Michael Jackson was a big Queen fan, and he said so. Queen’s lead singer, Freddie Mercury, the man behind “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are the Champions,” was just as keen to work with him.
So in the summer of 1983, with “Thriller” still flying off the shelves, the two of them finally got together to make music.
They didn’t book a fancy studio. Freddie came to Michael’s family home in Encino, California, where Michael had his own recording studio set up inside the house. Freddie’s personal assistant, Peter Freestone, was there with him, and he’s told the story in interviews since.
The two stars worked on three songs. One was “State of Shock,” a song Michael already had nearly finished. Another was “There Must Be More to Life Than This,” a soft piano tune Freddie had started writing. The third, “Victory,” they made up right there on the spot.
There was just one problem. The home studio didn’t have any drums.
So Peter stood up and banged a toilet door in perfect time while the tape rolled. He says that what sounds like a bass drum on one of those tracks is really him and that door, going for about five minutes straight.
Freddie later talked about those songs himself, and he never lost hope for them. Queen used a piece of that old interview to open the trailer for their 2014 album.
Freddie talks about the songs he made with Michael
“They were great songs,” Freddie once said. “But the problem was time, as we were both very busy at that period.”
He wasn’t wrong. Michael was the biggest star in the world, and Freddie had Queen. When Michael later called and asked Freddie to come finish “State of Shock,” Freddie was stuck in Munich, Germany, working. Michael asked if Mick Jagger could sing it instead, and Freddie said yes. Michael and Mick’s version became a big hit in 1984.
Freddie recorded his own solo version of “There Must Be More to Life Than This” in 1985. But the version with Michael’s voice on it stayed locked away.
It took 31 years. In 2014, Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor finally put the duet out on their album “Queen Forever,” with Michael and Freddie singing together and the band playing behind them.
The song Michael and Freddie finally released
So why did Freddie want out of that house in the first place?
Michael’s home back then had what Peter Freestone called a mini zoo, and he says Michael’s favorite animals at the time were llamas. Queen’s longtime manager, Jim Beach, later said Freddie phoned him from the sessions and begged, “You have to get me out of the studio.” The reason, Freddie reportedly told him, was that Michael kept bringing his pet llama into the room while they worked.
Peter’s own memories of that day don’t mention the llama at all, so nobody can be sure how much of it is true. But it’s become one of the most loved stories about two of the greatest voices in music.
And the third song, “Victory”? Peter says it has never been heard.