Many people know, but many people also do not know that between 1981 and 1983 Freddie Mercury recorded several tracks with none other than Michael Jackson. None of these collaborations were ever officially released, although bootleg recordings luckily do exist. One of these duets that I like quite a bit is called "There Must Be More To Life Than This" and you can listen to the demo recording from 1983 right here...

Mercury would later include a solo version of that song on his Mr. Bad Guy album (1985). Another song that Mercury and Jackson collaborated on was "State of Shock." The song was written by Michael Jackson and guitarist Randy Hansen. The song would eventually be recorded by The Jacksons with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger (instead of Mercurcy) and released on the Victory album in 1984. No explanation was ever given to why Mercury was replaced. There is a demo recording version of the original "State of Shock" and you can listen to it right here...

As I said, the song was released with Jackson singing with Jagger and the song was a big success reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and #14 on the UK Singles Chart. Whether it was with Mercury or with Jagger, it is pretty incredible to see these music icons collaborate on a song. I don't remember loving this song when it first came out, but it has grown on me more over the years. It does rank on my Top 80s Duets list (which coincidentally is topped by "Under Pressure"). There is not an official video for the song that I could find, but you can hear the Jackson/Jagger final version of "State of Shock" right here...

One more interesting note on the song "State of Shock" is that Mick Jagger performed a version of it at 1985's Live Aid with another music icon, Tina Turner. You can watch this legendary performance of "State of Shock" from Live Aid right here...

With both Freddie Mercury and, more recently, Michael Jackson gone, I find it more intriguing to hear these demo recordings from the early 80s. Michael Jackson was just about to become the King of Pop and Mercury was already "one of the most dynamic and charismatic frontmen in rock history." It is incredible that these legendary icons performed together even if the results were never officially released. They certainly don't make them like that anymore and, yep, you guessed it, it happened back in the 80s.

That's all for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on the "Like" button. Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". I am sending daily 80s tweets, so sign up to get those. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: One of my most popular issues here at Kickin' it Old School is my Top Dancing Scenes from 80s Movies list. I just came across this video which includes a few of those scenes (though it does include a lot of scenes from non-80s movies too). It is appropriately set to "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins. Enjoy...

Quote of the day: "If you don't risk anything, you risk even more." - Erica Jong, Novelist and poet