Which is the better song?

No question.

Man in the Mirror, definitely! I love that song. I'm probably one of the few people on the planet that really doesn't like 'Like A Prayer'.. it gets on my nerves! It just goes on and on and on.....

The message of Man In The Mirror is timeless - and MJs lasting message too. I love both tracks - probably amongst the strongest each artist has done so its difficult to choose. MJ obviously sings the arse of MITM, but the choir climax to LAP is possibly one of my faourite moments in music, period. Also LAP has a couple of killer remixes to its name too - and ive not yet found one for MITM.

Maybe this thread should be re-titled the best pop song the Andrae Crouch Choir has performed on! What other ones have they done? I read they'd worked on Mika's 'We Are Golden' which surprised me.

CrozzaUK said:

Oh yeah,that's right....both songs feature the same choir!

I think "Like A Prayer" is the best written song, but the combination of Quincy's production and Michael's all-time best vocal performance makes "Man In The Mirror" the more essential track for me. .

I actually think the lyrics are pretty corny on "Man in The Mirror", but when Mike's ad libbing over the Andrea Crouch choir, it's pure magic.

Both these tracks are peaks of their careers.
[Edited 9/25/09 4:18am]

midnightmover said:

Totally agree here, whenever I'm listening to MITM, I'm always hanging out for the "gonna make a change...it's gonna feel real good shamone..." and onwards...whereas I think the only truly magical part of LAP is the beginning acapella verse.

They're both great songs and I'm a bigger MJ fan but I actually like 'Like A Prayer' better. It's one of Madonna's best songs whereas I like a lot of other MJ songs better than 'Man In The Mirror'. It's the choir that makes 'Man In The Mirror' (not to mention Michaels ad libbing at the end) whereas I think 'Like A Prayer' could still make it without it (although it definetly adds something special to it)

That's a tough one. I don't know. But if it was LAP vs Will You Be There (which also feats Chrouch choir) WYBT would get my vote...

Madonna's Nothing Fails also deserves a mention which also features a gospel choir. not sure if it's the Crouch singers though

"Man In The Mirror" by Michael Jackson (1987)
"Like A Prayer" by Madonna (1989)
"Still Would Stand All Time" by Prince (1990)

looks like "The Big 3" of the 80s suddenly decided that they love choirs,lol.

I don't think Like I Prayer holds up much...Man In The Mirror is a timeless classic so it it gets my vote.

I'm a fan of both songs. But my vote goes to Man In The Mirror.

A portion of a classic episode of Celebrity Big Brother is just one of many examples of how this song gain a life of its own over the years:

midnightmover said:

Do you think all Michael's positive songs are corny?

Man in the Mirror - no question about it. It's an awesome song.

Like a Prayer has a good beat, but other than that, it doesn't do much for me. Man in the Mirror is a beautiful, thought-provoking song.

"I'm STARTING with the MAN in the MIRROR!"

sosgemini said:

I hate "man in the mirror" it sounds so dated. "Like a Prayer" has stood the test of time.

can't choose. I love each song for different reasons

Music-wise: Man In The Mirror...the message, even with all the ad-libbing, was inspiring and straight-forward. I love the 'It's gonna feel real good yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah' part the most because of all that emotion. Simply put, the emotional delivery is what greatly separates these two songs for me and Michael left a part of his soul on this song. I didn't just hear every word he was singing: I felt them also.

Video-wise: Like A Prayer...who doesn't love seeing a brunette Madonna (suffering from stigmata) with a black Jesus and some burning crosses all in one video? People thought the video was controversial; I thought it was a step-up from all her previous videos and it made me admire her more.

I love both songs and wish that music nowadays had a message and challenged people's hearts and minds like these two songs were able to do for me. Just my

I'd chooose the LAP album over Bad anyday.

But I always skip the title song - so I choose 'man in the mirror'.

I kind of don't understand the meaning of LAP

musicjunky318 said:

Two totally different songs, different years, different themes.

ernestsewell said:

I was gonna say Why are these songs being compared???

wrogn threaaad
[Edited 9/25/09 18:19pm]

johnart said:

It's nonsense.

Like a Prayer

Waiting to see whether more folks will pick the one Prince played on...

'Like A Prayer'. No question.

GirlBrother said:

Your joking right

Like a prayer was enjoyable back then but it didn't grow with time.

Thing is with Man in the Mirror. Beautiful Siedah Garett wrote it, the single proceeds all went to charity and everytime MJ sang this he put his heart and soul into it everytime. The fans knew it was a charity number and that's why in any video you see him perform it, they stand there with tears streaming down their face in absolute joy. So hands down Man in the Mirror wins.

Michael's ability to unite people was almost "godly."

"Man in the Mirror"

FWIW, I have "Man in the Mirror" as Michael's 8th-best song and "Like a Prayer" as Madonna's 21st-best song.