kanamit said:

You don't praise Michael as the musical gift from God and genius of the land that he is. That is stupid.

what Voices said

Also this:

.

how does he rely on studio trickeris? What do you mean? And don't make me start about 'image', since you're a Prince fan



I'll say he's a singer,songwriter,dancer,performer,producer and arranger. Which means he's an entertainer, just like Prince. Music is entertainment.

LightOfArt said:

Doesn't sound stupid to me, sounds like a difference of opinion. MJ fans seem to be characteristically unfamiliar with that term.

VoicesCarry said:

It was a stupid opinion, in my opinion

LightOfArt said:

Takes one to know one.

well since my opinion sparked a wave of attacks, let me clarify my opinion.
Mj is a gifted artist, i am not disputing this.Yet over the years i have noticed a rather different approach to his music.There is the Off The Wall and pre Thriller approach.He wasn't yet a universal figure that he was after Thriller so there is some sort of commitment to the music by blending differnt styles pop rnb,funk,rock.
After Thriller things changed and the popularity he gained seemed to have an effect to his music, less catchy, less challenging but rather conventionnal, mind you i like some of the Bad stuff but not after.
As for being a musician i stick to my guns.He is not a musician cuz a musician plays, an amateur doesn't.I think he is more of an amateur but that doesn't make him less than an artist it is just a different category of artist.
Mj belongs to the motown tradition and people like Otis Redding,Jackie Wilson, Sammy Davis Jr.
As for the image who can deny that Mj relied a lot on his image by doing great videos and allows himself to be in the media on a regular basis with extravagant acts(hyperbaric chamber, plastic surgery,)
As a Prince fan for me the music speaks for itself, no need of great videos , covers, hype...
Music only music and nothing but music

kanamit said:

That's fair enough.But to me, a musician is someone who creates music. Maybe instrumentalist is a more specific term..

And I see music video as an art form, if they're done right, not just an instrument to promote your music..

And what about Prince's movies, clothings, make-up etc?? he surely is NOT about music, only music
[Edited 2/27/05 6:02am]

I didn't want to compare P and Mj in the first place.
2 different artists, 2 different ways of doing it, 2 different styles.

If someone focus only on Mj's Music who can deny his heyday is long gone and recycling the same stuff from heal the world to cry , from jam to invincible without mentionning speechless, blood on the dance floor, just good friends, and others scream...The List is endless and tasteless.

I like Mj when he is focused and don't try to sell us second hand hits...

Don't stop til..., human nature... billie jean ,,,, leave me alone, .. smooth criminal, i can't help it, wanna be startin'....

These are good stuff and rock even now. These can't definetely be compared with what he does nowadays can it?

kanamit said:

There are songs on Dangerous and HIStory which I think is better or atleast as good as those tracks you mentioned. Like, In The Closet, Who Is It, Give Into Me, Will You Be There, Stranger In Moscow, They Don't Care About Us, Earth Song, Scream, Little Susie, 2Bad etc.

and on Blood and Invincible tracks Butterflies, Whatever Happens, Speechless and Is It Scary are pretty great.

In fact, 80s is my least favourite decade of MJ musically. I much prefer 70s and especially 90s

I don´t think he recycles stuff. To me all of his albums are very different. Bad is definately different form Thriller - as if he was trying to invent a new style with songs like bad, Speed demon, Smooth Criminal etc. Dangerous is more funky and has hardly any songs to be compared with Bad. History is an aggressive album with some "classical" efforts (childhood, little Susie, Smile), Invincible sweet pop and hiphop stuff. I don´t know - to me, his albums are just different.

dag said:

they indeed sound all different. But he does the same themes alot of times. songs about peace, songs about groupies etc

I'm not convinced about you lot who try to find any thing interesting about Mj sound or rather Teddy Riley , Babyface, Rodney Jerkins, R Kelly,...'s

When you hear Thriller, Bad, Smooth criminal, rock with you... you hear Mj.
When you listen to Scream, Cry, Heaven can wait, She Drives Me Wild, ...
You hear Teddy riley, and the rest of it...

Open you ears for God's sake!!!!!

kanamit said:

I don't like those songs anyway(bar Scream). What i'm wondering is if you know She Drives me wild, I guess you know tracks like Who Is It and Give Into Me. If you can't appriciate those, I don't think we have anything in common musically because those tracks just kills anything he did in 80s. And hey, they're MJ's compositions

Give in to me are you joking?
it is boring to death, a flop, the solo is laughable(Slash or not)
As for who is it, it is a decent song.

I hope we have in common Prince's music though

Ps: when i criticize a singer i usually know his/her music

kanamit said:

Well I rank Prince in my top 10 favourite artists . But I think his music(with the exception of a few songs) after Lovesexy, pretty much sucks.

Oh I enjoy Rainbow Children too.

At least you enjoy 11 Prince albums (1978-1988 + Black Album)

How many Mj Albums can compete with that?

kanamit said:

I enjoy Prince, but love MJ music.

I don't have anything before Dirty Mind. no Black album either. Would you recommend any? I know some of the songs on them though

To be totally honest with you the first Prince album( For You-1978) is not his best but it is good one cuz it gives a good idea of Prince potential but you definitely need to buy the second one ( Prince-1979) with excellent tunes like why you wanna treat me so bad, i feel for (later covered by Chaka), bambi(with a good effort on the guitar), i wanna be your lover...
Trust me this album is excellent.

As for the Black Album you have to have it: Indispensable

kanamit said:

Bullshit...

thanx

Since the mid-80's, Michael Jackson has relied on a media circus to keep him in the press; it's been confirmed that he and his management planed stories in the Enquirer to keep his name in everyone's mouth. Wacko Jacko is part of his own invention.

However, it is ludicrious to suggest that Prince has become famous solely because of his music alone. He has made music videos (shoddy ones at that), he has covered songs, and there was some record-label made hype around him since day one. Maybe it all wasn't to the level of MJ, but Prince's house is not built on music and music alone.

Damn he used to be fine!!! I didn't see this pic before. Back in the day he really gave prince a run for his money in the looks department. It's such a shame what he did to his face.

VanitySixx said:

Damn straight!

By the way, just for the heck of it, this is my favorite Thriller picture:

I still play Off The Wall and Thiller at least once a month, they are by far his best solo work. I like Bad also but it doesn't compare to the other two to me, I skip tracks when listening to Bad I can only listen to:

Smooth Criminal
Another Part Of Me
Speed Demon
Liberian Girl
The Way You Make Me Feel

With The Other tracks I have to be in the mood to listen to them.

As a kid I thought nothing on how much better mIkes pop is to other peoples, but i got enourmous respect 4 the way he works in a studio.

As sad as this sounds, if he wasn't acting like a kid all the time, we wouldn't of got some of his best songs.....

Mikes music is unique. Even if he does need help in the studio.

Production on "bad" sounds dated blah blah blah.....

he is wayy above ur average songwriter/arranger. he will be SO sorely missed when he dies.....

Jordy Chandler?

SquirrelMeat said: