So, have we come to a decision yet?

moderators! .. HELP HELP HELP!!!!! please please please stop and lock this thread, DELETE FOREVER!!! ....michael has his place with a handful of "nice" songs for the kids but PLEASE!!! THIS is PAINFUL!!!!! There should be ORG rules to stop these comparisons!!!! Why??? A fistful of reasons: DIRTY MIND;1999; PR :ATWIAD ; PARADE ; SOTT...LOVESEXY ; BLACK.... A musicians's musician!!!!!

P L E A S E S T O P T H E M A D N E S S !!!!!

machinegun said:

I think the MJ/Prince smackdown threads are an annual ritual around here, like the Oscars or the Superbowl. It's the same old shit but it gives new initiates a chance to get their feet wet, show their Prince colors, know what I'm sayin'?

And you obviously wear your purple armband like a true Prince soldier.

So, have we come to a decision yet?

fathermcmeekle said:

Yes. It's been decided that if MJ can somehow convince Madonna to team up with him with the cream of the productionista AND Carlos Santana, MJ might have a fighting chance against Prince.

Prince is cool

But he could never help and move the world like Michael did with Heal The World.

moderators! .. HELP HELP HELP!!!!! please please please stop and lock this thread, DELETE FOREVER!!! ....michael has his place with a handful of "nice" songs for the kids but PLEASE!!! THIS is PAINFUL!!!!! There should be ORG rules to stop these comparisons!!!! Why??? A fistful of reasons: DIRTY MIND;1999; PR :ATWIAD ; PARADE ; SOTT...LOVESEXY ; BLACK.... A musicians's musician!!!!!

P L E A S E S T O P T H E M A D N E S S !!!!!

thedoveoflove said:

perhaps you should reference which world you're speaking from...on earth in segments of American society i've been trhough many wouldn't know WHAT you're talking about...

only Heaven knows why a heart is called to Love...hopefully the purplefolks won't shred you

moderators! .. HELP HELP HELP!!!!! please please please stop and lock this thread, DELETE FOREVER!!! ....michael has his place with a handful of "nice" songs for the kids but PLEASE!!! THIS is PAINFUL!!!!! There should be ORG rules to stop these comparisons!!!! Why??? A fistful of reasons: DIRTY MIND;1999; PR :ATWIAD ; PARADE ; SOTT...LOVESEXY ; BLACK.... A musicians's musician!!!!!

P L E A S E S T O P T H E M A D N E S S !!!!!

VOCALS
Michael Jackson - pitch perfect, nice timbre, great falsetto, easy to listen to, known for vocal stylings such as "hee hee", "shamone" etc. 10/10
Prince - big range, great falsetto (one of his trademarks), nice timbre 8/10

DANCING
Michael Jackson - undeniably the best contemporary dancer in the pop industry at the moment, has trademark moves (like the moonwalk, the crotch grab, the robot) 10/10
Prince - a good dancer, but doesn't have any moves that are recognisable as his7/10

INSTRUMENTAL
Michael Jackson - credited as playing keyboard-type instruments, guitars and percussion (including kit) on various album, but is not known as an instrumentalist and has never performed any instrument (except vocals) on stage or even in a music video. 5/10
Prince - plays nearly every instrument on nearly every record, plays piano, guitar and drums on stage (and plays them well), is known as a great instrumentalist (expecially as a guitarist) 10/10

SONG-WRITING
Michael Jackson - Inducted into the songwriter's hall of fame, has written some big hits (Don't Stop, Billie Jean, Beat It), writes a range of different styles (Billie Jean, Dirty Diana, Liberian Girl, Who Is It, Earth Song, Childhood), written great songs for other artists 8/10
Prince - Inducted into the songwriter's hall of fame, has written some big hits (1999, When Doves Cry, Nothing Compares 2 U), writes a range of different styles (Sexy Dancer, 1999, Darling Nikki, Venus Di Milo, Satisfied, Housequake), written alot great songs for other artists 10/10 (because he's had more output and less co-writers)

STAGE
Michael Jackson - world class stage performer, can sell-out concerts in any country in the world, only let down is he mimes about half the show for that he gives a point off (he would be 10/10 if he sung every song live) but he's amazing dancing and stage presence makes up for the lack of live vocals 9/10
Prince - world class performer, doesn't sell-out like MJ can, but with Prince it's always live so that makes up for not as good stage presence and dancing 9/10

SALES and CHARTS
Michael Jackson - is one of the biggest selling albums of all-time, has the biggest selling album of all time, he sells millions and millions of each album he releases, his lowest selling studio album is BOTDF which sold 7 million (still a huge number so it goes to show how high his standard is), has had 13 billboard #1's 10/10
Prince - not a big seller, his biggest selling album is Purple Rain which sold 20 million (Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous all outsold this), these days he is selling less than 1 million with each album 6/10

MUSIC VIDEOS
Michael Jackson - is world renowned for making great music videos, nearly every video he makes is dubbed video of the year by some awards organisation, and his TV premiers are always huge 10/10
Prince - hasn't made alot of great music videos (with the exception of a few) 5/10

FILM
Michael Jackson - Has starred in The Wiz (in which he did a mildly good job) and also made the films Moonwalker and Ghosts, special-effects wise Moonwalker and Ghosts were brilliant, his acting in Moonwalker wasn't very good but his acting in Ghosts was very good, his storyline's aren't great, his films are mostly to showcase his songs and dancing 6/10
Prince - Purple Rain was brilliant (great music, great acting, good storyline), Under The Cherry Moon had great acting on Prince's part, Graffiti Bridge was shite in all aspects (music, acting, storyline) 8/10

INFLUENCE
Michael Jackson - nearly every modern R&B and pop artist has been quoted as saying they were influenced by Michael Jackson, he has left a lasting impression on popular music 10/10
Prince - he has left a lasting impression on hip-hop and you can tell that most of the beats The Neptunes and the like create are derived from Prince and the Minneapolis sound (which he created) 10/10

HOW THEY STAND TODAY
Michael Jackson - Has just been through a trial which crushed his public image, but kids still love his music (the Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous hits still get played in clubs and on radio), and it seems alot of current musicians and producers are still interested in working with him (Pharrel Williams, R Kelly, 50 Cent, Whoo Kid, Kanye West). Musically he still stands strong, but publically he is crushed 6/10
Prince - Prince has always been viewed as a weird person, but his music still stands strong, with his old hits being played on radio to this day (expecially in 1999 when 1999 was played constantly on radio), his new music doesn't sell or chart well and I doubt many kids know about 3121, but atleast he is still release music (unlike MJ, but he has a reason - the trial) 7/10
Neither artist stands well in today's music industry

TOTAL
Michael Jackson - 84/100
Prince - 80/100

Michael wins, but only by a little bit. They are pretty much equal anyway.

MJ? Better song writer than Prince? Keep dreaming.

Michael Jackson is a freakshow, Prince is a musician. How can you compare them?

And I prefer Prince over MJ any day.

This should be interesting since I’m a bigger MJ fan as well.

SALES and CHARTS
Michael Jackson – really nothing to say 10/10
Prince – has done better than most 8/10

Prince wins.
[Edited 3/29/06 9:29am]

stevie is a brilliant keyboard player and songwriter, but not that good a guitarist/bass player. Prince is a better dancer

Marrk said:

stevie is a brilliant keyboard player and songwriter, but not that good a guitarist/bass player. Prince is a better dancer

Marrk said:

I love Stevie but Prince's versatility trumps EVERYONE who ever thought about making music. Everyone.

I love Prince. I think Prince is a fabulous musician. However, if you ask the average person who would they consider to be a better music artist they will undeniably tell you Michael Jackson. Try it..
.
The average person thinks Jessica Simpson is changing the musical landscape...if sales were a good guage of musical merit Silly Vanilly would be going to the rock and roll hall of fame...that said.
It’s amazing to me how this topic keeps resurfacing each year. On one hand I do understand…They’re both black, both operate in the same musical space- dance/R&B, both had their hey-days in the mid 80s, and both were considered legendary performers.
But that’s where the comparison basically ends. MJ changed the way we interpret and digest music through his use of video. He had a signature dance style that etched itself into the fabric of American dance history…though he did little to extend that from the mid 80s on. Prince certainly could dance and had a unique dancing style but he was not the accomplished dancer that Jackson was. Prince’s video’s were more of a side piece, a lesser companion to the art. His dancing was part of an overall performer that far exceeded just being able to dance and sing. And this is where they really split…Prince’s greatness is in his ability to not just sing and dance- but as U2 said- he’s much more than that. It’s his overall ability to put on a stage show that showcased singing, dancing (where Michael can certainly hang) but also, at the same time, his dazzling array of musical chops playing guitar, synth, drums, piano. Furthermore his stunning range from deep blues, to hard rock, to jazz to R&B to funk to to pop rock- he was and is a master of many styles. When I say that Prince is a far better performer than Michael Jackson it’s because be brings the full weight of all of this to his better concerts- playing, performing, singing, rearranging songs, going effortlessly from genre to genre. MJ can’t compete because he doesn’t do all these things and really was never driven to expand artistically.
Musically- prince’s heyday is comparable only to some of the most prolific artists in rock history. I believe only the Beatles had a period of higher quality output than Prince. If you study Prince’s watershed years from 1980 to 1988 his landmark albums advanced the musical landscape with a breadth rarely seen in pop music. For example, 1999’s influence can be heard from NIN to Stevie Nicks to Justin Timberlake to Outkast. And I don’t just mean they dug the album. There are musical ideas that ring throughout music today. In many ways that album legitimized the use of drum machines and synthesizers in rocks music. Up until that point if a synth cropped up in a rock song it always was regarded as cheesy and in most cases it was. A great article, I believe in Music magazine in the mid 80s once said that Prince proved that drum machines can have a heart provided the person doing the programming has a heart.
I’ve seen some people actually try and compare MJ and Prince’s history lyrically. If you want to compare the 90s output that’s fine but MJ’s lyrics- the ones he wrote- don’t come anywhere near Prince 80s genius. From the stark imagery of WDC to the stripped down funk of Kiss there’s a reason Prince can’t compete with Prince anymore. Go back to that landmark 1999 album and culled away on the B side you’ll find a depth and intelligence of lyric often and easily overlooked. Prince, at his best, produced lyrics that reflected the music and often music that reflected the lyrics. Automatic tells the tale of a person in an obsessive love affair- the whole song trudges along on a hypnotic synth line beautifully reflecting the transfixed state of the singer and then delves into sadomasochism to metaphor the dangers of fixated love. The following song Something in the water does not Compute finds our protagonist hurt time and time again only to emerge as the spiteful player on Lady Cab Driver where he gets down and dirty dedicating each pelvic thrust to some item of his lover or hate. That sequence alone can be analyzed for weeks. It’s brilliant stuff- deep, layered, knowingly smart and whimsical. There’s nothing in jackson’s catalog that even approximates this stuff. And I haven’t even touched LRC widely considered one of Rocks’ great metaphor songs. Or take the one offs- the gender bending role reversal of If I was your girlfriend, the simplicity of the lovers request in Kiss beautifully reflected in the minimalist arrangement and stripped down sound.
For what it’s worth Prince also blew the doors open on taboo subjects- after Sister everything rappers would do would just be in Prince’s footsteps. I remember reading an article that declared prince the Uncle of Rap because he gave them the young, cocksure black male exuding his sexuality attitude. Let’s not forget the Prince of dirty mind was ballsy and challenging in a way MJ never approximated. You’ll either get this next sentence or you won’t…Prince was once rock; MJ was never rock.
Hmm- we haven’t even discussed his chameleon changes, forays into Jazz, his brilliant side projects, his legendary post concert, concerts- for christ’s sake the guy created a side group- the time- that was enormous and spawned two of the music industries great producers.
Need we also forget Performed, arranged, composed and written by…
Someone also said MJ records thousands of songs but wants quality control. That’s a poor way to dismiss Prince’s prolificacy. The bodies of work are what they are and prince’s is a manifesto of brilliance during his heyday. The warts are there now as he approaches his late 40s but during his great period there was a quantity and quality in abundance.
Look – I respect Michael Jackson and he deserves his place as one the more influential performers with respect to dance and videos. But to compare him to Prince when all things are considered is disrespectful to Princes prodigious gifts.

fmarasco said:

excellent