http://www.youtube.com/wa...eQTtVPd4W4


This shit is funny for so many reason, he went as far to dress like Bobby on this tour, then during the Confessions tour downright jacked the whole Humpin Around tour

but give credit where credit is due, Usher has been on top of rnb for 10 years now, and doesn't look like he is going to be knocked off

Usher

Usher's prolly more talented overall, but Usher borrows heavily from MJ primarily, then other New Jacks like Bobby.

namepeace said:

trust me people give Michael Jackson credit, for dance styles, that Michael jaked also, the poplocking and breakdancing is the only thing similar between Usher and Michael Jackson, but in act and how they perform on stage it is from bobby brown, the grabbing girls onstage and humping them, the only girl Michael ever dance on stage with was letoya jackson, most acts are raunchy and have attitude when they perform, Michael and raunchy are only in the same sentence when a little white or latin boy is brought up

Ushers music kinda irks me. I mean, he's a good singer for sure, and the guy can dance his off. At least enough to get kudos from James Brown and MJ. But his music is so bland. Typical r&b that doesnt try to stand out. Say what u want about Timberlake, but at least his music stands out from the rest.Usher's is just like everyone elses. That said, he does pull them off well with his vocal chops.

KingKrazy said:

All of what you say is true. But Usher didn't grow up watching Jackie Wilson or James Brown in the "Thriller" video. MJ is the frame of reference for Usher, JT, Chris Brown and the rest of these cats, not for his originality per se. Rather, because he was the guy backinaday.

Usher's template is MJ, if only because every R&B crooner wants to sell 45 million albums and be on MTV "25"/7.

i couldn't even watch 4 minutes of that shit. i forgot Bobby use to wear those horrendous outfits, but i'd rather see Bobby doing it than Usher. Usher looks like a robot with the "Bobby Brown: Don't Be Cruel" program jammed into his brain.

Usher's wearing a leather shrug. That's pretty gheeey. I think those are the same pants Eddie Murphy wore in Delirious.

But the performance itself was okay. I like that the dancers did the exact choreography from Every Little Step. He coulda hired me for that performance - I used to do that shit in front of the TV when I was 15.

RipHer2Shreds said:

i did it when i was 6

namepeace said:

How do you figure? Usher was literally a baby when Michael Jackson's "Thriller" came out. It's pretty evident that Bobby Brown was an influence for acts like Usher, who was 10 when Brown's "Don't Be Cruel" came out.

On another note: I noticed Usher didn't sing "My Prerogative" during that medley.

Najee said:

Bobby was obviously an influence, but I don't think Usher was too young to be into MJ. I am only a little older than Mr. Raymond, but I vividly remember listening to the Thriller record, having a zipper jacket, and all that.

RipHer2Shreds said:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...HufkKc-AZo


[Edited 1/29/07 22:13pm]

CinisterCee said:

Great clip to reference for this point I cannot tell you how many kids in school were saying "Tito get me some tissue," over the weeks that followed that show airing on HBO.

AlexdeParis said:

Usher was barely 4 years old when Michael Jackson's "Thriller" came out. There aren't too many people who can tell you what they did when they were that age. More than likely, Usher's MJ influence came as he got older and started looking at things Jackson did during that time period.
[Edited 1/30/07 9:02am]

RipHer2Shreds said:

So is Usher imitating Michael Jackson, or has he been imitating Eddie (imitating MJ) all this time?

JasonStar said:

exactly

Usher

AlexdeParis said:

AdP said it. Usher was a child of the 80's, about as old as my younger siblings. He would have been into MJ at an early age, as most kids were.

But what I said at the beginning was that MJ is a primary influence and then Bobby. If only because MJ sold tens of millions of records and was on MTV all the time. That's what Usher and most of these R&B crooners strive for.

I'm an 80's child and I was jamming to mj since I was 2 years old so there is no reason why he wouldn't be jamming to him at 4 years old. I was 4 when bad came out and I remember it like yesterday and since thriller was monstrous though bad was also huge, I think it's pretty established that usher knew who mj was by the time he was in kindergarten.

so anyways I remember seeing usher perform in the late 90's when he opened at janet's velvet rope concert and he also sang every little step for that. I remember hearing internet rumors that he wanted to do an mj medley and I was looking forward to that since I could see the mj influence in him anyways, but then he did the bobby brown thing

usher used to give bobby brown props until he was rude to him at beyonce's birthday party couple years ago, it was something along those lines, anyone knows what I'm talking about?

I don't get the whole he's too young to be influenced by Michael argument. Is there no such thing as VHS and DVD? You don't have to see it live the first go around to be influenced by it.

let me end it for you, Usher had a driven episode on VH1, and from usher's own mouth he said Bobby Brown was his idol growing up and how he wanted to do songs like how bobby did it, and be just like bobby brown,

he didn't say Wacko Jacko, he said Bobby Brown, Puffy and JD said Bobby Brown,

RipHer2Shreds said:

That was my point -- what Usher knows of the Michael Jackson-era "Thriller" was obviously stuff he saw later in life. He was 4 years old when "Thriller" came out, so he obviously doesn't remember it unfolding as it happened. As medical studies have shown, people have practically no recognition of events in the early stages of life. That contradicts with what a couple of people have said, that they remember doing stuff at even younger ages.

Usher has no recollection of what Michaelmania was like in 1983. In other words, he may have been running around the house at 4 years old in a "Beat It" jacket, but he doesn't remember it. If anything, Usher's exposure and recollection of MJ started around the "Bad" era, when he was about 8 years old (when memories start staying with people).

It makes sense to say that Bobby Brown was more than likely the first artist he saw and remembered as an influence unfolding before his eyes (not to mention I've seen clips where Usher is saying Brown was his primary influence, and it's pretty apparent in a lot of his style Brown is an influence).
[Edited 1/31/07 7:21am]

Najee said:

Clear, concise, to the point, and beside the point.

Being one's first influence doesn't mean you are one's PRIMARY influence.

KingKrazy said:

Then I guess that does settle the question of who was Usher's main influence growing up.

But does it resolve the question of whether Bobby Brown was his primary influence?



http://www.vh1.com/artist...farm.jhtml

Other sources on Usher and MJ

http://www.answers.com/to...nger-actor

So I think y'all are confusing "first" and "primary."

[Edited 1/31/07 7:00am]
[Edited 1/31/07 7:04am]

then in that case I have a GREAT memory of course I don't remember being 2 years old but I remember things here and there from being 3 years old and since age 4 I've pretty much had a vivid memory (my real earliest memory might be my 3rd birthday party) and part of my vivid memory was madonna, prince and mj's music along with other artists that time. When I saw beat it after so many years when I was 8 (early 90's) I saw the red jacket and white socks and I was like OMG I remember it! hahaha but once in awhile I might be told I liked a certain song if it comes on the radio and I don't remember it at all while other songs I totally remember hearing that time as if it were yesterday

but I'm sure that though usher wanted to be bobby also, he enjoyed mj's stuff during bad & dangerous and went on to discover the stuff before that through this, like most fans. Most people my age didn't get into mj until dangerous but I was into him way before that so it's not entirely impossible that usher wasn't. I remember beyonce would talk about being mj inspired but not until after the first 2 destiny's child albums came out. She would say stevie & marvin gaye, but never mj or diana ross or even jackson 5 which is what she says constantly now
[Edited 1/31/07 6:59am]

namepeace said:

I challenged this absurd statement that people actually remembered what they did at ages 2 and 4 years old.

Michael Jackson may have been an influence in Usher's style, but it wasn't because he recalls sitting in front of a TV watching "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" videos when they first came out in 1983. Yeah, what Usher knows about that era is because he saw it either in video footage or was told that by someone, but actually recalling it? Shee-iiitttt.

Besides, Usher himself has said ad nauseum that Bobby Brown was the person who most influenced his musical style.

namepeace said:

You put up a quote where Usher is repsecting Michael Jackson for his dancing and his choreography in his music videos, which most artists are going to give MJ his due (it's a comment I've heard him make numerous times over the past few years). Undoubtedly, most recording artists acknowlege Jackson's impact in that aspect.

But other than that, what other influences of Michael Jackson do you see or hear in Usher's music? Usher's musical leanings are much more in line with Bobby Brown's aggressive soul music style -- not the overly accomodating crossover pop stuff MJ was pumping out in the 1980s and 1990s. It's certainly not MJ's appearance or mannerisms. I don't even think the stage presence is the same -- Usher does a lot of the racy bumping-and-grinding Brown did, not having the somewhat distant presence Jackson has.
[Edited 1/31/07 7:24am]

if you look at some of the dance steps mj did on the dangerous & history tours in addition to the ones before, usher took those and modified them with street influences which includes bobby brown, and he sorta jacks his wardrobe, stage set up(dancing behind the curtain the way mj often does at shows). If that 8701 tour poster of usher in the white wristband and big sunglasses doesn't remind you of the intro to the dangerous tour somewhat, then I don't know what it is...

alphastreet said:

You didn't answer the question: What MUSICAL influences of Michael Jackson do you hear in Usher's music? Musically, Usher has far more in common with Bobby Brown.

I think there a lot of false assumptions being made on the musical influence of Michael Jackson on Usher, because by the late 1980s Jackson had a very diminished impact on 1980s and early 1990s soul music. Most of his music wasn't being played in such markets and radio stations, as Jackson's music was too watered-down and artificial sounding -- not to mention way too accomodating to being crossover music, thus meeting resistance in such markets.

Assuming that Usher had the typical music experience of most African-American kids (comtemporary soul, hip-hop) as a younger in the late 1980s, acts like Bobby Brown, New Edition and GUY were the ones he heard primarily -- acts in which I can hear and see music commonalities. If anything, Usher has more commonalities with MJ's sister, Janet (who also had all those attributes of MJ, plus her music was commonly played in aforementioned markets).
[Edited 1/31/07 7:47am]