this was discussed on housequake...

if I remember right, Prince was the 1st to hit MTV, before MJ:

MTV had premiere on the "1999" video in december 1982, source: "The Vault" book.

"Little Red Corvette" had premiere on MTV in march 1983, both Prince-videos were successful afaik.

The first MJ video of Thriller was "Billie Jean", it was premiered on MTV in march 1983,

this means IMHO: Prince was the 1st black artist to have premiere on MTV....

to say MJ paved the way for Prince is simply NOT EXACTLY TRUE...


[Edited 4/9/09 14:19pm]

Well I am no expert on anything MJ or Prince but I have to say there is no contest here. Prince is a musical genuis, a true genuis in every sense of the word. MJ, he can dance I suppose but to my very limited knowledge he never plays any musical instruments so therefore is not a musician!!!!

As for who paved the way for who, well there were talents way before either of them.

I don't think the general public has any *idea* how hard Prince works.

I mean, for almost every year he's been out, he's put out an album. For years where he hasn't, he's preceded or suceeded it with a double or even triple album.

This is a man who is capable of putting on two and three hour shows, back to back on the same night. Even at the age of 50.

Hardest Working Man in Show Biz? Since 1978, it's been Prince.

I read this too and was gonna post it.

Bullshit.

If anyone "paved the way" for Prince, it was Jimi, Sly, James Brown, Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, Little Richard, Elvis, Funkadelic, Parlaiment, Stevie Wonder...shit...you'd have to go a LOOONNGGG way down the list before you got the J5 or Michael. You could list Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Otis Redding, MC5, Curtis Mayfield, Iassic Hayes...

The only reasons these two are CONSTANTLY compared to each other are:

1. They crossed over at the same time during....
2. The heyday of MTV as...
3. Two, effeminate black males who could...
4. Sing, write good songs and dance and...
5. Dominated the charts at the same time.

That's really it. MJ and Prince have way LESS in common than they share once you get past these things. I've never seen MJ play an instrument, take on a record label, play rock music or write a song like "SHHHH".

ernestsewell said:

let's wait 'til he's actually per4med all, or indeed any, of the 50 shows, then decide on his present level of per4mance, hey? although i'm guessin' there will b so many video screens, explosions, dancers, smoke n mirrors, that no mo'fo will even notice half the sh*t won't b 'live'

herb4 said:

You are so perfect

herb4 said:

Lock the thread cause this says it all !

I've said this b4 and i'll say it again. as much as I love MJ's music he ain't even in the same league as Prince, talking live performances there isn't 1 Prince concert out there that can b compared 2 another but all MJ's concerts r the exact same as the last, miming the songs and the same dance moves every time, hell he's been doing the same moves 4 Billie Jean since Motown 25 in the '80's.
He really needs to change 4 the O2 concerts 2 b critically praised, he is 50, the same as Prince, and if he could just go on stage and sing the songs live and cut out the moves then he could show the world how talented he really is, this is what Prince has been doing for years now.

purplecam said:

Absolutely. Two different artists with their own, unique styles.

2elijah said:

another similarity:

One's a white woman
One's a black woman

2elijah said:

... & Whatever haters can say... there is a lot of respect between them...


http://www.dailymotion.co...hael_music

Genesia said:

Before Prince performed anything at 02, people were raving about it. You can't praise what isn't yet in existence. But the point was, he sold out 50 shows. I'm neither defending or persecuting MJ. Just sayin'.

ernestsewell said:

My point is that Prince did the O2 first. And I definitely get the impression that MJ is simply trying to "one up" him by doing a residency in the same venue.

By all accounts, Prince could have sold out many more nights at the O2. As it stands, he did 21. But how many shows did he actually do - when you count both O2 and Indigo shows?

How many 2-concert evenings do you think MJ will do. Hmmmmm?

Genesia said:

I can't see him doing more than 10 concerts before he's hospitalized from a hangnail

Not a MJ fan but hope he has a great run and the shows are successfull.

I'm sure the shows will be spectacular, if anything the man has always been a great showman and entertainer.

amorbella said:

edit: nevermind. Not gonna go there. Thanks.
[Edited 4/9/09 19:43pm]

well guys in all honesty prince blows MJ out the window and this article is sort of unreliable and ridiculously pathetic at times "But LotusFlow3r ranks with Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic as his most creative yet." Though i have to say there is some truth to this by setting a path.

alexandernevermind1999 said:

InsatiableCream said:

He was referring the use of "Un2" and "Lotusflow3r" as Prince creating words.

I'm a MJ/Prince fan but you can't tell me Mike paved the way for Prince when they both broke barriers at the same time. So this article is blah.

fiddyeasy said:

Michael writes, composes, and produces

People have this "since you don't play instruments on stage, you're not a musician"

being a musician is more than that

Genesia said:

Maybe that's because he was EIGHT when he signed his first contract

amorbella said:

that was about a year ago.....and that was a publicity stunt

Eight? I thought he was nine (Steeltown) and ten (Motown)?

MJ been a professional recording artist since November 1967 technically, lol.

Anyway, the article was so-so but people are once again losing their minds over this. Why the hell are Mr. Nelson and Mr. Jackson always compared anyway? One's the "King", another's "His Royal Badness".

I was born when Mike & Prince had their biggest year (1984) but the artists who paved the way were around 20, 30 years before we were even around. And 25 years later, MTV's a joke, the media don't know shit, and MJ & Prince have two different legacies and careers.

This comparison and rivalry talk is bullshit.

Timmy84 said:

He signed with Steeltown in 1967, when he was 9, so you right

That's exactly what I'm saying. People gettin' pissed off and start bashing Mike because of what?.....




because of an YAHOO MUSIC article....really? is that something to be upset about?

Michael and Prince paved the way for African American artists (enough with that "he's a white woman now" bullshit) to gain worldwide mainstream success

Their success helped each other
And guess what, when Prince did Emancipation, he acknowledged Michael's success with Thriller helped him and other black artists cross over

This ain't 1984 anymore, get over this "fued"
[Edited 4/10/09 1:21am]

thedance said:

well, if you really wanna go there, then Prince wouldn't be the first black artist


that would probably be Herbie Hancock with Rockit

bboy87 said:

Exactly.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Genesia said:

you people think everybody tries to be like prince. so what if he did it first he doesn't own it. You can find a way to say mj copied prince and vice versa you could say prince copied the jacksons playing vegas or prince copied them by becoming a jehovas witness its all talk and Mj doesn't want to be like prince so get over it.