Victory.
But there was apparently another reason Freddie was becoming frustrated.
And it involved a llama.
Queen manager Jim “Miami” Beach later recalled receiving an unusual call from Freddie during the sessions.
According to Beach, Freddie wanted out because Michael had brought his pet llama into the studio.
His complaint was essentially:
“You’ve got to get me out of here. I’m recording with a llama.”
The story has become legendary, although it should be treated as Beach’s recollection rather than Freddie’s official explanation for ending the collaboration.
Freddie himself publicly blamed time and scheduling.
Michael Jackson & Freddie Mercury – “There Must Be More to Life Than This”
This is the officially released Michael-and-Freddie duet, issued decades later on Queen’s Queen Forever compilation in 2014. The track uses Freddie and Michael’s original vocals with a production completed by William Orbit.
Of their three collaborations, it became the only one officially released with both voices.
“State of Shock” survived in demo form with Freddie but was ultimately released with Mick Jagger.
The third song, “Victory,” remained unfinished and unreleased. Queen-related accounts describe it as a much rougher recording created during the sessions rather than a completed production.
There have also been stories that Michael disliked Freddie’s drug use during the sessions, but those accounts are less firmly documented and should not be treated as the definitive reason the partnership ended.
What we know from Freddie himself is much less dramatic.
He liked the songs.
He still considered Michael a friend.
They simply never found enough time to finish what they had started.
That is what makes the recordings so fascinating today.
Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury were not just two legends who once talked about collaborating.
They actually stood in Michael’s home studio, sang together and left three songs behind.
And somewhere between Queen’s schedule, Michael’s exploding career and — according to Jim Beach — one very unexpected llama, one of music’s biggest possible collaborations slipped away.