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Has Michael Evolved Musically Over The Years?

Cinnamon234

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Or do you think he's just done more of the same?

I was having a disagreement with someone about this on another board who was arguing with me that Michael has not evolved musically over the years and has spent all his years trying to re-create the sounds of "Thriller", which I completely disagree with. This is not the first time i've heard someone say that either. I don't understand when people say that Michael has been trying to re-create "Thriller" all these years, Michael's never said that and I don't think he's trying to do that. If he was only interested in doing that he would have kept on working with the same producers (i.e. Quincy) and songwriters. To me, Michael has shown growth on almost all of his albums except maybe "Invincible", but I definitely see how he's grown musically from "Off The Wall" to "History". Over the years, he grew as a writer and changed up his vocals as well. On "Off The Wall" and "Thriller", Michael was mostly singing love songs but on his later albums he touched more on world issues, environmental issues, racism, loneliness and other issues that he basically or hardly ever sang about before. I just don't get when people say this at all. He has grown. People say Michael has a formula for every single album, like he'll always include a few r&b songs, rock songs, dance songs and one or two ballads, but I say so what? It's good that he likes to touch on basically every genre, something for everyone you know? lol. But I just don't see how anyone can say Michael hasn't evolved musically, I think these people either a)Haven't listened to all of his albums, b)Are deaf or c)Are in denial lol, otherwise it doesn't make sense to me.
 
Cinnamon234 said:
Or do you think he's just done more of the same?

I was having a disagreement with someone about this on another board who was arguing with me that Michael has not evolved musically over the years and has spent all his years trying to re-create the sounds of "Thriller", which I completely disagree with. This is not the first time i've heard someone say that either. I don't understand when people say that Michael has been trying to re-create "Thriller" all these years, Michael's never said that and I don't think he's trying to do that. If he was only interested in doing that he would have kept on working with the same producers (i.e. Quincy) and songwriters. To me, Michael has shown growth on almost all of his albums except maybe "Invincible", but I definitely see how he's grown musically from "Off The Wall" to "History". Over the years, he grew as a writer and changed up his vocals as well. On "Off The Wall" and "Thriller", Michael was mostly singing love songs but on his later albums he touched more on world issues, environmental issues, racism, loneliness and other issues that he basically or hardly ever sang about before. I just don't get when people say this at all. He has grown. People say Michael has a formula for every single album, like he'll always include a few r&b songs, rock songs, dance songs and one or two ballads, but I say so what? It's good that he likes to touch on basically every genre, something for everyone you know? lol. But I just don't see how anyone can say Michael hasn't evolved musically, I think these people either a)Haven't listened to all of his albums, b)Are deaf or c)Are in denial lol, otherwise it doesn't make sense to me.
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MJ has so many fans now...and that is the answer. lol..that means he evolved.
 
how has he been trying to recreate sound of thriller when bad sounds nothing like it, dangerous sounds nothing like it, history sounds nothing like it and invincible sure n the hell doesnt. so that fans is clearly a fool, tell em michaelsson 4rm mjjc said so ;)
 
YES he has evolved.

From the Motown sound to ballads to disco pop to adult contemporary to rock to new jack swing to contemporary R&B, lol...

I think the only reason they say that is because conceptually in some of the albums he doesn't seem to have changed that much but HE HAS, lol.
 
Michael uses similar thymatic subjects for his songs throughout the years, but musically and in terms of the sound, feel and atomsphere of his albums, each one has sounded distinctlly different from the other. Not any one of his albums sounds like the other, in any way. Not in terms of sound and musicality.
 
He has most DEFINITELY evolved musically. It goes along with his maturity and his experiences. He isn't stuck at an immature young 20's hormone-crazed on-the-surface song level (i.e. Off the Wall and Thriller). His songs over the years have acquired very deep meaning to them. He spends years getting perfection out of each. He doesn't just slap a song together and say, here it is world, my masterpiece! He has gained expertise, knowledge, experience, maturity and such in his long years and it shows in his music.
 
wannabestartinsomthin21 said:
Michael uses similar thymatic subjects for his songs throughout the years, but musically and in terms of the sound, feel and atomsphere of his albums, each one has sounded distinctlly different from the other. Not any one of his albums sounds like the other, in any way. Not in terms of sound and musicality.
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Yes...

He sounds the "same" in the sense that he's got his own special sound... this is no different from any big name in music, like The Beatles, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston.. the list goes on. These people all have "their" quality.

But no way has he NOT evolved. None of his albums sound like the others.
 
Funny coz I was about to start a thread like this LOL.This question's baffled me also. Most of the times when I had a discussion with fans of other acts (mostly Madonna's cos she's the queen of invention :), no pun intended cos I love Madonna too:D), they always said MJ has never evolved in the last 25 years since Thriller. That, IMO, is a load of b*ll. None of his albums sound the same. I cant understand how someone can listen to Dangerous and say it's Thriller of 1993. The only common point is that he included songs of various genres in his albums, and this IMO is much better than if one day he wakes up and decide "Well I'll go electronic on my next album" LOL.
 
If anyone followed his career from 1969 to the last studio album, how can you say he has NOT evolved? Even after THRILLER? :lol:

And this ain't to anyone in particular but to people outside the forum who think he HASN'T evolved least musically.
 
troubleman84 said:
If anyone followed his career from 1969 to the last studio album, how can you say he has NOT evolved? Even after THRILLER? :lol:

And this ain't to anyone in particular but to people outside the forum who think he HASN'T evolved least musically.
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u can't last if u don't evolve. those people know they're talking bullssss

they're just needing to needle MJ, cus they're envious. everybody knows that if a person doesn't evolve, they don't last. that's not to say that there can't be a familiar center, but growing is part of lasting.
 
You can tell them to go to YouTube and google MJ/J5's Motown stuff, then google the non-released Jacksons Epic material, then tell them to search for his stuff after Thriller, they'll be pleasantly surprised if they think he hasn't evolved, then again, they probably still wouldn't agree, LOL!
 
wannabestartinsomthin21 said:
Michael uses similar thymatic subjects for his songs throughout the years, but musically and in terms of the sound, feel and atomsphere of his albums, each one has sounded distinctlly different from the other. Not any one of his albums sounds like the other, in any way. Not in terms of sound and musicality.
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Preeeach, lawd.
 
troubleman84 said:
You can tell them to go to YouTube and google MJ/J5's Motown stuff, then google the non-released Jacksons Epic material, then tell them to search for his stuff after Thriller, they'll be pleasantly surprised if they think he hasn't evolved, then again, they probably still wouldn't agree, LOL!
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Lol, trust me I have tried. I've posted old clips from youtube but it's pretty much been useless.
 
Cinnamon234 said:
Lol, trust me I have tried. I've posted old clips from youtube but it's pretty much been useless.
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you can't force somebody to say something they don't want to say, no matter what they are actually thinking..lol...

if they decided to say he hasn't evolved, they will continue to say it, whether they actually believe it or not.

to me, if he hadn't evolved, they wouldn't be talking about him at all.
 
Cinnamon234 said:
Or do you think he's just done more of the same?

I was having a disagreement with someone about this on another board who was arguing with me that Michael has not evolved musically over the years and has spent all his years trying to re-create the sounds of "Thriller", which I completely disagree with. This is not the first time i've heard someone say that either. I don't understand when people say that Michael has been trying to re-create "Thriller" all these years, Michael's never said that and I don't think he's trying to do that. If he was only interested in doing that he would have kept on working with the same producers (i.e. Quincy) and songwriters. To me, Michael has shown growth on almost all of his albums except maybe "Invincible", but I definitely see how he's grown musically from "Off The Wall" to "History". Over the years, he grew as a writer and changed up his vocals as well. On "Off The Wall" and "Thriller", Michael was mostly singing love songs but on his later albums he touched more on world issues, environmental issues, racism, loneliness and other issues that he basically or hardly ever sang about before. I just don't get when people say this at all. He has grown. People say Michael has a formula for every single album, like he'll always include a few r&b songs, rock songs, dance songs and one or two ballads, but I say so what? It's good that he likes to touch on basically every genre, something for everyone you know? lol. But I just don't see how anyone can say Michael hasn't evolved musically, I think these people either a)Haven't listened to all of his albums, b)Are deaf or c)Are in denial lol, otherwise it doesn't make sense to me.
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you've pretty much nailed it, so what can i say.. find a replacement for your friend.
f_smiley.gif
 
I believe this could be the most constructive thread posted in ages......if anyone feels like racking their brain and contributing.

MJ has evolved over the years in many different ways.

His image, his sounds, his dance, his style, and themes surrounding his life have all evolved over time. If MJ was really was trying to recreate Thriller album, after album, he would have never grown out his hair, totally changed his wardrobe, changed his image, and changed his singing style or themes. MJ would still be running around today with the same jackets, hair style, similar music videos, and it would be a very tired act, if he was remotely trying to recreate Thriller. Of all the millions of people who have listened to MJ, there'd be a general consensus by now that he'd been trying to recreate Thriller ever since the 80's.

MJ has sung bubble gum, school yard love songs. He's sang songs wrapped in disco themes and sounds. He catapulted himself to superstardom when he created his own sound with Thriller. The best part of all is the magic he created when he brought songs like Beat It, Thriller, and Billie Jean to life with Short films. MJ's tryed to be hard, tough, edgy. MJ talks about changing the world, blurring the color line, and making HIStory. In the 70's and 80's MJ used electric keyboards, and guitar riffs. In the 90's he incorporated New Jack themes and rappers into his music. In the new millenium he worked with an Urban hip-hop producer. He's covered all musicical techniques used by popular artists. All this has been done over a 40 year career. If that doesn't say he's evolved musically I don't know what does.
 
LMAO @ "finding yourself a new friend".

I think the most successful Motown acts never confined themselves to one genre:

Marvin Gaye went from doo-wop to rock & roll to rhythm & blues to soul to political material to sensual material to funk to disco to early forms of new wavish hip-hop and Caribbean-styled pop in a 25-year career.

Diana Ross has recorded everything from doo-wop to teen pop to soul to rhythm and blues to ballads to disco to pop rock to modern dance to contemporary R&B in a 50-year span.

The Temptations kept changing their sound every decade until recently as did the Isley Brothers before, during and after they left Motown. Gladys Knight & the Pips were one of the more resilient acts after leaving Motown in 1972 before they amicably disbanded in 1989.

Motown artists in general have been known to evolve into different forms of music either lyrical style, vocal style or musical style.
 
I don't understand how someone can listen to all of his albums and think that each one sounds the same; thus believing he hasn't grown musically. But then again, that's on them.
 
I think Michael has evolved musically since Thriller. But I don't think Michael has evolved musically as much as could have, because of the commercial pressures Michael has with sales has that Prince never had. The position Michael is in the make both cutting edge and commercially successful music is a very tough one, and I can't think of any artist except Michael who has lived up to such unrealistic expectations. Something like Smooth Criminal is nothing like anything on Thriller with a totally different vocal from Michael, and look big of a classic song that is. Give In To Me and Morphine is a rock based songs, but sound nothing like Beat It. The only thing I can think of that has stayed the same since Thriller, is Michael having songs with different genres on each album since, though Invincible more a less such to one genre.
 
Yeah, in a sense I can SEE why that person would think Michael hasn't evolved. Like I said, conceptually, the themes that made "Thriller" popular intensified in his later releases. "HIStory" was a totally different album because it just had this angry/sad/depressed/dark slant that had only been hinted at. With "Invincible", he wanted to cash in with a contemporary R&B (hip-hop soul, neo-soul, adult contemporary) sound. He's evolved musically, conceptually it hasn't been much changes plus Michael's diverse in what he talks about so neither album has one main theme in it.
 
This is a great topic. I've been wondering something similar lately. I actually wanted to post a question like "Do you think MJ should be more experimental with his sound?" only I wanted to give it some more thought first. I agree with what everyone else here has said. He's most definitely covered a variety of genres throughout his career, and given his subject material too, I would say he definitely has evolved musically. I can't see how any non-fans would even think so. Even when I wasn't a fan, I could tell MJ had covered a lot of ground just by how iconic he was and his different vocal styles from his hits. 'Dirty Diana' or 'Black & White' is clearly different from DSTYGE or 'Thriller' (The guitar riffs made me think as much :laugh: ). My guess is most non-fans opinions are based on what they know of MJ though. And which albums do so many people automatically associate with Mike? Mostly I see/hear about OTW or Thriller. Maybe that's what these people are basing their opinions on? (Even in spite of posting a gazillion MJ videos, and even though there's differing sounds between those two albums too).

benscarr said:
I think Michael has evolved musically since Thriller. But I don't think Michael has evolved musically as much as could have, because of the commercial pressures Michael has with sales has that Prince never had. The position Michael is in the make both cutting edge and commercially successful music is a very tough one, and I can't think of any artist except Michael who has lived up to such unrealistic expectations. Something like Smooth Criminal is nothing like anything on Thriller with a totally different vocal from Michael, and look big of a classic song that is. Give In To Me and Morphine is a rock based songs, but sound nothing like Beat It. The only thing I can think of that has stayed the same since Thriller, is Michael having songs with different genres on each album since, though Invincible more a less such to one genre.
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Good call. I agree that perhaps MJ hasn't evolved as much as he could have given commercial pressures. I can't profess any real musical knowledge (hence my reluctance to post a question about MJ 'mixing it up more', lol), but I'm just curious about what else MJ could churn out. We all know he's a musical genius who makes great music. So I'd really like to see him throw a little bit of caution to the wind and collaborate with artists who you might not think of. But that's more collaboration-wise, not so much musically... Hmm, I'm talking in circles here :unsure:. In any case, I think we're in for some really interesting stuff from MJ in the near future. After all, how many artists 'disect sounds under the microscope & manipulate them' like he does? (Or says he does? :cheeky:)

troubleman84 said:
Motown artists in general have been known to evolve into different forms of music either lyrical style, vocal style or musical style.
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I didn't know that. I kinda thought Motown had a distinct sound to it. Imma have to check out some more from the artists you listed!
 
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Motown Records in its 1959-1973 heyday doesn't get credit for what it did for the whole of rock & roll music. Imagine Michael Jackson without being in Motown for example. Would he had decided to use guitar-based rock music in his albums later on had artists like Stevie Wonder and Rare Earth (both from Motown) had influenced him to do so?
 
he has easily and he has always incorporated what is happening and added his thing on top of it. but i think his past works from 69-91 were his peak and Prime IMO but he continues to add new things. but he doesn't sound the same over and over. he has evolved easily and he is the standard.
 
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