This from producer Lynda Obst in an inteview in the Hollywood Reporter when she worked for David Geffen in the 80s:

But moments on the clock were “phenomenal.” She recalls having a meeting with Prince one day and with Michael Jackson on another. Then there was the day they both were in her office at the same time, sitting across from her. “They happened to be visiting David and I had to entertain them while they waited,” she says. “I just sat there, and they barely looked at each other. I think they were both uncomfortable.”

"just sitting there" isn't very "entertaining".

she should have rolled in a ping pong table!!!

nayroo2002 said:

"just sitting there" isn't very "entertaining".

she should have rolled in a ping pong table!!!

For a layman, it would be HIGHLY entertaining to see two huge stars like that sitting and not communicating, or being awkward.

The thing is, and we didn't really know it back then, is that MJ really saw Prince as a force. He respected him. And Prince had a huge love of the Jacksons and MJ in particular. While they're the same age, MJ had a huge headstart in the business, so Prince grew up with that on his radar. MJ had to be an inspiration for him in the sense of business, professionalism, performance, etc., and filter it his own Princely way.

So I don't necessarily agree with the "uncomfortable" thing. Neither of them wanted to give up any secrets, so the best thing is to just be quiet. They were both shy on their own levels, and who knows - maybe they were both a bit starstruck in a way.

Michael, quietly in his head " hey, we should do a duett. He can start with 'your butt is mine' - hehehehe"

Prince, in his head "I am feeling some strange vibes..."

TrivialPursuit said:

nayroo2002 said:

"just sitting there" isn't very "entertaining".

she should have rolled in a ping pong table!!!

For a layman, it would be HIGHLY entertaining to see two huge stars like that sitting and not communicating, or being awkward.

The thing is, and we didn't really know it back then, is that MJ really saw Prince as a force. He respected him. And Prince had a huge love of the Jacksons and MJ in particular. While they're the same age, MJ had a huge headstart in the business, so Prince grew up with that on his radar. MJ had to be an inspiration for him in the sense of business, professionalism, performance, etc., and filter it his own Princely way.

So I don't necessarily agree with the "uncomfortable" thing. Neither of them wanted to give up any secrets, so the best thing is to just be quiet. They were both shy on their own levels, and who knows - maybe they were both a bit starstruck in a way.

I marvel at your re-writing of history in all these Prince / MJ threads, truly.

Let's totally omit all nuance and historical details of their adult interactions and focus on this hypothetical imagery of teenage Prince with a Jackson 5 poster on his wall trying to rock his 1970's threads like Mike.

ShellyMcG said:

It's a shame that neither man seemed willing or able to put their ego to one side and find it in themselves to collaborate on something. Michael Jackson worked with a who's who of popular musicians. Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger etc. The list goes on and on. And Prince had his fair share of musical team ups with the likes of Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Kate Bush. Not to mention the times Prince would have someone join him on stage like Kendrick Lamar, Stevie Wonder etc. It's just a shame for humanity that we never got that Michael Jackson/Prince team up.

It would've been lame and only denegrated Prince as B-team sideman junior space cadet Launchpad to MJ's Darkwing Duck.

Prince saw that and moved accordingly.

I want to know why Prince fans pine for this so dearly, however. I go to MJ sections of the web and they speak of Prince like he's some no hit wonder no talent assclown who doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as their precious King of Pop, yet Prince fans are always pandering and pining for the validation of an MJ collab, to the extent they're dreaming up scenes in this fantasy bromance when literally all public record shows they were quite adversarial.

Is it the hits? Is this why we ladle up a triple-scoop of Pollyanna pandering to MJ? We get self-conscious because like 2 Prince hits lasted? Hits suck. Prince is beyond hits, he don't need no stinkin' hits, and he's definitely beyond being MJ's kid brother kissing his LP of The Jacksons before high school in the morning or whatever cheese that TrivialPursuit post is going for.

Plus the Prince/Madonna collab sucked, so.

[Edited 3/1/24 17:06pm]

I finally got the chance to watch the Thriller 40 documentary.

One thing that I heard that I had not known before was during the making of Thriller. MJ did ET album and there was a disagreement with two labels and I believe Epic/CBS sued MJ, Quincy and Speilberg.

MJ lawyer said the outcome to make MJ happy was they gave MJ the masters to Off the Wall and Thriller and maybe even Bad.

Which made me think of Prince and how MJ had gotten his master recordings almost 10 years earlier be fore Prince had started to make it public that he wanted them.

Crazy.

Always thought it was a miss oppertunity for a collaboration between the two of them, but I can't say that I was really blow away with Prince and Madonna's collaboration.

edit

[Edited 3/1/24 17:35pm]

Prince offered MJ the song "Wouldn't U Love To Love Me" for possible inclusion on Bad but MJ turned it down.

SoulAlive said:

I'm glad they never did a duet. I don't think it would've been very good, personally. I prefer P solo to any of the duets he's done. I would've been more interested in MJ giving P a killer track to make his own.

SpookyPurple said:

I'm glad they never did a duet. I don't think it would've been very good, personally. I prefer P solo to any of the duets he's done. I would've been more interested in MJ giving P a killer track to make his own.

I think it could've worked. But what song? That's the question.

I think they should both play to their strengths. Prince puts down the instruments, does a guitar solo. They're both great vocal arrangers, so they layered all their backing vocals, punches, Prince's yelp with MJ's ode to the Staples Singers "Sh'mon!" plus both of their hiccups and tongue clicks, etc.

It has to be better than Prince and Madonna on "Love Song."

RODSERLING said:

SoulAlive said:

Prince offered MJ the song "Wouldn't U Love To Love Me" for possible inclusion on Bad but MJ turned it down.

Yes, but I wonder what version was it, and if it was ever recorded ( I highly doubt it).

I think he could have offered a stronger song than that one I just can't imagine Michael singing that song.

WhisperingDandelions said:

SoulAlive said:

TrivialPursuit said:

SoulAlive said:

RODSERLING said:

SoulAlive said:

I think he could have offered a stronger song than that one I just can't imagine Michael singing that song.

The Dance Electric would have been cool for MJ or The Jacksons circa 1984.

or "100 MPH."

TrivialPursuit said:

SpookyPurple said:

I'm glad they never did a duet. I don't think it would've been very good, personally. I prefer P solo to any of the duets he's done. I would've been more interested in MJ giving P a killer track to make his own.

I think it could've worked. But what song? That's the question.

I think they should both play to their strengths. Prince puts down the instruments, does a guitar solo. They're both great vocal arrangers, so they layered all their backing vocals, punches, Prince's yelp with MJ's ode to the Staples Singers "Sh'mon!" plus both of their hiccups and tongue clicks, etc.

It has to be better than Prince and Madonna on "Love Song."

Go ahead and do that mash-up of "Bad/MNIP" you always wanted to do!

nayroo2002 said:

Go ahead and do that mash-up of "Bad/MNIP" you always wanted to do!

"My name is bad, I'm bad, you know it!"

WhisperingDandelions said:

ShellyMcG said:

It's a shame that neither man seemed willing or able to put their ego to one side and find it in themselves to collaborate on something. Michael Jackson worked with a who's who of popular musicians. Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger etc. The list goes on and on. And Prince had his fair share of musical team ups with the likes of Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Kate Bush. Not to mention the times Prince would have someone join him on stage like Kendrick Lamar, Stevie Wonder etc. It's just a shame for humanity that we never got that Michael Jackson/Prince team up.

It would've been lame and only denegrated Prince as B-team sideman junior space cadet Launchpad to MJ's Darkwing Duck.

Prince saw that and moved accordingly.

I want to know why Prince fans pine for this so dearly, however. I go to MJ sections of the web and they speak of Prince like he's some no hit wonder no talent assclown who doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as their precious King of Pop, yet Prince fans are always pandering and pining for the validation of an MJ collab, to the extent they're dreaming up scenes in this fantasy bromance when literally all public record shows they were quite adversarial.

Is it the hits? Is this why we ladle up a triple-scoop of Pollyanna pandering to MJ? We get self-conscious because like 2 Prince hits lasted? Hits suck. Prince is beyond hits, he don't need no stinkin' hits, and he's definitely beyond being MJ's kid brother kissing his LP of The Jacksons before high school in the morning or whatever cheese that TrivialPursuit post is going for.

Plus the Prince/Madonna collab sucked, so.

[Edited 3/1/24 17:06pm]

Here in lies why it was never going to happen - Not because Prince feared being denegrated, not because Prince fans are seeking validation, not because the song may not have been good. No, it is because MJ's fans project MJ's feelings about Prince.

Whilst Prince fans ponder the possibility of how good or otherwise the song could have been, MJ fans fear it and want to reject the position that Prince could be seen as an equal MJ. What you see in the first sentence is a projection of what those who are happy the song never eventuated worried about - What if MJ was shown up in the song, so why should he do it? To them it is better to think of Prince as a no talent assclown, an upstart from outsie of Motown, than risk having people being directly able to compare the two.

[Edited 3/3/24 13:11pm]

SpookyPurple said:

This from producer Lynda Obst in an inteview in the Hollywood Reporter when she worked for David Geffen in the 80s:

But moments on the clock were “phenomenal.” She recalls having a meeting with Prince one day and with Michael Jackson on another. Then there was the day they both were in her office at the same time, sitting across from her. “They happened to be visiting David and I had to entertain them while they waited,” she says. “I just sat there, and they barely looked at each other. I think they were both uncomfortable.”

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Obst reminisced about the "phenomenal" moments she experienced while working in the entertainment industry. Among these moments were meetings with iconic figures such as Prince and Michael Jackson.

[Edited 3/5/24 18:14pm]

IanRG said:

RODSERLING said:

IanRG said:

Here in lies why it was never going to happen - Not because Prince feared being denegrated, not because Prince fans are seeking validation, not because the song may not have been good. No, it is because MJ's fans project MJ's feelings about Prince.

Whilst Prince fans ponder the possibility of how good or otherwise the song could have been, MJ fans fear it and want to reject the position that Prince could be seen as an equal MJ. What you see in the first sentence is a projection of what those who are happy the song never eventuated worried about - What if MJ was shown up in the song, so why should he do it? To them it is better to think of Prince as a no talent assclown, an upstart from outsie of Motown, than risk having people being directly able to compare the two.

[Edited 3/3/24 13:11pm]

In the 80's and 90's, that would have been too complicated to to gather both of them inside a common project. But in the 2000, I think everybody, Prince, MJ, their recording labels, the audience, the critics, would have been all fine with that and the reception would have been good, no matter if it was another Love Song.

No one in their right mind would seek to be involved with MJ after 2001 - Not even Slash by this point.

IanRG said:

IanRG said:

No one in their right mind would seek to be involved with MJ after 2001 - Not even Slash by this point.

That's sort of a narrow view, don't ya think? Slash was at the 30th anniversary celebration, as was a gaggle of other celebrities and artists.

When MJ held a charity concert in October 2001 for the 9/11 victims, Backstreet Boys, Slash, Krystal Harris, Huey Lewis and the News, James Brown, Billy Gilman, O-Town, Usher, Christina Milian, Carole King, Al Green, Pink, Bette Midler, CeCe Peniston, Aerosmith, America, P. Diddy, NSYNC, Destiny's Child, Rod Stewart, Goo Goo Dolls, Train, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, and Mary J. Blige (and more) were all involved. It aired November 1.

There also artists involved for Thriller 25 in 2008, despite the quality of those remixes and tracks.

And a lot of people who were a-list in their field of expertise, were involved in the This Is It comeback residency shows.