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For as much as classic rock fans might obsess over their favorite bands, there’s always something new to discover. For example, even the biggest Queen fans might not know the extent to which Freddie Mercury worked with Michael Jackson during the 1980s. In fact, Mercury was originally supposed to be a key collaborator on Jackson’s iconic Thriller album.

Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson collaborated in the 1980s 

In interviews (via Express), Mercury opened up about his experience working with Jackson. A fan of Queen’s music, Jackson apparently used to attend the band’s show and ultimately got to talking with Mercury about a possible collaboration over dinner. The way Mercury told it, it sounds like the Queen frontman could have been featured on 1982’s Thriller.

“I think one of the tracks would have been on the Thriller album if I finished it, but I missed out,” Mercury said. And another time he showed even more remorse for how that potential collaboration panned out. “I was initially gonna be on Thriller,” Mercury said. “Can you imagine that? I blew it!” So what exactly went wrong when Mercury missed out on a Thriller track?

How Freddie Mercury missed out on Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’

Mercury himself explained in an interview with Radio One. According to the singer, the song he was to be featured on did eventually get made but with another rock star.

“I went over to his house and did three or four demos to see how they’d work out. ‘State of Shock’ I couldn’t complete. So Mick Jagger did it. I actually did the vocals. Timing is everything. At the time when he wanted me to finish it, I just said, ‘I can’t, I really haven’t got time.’ I was working with Queen. I was in Munich. He was in Los Angeles. He said, ‘Is it OK if Mick does it?’ I said, ‘Fine.’”

Michael Jackson was instrumental in Queen’s biggest hit song

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Even though Jackson and Mercury never appeared together on a track — at least one released during their lifetimes — Queen does owe Jackson a bit of credit for the band’s biggest hit. It was Jackson’s idea for “Another One Bites the Dust,” a track on Queen’s 1980 album The Game, to be released as a single. As a result, the song went to number one.

“Another One Bites the Dust” was only the second Queen song to reach the top of the charts in the United States. The first was “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” an earlier single on The Game. Even decades later, “Another One Bites the Dust” remains one of Queen’s most popular songs. And as it turns out, the band has Jackson partly to thank for that success. 

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