Michael Jackson’s Pet Llama Once Got in the Way of a Recording Session With Freddie Mercury

For decades, fans, journalists, and filmmakers have been trying to fully understand and articulate the complex and incredibly eccentric character of Michael Jackson. A plethora of sources suggests that the root of Jackson’s personality stems from his childhood trauma, extreme fame, and self-isolation. How those factors then materialized was seemingly through Jackson’s drug abuse, extensive plastic surgery, his “Neverland” ranch, and the ownership of many exotic pets.

Let’s be real, most musicians carry a thread of eccentricness. In the profession, it is seemingly unavoidable. One acclaimed artist who certainly falls into the eccentric category is Freddie Mercury. However, even for him, Jackson’s disposition was too much, specifically, his exotic pets. For context, Jackson owned several exotic pets, including a chimp named Bubbles, an elephant named Ali, and two tigers named Thriller and Sabu. Though the exotic pet Mercury had a problem with was Jackson’s llama, Louie.

After Michael Jackson’s Llama Entered the Room, Freddie Mercury Was Gone

In 1983, Queen was on a brief break. During this break, Freddie Mercury was creating his only solo album, Mr. Bad Guy. The album itself wasn’t released until 1985 and went on to become massively successful, as it peaked at No. 6 in the UK, with the title track reaching the No. 11 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Amidst the recording for this album, Mercury had a joint session with Michael Jackson, but as we mentioned, it didn’t last very long.

In the recording session, Jackson and Mercury reportedly worked on three duets. However, the two never finished them, and that is thanks to Jackson’s pet llama, Louie. Concerning the oddity, the album’s bass player, Jo Burt, told the New York Post, “I think the last straw was when Michael brought his pet llama into the studio. I think Freddie sort of took umbrage to that.”

In the  2012 documentary Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, manager Jim “Miami” Beach recalled, “Mercury rang me and said, ‘Miami, dear, can you get over here? You’ve got to get me out of here. I’m recording with a llama.’”

Needless to say, Mercury did not finish the session. One of the songs Jackson and Mercury were allegedly supposed to release together was  “There Must Be More to Life Than This”. However, given the disastrous session, Mercury released it as a solo track on his debut solo album.

Don’t get us wrong, this is an incredibly peculiar story. At the same time, it’s not though. After all, this is the music industry, a place where folks encourage weirdness and individuality. Regardless, this was not just another day at the office for Freddie Mercury.

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