A musical match made in pop-rock heaven was cut short — thanks, bizarrely, to a llama. Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson set out to blend their legendary talents during Queen’s hiatus in 1983.
With mutual admiration and a shared vision for a funkier sound, the duo seemed destined for greatness — until studio sessions were reportedly derailed by Jackson’s unexpected guest: his pet llama. What could’ve been an iconic collaboration never quite made it past the barnyard.
Mercury and Jackson recorded three songs together — “Victory,” “State of Shock,” and “There Must Be More to Life Than This” — at Jackson’s home studio in Encino, California.
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Despite their collaboration, none of the tracks was included on Mercury’s 1985 solo album Mr. Bad Guy.
Instead, a solo rendition of “There Must Be More to Life Than This” appeared on Mr Bad Guy, while “State of Shock” ended up being a collaboration with Mick Jagger on the Jackson 5’s 1984 album Victory.
“I think the last straw was when Michael brought his pet llama into the studio,” Jo Burt — who played bass on Mr. Bad Guy — told the New York Post.
He added: “I think Freddie sort of took umbrage to that.”
According to the publication, Mercury tapped Queen’s manager Jim “Miami” Beach to get out of the situation.
“Mercury rang me and said, ‘Miami, dear, can you get over here? You’ve got to get me out of here, I’m recording with a llama,’ ” Beach said in the 2012 documentary Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, per the New York Post.
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Mercury pursued creative independence with his 1985 solo album Mr. Bad Guy, following earlier solo efforts under the pseudonym Larry Lurex in 1973 and for the 1984 Metropolis soundtrack.
While Mr. Bad Guy was his only solo album, he later collaborated with opera singer Montserrat Caballé on the 1988 album Barcelona. “There Must Be More to Life Than This,” which he initially collaborated on with Jackson, was eventually featured on the 2014 compilation album Queen Forever.
