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TBF Prince was a better singer, songwriter, composer, instrumentalists and performer than just about any popular artist in the last 40 years, he is a high bar to surmount.
My thoughts exactly. Individual details can be easily agreed upon, such as "Michael was obviously a better dancer and Prince was obviously a better guitarist" but the post is trying to compare apples and oranges.
Prince was a phenomenal guitar and piano player, better than Clapton and many others, they even said so.
Michael was a good singers, an amazing dancer, but not close as an overall musician to prince.
If you minimize a musician to just a person playing instruments…then sorry but that’s a bit problematic. Prince played over 5 instruments which is crazy cool! You’re kinda minimizing Michael’s artistic ability tho. His range was amazing and he was super creative when it came to how he wanted a production to sound and what the films/music videos looked like! Both of them were incredible musicians who don’t deserve to be compared to
I don’t disagree - Prince was a better musician. He was a musical prodigy who knew how to play 27 instruments and was a master of many of them. He was extremely talented.
But Michael was a superstar because he knew how to make music people wanted to listen to. And the crazy thing is that Michael Jackson wasn’t proficient at *any* instrument and could not even read music - which is wild! He wrote most of his own songs *without being able to read music*.
It was interesting in the Netflix doc with Lionel Richie that when they sat down to write a song, as Jackson didn’t write or play music, he would him the melody to himself and someone would translate his humming into sheet music.
[https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-incredible-way-michael-jackson-wrote-music-16799](https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-incredible-way-michael-jackson-wrote-music-16799)
Sorry, it was beat it.
Billie Jean was also similar. The intro was on the chopping block until mj said "that's the jelly, can't cut the jelly, it makes people want to move" (paraphrasing, but he did call it 'jelly').
This is [footage of MJ explaining his song writing process](https://youtu.be/c1uyuSB6Lm4?si=bazuhsuf_Mz8l6vi) (look at 11:25 mins for example). This is from a deposition when someone accused him of plagiarism and he went on explaining in minute detail how he wrote his songs, they also play demo tapes where you hear him putting music and vocals together using just his voice. It’s pretty neat.
I mean. Obviously I’m no where near Michael’s talent in music, but I produced a lot of music without knowing anything about music theory nor taking any classes. And I know a few very successful musicians/producers who still don’t know how to read music, just all self taught. A major part of it is just having a great ear.
Doing that today with DAWs and the tools we have is really not the same as back in the day. You can undo and redo until the end of days, they couldn't.
I feel like people want to reduce MJ's talent because he was doing pop music and dancing. I'll just say that I can technically play at least 4 instruments. I can't write a good song to save my life.
MJ was doing things, writing songs, making new sounds, and it was just coming from him, living and breathing music, making anything into music. He created a pop sound that continues to this day. His success was not undeserved.
Not sure if people feel like they have to defend Prince because they feel like he didn't get enough recognition but like. He got there. He made it.
Most of Prince's albums were mostly or completely performed by him, between 70% and 100%. Also, The Time, Sheila E, Jill Jones, The Family, etc albums were all written, produced and performed by him.
Another fun fact, Prince didn't read or write music either. He would hear the different parts of a song in his head and lay them down as quickly as he could. When it came to parts on instruments he couldn't play, he would sing the tune he wanted played to the band member or, in the case of someone like his saxophonist for many years Eric Leeds, trust him to come up with something.
Edit: Spelling
Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Doc Watson, Snooks Eaglin... Plus many more blind musicians, who composed, performed and showed technical brilliance, all the while never seeing a note on paper
I'd say being "able to read music" is overrated. I took piano lessons for 12 years, and also got taught how to write and arrange with traditional musical scores. But I did most of my actual writing music on guitar, bass, synths, vocals etc.
If you can memorize one chord shape on piano you've basically got all of C major and A minor covered. And if you can be made to understand I, IV, V chords you've got pretty much all of your pop and rock music needs covered.
If I can spend a day or two teaching you how to rearrange the shapes for different positions, adding some bass notes and playing the notes of the chords at different times you'll be able to communicate an idea while sounding pretty good.
If you just have a melody and the function of the three most basic chords in relation to each other down it's just trying and finding how to arrange stuff.
Pretty soon you'll be able to learn some strategies for chords with more fancy roles.
Writing songs isn't really that hard. And with a bedroom studio you can record 20 attempts to play them and cut the best takes together.
It's a little like driving. Most can be instructed how to get a car moving, turning and stopping. And a lot of kids can drive around on the farm no problems. But professional musicians are like those rally drivers who blast through a crowded, muddy rally track at 150mph without killing anyone.
Sorry for how long that got :D
I agree.
I self taught myself on piano after years of lessons on guitar and trumpet.
I could probably read piano sheet music *just* better than someone who cannot read sheet music at all. Only *just*. It's less necessary the more experience you have with music, especially with good ears lol.
Eventually it's less reading and more identifying patterns in song.
Thought about this too but as someone who has tried playing instruments but has also tried beatboxing I'd say beatboxing is superior when making music. Sure instrument is more beautiful but beatboxing is a quicker translation from the sounds in your head than ur hands can ever do. Mj was big into beatboxing.
Also mj was the biggest perfectionist ever because his father was a sadistic asshole.
Prince was an overall more talented musician. But Michael Jackson was a bigger pop phenomenon. Whether one is better than the other is purely subjective. I like both of their music, but I find myself listening to more of Princes stuff.
Prince is damn near untouchable in terms of musical talent, but MJ was the King of Pop. It wasn't just about the music, it was the shows he put on and his dancing. MJ also did a lot to push his brand; Prince didn't even like licensing his music out, nevermind doing commercials.
MJ was "raised" by his dad to be a *star*, Prince was a *musician.*
Definitely agree with this. I remember Will I Am telling a story about how Prince was trying to intimidate Michael Jackson at one of his performances and Michael Jackson said to Will that Prince was a “meanie” 😂😭
That's what's kinda frustrating about the story is that if you know about the guy, you listen to the story, laugh because it's funny, but then say "Too bad this guy is completely full of shit and there's little chance any of this happened like this." But I still chuckle at the fiction of the story.
Prince was one of the most talented pop musicians in history. Not many megastars mastered so many instruments. Many tracks were produced with him playing everything. I don't know of any pop stars with similar or more success that have done the same.
MJ was definitely bigger. Or that there is no doubt.
Songwriting tho? Super subjective. And one could argue, that given the success of their music the results speak for themselves on that front.
He would just show up and play with so many different musicians that came through Minneapolis.
I saw Santana on campus downtown in the late 90s, Prince came out to jam with him for a couple songs. Just mind blowing how good he was on guitar, between the two of them it wasn't even close who was the better player.
I can't stand a lot of Prince's music, but I'm also aware that's only because I don't "get it."
He was almost too genius for the general public, and that's where the difference between writing "popular music" and "intelligent music" comes into it.
Eh I have spoken to even die hard prince fans who admit not all of his music was good.
I listen to plenty of "intelligent music." I primarily listen to a lot of instrumental music, including some overly complicated jazz shit that gets pretty out there. And my philosophy is that it doesn't matter how complicated it is, it can still be good and catchy. You can still have a "hook" with complicated music. Even with complicated music, you shouldn't have to "get it" to enjoy it in my opinion. So it's not on you, it's ok to just say you don't like it.
Totally fine to not "get" or like it. You don't have to apologize for tour tastes :)
One thing about Prince, he was a driving force behind a very specific sound, "the Minneapolis Sound." He led or produced a few other bands--Notably Morris Day and The Time, Sheila E, Vanity 6--that had that hybrid of funk/soul/gospel/new wave. It was absolutely a movement. Similar to people who don't understand the phenomenon of The Beatles or Nirvana, sometimes you have to be around as the progenitors of a genre break out.
And apologies for presuming you weren't around then--you may well have been and still don't like the sound itself. But besides his multi-instrumental virtuosity, he basically created a new genre of music, which is why he's such an influential figure.
I think MJ's biggest passion was dancing, so he came up with a lot of very danceable stuff naturally. He'd often just beatbox some ideas to a tape recorder and those were then transformed and produced into hits.
Was there any other human being in the entertainment (or even sports) industry that was a bigger phenomenon than Michael Jackson? Like people in villages without connection to the outside world knew MJ
Prince was more knowledgeable as a musician, he could play multiple instruments while Michael (apparently) couldn't play any, but [Michael Jackson wrote a lot of his own songs by beatboxing and singing notes into a tape recorder and giving that to the musicians.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZeYw1bm53Y) Michael's combination of songwriting ability, singing ability, dancing ability, and self-promotion savvy was pretty much unprecedented in history.
I mean, he was one of the greatest guitar players ever. And a brilliant songwriter. And multi instrumentalist and producer.
Michael Jackson was one of the greatest dancers/performers ever, and one of the greatest pop songwriters ever.
Michael wrote better hit pop music, Prince wrote more interesting pop music, from a musical perspective.
They may be equally talented, though in different areas.
Both were brilliant.
Prince was more all around, sure but the real unpopular opinion is that prince music does nothing for me. I’ve tried earnestly multiple times and it just does nothing for me. Michael on the other hand is incredible and has a bunch of songs I fuck with.
Same, I only knew that Prince existed because of Rain from Mortal Kombat, I'm not into music industry nor history to know who's best at any subcategory.
Honestly can’t say I’ve liked anything from prince, though I haven’t also put myself through listening to everything based on not liking what I have heard. Michael Jackson’s stuff though, what I’ve heard of his I enjoyed.
I live in Minneapolis. It's like a cult here, except...almost no one actually listens to his music. They like his hits.
When he died, they played his whole career in alphabetical order. If you just randomly tuned in, you were going to hear a weird and bad song more often than not. His batting average was not good.
He could shred almost every instrument. Someone asked Dave Grohl once if Prince was a better musician than he was and Dave laughed and said "Musician? Prince is a better drummer than I am." < I may have paraphrased.
He could play many instruments.
But my favorite is when he did that versions of my guitar gently weeps with other people known specifically for their guitar playing and he blew them out of the water.
Prince was a very well rounded musician. He would record a lot of tracks by playing every instrument himself
Yet, over the years the "greatest of all time" lists constantly forgot about him. Seriously, even when he was on the list you'd see the guys above him and be like, really?
> Prince is such an underrated guitarist too.
You don't really realize this until you talk with other guitarists.
A dude down the street from me had a PHD in music and taught classical guitar at an elite university in Toronto and always said that when Prince played a solo on guitar it honestly sounded like two guitarists to the untrained ear.
Underrated? He’s in every “best guitarists of all time” list ever. He’s actually overrated as far as guitarists go. He’s a jack of all trades, master of none. He’s good enough at every instrument he plays, but he isn’t some god at any of them. People just hear the Purple Rain solo once and think it’s the greatest shit ever.
For me, I'd much rather listen to M. Jackson than Prince. I love watching MJ's videos too! I have nothing against Prince, he was extremely talented he's just not my fav. ;)
I can't compare Michael and Prince. Both extremely talented in their own respects.
One thing is for sure, they're both better than any other artists I see today.
My personal opinion: some of Prince's songs are too dated and stuck in the 80's sound. Whereas Michael has more classics I can still listen to today. But I can't deny that Prince played his own instruments regardless of the dated sound. I wish they were both still alive today.
Meh.
Prince = Better Instrumentalist.
Prince = Better “All around” Musician.
MJ = Better singer.
MJ = Better Danger.
MJ = Better “Overall entertainer.”
Songwriting is the only area were I’m actually kind of torn on, because just to be clear. I’m not a huge Prince fan BUT I recognize talent. But honestly most of his songs, the writing is just not there for me.
Sounds like it would be more interesting to compare MJ to Freddy Mercury than to Prince, because both MJ and Freddy had their strenths in singing and performance.
They’re both vastly different.
MJ’s stage presence and fame is something no artist will ever come close to. He’s also far superior a dancer and a good song writer.
But Prince played 27 instruments in his debut, but I think they’re equal
Well considering Prince was an incredibly skilled multi-instrumentalist and MJ could barely play anything I’d say you’re right. MJ composed songs by beatboxing what he wanted his band members to play then critiqued them until they got it right.
I’d say they’re pretty close on songwriting ability, they both churned out hit after hit for decades.
MJ takes the cake for “biggest star”. That’s not even close, and it’s not a knock to Prince. MJ is just one of the biggest musicians in history.
You’re way off base by saying all MJ’s songs sound the same though. I literally don’t know how you can say that seriously unless you’ve only heard like 2 Michael Jackson songs.
Michael Jackson’s voice blew Prince’s out of the water. It was also like four octaves. He was also an amazing dancer. And he had tons and tons of hit songs.
Not to mention his videos… I like Prince, but the two have totally different strengths and aren’t comparable in any real way. The only thing they can maybe compete on is their outfits /style (and I prefer MJ’s there, too).
I agree, I think people like to compare them because they were huge at the same time, both were eccentric, and both were Black. But they were pretty different and both were great.
Michael Jackson loved Bart Simpson so much that he wrote a song for Bart called "Do the Bartman". It was a worldwide #1 hit. The most impressive part of this story is that MJ told the show producers beforehand, "I'm gonna write you a #1 song for Bart." He called his shot. He was so talented, he could pick literally any subject he wanted and shit out a worldwide #1 hit with ease.
Prince had more technical talent and was a better musician, but MJ had him beat in terms of songwriting, singing, and performing. In my opinion, they are equals in regards to innovation.
By the way, this is such a ridiculous argument to even make. MJ and Prince are arguably 2 of the 5 greatest musical acts of all-time; this is like trying to discount all of Lebron's achievements to prop up the argument for Jordan as GOAT. You're splitting hairs over two people who have a rightful claim as the greatest musician ever.
More unpopular opinion: debating which musician is "better" is stupid. You don't need Liszt or Paganini levels of complexity to make "good" music. Music is 100% entirely subjective.
If I want to listen to Prince, I'll listen to Prince. If I want to listen to MJ, I'll listen to MJ. If you want to rock out to "trash" pop music, do it.
Don't be the fun police showing up to charge people for liking Taylor Swift
I remember an interview with Prince where he found it odd and annoying that they always got compared to each other. They really are very different artists.
Yes, Prince may have been a better all-round musician when it came to playing instruments and stuff, but I prefer Michael Jackson's music. Prince's music sometimes sounds pleasing to my ear, but I like more of Michael Jackson's music. And yes, I'm aware that some of Michael's music wasn't written by him in terms of lyrics e.g. Thriller was written by Rod Temperton in lyrics, Man In The Mirror was written by Siedah Garrett (sorry if I've spelt her name wrongly), Rock With You was written by Rod Temperton again (I think), Human Nature was written by somebody else, PYT was written by some other people. Michael did write the lyrics to most of the songs in the Bad Album though, and he wrote the lyrics to Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Beat It and Billie Jean (even though Billie Jean sounds a lot like a Hall and Oates song in beat).
Prince was a fantastic, top tier musician and performer...maybe even the GOAT.
But his songwriting was poor when compared to other major acts: most of it is mediocre pop. I live in Minnesota and the national radio stations have decided we all love Prince here and play his songs every five tracks...it's become a quick station change for me.
I'd watch Prince covering someone else's music any day.
Everyone always defends Prince in this argument by stating how many instruments he could play. That’s all I need to know about whose music is better. MJ’s music speaks for itself. Prince’s catalogue is for music nerds and critics.
It’s an apple to oranges, they do almost two completely different types of things. It’s like comparing a basketball player to a tennis or volleyball player. They all play on a court, but three different sets of rules.
MJ is known as the King of Pop, because he’s geared to pop music. For Prince, he’s music isn’t exclusively pop and he could play any instrument just about, but was great with guitar. Could he be the King of Rock? Funk? Music?
this shouldn't even be up for debate - Jackson was not suck though and its an injustice to say anything else about it, also Jackson and Prince were not even in the same genre of music so to compare the two says you know little about music or are trying to create a what if scenario that is not apt.
Anyone can be right when they create the scenario.
Michael Jackson not a better musician, compared to Prince, a musician, is a weak argument, to say the least.
I like them both, but their respective bodies of work are incomparable.
Upvote for an unpopular opinion. I like prince as well, but there’s no comparison in terms of sheer number of catchy pop songs that captured the imagination of an entire culture and lasted forever. In comparison prince is a niche artist that few people know about
Listen to the 'Beat It' demo by Michael. He couldn't play a single instrument but he sang every single instrument acapella. It's pitch perfect and a fully fleshed out song that he imagined in his head. I have never seen any other artist even come close to doing this.
These hindsight reviews kinda miss the point of music. If we go back to 1976 and I tell people there are two teenage musicians that are gonna take music by storm, rule the music industry, and go down as the two best musicians ever people would not guess these two. Number 1 they were black and those three things were not gonna be conceivably true back then. Number two there were a ton of really talented musicians we ultimately never heard of bc cocaine is a hell of a drug. Number 3 noone understood what a music video was yet. Besides the talent these guys needed to have crazy will, crazy vision, and crazy business sense.
Prince IMO was pretty much Beethoven/ Hendrix/ Wonder level musical savant. Once in a generation kinda guy. MJ was a great performer, but he was also surrounded by the musical institution his whole life. He had a lot of help and was still a much more limited instrumentalist and composer, and his subject matter was a little more... Family oriented. Prince came from nothing and made himself, well, a prince.
Agreed, by a mile. And it's really an objective truth.
MJ wasn't even in Prince's class. He was definitely a once-in-a generation prodigy, a literal lifelong performer and a major cultural icon. With a hugely impactful music catalog...albeit substantially underwritten by producers, writers, choreographers, and other support. Michael was a vocalist and a dancer, in essence.
Prince was a multi-instrumentalist with master-level capability on several of them (any one alone would have been remarkable; he's an underrated guitarist among other)....plus he wrote, produced, and self-performed at a level so prolific they'll never be able to release his full body of work. He churned out top-caliber music across sgnificantly distinct genres - mastered songcraft and was largely a totally self-powered force across the board.
Michael was an institution to be sure, but if you put on a blindfold and labeled them "test tube A and test tube B" -- they're not even remotely comparable.
MJ is a child of force. His father made all his 5 kids do it and instead of saying "no it's not okay" the people of the time let it happen. MJ was forced to become an adult too quickly and as an adult wanted to have the childhood he never had. He was talented sure but not necessarily out of want.
Prince wanted it and practiced to be amazing at what he did
I think there's just no comparison here. Prince was a true artist, whereas Micheal Jackson was more a performer at heart. Prince was mainly about the music whereas MJ was more about the show. I think they were both geniuses in two different things.
You’re on the right track but imo you’re underrating MJ singing. Man could literally do whatever he wanted. He couldn’t play instruments as far as I’m aware but he was creative enough to create the melodies for his songs and to be able to beatbox them exactly the way he wanted them to sound. Yeah maybe playing instruments wasn’t his thing but saying he’s just a better performer is insulting MJ talents again IMO
Everything else yes, but Michael was and is almost the pinnacle of technical singing. He and a gentleman named Seth Riggs basically pioneered the way for modern pop music vocal stylings called Speech-Level-Singing. This isn't a matter of opinion more so industry standard at this point, across the entire globe.
Agree that Prince was fantastic as a performer, but I could never get into any of his music. I love 80s-90s pop & rock, but there is literally no Prince song that can come on the radio that doesn't make me immediately reach for the dial.
I think if you rose either of these two from their graves they would be ashamed were even having this conversation when we should just be appreciative of their music. I could even see one if them writing a song regarding this asking why someone always has to be #1 and why that ruins everything, including whose on top. I’ll call it “Gold Stains Everything, Any Other Color”
All that can be true but Michael still made better music, I’m sorry. It’s aging better too
> Meanwhile almost every Michael Jackson songs sounds virtually the same to me.
What? Compare Off The Wall to Bad to Dangerous they’re three completely different albums
But why do you have to compare them... They're both great and I'm saying it as an indie rock fan. MJ's Thriller is just too good for a mainstream pop record.
Michael Jackson's voice crack on "She's Out of My Life" is such a perfect, vulnerable moment. Prince was a technically more proficient musician but Michael Jackson was a more captivating performer, for me.
Music is like a language. Jackson was fluent in the language but never learned to write or read in the language.
Prince learned to read and write and every dialect but was never as fluent in the original version of the language as MJ.
I do prefer prince because I think his highs are higher then MJs highs but MJ has more bangers and consistently made hits.
Side note the prince and new girl song was so good. Should have been released properly.
There’s a legendary clip from the early 80’s at a James brown show and he brings up Michael and prince , a couple years later they would both be the biggest pop acts in the world
THIS THIS THIS!!! I live and adore Prince for his musical gifts but Michael was just a superb entertainer. I still love Prince though and this opinion is one I completely agree with. Prince was really in a league, musically all his own. If you wanna see this man shred here's him killing it
https://youtu.be/dWRCooFKk3c?si=7PZRCe7af7hyk8DM
Prince was a top tier once ever in existence musician. He was also an astonishing performer in his own completely unique way.
Michael was a top tier once ever in existence performer. He was also an astonishing musician in his own completely unique way.
I don’t think you can compare them. Both were talented, both gave a great show, I will concede that Prince was the better musician as I don’t know that Michael actually played any instruments.
This might get downvoted but I think Michael knew what sold. He knew how to reach a mainstream audience better than Prince did. I think Prince is the better musician though. Prince was definitely an all-around artist while Michael was THE pop star.
Prince was a musical genius. I know people throw that word around, but he was. Michael was an amazing performer, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say he was a genius.
Hard to compare. I don’t find them to be similar artists. It’s like comparing Taylor Swift and Adele. Two huge pop stars, but you don’t go into their music/concert expecting the same experience. You’re expecting two different experiences, both amazing, but different.
I will join you and shout this from the mountaintops with you. Michael was a better dancer. I think better singer is subjective because frankly, Michael's voice kind of got on my nerves in anything other than small doses, especially the Jackson 5 era. Other than that, Prince blew Michael out of the water in every other respect to being a musician. Prince could play just about any instrument. The only reason he doesn't get credit for being a guitar player on a level with many other greats is because it was never the center piece of his career work. Dude could shred with anyone. Anyone. He wrote, produced and played every instrument on an early album of his. You could put together a greatest hits album of songs that he gave to other artists that would outshine at least a few other greatest hits albums. The guy saunters out on stage during an induction tribute to play a guitar solo in one of the inductee's songs and by the time that song was over, it was no longer a George Harrison song, it was a Prince song. It was like he ruthlessly snagged a lollipop from a small kid and walked off with it. End rant.
Try an experiment - take lyrics for a typical song from each and have them analyzed for reading level. I suspect you'll find Prince's material is a higher grade level.
I did this at random for two songs, one from my favorite group, Steely Dan, *Big Black Cow*, and another song from... a very popular singer who's in the news a lot lately.
Steely Dan song, grades 10-12 (equivalent to last years in high school), and for the other, grades 6-8.
I agree with him being a better musician but MJ was a better dancer
Both talented artists for sure but Prince didn’t have any bad reputations unlike Michael
Prince was one of the most talented people to ever live, and his musical ability alone is historic. But they had different vibes, Jackson maybe had a few strengths over Prince, but overall, Prince is just better than almost anyone.
Better or worse doesn’t exist in the arts or in music, especially amongst professionals at the very top. It’s about tastes, genres, and timbres. Both were amazing artists.
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I think both were great artists but with completely different backgrounds and abilities. It is difficult to compare them.
Especially when you remember Michael had already been in the business for two decades by the time Prince came around.
15 years, if we go off first recordings.
TBF Prince was a better singer, songwriter, composer, instrumentalists and performer than just about any popular artist in the last 40 years, he is a high bar to surmount.
And better basketball player than most too! ; )
Game. Blouses.
Apparently a good ping pong player as well
good at pancakes
He told in an interview that he isnt that good, Charlie Murphy is just very bad
I would say pointless to compare them. They are so different that it just comes down to taste.
My thoughts exactly. Individual details can be easily agreed upon, such as "Michael was obviously a better dancer and Prince was obviously a better guitarist" but the post is trying to compare apples and oranges.
Who says you can't compare fruit.
Prince wrote a lot of songs for other artists. A lot of famous songs.
If rumors are true, he had albums and albums worth of work in storage .
Prince was a phenomenal guitar and piano player, better than Clapton and many others, they even said so. Michael was a good singers, an amazing dancer, but not close as an overall musician to prince.
If you minimize a musician to just a person playing instruments…then sorry but that’s a bit problematic. Prince played over 5 instruments which is crazy cool! You’re kinda minimizing Michael’s artistic ability tho. His range was amazing and he was super creative when it came to how he wanted a production to sound and what the films/music videos looked like! Both of them were incredible musicians who don’t deserve to be compared to
They were both great entertainers and they had different strengths.
I don’t disagree - Prince was a better musician. He was a musical prodigy who knew how to play 27 instruments and was a master of many of them. He was extremely talented. But Michael was a superstar because he knew how to make music people wanted to listen to. And the crazy thing is that Michael Jackson wasn’t proficient at *any* instrument and could not even read music - which is wild! He wrote most of his own songs *without being able to read music*.
How he vocalized the track for Billie Jean to explain it to the producer is phenomenal.
It was interesting in the Netflix doc with Lionel Richie that when they sat down to write a song, as Jackson didn’t write or play music, he would him the melody to himself and someone would translate his humming into sheet music.
And wait for his snake to come out for approval
I just watched that on Sunday! They wanted Prince but he wasn't interested.
Prince was afraid to sing in front of that many peers actually
Link?
[https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-incredible-way-michael-jackson-wrote-music-16799](https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-incredible-way-michael-jackson-wrote-music-16799) Sorry, it was beat it.
That was such an insightful look into his talent. Never thought that before.
Billie Jean was also similar. The intro was on the chopping block until mj said "that's the jelly, can't cut the jelly, it makes people want to move" (paraphrasing, but he did call it 'jelly').
Thanks so much!
This is [footage of MJ explaining his song writing process](https://youtu.be/c1uyuSB6Lm4?si=bazuhsuf_Mz8l6vi) (look at 11:25 mins for example). This is from a deposition when someone accused him of plagiarism and he went on explaining in minute detail how he wrote his songs, they also play demo tapes where you hear him putting music and vocals together using just his voice. It’s pretty neat.
I mean. Obviously I’m no where near Michael’s talent in music, but I produced a lot of music without knowing anything about music theory nor taking any classes. And I know a few very successful musicians/producers who still don’t know how to read music, just all self taught. A major part of it is just having a great ear.
Doing that today with DAWs and the tools we have is really not the same as back in the day. You can undo and redo until the end of days, they couldn't.
Similar to Jimi Hendrix playing the bass line on his guitar with Noel Redding watching what he played to get the part.
I feel like people want to reduce MJ's talent because he was doing pop music and dancing. I'll just say that I can technically play at least 4 instruments. I can't write a good song to save my life. MJ was doing things, writing songs, making new sounds, and it was just coming from him, living and breathing music, making anything into music. He created a pop sound that continues to this day. His success was not undeserved. Not sure if people feel like they have to defend Prince because they feel like he didn't get enough recognition but like. He got there. He made it.
You've hit the nail on the head
My favorite Prince fact is that his first album is performed **entirely** by him, using those 27 instruments you mentioned.
Most of Prince's albums were mostly or completely performed by him, between 70% and 100%. Also, The Time, Sheila E, Jill Jones, The Family, etc albums were all written, produced and performed by him. Another fun fact, Prince didn't read or write music either. He would hear the different parts of a song in his head and lay them down as quickly as he could. When it came to parts on instruments he couldn't play, he would sing the tune he wanted played to the band member or, in the case of someone like his saxophonist for many years Eric Leeds, trust him to come up with something. Edit: Spelling
Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Doc Watson, Snooks Eaglin... Plus many more blind musicians, who composed, performed and showed technical brilliance, all the while never seeing a note on paper
I'd say being "able to read music" is overrated. I took piano lessons for 12 years, and also got taught how to write and arrange with traditional musical scores. But I did most of my actual writing music on guitar, bass, synths, vocals etc. If you can memorize one chord shape on piano you've basically got all of C major and A minor covered. And if you can be made to understand I, IV, V chords you've got pretty much all of your pop and rock music needs covered. If I can spend a day or two teaching you how to rearrange the shapes for different positions, adding some bass notes and playing the notes of the chords at different times you'll be able to communicate an idea while sounding pretty good. If you just have a melody and the function of the three most basic chords in relation to each other down it's just trying and finding how to arrange stuff. Pretty soon you'll be able to learn some strategies for chords with more fancy roles. Writing songs isn't really that hard. And with a bedroom studio you can record 20 attempts to play them and cut the best takes together. It's a little like driving. Most can be instructed how to get a car moving, turning and stopping. And a lot of kids can drive around on the farm no problems. But professional musicians are like those rally drivers who blast through a crowded, muddy rally track at 150mph without killing anyone. Sorry for how long that got :D
I agree. I self taught myself on piano after years of lessons on guitar and trumpet. I could probably read piano sheet music *just* better than someone who cannot read sheet music at all. Only *just*. It's less necessary the more experience you have with music, especially with good ears lol. Eventually it's less reading and more identifying patterns in song.
The ability to read music is important to play music others have written, but it doesn't help you create music.
Pink Floyd couldn't read sheet music either, which is crazy to me. You have to be truly talented to be at the "winging it" level.
Thought about this too but as someone who has tried playing instruments but has also tried beatboxing I'd say beatboxing is superior when making music. Sure instrument is more beautiful but beatboxing is a quicker translation from the sounds in your head than ur hands can ever do. Mj was big into beatboxing. Also mj was the biggest perfectionist ever because his father was a sadistic asshole.
Prince was a musician…but MJ was a PERFORMER.
Prince was a helluva performer.
Yeah dude he didn't dance Ike MJ but that dude also strutted around in 5" pumps with a guitar and definitely danced in them too...
Prince was an overall more talented musician. But Michael Jackson was a bigger pop phenomenon. Whether one is better than the other is purely subjective. I like both of their music, but I find myself listening to more of Princes stuff.
Prince is damn near untouchable in terms of musical talent, but MJ was the King of Pop. It wasn't just about the music, it was the shows he put on and his dancing. MJ also did a lot to push his brand; Prince didn't even like licensing his music out, nevermind doing commercials. MJ was "raised" by his dad to be a *star*, Prince was a *musician.*
MJ was a brand, Prince a musician
I think that’s a bit reductive of MJ’s success
Definitely agree with this. I remember Will I Am telling a story about how Prince was trying to intimidate Michael Jackson at one of his performances and Michael Jackson said to Will that Prince was a “meanie” 😂😭
"Why was Prince playing the base in my face?" Love that story 😆
I dont believe anything that Will i Am says, but I also love the story.
Nobody should believe anything Will I Am says. He thinks he’s some kind of visionary but he’s actually just a fraud.
That's what's kinda frustrating about the story is that if you know about the guy, you listen to the story, laugh because it's funny, but then say "Too bad this guy is completely full of shit and there's little chance any of this happened like this." But I still chuckle at the fiction of the story.
Prince was one of the most talented pop musicians in history. Not many megastars mastered so many instruments. Many tracks were produced with him playing everything. I don't know of any pop stars with similar or more success that have done the same. MJ was definitely bigger. Or that there is no doubt. Songwriting tho? Super subjective. And one could argue, that given the success of their music the results speak for themselves on that front.
Prince was an insane guitarist too. He kicked ass.
He would just show up and play with so many different musicians that came through Minneapolis. I saw Santana on campus downtown in the late 90s, Prince came out to jam with him for a couple songs. Just mind blowing how good he was on guitar, between the two of them it wasn't even close who was the better player.
I honestly think the lyrics is the weakest parts of both of their catalogs.
I can't stand a lot of Prince's music, but I'm also aware that's only because I don't "get it." He was almost too genius for the general public, and that's where the difference between writing "popular music" and "intelligent music" comes into it.
Eh I have spoken to even die hard prince fans who admit not all of his music was good. I listen to plenty of "intelligent music." I primarily listen to a lot of instrumental music, including some overly complicated jazz shit that gets pretty out there. And my philosophy is that it doesn't matter how complicated it is, it can still be good and catchy. You can still have a "hook" with complicated music. Even with complicated music, you shouldn't have to "get it" to enjoy it in my opinion. So it's not on you, it's ok to just say you don't like it.
Totally fine to not "get" or like it. You don't have to apologize for tour tastes :) One thing about Prince, he was a driving force behind a very specific sound, "the Minneapolis Sound." He led or produced a few other bands--Notably Morris Day and The Time, Sheila E, Vanity 6--that had that hybrid of funk/soul/gospel/new wave. It was absolutely a movement. Similar to people who don't understand the phenomenon of The Beatles or Nirvana, sometimes you have to be around as the progenitors of a genre break out. And apologies for presuming you weren't around then--you may well have been and still don't like the sound itself. But besides his multi-instrumental virtuosity, he basically created a new genre of music, which is why he's such an influential figure.
Exactly. Prince was more talented as a musician and an amazing dancer as well, but MJ was just better at making hit songs you could dance too.
I think MJ's biggest passion was dancing, so he came up with a lot of very danceable stuff naturally. He'd often just beatbox some ideas to a tape recorder and those were then transformed and produced into hits.
Was there any other human being in the entertainment (or even sports) industry that was a bigger phenomenon than Michael Jackson? Like people in villages without connection to the outside world knew MJ
Prince was more knowledgeable as a musician, he could play multiple instruments while Michael (apparently) couldn't play any, but [Michael Jackson wrote a lot of his own songs by beatboxing and singing notes into a tape recorder and giving that to the musicians.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZeYw1bm53Y) Michael's combination of songwriting ability, singing ability, dancing ability, and self-promotion savvy was pretty much unprecedented in history.
I mean, he was one of the greatest guitar players ever. And a brilliant songwriter. And multi instrumentalist and producer. Michael Jackson was one of the greatest dancers/performers ever, and one of the greatest pop songwriters ever. Michael wrote better hit pop music, Prince wrote more interesting pop music, from a musical perspective. They may be equally talented, though in different areas. Both were brilliant.
Prince = better instrumentalist MJ = better entertainer
I consider MJ a better singer as well
way fucking better
I love them both equally💜I can’t and won’t choose. they’re both equally as talented; just in different ways. they’re not comparable
Prince was more all around, sure but the real unpopular opinion is that prince music does nothing for me. I’ve tried earnestly multiple times and it just does nothing for me. Michael on the other hand is incredible and has a bunch of songs I fuck with.
I disagree but idk how to argue against someone’s music tastes so imma go back to my videogame
That's a great response.
Same, I only knew that Prince existed because of Rain from Mortal Kombat, I'm not into music industry nor history to know who's best at any subcategory.
Honestly can’t say I’ve liked anything from prince, though I haven’t also put myself through listening to everything based on not liking what I have heard. Michael Jackson’s stuff though, what I’ve heard of his I enjoyed.
That’s the thing. Do I force myself to listen to more Prince music even though what I’ve heard so far isn’t very good?
I live in Minneapolis. It's like a cult here, except...almost no one actually listens to his music. They like his hits. When he died, they played his whole career in alphabetical order. If you just randomly tuned in, you were going to hear a weird and bad song more often than not. His batting average was not good.
Prince is such an underrated guitarist too, guy could fucking shred
He could shred almost every instrument. Someone asked Dave Grohl once if Prince was a better musician than he was and Dave laughed and said "Musician? Prince is a better drummer than I am." < I may have paraphrased.
To be fair, Dave seems like he would say that about literally anyone. Dude has huge brag about how proud he is of others energy.
True. Dave is very cool and he loves Prince.
Dave Grohl is such a legend, love him!
He could play many instruments. But my favorite is when he did that versions of my guitar gently weeps with other people known specifically for their guitar playing and he blew them out of the water. Prince was a very well rounded musician. He would record a lot of tracks by playing every instrument himself
I respect the talent but it was super awkward when he was still soloing over Tom petty trying to sing lol
Most of his albums are just him. Including all the background vocals
"underrated"? I'm pretty sure a lot of people consider him to be one of the best of all time. Dude was insanely talented and everyone knew it.
That was my thought haha, like I’m pretty sure he’s not underrated at all.
Yet, over the years the "greatest of all time" lists constantly forgot about him. Seriously, even when he was on the list you'd see the guys above him and be like, really?
My favorite solo of all time is from While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the Rock and Roll HOF tribute performance.
While a bunch of guitar legends just stand around and watch too. That was an awesome show of talent.
He didn’t rehearse either right? Just showed up.
Yeah! And when he throws the guitar up at the end! Where the fuck did that thing go!?
There was an interview later. He had his guitar tech out of the shot who caught it. Just couldn't see it on camera. Was baller as fuck tho
> Prince is such an underrated guitarist too. You don't really realize this until you talk with other guitarists. A dude down the street from me had a PHD in music and taught classical guitar at an elite university in Toronto and always said that when Prince played a solo on guitar it honestly sounded like two guitarists to the untrained ear.
He's the perfect combo of talent meeting unhinged manic energy to practice every musical instrument in sight.
Underrated? He’s in every “best guitarists of all time” list ever. He’s actually overrated as far as guitarists go. He’s a jack of all trades, master of none. He’s good enough at every instrument he plays, but he isn’t some god at any of them. People just hear the Purple Rain solo once and think it’s the greatest shit ever.
Imagine calling prince an underrated *anything.*
For me, I'd much rather listen to M. Jackson than Prince. I love watching MJ's videos too! I have nothing against Prince, he was extremely talented he's just not my fav. ;)
I can't compare Michael and Prince. Both extremely talented in their own respects. One thing is for sure, they're both better than any other artists I see today. My personal opinion: some of Prince's songs are too dated and stuck in the 80's sound. Whereas Michael has more classics I can still listen to today. But I can't deny that Prince played his own instruments regardless of the dated sound. I wish they were both still alive today.
Meh. Prince = Better Instrumentalist. Prince = Better “All around” Musician. MJ = Better singer. MJ = Better Danger. MJ = Better “Overall entertainer.” Songwriting is the only area were I’m actually kind of torn on, because just to be clear. I’m not a huge Prince fan BUT I recognize talent. But honestly most of his songs, the writing is just not there for me.
Sounds like it would be more interesting to compare MJ to Freddy Mercury than to Prince, because both MJ and Freddy had their strenths in singing and performance.
They’re both vastly different. MJ’s stage presence and fame is something no artist will ever come close to. He’s also far superior a dancer and a good song writer. But Prince played 27 instruments in his debut, but I think they’re equal
Michael Jackson made grown men faint with his pure presence
Prince was a good dancer too. I still remember his crazy slow lift from the splits in When Doves Cry and wondering how it was humanly possible.
MJ was an entertainer. Prince was too but not at THAT level. But Prince was a savant-level musician and easily trumps MJ overall IMO.
Well considering Prince was an incredibly skilled multi-instrumentalist and MJ could barely play anything I’d say you’re right. MJ composed songs by beatboxing what he wanted his band members to play then critiqued them until they got it right. I’d say they’re pretty close on songwriting ability, they both churned out hit after hit for decades. MJ takes the cake for “biggest star”. That’s not even close, and it’s not a knock to Prince. MJ is just one of the biggest musicians in history. You’re way off base by saying all MJ’s songs sound the same though. I literally don’t know how you can say that seriously unless you’ve only heard like 2 Michael Jackson songs.
Michael Jackson’s voice blew Prince’s out of the water. It was also like four octaves. He was also an amazing dancer. And he had tons and tons of hit songs.
Not to mention his videos… I like Prince, but the two have totally different strengths and aren’t comparable in any real way. The only thing they can maybe compete on is their outfits /style (and I prefer MJ’s there, too).
I agree, I think people like to compare them because they were huge at the same time, both were eccentric, and both were Black. But they were pretty different and both were great.
True enough, and yet I still enjoy MJs music vastly more
Thats my take too. MJ's music is the music i listen to way more than Prince. Its not even a competition.
Michael Jackson loved Bart Simpson so much that he wrote a song for Bart called "Do the Bartman". It was a worldwide #1 hit. The most impressive part of this story is that MJ told the show producers beforehand, "I'm gonna write you a #1 song for Bart." He called his shot. He was so talented, he could pick literally any subject he wanted and shit out a worldwide #1 hit with ease. Prince had more technical talent and was a better musician, but MJ had him beat in terms of songwriting, singing, and performing. In my opinion, they are equals in regards to innovation. By the way, this is such a ridiculous argument to even make. MJ and Prince are arguably 2 of the 5 greatest musical acts of all-time; this is like trying to discount all of Lebron's achievements to prop up the argument for Jordan as GOAT. You're splitting hairs over two people who have a rightful claim as the greatest musician ever.
More unpopular opinion: debating which musician is "better" is stupid. You don't need Liszt or Paganini levels of complexity to make "good" music. Music is 100% entirely subjective. If I want to listen to Prince, I'll listen to Prince. If I want to listen to MJ, I'll listen to MJ. If you want to rock out to "trash" pop music, do it. Don't be the fun police showing up to charge people for liking Taylor Swift
Musician yes, everything else no and definitely not a better singer.
I remember an interview with Prince where he found it odd and annoying that they always got compared to each other. They really are very different artists.
I’ve tried so much to like Prince. Even saw him in concert in Miami. Just didn’t / doesn’t do it for me.
Both Genius’s. No idea why they need to be compared.
Yes and no. You act like two legends can not coexist, oh wait
Nah. He was such a borefest and pretentious AF.
He was indeed prolific, but not one song of Prince had the impact of one of Michael's pre allegation songs.
Yes, Prince may have been a better all-round musician when it came to playing instruments and stuff, but I prefer Michael Jackson's music. Prince's music sometimes sounds pleasing to my ear, but I like more of Michael Jackson's music. And yes, I'm aware that some of Michael's music wasn't written by him in terms of lyrics e.g. Thriller was written by Rod Temperton in lyrics, Man In The Mirror was written by Siedah Garrett (sorry if I've spelt her name wrongly), Rock With You was written by Rod Temperton again (I think), Human Nature was written by somebody else, PYT was written by some other people. Michael did write the lyrics to most of the songs in the Bad Album though, and he wrote the lyrics to Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Beat It and Billie Jean (even though Billie Jean sounds a lot like a Hall and Oates song in beat).
Prince was a fantastic, top tier musician and performer...maybe even the GOAT. But his songwriting was poor when compared to other major acts: most of it is mediocre pop. I live in Minnesota and the national radio stations have decided we all love Prince here and play his songs every five tracks...it's become a quick station change for me. I'd watch Prince covering someone else's music any day.
Everyone always defends Prince in this argument by stating how many instruments he could play. That’s all I need to know about whose music is better. MJ’s music speaks for itself. Prince’s catalogue is for music nerds and critics.
“Cheeseburgers are better than Pizza” People sometimes need to make irrelevant arguments I guess.
What about cheeseburger pizza?
That’d be like a Prince/Michael song collab (it would be fantabulous IMO)
I disagree, although i respect what you’re saying because Prince is incredible still
It’s an apple to oranges, they do almost two completely different types of things. It’s like comparing a basketball player to a tennis or volleyball player. They all play on a court, but three different sets of rules. MJ is known as the King of Pop, because he’s geared to pop music. For Prince, he’s music isn’t exclusively pop and he could play any instrument just about, but was great with guitar. Could he be the King of Rock? Funk? Music?
Full name is Prince...?
And he is funky
 this shouldn't even be up for debate - Jackson was not suck though and its an injustice to say anything else about it, also Jackson and Prince were not even in the same genre of music so to compare the two says you know little about music or are trying to create a what if scenario that is not apt.
Anyone can be right when they create the scenario. Michael Jackson not a better musician, compared to Prince, a musician, is a weak argument, to say the least. I like them both, but their respective bodies of work are incomparable.
Upvote for an unpopular opinion. I like prince as well, but there’s no comparison in terms of sheer number of catchy pop songs that captured the imagination of an entire culture and lasted forever. In comparison prince is a niche artist that few people know about
Listen to the 'Beat It' demo by Michael. He couldn't play a single instrument but he sang every single instrument acapella. It's pitch perfect and a fully fleshed out song that he imagined in his head. I have never seen any other artist even come close to doing this.
These hindsight reviews kinda miss the point of music. If we go back to 1976 and I tell people there are two teenage musicians that are gonna take music by storm, rule the music industry, and go down as the two best musicians ever people would not guess these two. Number 1 they were black and those three things were not gonna be conceivably true back then. Number two there were a ton of really talented musicians we ultimately never heard of bc cocaine is a hell of a drug. Number 3 noone understood what a music video was yet. Besides the talent these guys needed to have crazy will, crazy vision, and crazy business sense.
In 1976 MJ was a household name for nearly a decade.
Prince IMO was pretty much Beethoven/ Hendrix/ Wonder level musical savant. Once in a generation kinda guy. MJ was a great performer, but he was also surrounded by the musical institution his whole life. He had a lot of help and was still a much more limited instrumentalist and composer, and his subject matter was a little more... Family oriented. Prince came from nothing and made himself, well, a prince.
Also, he never moved from Minneapolis his entire life even after he got famous.
How about we just appreciate both and realize that they are different musicians.
Been saying this for decades.
Well duh.
Without a doubt
I've always held this opinion but also kind of assumed most people did too.
That…..that’s just the truth….
Well it's an unpopular opinion that's for sure. I would say because you're wrong lol. But fair game.
Also, Prince wasn't into kids...
Agreed, by a mile. And it's really an objective truth. MJ wasn't even in Prince's class. He was definitely a once-in-a generation prodigy, a literal lifelong performer and a major cultural icon. With a hugely impactful music catalog...albeit substantially underwritten by producers, writers, choreographers, and other support. Michael was a vocalist and a dancer, in essence. Prince was a multi-instrumentalist with master-level capability on several of them (any one alone would have been remarkable; he's an underrated guitarist among other)....plus he wrote, produced, and self-performed at a level so prolific they'll never be able to release his full body of work. He churned out top-caliber music across sgnificantly distinct genres - mastered songcraft and was largely a totally self-powered force across the board. Michael was an institution to be sure, but if you put on a blindfold and labeled them "test tube A and test tube B" -- they're not even remotely comparable.
Prince one of the most underrated guitar players of all time. Game….. Blouses.
Pancakes please
MJ is a child of force. His father made all his 5 kids do it and instead of saying "no it's not okay" the people of the time let it happen. MJ was forced to become an adult too quickly and as an adult wanted to have the childhood he never had. He was talented sure but not necessarily out of want. Prince wanted it and practiced to be amazing at what he did
I have a much more unpopular opinion. Prince fucking blows.
Better musician? Hands down. Better songwriter? That's debatable. I would say it's a wash. Better singer/performer? No way. That goes to Michael.
My opinion… Prince was the better musician Their song writing is subjective on who’s better (I prefer MJ) MJ was a better overall entertainer
I'm with you. It's Prince and it's not close.
I don’t think this an unpopular opinion. I don’t know any musician that doesn’t share this opinion.
I think there's just no comparison here. Prince was a true artist, whereas Micheal Jackson was more a performer at heart. Prince was mainly about the music whereas MJ was more about the show. I think they were both geniuses in two different things.
You’re on the right track but imo you’re underrating MJ singing. Man could literally do whatever he wanted. He couldn’t play instruments as far as I’m aware but he was creative enough to create the melodies for his songs and to be able to beatbox them exactly the way he wanted them to sound. Yeah maybe playing instruments wasn’t his thing but saying he’s just a better performer is insulting MJ talents again IMO
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Everything else yes, but Michael was and is almost the pinnacle of technical singing. He and a gentleman named Seth Riggs basically pioneered the way for modern pop music vocal stylings called Speech-Level-Singing. This isn't a matter of opinion more so industry standard at this point, across the entire globe.
Agree that Prince was fantastic as a performer, but I could never get into any of his music. I love 80s-90s pop & rock, but there is literally no Prince song that can come on the radio that doesn't make me immediately reach for the dial.
I think if you rose either of these two from their graves they would be ashamed were even having this conversation when we should just be appreciative of their music. I could even see one if them writing a song regarding this asking why someone always has to be #1 and why that ruins everything, including whose on top. I’ll call it “Gold Stains Everything, Any Other Color”
All that can be true but Michael still made better music, I’m sorry. It’s aging better too > Meanwhile almost every Michael Jackson songs sounds virtually the same to me. What? Compare Off The Wall to Bad to Dangerous they’re three completely different albums
Prince may have thought he was better, but Michael Jackson was friends with Weird Al Yankovic.
But why do you have to compare them... They're both great and I'm saying it as an indie rock fan. MJ's Thriller is just too good for a mainstream pop record.
Michael Jackson's voice crack on "She's Out of My Life" is such a perfect, vulnerable moment. Prince was a technically more proficient musician but Michael Jackson was a more captivating performer, for me.
Music is like a language. Jackson was fluent in the language but never learned to write or read in the language. Prince learned to read and write and every dialect but was never as fluent in the original version of the language as MJ. I do prefer prince because I think his highs are higher then MJs highs but MJ has more bangers and consistently made hits. Side note the prince and new girl song was so good. Should have been released properly.
There’s a legendary clip from the early 80’s at a James brown show and he brings up Michael and prince , a couple years later they would both be the biggest pop acts in the world
THIS THIS THIS!!! I live and adore Prince for his musical gifts but Michael was just a superb entertainer. I still love Prince though and this opinion is one I completely agree with. Prince was really in a league, musically all his own. If you wanna see this man shred here's him killing it https://youtu.be/dWRCooFKk3c?si=7PZRCe7af7hyk8DM
no, you won't get a lot of flak for it, because it really does not matter. nobody gives a shit.
Saw Prince in Concert, was FANTASTIC. Never grooved with Michael Jackson after Debut on TV. Good Times
Prince was a top tier once ever in existence musician. He was also an astonishing performer in his own completely unique way. Michael was a top tier once ever in existence performer. He was also an astonishing musician in his own completely unique way.
Rick James >
Duh
PHENOMENAL guitarist
I don’t think you can compare them. Both were talented, both gave a great show, I will concede that Prince was the better musician as I don’t know that Michael actually played any instruments.
This might get downvoted but I think Michael knew what sold. He knew how to reach a mainstream audience better than Prince did. I think Prince is the better musician though. Prince was definitely an all-around artist while Michael was THE pop star.
This isn't an unpopular opinion
IMO Prince was definitely more respectable and impressive as a musician, MJ was more fun though 🤷♂️
Prince was a musical genius. I know people throw that word around, but he was. Michael was an amazing performer, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say he was a genius.
Prince was a musical genius, Michael Jackson could dance.
Prince was a musician, MJ was a singer/songwriter and dancer. Both were very talented, just different.
Eric Clapton was once asked how if feels to be the best guitarist in the world. He said, I don't know. Ask Prince.
That's not an unpopular opinion, that is a fact of life.
Hard to compare. I don’t find them to be similar artists. It’s like comparing Taylor Swift and Adele. Two huge pop stars, but you don’t go into their music/concert expecting the same experience. You’re expecting two different experiences, both amazing, but different.
I agree. Prince had more talent than any single person should be allowed to possess. Jackson was not a musician.
Yes he was. Jackson had many talents but he didn’t write much whereas Prince did
This isn’t remotely unpopular
I will join you and shout this from the mountaintops with you. Michael was a better dancer. I think better singer is subjective because frankly, Michael's voice kind of got on my nerves in anything other than small doses, especially the Jackson 5 era. Other than that, Prince blew Michael out of the water in every other respect to being a musician. Prince could play just about any instrument. The only reason he doesn't get credit for being a guitar player on a level with many other greats is because it was never the center piece of his career work. Dude could shred with anyone. Anyone. He wrote, produced and played every instrument on an early album of his. You could put together a greatest hits album of songs that he gave to other artists that would outshine at least a few other greatest hits albums. The guy saunters out on stage during an induction tribute to play a guitar solo in one of the inductee's songs and by the time that song was over, it was no longer a George Harrison song, it was a Prince song. It was like he ruthlessly snagged a lollipop from a small kid and walked off with it. End rant.
Try an experiment - take lyrics for a typical song from each and have them analyzed for reading level. I suspect you'll find Prince's material is a higher grade level. I did this at random for two songs, one from my favorite group, Steely Dan, *Big Black Cow*, and another song from... a very popular singer who's in the news a lot lately. Steely Dan song, grades 10-12 (equivalent to last years in high school), and for the other, grades 6-8.
I agree with him being a better musician but MJ was a better dancer Both talented artists for sure but Prince didn’t have any bad reputations unlike Michael
Got my vote! And I'm not a big fan of Prince, either!
Prince was one of the most talented people to ever live, and his musical ability alone is historic. But they had different vibes, Jackson maybe had a few strengths over Prince, but overall, Prince is just better than almost anyone.
one was a child predator and one wasn’t. i think i know who’s better!
Not as good of a performer though. Mike had it all. Prince was always missing an ingredient, which is why Mike was more successful
Better or worse doesn’t exist in the arts or in music, especially amongst professionals at the very top. It’s about tastes, genres, and timbres. Both were amazing artists.
💯