When Queen nearly had a terrible album title inspired by Michael Jackson
28 March 2025, 12:12
Was it really a Bad idea by Freddie Mercury?
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In 1989, Queen released their 13th studio album The Miracle.
It was the follow-up to A Kind of Magic, and the three-year gap was the longest the band had waited since they released their self-titled debut all the way back in 1973.
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The album spawned five singles, the most enduring of which was the lead track 'I Want it All', but did you know The Miracle could have been very different indeed?
Speaking to Mojo, Brian May revealed that Queen frontman Freddie Mercury suggested a title riffing on fellow superstar Michael Jackson's all-conquering recent release.
"He came in one day and announced, 'I've got this amazing idea. You know Michael Jackson has just put out this album called Bad? … Well, listen… What do you think about us calling our next album Good?'," May said.
"We all looked at each other and said, 'Well, maybe we should think about it, Freddie.'
"It wasn't one of his world-shattering ideas, but looking back, maybe we were wrong..."
May added that Freddie very much saw himself as Queen's singer rather than the band's leader, and continued: "Deep down Freddie was one of the shyest people I've ever met, but he was so full of bluster you'd forget.
"Freddie would always be excited, and his excitement would take over… He'd be so full of excitement he could hardly speak.
"Freddie's ideas were off the wall and cheeky and different — and we tended to encourage them. Sometimes the idea he brought in was brilliant, and sometimes not brilliant."
As it turned out, The Miracle got to number one in the UK album charts and number 24 in the US, so it all worked out okay in the end.
