The song featured two of the biggest stars on the planet at the time. That’s why it’s somewhat surprising how murky the details surrounding “State Of Shock” are. While credited to The Jacksons and Mick Jagger when released in 1984, the song was essentially Jagger and Michael Jackson trading yelps and grunts on the microphone.
Even though the song hit the Top 10 in 1984, it’s somewhat of an obscurity today, rarely played and somewhat unloved. Let’s delve into the somewhat confused circumstances to find out just why that might be.
Videos by American Songwriter
Mercury Bows Out
The first thing that you have to realize about “State Of Shock”, which might explain its odd place in history, is that Mick Jagger was a Plan B. Initially, Michael Jackson planned to record the song with Freddie Mercury. And the pair did lay the track down, at least as a demo.
In fact, Jackson and Mercury worked on several songs together for a planned release. There were even rumors of a colossal collaboration featuring The Jacksons and Queen. But that never quite came to pass, and why that is stands as one of the first mysteries surrounding this song.
The old standby excuse “scheduling conflicts” has been bandied about as a possibility. Still, it’s hard to imagine, considering the monumental pairing, that such concerns would be prohibitive. It seems more than likely that there was some kind of record company conflict that prevented these tracks, including “State Of Shock”, from seeing the light of day.
“Shock” Treatment
Still, the idea of Jackson releasing the song as a major collaboration with another artist didn’t die. That’s when Mick Jagger entered the picture. In 1983, which is when Jagger recorded his vocals, he was constantly fighting with Keith Richards over the artistic direction of The Rolling Stones and only a few years from starting his solo career. Such a duet likely proved very tempting.
How this duet took place stands as another confused part of the story. Some reports claim that Jagger simply added his vocals to a preexisting recording. Others say that the two men did work on the vocals together (this seems like the more likely story), although the session was relatively quick.
“State Of Shock” certainly sinks into a fiery, minimalistic funk groove, at least when it comes to the music. There’s not much to the lyrics, however, and the arrangement, with Jackson and Jagger kind of screaming on top of each other during the verses, doesn’t do the song any favors either. Even though the song made it to No. 3, it petered out pretty fast, lacking the durability that the star power behind it might suggest.
Mick & Mike’s Misfire
We’re also not sure who wrote “State Of Shock”. It’s credited to Jackson and Randy Hansen. But Hansen, a guitarist who worked with Jackson, likely didn’t have much to do with it. Jackson once claimed that a 12-year-old named Randy Hansen actually wrote the lyrics. More than likely, Freddie Mercury contributed lyrics but couldn’t be credited for the same contractual reasons listed above.
And what of the aftermath? Well, we don’t have much in the way of direct quotes from the participants about the experience. But based on several books, it seems that neither Jackson nor Jagger was rushing to form a mutual appreciation society after everything was done.
In the end, “State Of Shock” was more event than song. The fact that it’s more notable today for the curiosity surrounding its creation than the actual listening experience it provides says a lot about it.
(Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)