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How come no one ever talks about Michael Jackson the songwriter?

analogue

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This is something that really strikes me. Everyone talks about Michael Jackson the singer and dancer but they don't ever talk about him as a songwriter. He's an amazing songwritter and he's written some of the greatest songs in popular music history. Just look at songs like Liberian Girl, Who Is It, Heartbreak Hotel and Will You Be There for a few examples. The way he composes and puts those songs together is just genius.

So yeah i don't think he get's enough credit as a songwriter
 
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Totally agree with you. One of the most gifted men the world has ever seen. :)
 
there's a lot of things about mike rarely talked about (as a painter, as an architect, as a poet, etc.) his scope is just so huge. he's barely recognized as a dancer. we like him but when people think of great dancers, they often fail to include mike. :no:

mike wasn't just a songwriter, he was a composer too. all his songs had to have his full approval before they got put out. he would beatbox what he wanted, etc.

he was our time's leonardo da vinci, our michelangelo, our mozart, etc. it'll be awhile before the next one pops up.
 
Yeah. Alot of people just saw Michael has a song and dance man but he was so much more than that
 
He's in the songwriters half of fame. Michael did it all and more. He'll be celebrated for centuries to come and beyond. Modern day Mozart.
 
The mainstream media consider people like Paul Simon or Carole King songwriters. Like a person with an acoustic guitar sitting on a stool, lol.
 
I do wish people realized how talented he was... I mean, the guy could sing, dance, compose, draw, paint (though I haven't really seen any of his paintings, I've just read about them), write (poetry and essays).. I mean, he was working on a CLASSICAL MUSIC album before he passed... I'd love to learn about his interest in architecture, I know nothing about it.
 
DuranDuran said:
The mainstream media consider people like Paul Simon or Carole King songwriters. Like a person with an acoustic guitar sitting on a stool, lol.
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That bugs me SO much. My mom considers "talent" being when the artist is sitting on stage playing an instrument. I mean, there's many other ways to define talent. Michael had it all. What bothers me even more is how some people only refer to him as just an "entertainer." Yes, he was a remarkable entertainer, but this man was a musical genius!
 
Court.ney.x said:
That bugs me SO much. My mom considers "talent" being when the artist is sitting on stage playing an instrument. I mean, there's many other ways to define talent. Michael had it all. What bothers me even more is how some people only refer to him as just an "entertainer." Yes, he was a remarkable entertainer, but this man was a musical genius!
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your mom will consider it talent when she watches mjj beatbox :D
 
analogue said:
This is something that really strikes me. Everyone talks about Michael Jackson the singer and dancer but they don't ever talk about him as a songwriter. He's an amazing songwritter and he's written some of the greatest songs in popular music history. Just look at songs like Liberian Girl, Who Is It, Heartbreak Hotel and Will You Be There for a few examples. The way he composes and puts those songs together is just genius.

So yeah i don't think he get's enough credit as a songwriter
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Greatest !
 
As a lover of Tchaikovsky's work (especially the Nutcracker Suite) like Michael, I do love how they're both such diverse musicians.
I mean, every piece in the Nutcracker Suite sounds so different...totally different atmosphere and mood - I'm amazed all those ideas came from one mind. Michael as well. I listen to 'Billie Jean', 'DSTYGE', 'Stranger in Moscow', 'Is It Scary', 'Liberian Girl', 'WBBS' and 'Heal The World' and it's just awesome that they're all composed by the same person.
 
If there ever was a true Renaissance man in the modern age, it would be Michael Jackson. Michael just didn't just sing, dance, write songs, music, poetry, or just paint, draw, create. . . he EXCELLED in all these mediums. I mean he focused his career pretty much on song and dance. But if he was just a songwriter or just a poet or whatever, he'd be the best!

I think he's not given credit for his songwriting because people probably rate his talents, with singing and dancing on top. Also, it also doesn't seem to help that Quincy Jones seems to take more than his fair share of Michael's success.
 
Y'all have seen the mexico dep right? I was just watching it tonight, him describing the songwriting process and how he does nothing, just lets the song come through him... so there's a point in the tape they play, the demo of him singing TGIM and you can hear him trying to get the bridge out of his mind and onto the tape recorder.... and you know he always said that he doesn't write the songs they just come to him.. and I've always been like yeah okay. Not that I didn't believe him but to actually hear the process on that tape was like wow! Then later on in the depo they play more of the tape and you hear him messing around with the bridge again, trying to get it out, the "I'll love you more than he" part... and then suddenly out it comes.. he sings it so clear right on the tape... older MJ is just smiling and looking at the camera like "see?" it was crazy! And not just the words, like every single part of the song! The melody, the strings, piano. He just woke up and there it was in his head, and he just picked up the tape recorder and out it came! Madness!

But anyway this songwriting thread just made me think about that, I'm sure most of you have seen it already but it's new to me.

The songs, and probably the dancing, the drawings the poetry, just came to him, I really believe that especially after seeing what I saw/heard in the depo..... it was just effortless on his part.
 
HeartbreakHotelMJJ said:
Y'all have seen the mexico dep right? I was just watching it tonight, him describing the songwriting process and how he does nothing, just lets the song come through him... so there's a point in the tape they play, the demo of him singing TGIM and you can hear him trying to get the bridge out of his mind and onto the tape recorder.... and you know he always said that he doesn't write the songs they just come to him.. and I've always been like yeah okay. Not that I didn't believe him but to actually hear the process on that tape was like wow! Then later on in the depo they play more of the tape and you hear him messing around with the bridge again, trying to get it out, the "I'll love you more than he" part... and then suddenly out it comes.. he sings it so clear right on the tape... older MJ is just smiling and looking at the camera like "see?" it was crazy! And not just the words, like every single part of the song! The melody, the strings, piano. He just woke up and there it was in his head, and he just picked up the tape recorder and out it came! Madness!

But anyway this songwriting thread just made me think about that, I'm sure most of you have seen it already but it's new to me.

The songs, and probably the dancing, the drawings the poetry, just came to him, I really believe that especially after seeing what I saw/heard in the depo..... it was just effortless on his part.
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*tiny meek mjj voice* when you hear the high strings that's the chorus, then it goes dun dun, dun dun.. um, i forgot the lyrics :thankyou:
 
Yeah I noticed that too. I'm not saying he was a prolific songwriter like Stevie Wonder or someone, but he was pretty good and wrote a lot of his songs. It's funny to me how most people don't even think he wrote any of his songs. Michael was so gifted. He wasn't just a song and dance man. He was very creative and the force behind his music and art. I don't think he gets enough credit for the fact that he had a huge part in his music, video's, etc. He was the one running the show. He was so much more than just a singer and dancer.
 
No one ever talks about Michael the songwriter, because even fans and the likes of Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy refer to Michael as an "entertainer", which is a very limiting why to describle Michael. Michael was an Artist in the trueist sense of the word. He wrote and composed the majority of his greatest and most famous songs himself, and often co-produced or produced his own songs. Michael was just as much a master of his art in the studio as he was on stage. Michael the entertainer was only 50% of his genius, his other equal 50% was being a genius songwriter and composer and something he doesn't get enough credit for. I've met people who actually think Quincy Jones wrote Billie Jean, because of Michael being refered to as an entertainer. Elvis was just an enterainer, Michael was a musican and entertainer.
 
benscarr said:
No one ever talks about Michael the songwriter, because even fans and the likes of Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy refer to Michael as an "entertainer", which is a very limiting why to describle Michael. Michael was an Artist in the trueist sense of the word. He wrote and composed the majority of his greatest and most famous songs himself, and often co-produced or produced his own songs. Michael was just as much a master of his art in the studio as he was on stage. Michael the entertainer was only 50% of his genius, his other equal 50% was being a genius songwriter and composer and something he doesn't get enough credit for. I've met people who actually think Quincy Jones wrote Billie Jean, because of Michael being refered to as an entertainer. Elvis was just an enterainer, Michael was a musican and entertainer.
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I agree with you 100%, especially about the Elvis comment.

Also, his stage persona was Art :) Everything is done for a reason, or comes from an innate knowledge of what is aestheticaly artistic.
 
benscarr said:
No one ever talks about Michael the songwriter, because even fans and the likes of Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy refer to Michael as an "entertainer", which is a very limiting why to describle Michael. Michael was an Artist in the trueist sense of the word. He wrote and composed the majority of his greatest and most famous songs himself, and often co-produced or produced his own songs. Michael was just as much a master of his art in the studio as he was on stage. Michael the entertainer was only 50% of his genius, his other equal 50% was being a genius songwriter and composer and something he doesn't get enough credit for. I've met people who actually think Quincy Jones wrote Billie Jean, because of Michael being refered to as an entertainer. Elvis was just an enterainer, Michael was a musican and entertainer.
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yeah thats true......i've also met some ppl who never know Bille Jean was written by Michael himself,cuz they know he can sing ,he can dance ,but never a thought he is a great songwriter.......
maybe ppl think a man who can write beautful lyrics is supposed to be highly educated,but thats not true,michael is so sensitive as he can write songs like Give In To Me while he claimed himself to be a "gentle man" Lol (*^_^*)
 
HeartbreakHotelMJJ said:
Y'all have seen the mexico dep right? I was just watching it tonight, him describing the songwriting process and how he does nothing, just lets the song come through him... so there's a point in the tape they play, the demo of him singing TGIM and you can hear him trying to get the bridge out of his mind and onto the tape recorder.... and you know he always said that he doesn't write the songs they just come to him.. and I've always been like yeah okay. Not that I didn't believe him but to actually hear the process on that tape was like wow! Then later on in the depo they play more of the tape and you hear him messing around with the bridge again, trying to get it out, the "I'll love you more than he" part... and then suddenly out it comes.. he sings it so clear right on the tape... older MJ is just smiling and looking at the camera like "see?" it was crazy! And not just the words, like every single part of the song! The melody, the strings, piano. He just woke up and there it was in his head, and he just picked up the tape recorder and out it came! Madness!

But anyway this songwriting thread just made me think about that, I'm sure most of you have seen it already but it's new to me.

The songs, and probably the dancing, the drawings the poetry, just came to him, I really believe that especially after seeing what I saw/heard in the depo..... it was just effortless on his part.
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i never saw it do you have a link?
 
You could try a search on YT, but they get taken down quickly because apparently someone is claiming they own the rights to it... I got it from the 200 Watts section. I would definitely recommend giving it a look, it's really so interesting to watch older Mike listening to his younger self on tape and describing his songwriting process, particularly for TGIM but I'm sure it would apply to other songs he's written as well.
 
thats true most people just saw him for his song & dance nothing more he was such an amazingly tallented humenbeing :cry:
 
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