Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Queen and Michael Jackson version  





2 Personnel  





3 Charts  





4 References  














There Must Be More to Life Than This






Euskara

Italiano
עברית
Nederlands

Norsk nynorsk
Polski
Русский
Sicilianu
Українська
 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 
















Appearance
   

 






From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


"There Must Be More to Life Than This"
SongbyFreddie Mercury
from the album Mr. Bad Guy
PublishedQueen Music Ltd.
Released29 April 1985
StudioMusicland, West Germany
Length3:00
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Freddie Mercury
Producer(s)

"There Must Be More to Life Than This" is the eighth track on Queen singer Freddie Mercury's debut solo album Mr. Bad Guy, released on 29 April 1985 by Columbia Records.

The song was originally recorded by Queen for 1982's Hot Space, but failed to make the final version of the album. It was previously recorded as a duet between Mercury and Michael Jackson, along with two other songs: "State of Shock" (later reworked with Mick Jagger for a version by the Jacksons) and "Victory" (which remains unreleased).

Queen and Michael Jackson version[edit]

"There Must Be More to Life Than This"
SongbyQueen featuring Michael Jackson
from the album Queen Forever
PublishedQueen Music Ltd.
Released10 November 2014
Recorded
  • 1981 (original)
  • 2014 (reworked)
Length3:27
Songwriter(s)Freddie Mercury
Producer(s)William Orbit

After Michael Jackson's death in 2009, Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor took steps to secure all three Mercury/Jackson duets, with a view to releasing them in 2012. However, Taylor likened dealing with the Michael Jackson Estate to "wading through glue".[1] Eventually, the parties agreed for "There Must Be More to Life Than This" alone to be released. "I was very pleased we had three new tracks to put on Queen Forever," said Taylor. "As well as the Michael Jackson track 'There Must Be More to Life than This', there is another song Freddie did with him, called 'State of Shock', with a massive rock sound. But we could only have one track with Michael, which is a great shame."[2]

A contributing factor to the delay from the time it was recorded was Mercury's frustration over Jackson's insistence that one or more of his pets be allowed to attend recording sessions. There are conflicting sources on whether Jackson's llama Louie or his chimp Bubbles was the offending animal. According to manager Jim Beach Mercury told him "Can you get me out of here. I'm recording with a llama." According to author David Wigg, Mercury grew frustrated because of Jackson's insistence that Bubbles be in the studio. According to Wigg, "Michael made Bubbles sit between them and would turn to the chimp between takes and ask, 'Don't you think that was lovely?' Or, 'Do you think we should do that again?' After a few days of this, Freddie just exploded ... 'I'm not performing with a fucking chimp sitting next to me each night.'" Jackson wasn't keen on Mercury's recreational drug use during their recording sessions. Mercury returned to London soon after and the track remained unfinished.[3][4]

The version on Queen Forever was produced and mixed by William Orbit, containing the original backing track from the Hot Space sessions with May on guitar, Taylor on drums and John Deacon on bass. An alternative mix by May was rejected in favour of Orbit's. A solo version recorded by Jackson has been recorded and leaked but remains unreleased.

Personnel[edit]

Charts[edit]

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Wallonia)[5] 45
Japan (Japan Hot 100)[6] 39

References[edit]

  1. ^ Alistair Foster (2014-08-27). "Freddie Mercury's duet with Michael Jackson could be rocking you this year, says Queen's Roger Taylor". Standard.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  • ^ Hasted, Nick (February 2015). "Queen reborn". Classic Rock. p. 36.
  • ^ Rachel Chang (2019-09-05). "Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury: The Surprising Reason They Never Released Their Duets". biography.com.
  • ^ "Freddie Mercury angered by Jacko's chimp". Bang Showbiz. Yahoo! News. November 10, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  • ^ "Queen & Michael Jackson – There Must Be More to Life Than This" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  • ^ "Queen Chart History (Japan Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 December 2018.

  • Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=There_Must_Be_More_to_Life_Than_This&oldid=1226106498"

    Categories: 
    1982 songs
    2014 songs
    Freddie Mercury songs
    Queen (band) songs
    Michael Jackson songs
    Song recordings produced by William Orbit
    Songs written by Freddie Mercury
    Male vocal duets
    Hidden categories: 
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Articles needing additional references from November 2016
    All articles needing additional references
    Articles with hAudio microformats
    Single chart usages for Wallonia Tip
    Single chart usages for Billboardjapanhot100
    Single chart called without song
    Articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers
     



    This page was last edited on 28 May 2024, at 15:57 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki