Today I learned that we could have had more music between Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury... but Jackson's d--n llama got in the way. And honestly, it's not surprising considering his history with animals.
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As a fan of both of these musical legends, it makes me sick to think that we could have received two more songs between the King of Pop and the King of Rock. When Freddie was working with Michael Jackson on some music, they only managed to get one song out. And it's all thanks to Jackson's llama, Louie.
Jo Burt, who played fretless bass on Mercury's solo Mr. Bad Guy album, spoke to The New York Post about Mercury and Jackson's time together.
The musical kings were set to work on three duets for Mercury's Mr. Bad Guy record, but two weren't completed in time for the release, so they didn't make the cut. "Victory" and "State of Shock" remained left behind while "There Must Be More to Life Than This" eventually was released.
Although "Victory" and "State of Shock" survived in other forms, we never got the original duet versions.
Burt spoke about the dividing llama. "I think the last straw was when Michael brought his pet llama into the studio," he said. "I think Freddie sort of took umbrage to that." This is such a Michael Jackson thing to do. And it looks like Mercury didn't want the animal around.
Llama Louie Made Freddie Mercury Make A Swift Exit
The Post brought up a 2012 documentary to provide more context about Freddie Mercury's departure. He called up Queen's manager, Jim "Miami" Beach, to ask for a lift out of there. "Miami, dear, can you get over here? You've got to get me out of here, I'm recording with a llama," he allegedly said.
As much as I love Michael Jackson's relationship with animals, especially his chimp Bubbles, could he not have just left the llama at home this one time? Although you could say Freddie Mercury was being a little too precious.
If I rocked up to a studio to see a llama, I'd be all over the thing. I mean, where else are you gonna see a llama in your day-to-day?
It's hard to gauge the situation, as we have woefully little information about what went down. People online propagate and spread rumors and hearsay about why else their collaboration failed. But at least we definitely know the llama thing is true.
