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”. 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.”
A contributing factor to the delay from the time it was recorded was Mercury’s frustration over Jackson’s insistence that his pet llama be allowed to attend recording sessions. According to manager Jim Beach Freddie told him “Can you get me out of here. I’m recording with a llama.” Michael wasn’t keen on Freddie’s recreational drug use during their recording sessions. Mercury returned to London soon after and the track remained unfinished.