Rock royalty Freddie Mercury reportedly “refused to work” with the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, after a significant blunder by the Thriller star.
The planned collaborations between the two music icons were cut short due to a major disagreement that appeared beyond repair.
Mercury, having taken a break from Queen to focus on solo ventures, found himself in the studio with Jackson, hot off the heels of his platinum-selling hit, Thriller.
Despite their potential as a dream team, very little from their joint studio sessions ever reached the public ear.
A defining “last straw” incident occurred early in the recording process, leading Mercury to desperately ask one of his session musicians to rescue him from the situation.
Jo Burt, who collaborated with Mercury on his solo album Mr. Bad Guy, recounted how the Queen legend was put off by Jackson’s unpredictable behaviour in the studio.
The recording sessions took place in 1983, following the release of Mercury’s solo work and just before Queen’s triumphant comeback at Live Aid in 1985.
Burt recalled that an animal present in the studio was the tipping point for Mercury, prompting him to call his bass guitarist to fetch him from the studio.
Despite the fallout, Mercury and Jackson did manage to lay down the track There Must Be More to Life Than This before Mercury walked away from the project.
The song was part of Mercury’s 1985 album, Mr. Bad Guy, which he spent over a year working on. However, his collaboration with Jackson was cut short due to an unexpected studio guest – Jackson’s pet llama.
According to Burt, Mercury was taken aback by the llama’s presence and asked his manager, Jim ‘Miami’ Beach, to rescue him from the studio.
Burt recalled: “I think the last straw was when Michael brought his pet llama into the studio. I think Freddie sort of took umbrage to that.”
Beach corroborated the story, saying: “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.” The anecdote left fans in stitches, with many praising Mercury for attempting to record alongside the unusual studio guest.
A post on the r/Music subreddit sparked a discussion about the hilarious incident, with some commenters revealing that Jackson’s pet monkey, Bubbles, was also present in the studio, much to Mercury’s dismay.
One fan shared their favorite story about the ill-fated recording session, writing: “My favourite story is when MJ and Freddie Mercury tried to record a duet with Bubbles (Jackson’s pet chimp) in the studio.
“Michael made Bubbles sit between them and would turn to the chimp between takes and ask, ‘Don’t you think that was lovely?’ Or, ‘Do you think we should do that again?’ After a few days of this, Freddie just exploded… ‘I’m not performing with a f**king chimp sitting next to me each night.'”.
David Wigg, a close friend of Mercury and a writer, has since corroborated the tale, stating: “He phoned his manager and told him to ‘Get me out of this zoo.’ Freddie then flew back to London, leaving the track musically unfinished.”