Fuck it...

Madonna

1. Like A Prayer

2. Like A Virgin

3. Erotica

4. Madonna

5. True Blue (though the song True Blue is one of my top 3 fav Madonna songs)

6. Bedtime Stories

---after that I paid no more attention

Michael

1. Off the Wall

2. Thriller

3. Bad

---after that I paid no more attention

StonedImmaculate said:

Fuck it...

Madonna

1. Like A Prayer

2. Like A Virgin

3. Erotica

4. Madonna

5. True Blue (though the song True Blue is one of my top 3 fav Madonna songs)

6. Bedtime Stories

---after that I paid no more attention

Michael

1. Off the Wall

2. Thriller

3. Bad

---after that I paid no more attention

Shit you should have. Dangerous as a whole had more heavyweights than its two predecessors. "Will You Be There" "Remember The Time" "Black or White" "Who Is It" "Gone Too Soon" "Keep The Faith" "In The Closet" "Jam"...Amazing album.

Same thing with Ray of Light.

MADONNA

Best: 3 Way Tie Madonna/Erotica/Bedtime Stories

Worst: American Life

MICHAEL JACKSON

I don't own any MJ albums

[Edited 1/28/11 21:45pm]

Guess I'm the only one that has mentioned Got To Be There as MJ's best album.

JabarR74 said:

Guess I'm the only one that has mentioned Got To Be There as MJ's best album.

Jabar I haven't heard that to be honest. I mainly just know of his stuff starting with Off The Wall. I need to go out and buy all of his early (pre-OTW) stuff...

my favourite pre-off the wall solo album is music & me start to finish

JabarR74 said:

Guess I'm the only one that has mentioned Got To Be There as MJ's best album.

I wouldn't call it his very best, but I love that album, too.

Hell, side A of Ben is almost perfect. "Ben," "The Greatest Show on Earth," "People Make the World Go 'Round," "We've Got a Good Thing Going"...

BEST:

Michael Jackson -- Thriller

Madonna -- a coin-toss between True Blue & Music

WORST:

Michael Jackson -- Invincible

Madonna -- American Life

Madonna's Best Album= Like a Prayer, Like A Virgin, Self Titled Album

Michael's Best Album= Thriller, Dangerous

Worst Madonna album: American Life

Worst Michael Jackson album: HIStory

Best: off the wall, bedtime stories

Worst: invincible, american life

[Edited 1/29/11 13:37pm]

i'm not into madoona at all, so i cannot answer for her... the one song i truly love from her is 'everybody', the 12" version... her first album, to me, is the most decent thing she's done (and if i'm not mistaken, the one album where she wrote the bulk of the songs?)...

for me, i don't count that 'michael' album either, as michael did not physically endorse the release of that album. the worst album he's done, in my opinion, is this one:

i more or less only like four songs on it. 'baby be mine', 'lady in my life', 'wanna be startin' somethin'' and 'human nature'. the demos to 'billie jean', 'thriller' (called 'starlight') and 'the girl is mine are FAR better than the versions released on the album, and i don't like 'pyt' AT ALL. i actually like 'beat it', but it doesn't fit on the album to me. at least my ideal version of the album. i feel better about 'beat it' being on bad.

even though the production and arrangement on 'thriller' are far better than the one for 'starlight', the subject matter for the demo version is much better.

off the wall is one of my favourite albums of michael's as far as production and arrangement go- it is a phenomenal jazz pop album. but for me, i prefer his work after thriller. i think bad, dangerous, HIStory, blood on the dance floor and invincible are MUCH better than thriller. because this was the point where michael began to get out of the 'girl i wanna love you/ i wanna dance' territory, and he began to have some serious socio-political messages. this is the michael i prefer. i also think his skill as an arranger has been far underrated.

musicjunky318 said:

Worst

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

alphastreet said:

my favourite pre-off the wall solo album is music & me start to finish

that album is severely underrated... 'up again'; 'too young'; 'euphoria'... some beautiful stuff there...

JabarR74 said:

Guess I'm the only one that has mentioned Got To Be There as MJ's best album.

'wings of my love' and 'got to be there' are two of the greatest michael songs of all times...

my favourite michael albums:

the second half, not the first, 'greatest hits' part. this is the point where michael decided not to care... and i absolutely love him for it. he was letting everyone know where he stood.

i mean, this has got everyone from phillinganes, george duke, patti austin, paulinho da costa, louis johnson... i mean- AWESOMENESS!

i think i am alone in this one... to me, this album is a sign of a maturity that hadn't been there previously- a type of maturity which comes directly with age, and parenthood... you even see some gray hairs. with this album i also felt a sort of resignation, a vision of the end. not necessarily of his life, but of another stage of it. it's a beautiful thing.

this is a severely underrated piece from michael's. it didn't sell well at all, and motown didn't know what to do with him. he handled the ballads beautifully, and you saw with this album (and the period in full beginning here) what was to come from him- he did a lot of the vocal cues we ended up recognizing from him. he was a beautiful swan. holland/dozier/holland return to the fold (with brian holland at the helm), and in my opinion did some of their best work. the musicians take on everything from chicago to barry white to tin pan alley, and michael handles it all beautifully.

dangerous is a pretty close runner up, after these four...

I think the best song on INVINCIBLE is Whatever Happens because MARIO VAZQUEZ sings backup on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ratethis99 said:

I think the best song on INVINCIBLE is Whatever Happens because MARIO VAZQUEZ sings backup on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm not familiar with mario vazquez, but i do think that is a really beautiful song.

MJJstudent said:

musicjunky318 said:

Worst

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

Is that a haha where you agree or disagree and think my choices were hilariously wrong?

when browsing through the posts in here, the most stunning thing I suddenly realized...

no matter what your exact choices are for Michael or Madonna, the worst Michael album still can run circles around the best Madonna album

and for the record, I do like Madonna

MrSmoketoomuch said:

when browsing through the posts in here, the most stunning thing I suddenly realized...

no matter what your exact choices are for Michael or Madonna, the worst Michael album still can run circles around the best Madonna album

and for the record, I do like Madonna

No way!

musicjunky318 said:

MJJstudent said:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

Is that a haha where you agree or disagree and think my choices were hilariously wrong?

hee heee... i don't like madonna, and i don't consider 'michael' to be a michael jackson album, so i am concurring with you about a billion percent.

I want to make a topic for best mj and madonna album covers lol

I can't decide about hard candy, I love the backdrop but don't like how she looks

Moonbeam said:

MrSmoketoomuch said:

when browsing through the posts in here, the most stunning thing I suddenly realized...

no matter what your exact choices are for Michael or Madonna, the worst Michael album still can run circles around the best Madonna album

and for the record, I do like Madonna

No way!

I can so see why someone would say that. Totally. MJ's voice is very engaging even on poor material, so i'll listen. Madonna just can not hold my attention in the same way.

Marrk said:

Moonbeam said:

No way!

I can so see why someone would say that. Totally. MJ's voice is very engaging even on poor material, so i'll listen. Madonna just can not hold my attention in the same way.

I can see how uber-Michael fans would say that, yes, but to throw that out there and then add "and I like Madonna" to imply a shred of objectivity is just wrong.

I also am prone to overrating an artist's material (for instance, I like every Roxy Music album more than any Beatles album I've heard), but I won't pretend to be an objective observer.

[Edited 2/1/11 15:48pm]

Madonna - for me her best period was her middle period when she was more artistic and less predictable. I love LAP, Ray of Light, American Life and Music. That was her at her best and most iconic for me.

Not a fan of the beginning or the recent Madonna. Too predictable standard dance stuff so I would say Madonna(first album) and Hard Candy.

Michael Jackson Best - Off the Wall and Thriller

Worst - Any of the more recent albums.

MrSmoketoomuch said:

when browsing through the posts in here, the most stunning thing I suddenly realized...

no matter what your exact choices are for Michael or Madonna, the worst Michael album still can run circles around the best Madonna album

and for the record, I do like Madonna

I don't listen to Madonna so I couldn't tell you. But as for Michael Jackson,

Best: Thriller

Worst: Invincible

Invincible isn't bad. Just not as good as his other albums.

^ I have never liked Madonna either.

I only have her "Like A Prayer" 1989 vinyl album because of the Prince duet.

Worst MJ:

Invincible, a very pseudo album.

(I don't consider the no-good "Michael" to be a real MJ album.)

MrSmoketoomuch said:

when browsing through the posts in here, the most stunning thing I suddenly realized...

no matter what your exact choices are for Michael or Madonna, the worst Michael album still can run circles around the best Madonna album

and for the record, I do like Madonna

I totally disagree I like both artists but I think Madonna's 90s albums are superior to MJ's 90s albums.'Ray Of Light' is way better than 'HIStory',for example.I think Madonna took more chances with her music while Michael stayed with the same type of music (R&B/pop),trying to top 'Thriller' over and over.