The Michael Jackson afterbirth conspiracy

Anyone know why the abomination that was the Queen + Michael Jackson song is not available on any streaming service? Was it a Queen decision to remove it? Pretty obvious that, being as both Roger and Brian are in posession of a pair of ears each, they hated this version as much as everyone else (apart from William Orbit) did.

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Does this mean we can now pretend that the ugly child was never really part of the family, and we can adopt THIS https://soundcloud.com/albert-eriksen-638244452/queen-ft-michael-jackson-there-must-be-more-to-life-than-this-gold-mix-2014 version, which Roger basically owns in the above video, as the real Queen + Michael Jackson effort?

I don't know but if I had to guess, I'd say it was more likely a licensing issue rather than a conscious decision to remove it because Brian and/or Rog weren't happy with it.

The Orbit mix of both tracks (TMBNTLTT and LMIYHA) are horrific. I recall an interview with Roger at the time saying that they also had asked him to mix/remix some other tracks...hopefully they saw sense and decided to shelve those.

It was such a waste to release this compromise mix of this track to please the Jackson estate, and putting all three new tracks on Forever seemed to lead them straight to obscurity....shame.

I didn't mind the Orbit mix of LMIYHA at all; but the Jackson/Freddie track suffered from the very start because the power was in the Jacksons' hands seemingly; I recall Roger saying in a rather diplomatic and courteous way how they thought that their version (Queen's) was superior and that we may all hear it one day.

I think there's a chance we might have heard it. That "Gold Mix" is pretty professionally done with a few alternate takes that I think that might be the real one leaked by the band since they knew they couldn't release it....

I think there's a chance we might have heard it. That "Gold Mix" is pretty professionally done with a few alternate takes that I think that might be the real one leaked by the band since they knew they couldn't release it....

I've just listened to this for the first time - it wipes the floor with the released version. Lovely stuff - sounds suspiciously unfanmade to me.

I think there's a chance we might have heard it. That "Gold Mix" is pretty professionally done with a few alternate takes that I think that might be the real one leaked by the band since they knew they couldn't release it....

No real percussion or bass though. Seems like if it is genuine then it's a mid point mix that got leaked along the way...

^ Possible. It might be. We can't know for sure. But there's definitely enough red flags for me to think there's a genuine feel to it....

^ Possible. It might be. We can't know for sure. But there's definitely enough red flags for me to think there's a genuine feel to it....

Indeed. That certainly sounds like Brian playing, and the vocal tracks are damn clean.

Thinking back to the posthumous Michael Jackson single Hold My Hand, which was one of the last to get a CD single release, there were a couple of mixes on the disc beyond the main mix, and one was a stripped back, strings version without any major percussion elements. A similar two-mix policy was in place a few months earlier when This Is It was released in two very different 'official' versions.

So it's possible that this mix was a similar stylistic choice on the request of 'the estate'. Perhaps this is the Queen mix, sans Roger and John, made to be a B-Side to their main mix? It certainly feels odd that Roger and John are absent from this, when Roger in particular made a big thing about how the version we were hearing when it was released was "all four of us with Michael".

You know that's a good point. I forgot about the MJ mix. Well hopefully we'll eventually get some answers on it. And hopefully if there is a more full version, we'll hear that too...

I wonder if there's a possibility of the full Queen version, or another mix, featuring in the upcoming 'Bohemian Rhapsody' movie? It happened at a key point, with Freddie's first real foray into a possible solo career, so working with MJ could be used dramatically to rack up the band tensions in the lead up to Mr Bad Guy? Even if there is just a very short recreation of their studio sessions, the final full track could then feature on the soundtrack album. If nearer the time we see a cast list naming an actor portraying MJ then it's a step nearer!

I wonder if there's a possibility of the full Queen version, or another mix, featuring in the upcoming 'Bohemian Rhapsody' movie? It happened at a key point, with Freddie's first real foray into a possible solo career, so working with MJ could be used dramatically to rack up the band tensions in the lead up to Mr Bad Guy? Even if there is just a very short recreation of their studio sessions, the final full track could then feature on the soundtrack album. If nearer the time we see a cast list naming an actor portraying MJ then it's a step nearer!

That would depend on the Michael Jackson Estate being happy enough with the mix to allow its release. They didn't like it, and vetoed in... so they'd have to change their mind, first...

One can only assume they didn't like it because it shares the spoils between MJ and FM, whereas their god-awful, mud-mix tries to trample all over the Fred vocal, only calming its knickers down when the MJ vocal starts.

How anybody claiming to be a sound engineer didn't hear that is bewildering, even Roger is happy to criticise it and this from a band who NEVER admit fault!

There are a bunch of different mixes of this duet floating around on YouTube that take a big dump on the officially released version, which was just terrible.

Not heard that Gold Mix before. Agree it sounds more like a leak of something official than a fan-made effort.

I really hope we get to hear the Queen version one day (if that isn't it).