Sorry if this is common knowledge on this forum but...

I had no idea that it was originally intended to be
a Michael Jackson / Freddie Mercury duet..

How did I miss that?

Here's the link to the FM/Jacko version:





From what I was able to gather...Jackson & Mercury had
a recording session a couple years before THRILLER...they
did this song but failed to finish it. In a YouTube video
FM implies that he thought his duet might end up on Thriller
(or maybe he was talking about another track from the FM/Jacko sessions)


IORR............but I like it!

Well I didn't know about MJ & FM.
I dug seeing Mick & Tina in person singing this song @ Live Aid in 85 in Philly.

The story goes that MJ was a tad concerned with Freddies gay image and felt that it would harm his credibility in the US. MJ decided to play it safe and the song was re-recorded with Jagger.

thunderball Wrote:
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> The story goes that MJ was a tad concerned with
> Freddies gay image and felt that it would harm his
> credibility in the US. MJ decided to play it safe
> and the song was re-recorded with Jagger.

Jesus - it's irony layered upon irony there, isn't it...'worried about the co-singer having a gay image'

Thought Freddy tried to lay low with the gay stuff in public?

DandelionPowderman Wrote:
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> Thought Freddy tried to lay low with the gay stuff
> in public?

I'm not so sure about that

I saw another blurb on the internet that said something like....
MJackson caught Freddie doing drugs (coke?) in the bathroom and
"fired" him from the recording session.

obviously it's all speculation.

Has Mick ever spoken about this song or his working relationship
with Michael Jackson? Was Mick merely trying to take advantage of
Jackson's ENORMOUS exposure from Thriller? Or trying to become known
to a different, younger audience/demographic? Following McCartney's
lead....duets w/Michael Jackson re-ignited McCartney's sales.

Did they (MJ & MJ) even record it together in the same studio?


IORR............but I like it!

I would imagine we have Walter Yetnikoff to thank or blame for State of Shock. The Stones and Mick solo had just signed with CBS and The Jacksons were on Epic, a CBS label. Yetnikoff was trying to launch Mick as a solo star and a duet with the other MJ (just like Macca) seemed like a good idea at the time. The song was a big hit and a rare hit of the 80s without an accompanying music video. I would gather Mick had a lack of interest in appearing in a video. There's a Jackson bio that talks about how Michael made Mick show up at the studio early. Mick looked like he just woke up. Michael forced Mick to run through scales before he would sing with him. Whether its true is another matter, but its been repeated in a few Mick bio's since then.