Somewhere between ‘Bad’ and ‘Thriller’, the King of Pop Michael Jackson actually spent time with rock legend and Queen frontman Freddy Mercury, a super-collaboration that ended when the two had a fall out back in ’83. That’s right! Both the singers had recorded songs in Jacksons studio in 1983.
The three songs: ‘There Must Be More to Life Than This,’ ‘State of Shock’ and ‘Victory’ were produced in merely six hours. Wow!
Mercury and Jackson eventually stopped trying to reschedule. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Mercury subsequently fell out with Jackson because the U.S. star objected to Mercury taking too much cocaine in his living room.”
Remember State of Shock?
Almost 3 decade after, sources indicated that two out of the three songs may be released to the public. Queen guitarist Brian May has been belting out the tunes with bandmate Roger Taylor and producer William Orbit. The Jackson estate granted May access to the 1983 tapes two years ago, and he’s been tweaking it since then, layering the demos with additional guitar lines and vocal harmonies.
“There are a few items in progress, we will have something for folks to hear in a couple of months’ time, hopefully.” said May in his blog.
He describes the project as “exciting, challenging, emotionally taxing. But cool.”
The then 21-year old Mercury died in 1991 due to AIDS whilst Jackson died in 2009 following an overdose of prescribed medication.
(Source)