MrSquiggle said:

Watch Jailhouse Rock and King Creole and you will have your answer

WildStyle said:

I DO wonder though, in 30 years, would Prince be on par with Elvis? The things you cited as reasons that Elvis is King are very valid, but could easily be said about Prince in another couple of decades, specifically:


I agree with you that Elvis was an amazing performer, but his impact on music ceased sometime around 1960. After that, he put out some good stuff, but it never came close to the original Sun recordings.

So then, I think most of Elvis has become more of a myth, and less of a REAL impact on music. He became an Icon, like MJ. MJ put out three amazing records, okay, maybe 4, and has since been chasing his own tail. (insert joke here).

In 30 years, MJ will be hailed for his amazing impact on music as well - when in reality, did he have an IMPACT on music? I don't think so - his music was like Madonna's - it was on the top of each wave - he knew how to find the right producers, writers, musicians, to keep his music current. If anything, Prince has indeed had an impact on music greater than the King of Rock OR the King of Pop.

But this opinion comes from a musician. As a plain FAN, I'd still say that Elvis has a greater impact. More folks STILL dress like Elvis than Prince or Michael Jackson combined. and NOBODY has a Prince clock where his hips shake, or a Michael Jackson phone that goes "HO!" when it rings.

Just my opinion.

POOK said:

I think Prince is the white Elvis. No, maybe Elvis was the black Prince.

My vote is for a new president.

Yes, yes, yes.

Back when Elvis was doing his thing, it wasn't even hugely common for artists to write there own material. Since the Beatles came along it's all about "well, do they write there own material?". Elvis never proclaimed himself to be a songwriter. He said himself that he simply couldn't write songs. But he was not a puppet in the studio either. He produced and arranged almost everything he ever recorded himself.

The man also had an awesome voice

The truth is, if there was no Elvis, the world would be a different place today. Whether you would like to admit it or not. Nobody has had a bigger impact.

Obviously Prince is more talented when it comes to instrumentation and song writing. But in all other areas, I say Elvis has him and just about every other artist in history beat.

Just my opinion [/quote]

I often quote greil marcus' great quote of freud in describing Elvis. "Genius is incomprehensible." This means that it does not follow the normal line of thinking in anything. Genius is outside of our normal way of measurement and understanding. Elvis was a genius in his own primitive intuitive style. If a normal criteria is used to judge him then we can't get an accurate picture. I compare Elvis to Ali, Ali did everything wrong, made up his own style and deliberately did things wrong to thumb his nose at convention. Ali, was a physical genius and his greatness cannot be measured like any other heavyweight in history, what matters is that he would have beat any other heavyweight in history.

Paris9748430 said:

Thank you. I'm not even gonna try to compare. There's no need. P..R..I..N..C..E.

whichever one is still alive

If we're talking artistry that goes without saying. I think the better comparison would be Elvis vs MJ. They are more similar-- entertainers first and foremost. Even that comparison is flawed because you can't compare people of different eras. You can't compare Michael Jordan to Dr. J because without the latter the former wouldn't have been who he was.

If Elvis hadn't been around it's possible Prince wouldn't have been able to do his wild stageshows for a large audience-- of course lascivious dancing and the rock-star persona was only a small part of his repertoire. If it were'nt for the rock and roll/ blues acts before him, Elvis wouldn't have been doing his thing.

There's no contest as far as I'm concerned - never liked Elvis. I would rather spend my time watching a real musician perform, even if I didn't agree with everything he ever said.
But Elvis, was a lot of nuthin'.

Elvis.

Prince cuz he's multi-talented.

I doubt he would take da bad route Elvis did...what a 2 go

PRINCE.

Prince!