Prince vs Michael Jackson

yeah, i'm not either. and this probably belongs in another thread, but I haven't searched for all that much that hasn't been on Spotify..
all of Prince, Kate Bush's The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, all of Neil Young obviously, Meredith Monk, early ONJ, (though that one's not such a problem) and that's been about it

 

This really should be your signature...

 

There we'll disagree. I like Stevie but I've just never loved him - I have all those 70s albums and have yet to feel bowled over by them.

"SITKOL" is my fave, but damn, do most of those songs run too long! Somewhere there's a a bunch of former schoolkids chanting names for "Black Man" - no one ever told them the recording session ended!

I think Prince's 80s run of albums is pretty damned terrific. Not as good as the Beatles in the 60s or Bowie in the 70s, but consistently strong...

 

My go-to Jacksons album is "Live" from the 1981. Great, great performances - tons of energy, and they sound terrific.

Wish they'd put out an official video from the tour! And one from "Victory" as well, dammit!

I've played "Live" more since I bought it in 1984 than probably the rest of the J5/Jacksons/MJ catalog combined...

 

Yeah that's probably the only fault I can find in SITKOL. Especially in the second half of the album every song just goes on and on.

 

I definitely prefer Stevie to Jimi, but I can't say I've ever felt passion about Stevie.

Like him. Glad I have most of his stuff. Play it on occasion.

Also could live a pretty happy life if the lawyers forced me to give back all those albums and never listen to Stevie again.

I think I'd be much less content if I had to do the same for Prince or Jacksons/J5/MJ...

 

lol... I love SITKOL but yes, those kids screaming a history education for the listeners does go on too long, and I really like the rest of "Black Man"

 

Well the cool thing about "Black Man" is during the long outro at least the band is jamming.

 

The biggest problem with MJ circa 1988 is that the show had massive lulls. IIRC, he'd play 2-3 songs and then take a break to change costumes - a break in which nothing happened.

For comparison's sake, Madonna's shows "break" 3 times so she can leave the stage. However, she keeps the momentum by having lots of interesting visual elements while she's gone: unique videos and/or stunts from her dancers.

In 1988, MJ just got into a tent on stage and we watched his silhouette while he changed. Fun?

No - boring as hell, and the show never got into a rhythm. You'd start to get into it and then bam! Another costume break.

Interesting that you saw MJ and then Prince - I saw Prince and then MJ, and as mentioned earlier, the shows were barely separated. Prince was Monday/Tuesday, and then MJ was Thursday and the following M/Tues (IIRC).

I suspect if you'd seen Prince before MJ, you'd have been less enchanted with MJ. Prince's 1988 show was a momentum freight train - it never stopped - and that made the many lulls in MJ's shows even more obvious/annoying...

 

For me:

1) Prince








72. MJ




93. Stevie




275: Marvin

 

I don't think there's a bad song on "SITKOL", but some of them wear out their welcome due to length.

Even something great like "Isn't Just Lovely" starts to become a chore. How much cutesy interaction between Stevie and baby can one man take???

 

Prince...a thousand times, Prince.

 

MJ's show was really fun, but I was eight years old so I was young enough that I was just wowed at the sight of him and everything. But it was more like going to the circus than seeing a game-changing concert.

 

Awhile back i compiled my fave artists on another forum

2. Prince
5. Michael Jackson
16. Stevie Wonder
Marvin was out of the top 100. I don't dislike him, I just never really listened to more than his hits and What's Going On.

 

Your top 10?

 

1. David Bowie
2. Prince
3. Madonna
4. The Beatles
5. Michael Jackson
6. Pet Shop Boys
7. Bruce Springsteen
8. Fleetwood Mac
9. Janet Jackson
10. Depeche Mode

 

To be clear, my list wasn't ranking the artists in terms of where I'd place them among all musical artists ever - it was relative to each other.

20 years ago, Prince would've been top 10 for me - maybe top 5. Now? Maybe top 20 - probably more like t0p 30.

Yes, I know I assigned MJ, Stevie and Gaye rankings that don't make logical sense - if I only ranked them, obviously they should be 1-4.

I got melodramatic with my rankings for effect!

 

We share 4 of those!

 

Prince would have had a clear height and reach advantage, but Michaels footwork would have made him a very elusive target. I'd say Prince by TKO.

 

Great list.

1. The Beatles
2. Prince
3. David Bowie
4. The Beach Boys
5. Radiohead
6. The Rolling Stones
7. Stereolab
8. Michael Jackson
9. R.E.M.
10. The Cars

 

Stones were top 20 (#14), Beach Boys and REM were top 50 somewhere, Radiohead and The Cars were somewhere too, I forgot... the top 20 was pretty easy to remember

Stereolab I like what I've heard but admittedly never immersed myself in them. But they look to be in great company.

 

this is why I still skew old school and continue buying physical, and also why while I like streaming, I still want my mp3 files because too much stuff I like and already own isn't available on there

 

Depends on what shirt I'm wearing.

 

Prince = Musical genius
Michael Jackson = Very good R&B/pop lead singer

 

I'm glad you included Madonna (#3 ) and Janet (#9 ) in your list. I can relate both to Prince and MJ.

Madonna - Quantity over quality.

Janet - Quality over quantity.

Stereolab - Pure audio bliss. It's like they grabbed all of my favorite sounds in music and combined them together in a beautifully wrapped package, with all the bells and whistles.

I'm surprised to see Fleetwood Mac on your top 10. Not that they're undeserving, it's just I've never seen them on anyone's favorites list.

My mom is a huge fan too. (Not the Blues stuff) I'm talking about White Album - Tango in the Night. So I've heard lots of their music growing up.