Rodya24 said:

Give it time.

Rodya24 said:

Don't speak too soon. It's only a matter of time really before it happens .

alphastreet said:

In other words a totally vague thing that's meaningless. Mike didn't invent "passion" or "edge". That song sounds absolutely nothing like MJ. With Prince's influence, it is specific. You can hear the "Purple Rain" chord progression Alicia Keys is ripping off on her newest track. You can hear the beat from "The Beautiful Ones" Timberland is ripping off on Justin's duet with Beyonce. You listen to Outkast or D'angelo and much of it sounds like it could almost be Prince himself. It's harder to pinpoint Mike's influence in music because he never had his own sound. It varied according to who he was working with and the fashions of the day.

Cinnamon234 said:

Rodya24 said:

I hear influences from off the wall and triumph on that song too, I knew it wasn't just me. Stuff like get on the floor, can you feel it, DSTYGE

Out of the three iconic music videos - Thriller, Beat It, and Billie Jean, which one is your favorite and why?

Mine is Billie Jean. The atmosphere, the lit-up sidewalk, his dancing, etc. Wonderful.

Cinnamon234 said:

Who hasn't been sampled? Virtually every R&B and hip-hop song from the last 15 years features samples so of course he's gonna get sampled sometimes too. That really doesn't mean much.

midnightmover said:

To me, those examples you gave are very blatant, almost like tributes. MJ's influence has a lot to do with the "execution of all creative expression at once" - the look, the sound, and the feeling combined -- the performance.

Cinnie said:

That's what I'm saying. It's a performance thing more than a musical thing, which makes perfect sense. Most of Mike's appeal from "Thriller" onwards was down to the videos and performances, much more than the music. A lot of times people wouldn't actually like the songs until they saw the videos.

Rodya24 said:

how can I possibly choose one? I'll go with billie jean though

Cinnie said:

exactly my point! Even p.diddy's last night, which has a prince sound to it for sure, reminds me of can you feel it cause of the similar harmonies. Try singing that over it

alphastreet said:

I suggest you listen to The Brothers Johnson, another Quincy Jones produced act from the time. Much of what you think of as Michael's sound is actually Quincy's sound.

midnightmover said:

I know who the brothers johnson are thank you very much. I come on this board for the reason that mj fans on other boards don't know any old school music other than mj.
[Edited 12/1/07 10:38am]

midnightmover said:

Have you heard for the demos for songs like "Don't Stop Til' You Get Enough," "Working Day and Night," and "Billie Jean"? Clearly, these songs are the products of mostly MJ's creativity.

Rodya24 said:

Thriller.

Rodya24 said:

Yeah I'd have to say that "Billie Jean" is my favortie also. I still get goosebumps anytime I watch that video.

Rodya24 said:

I know, but if you listen to The Brothers Johnson you'll be shocked at how many of the elements of Quincy's production he transferred directly into his work with Michael. Also, the demo for DSTYGE is a far cry from the final product. The overall sound (which still sounds great today) is down to Quincy putting layer upon layer of orchestration down, almost like an architect. The strings, the horns, etc. Strip that off and Mike's work was very much in line with what was happening at the time. Great, but not too different from what others were doing.

midnightmover said:

see my post above midnightmover

midnightmover said:

So we agree.

midnightmover said:

I am not denying Quincy Jones' work. No one in this thread is. But I think often outside of the hardcore fans, people forget that MJ was involved in the musical creative process as well. He provided the rhythm for some for his best songs.
[Edited 12/1/07 10:59am]

Cinnie said:

Yeah, we always did.

I think as a whole, most of the artist from that time period were creative and had some great music out there, and mj was a part of that, which is why in the 80's though I liked mj, I didn't exclusively say he's my favourite, cause there was good music around everywhere that I enjoyed even more than his. It was later on, I realized his stuff aged well and stood out from the newer artists, though I also loved them and was a big r&b/hip hop lover in the 90's

midnightmover said:

Well we'll have to agree to disagree here. I look at it as being both Michael's and Quincy's sound but the biggest song on the album which would be "Billie Jean" is Michael's sound. Not only did he write the song, but came up with the baseline for that song by himself and even Quincy said that in an interview. Anyway, I don't see what you're going on about here right now though, i mean who cares really? I thought this thread was supposed to be talking about your fave memories of Thriller. It seems like you just want to argue for the sake of arguing.

So far, three votes for the Billie Jean music video and one for the Thriller music video. What do other orgers think? Thriller, Beat It, or Billie Jean?

Rodya24 said:

Thriller.

I expect that MJ fans would enjoy them some Brothers Johnson and Heatwave. Let's see more reissues of that stuff!

I like their stuff a lot, especially get the funk out of my face and stomp. I also like that song rod temperton wrote for michael mcdonald, which was posted a few weeks ago, but I'm sure I'd heard years ago cause it sounded familiar
[Edited 12/1/07 10:54am]

Rodya24 said:

Agreed. Michael is involved in every aspect of his career and that includes the creation of songs among other things. I dislike it when people act like MJ was just some puppett who Quincy Jones just took under his wing and made into a superstar. Quincy is not soley responsible for MJ's sound. It was a collaborative effort.

Cinnamon234 said:

Michael is nothing without Quincy. Every Prince fan knows that.

Cloudbuster said:

I would have to agree. That was the one everyone stopped what they were doing to see the debut of, which later became a tradition.

I was gonna post a youtube link like as if y'all needed to see it again