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Michael Jackson Vs. Prince: An Oral History

WOW, I didn't know Prince had a strong sense of loyalty, I have heard about him banning people from his forum if they bashed Michael but I didn't know that story Tatiana. More power to him, he had a hell lot of integrity, both Michael and Prince respected each other indeed!
 
la_cienega said:
Thanks for sharing all the stories coming out about MJ and Prince! I love hearing about them.

I have a HUGE amount of respect for Prince because of the way he handled MJ. Like the story Tatiana had in 1993 when she said she'd sold a story to a tabloid where they'd taken some things out of context and made Michael look bad. She was at a club and Prince saw her and came up to her and started on at her about it. Actually yelling at her about how could she do something like that to someone, how badly did she need the money, how broke must she have been to do that to someone. He didn't care about the allegations - he cared that someone around MJ would choose to betray him that way during their worst moment. SO much respect for that.

He also banned people from trashing MJ on his forums during the trial.

So many other celebrity's turned their backs on him or tried to get some nasty word in just to get more PR. But Prince was concerned with integrity above all of that.

That's how I've always looked at Prince ever since learning that. Whenever I hear some random story about him, I always keep in mind that if he was prepared to be so defensive for someone who wasn't even a good friend of his, who was someone who had been deemed his rival and could've been someone he could try and bash because everyone else was, then he's a good loyal person with real integrity. One of the few in the industry.
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. Wow! thank you for sharing this story with us. It just made me love Prince more than I already do.
 
best pop singer with its own unsurpassed style ...simply the best of the best players on the stage
 
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In a way Im glad i didnt know a lot of his stuff. Im on a musical journey discovering his stuff now. I can only imagine how amazing it was for anyone discovering MJ at the time of his death too.
 
MattyJam said:
I've noticed a lot of MJ comparisons in the tributes paid to Prince since his passing, often trying to belittle MJ's abilities, the usual nonsense talking about how Prince played so many instruments and was so prolific compared to MJ etc (as if the quality of an artists output is somehow less impressive if there's less of it).
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Thing is Prince was always, ever since the 80s, the media's/critics' darling as opposed to MJ - probably because his art appeals more to classic rockist aeasthetics (guy with a guitar, plays instruments etc) as opposed to the dancing man that rockists tend to look down on as if dance is not an art form on its own. It's what it is. In the 80s you got used to it as an MJ fan. It kind of died down later but now apperently some are hell-bent to bring back that silly "rivalry" of apples and oranges. The funny thing is though, that in my experience, it is mainly Prince fans who try to trash the other, it's rarely the other way around. I don't know but to me the obsession reeks a bit of insecurity or jealousy (of MJ being more popular).

Prince was more profilic, that's true, but it also meant that his albums had less quality control IMO. I mean he is a hit or miss. He has a number of great songs, but he also has a number of "meh" songs. At the end of the day, even if MJ's catalog is a lot smaller, to me there aren't more really great Prince songs than MJ songs. (Actually to me there are more great MJ songs but that's the fan in me.)
 
MattyJam said:
I've noticed a lot of MJ comparisons in the tributes paid to Prince since his passing, often trying to belittle MJ's abilities, the usual nonsense talking about how Prince played so many instruments and was so prolific compared to MJ etc (as if the quality of an artists output is somehow less impressive if there's less of it). I suppose it's human nature to elevate somebody you admire once they've passed, I noticed a lot of this when Bowie died, he was the greatest this, the greatest that. People scramble to express their fandom and often end up falling into subconscious one-upmanship over how great the artist was.

The truth is, there are a select few artists from the last 50 years (and Prince, MJ and Bowie are amongst them) who truly were geniuses at their craft and it's a great shame that it's only when these people pass on that the general public and the media talk about how influential and unique these artists were. There really aren't many of these people left (Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen)... yet I feel as if we've learned nothing as a society from the deaths of our beloved musical heroes.
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MAN! Matty, I couldn't have put it any better than that tbh. I was having an intense debate about this (quality vs quality) argument on YT.

IMO, MJ was savvy enough to release projects every 5 years to 1) meet fan anticipation but more importantly to 2) meet a high standards of excellence and not fall victim to forgettable unfinished material.
 
respect77 said:
Thing is Prince was always, ever since the 80s, the media's/critics' darling as opposed to MJ - probably because his art appeals more to classic rockist aeasthetics (guy with a guitar, plays instruments etc) as opposed to the dancing man that rockists tend to look down on as if dance is not an art form on its own. It's what it is. In the 80s you got used to it as an MJ fan. It kind of died down later but now apperently some are hell-bent to bring back that silly "rivalry" of apples and oranges. The funny thing is though, that in my experience, it is mainly Prince fans who try to trash the other, it's rarely the other way around. I don't know but to me the obsession reeks a bit of insecurity or jealousy (of MJ being more popular).

Prince was more profilic, that's true, but it also meant that his albums had less quality control IMO. I mean he is a hit or miss. He has a number of great songs, but he also has a number of "meh" songs. At the end of the day, even if MJ's catalog is a lot smaller, to me there aren't more really great Prince songs than MJ songs. (Actually to me there are more great MJ songs but that's the fan in me.)
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Yes and no. They don't mind James Brown, Madonna and other entertainers who were.t renowned instrumentalists. It was a range of factors that drove critics/journalist/musicologist to side-eye MJ. Don't forget his 'disneyland' image was also something they attacked him for.
 
I don't believe the anecdote from Toure, about Michael sending Prince a tape of 'BAD' and Prince sending it back, re-recorded, "the way it should be done, like a kind of superstar f*ck you". NOPE....that did not happen. Toure is a writer from The Rollingstone and like all RS writers, he has a certain "attitude" when it comes to Michael Jackson. I just don't think any of them are very well-informed at all, when it comes to MJ...they are lazy and they just repeat the same old tired BS and half-truths.

There is no way (IMO) that Michael would send a tape of one of his songs to Prince. NO WAY. They had a meeting and they talked about doing the song as a duet and at the end of the meeting, Prince told Michael that it was going to be a hit and that Michael didn't need him on the song. It probably really wasn't Prince's style of song, anyway. He did not give Michael a "f*ck you". I don't even believe the story Prince told to Chris Rock about the BAD duet....more likely, Mr Nelson was taking the mickey out of Mr Rock.....just "performing" and putting a little sensationalism out there, for everyone to talk about. And look....we're all still talking about it, right?
 
Mikky Dee said:
I don't believe the anecdote from Toure, about Michael sending Prince a tape of 'BAD' and Prince sending it back, re-recorded, "the way it should be done, like a kind of superstar f*ck you".
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Honestly given how much respect Prince had for Michael (and I've learnt a lot these past few days seen clips of him discuss Michael and it's always been with a lot of respect), I struggle to believe he would do such a thing.
 
I downloaded Prince's 1993 compilation "The Hits / B-Sides" a few nights ago. I'll have to dig into it sometime. I made an effort back in late February/early March to learn about some of his best songs so I already have a few favourites (1999, When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy, Raspberry Beret ... basically the Billie Jean/Beat It's of his discography - the songs everyone likes).

Also I came across "Controversy" the other day and it's SO GOOD. Honestly it's been in my head these past two days. For whatever reason, I've noticed it's easier to hear Prince's music on YouTube since he died (idk not as many copyright takedowns?) but whatever, for once you can hear one of his songs here on YouTube. If you haven't heard this you really should! It's funky as hell.

I've said it before and I'll say it again but I really hope his discography becomes available on Spotify. I was only a very casual fan of Bowie's works before he died but listening to his music on Spotify and discovering some incredible tunes he made on led me to buy not only his greatest hits, but also a good number of other songs off iTunes! Definitely a much bigger fan of Bowie now thanks to Spotify and I hope something similar can happen for Prince :)
 
Mikky Dee said:
I don't believe the anecdote from Toure, about Michael sending Prince a tape of 'BAD' and Prince sending it back, re-recorded, "the way it should be done, like a kind of superstar f*ck you". NOPE....that did not happen. Toure is a writer from The Rollingstone and like all RS writers, he has a certain "attitude" when it comes to Michael Jackson. I just don't think any of them are very well-informed at all, when it comes to MJ...they are lazy and they just repeat the same old tired BS and half-truths.

There is no way (IMO) that Michael would send a tape of one of his songs to Prince. NO WAY. They had a meeting and they talked about doing the song as a duet and at the end of the meeting, Prince told Michael that it was going to be a hit and that Michael didn't need him on the song. It probably really wasn't Prince's style of song, anyway. He did not give Michael a "f*ck you". I don't even believe the story Prince told to Chris Rock about the BAD duet....more likely, Mr Nelson was taking the mickey out of Mr Rock.....just "performing" and putting a little sensationalism out there, for everyone to talk about. And look....we're all still talking about it, right?
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I don't think Prince ever recorded Bad. The story seems to be made up.
 
They were very different artists... They were compared because they both were both black pop stars that got a lot of attention, both of which came from the school of James Brown.. They both were 'pretty boys' and people lumped them together because of those things.. Outside of that they had a lot of differences. and sometimes those differences (contrasts) also got them compared..

And Prince got the comparison to MJ more than MJ getting comparison to Prince.. How often did you see Mike get asked about Prince? Now how many interviews that Prince gets pushed into the MJ talk?



I'll say this for the Prince fans (which I am one but there are definitely bigger) Prince was cool as hell!
 
I'm in two minds of whether I'd rather Michael was more prolific like Prince or perfect as he was.

MJ certainly had better quality control.

I don't think I'd be as big fan as I am of Michael had his albums got swamped by lesser works like Prince. I loved the fact that for 5 albums in a row virtually every track was flawless.
 
MattyJam said:
Wow, you're in for quite a journey. I know Prince's canon of work like the back of my hand, and discovering his genius was one of the most rewarding and enriching experiences of my life.
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After Bowie died I envied everyone hearing certain things for the first time. Bittersweet journey but good lord HitNRun Phase 2 has some TUNES. (On Controversy now).
 
I don't think his work will be on Spotify. He chose to put his work only on Tidal. I understand Tidal doesn't have the user base Spotify but I understand why he fully supported it.

innuendo, you're going to enjoy going through his discography, from his albums to his side projects like Vanity 6, The Time, The Family, Sheila E, Jill Jones, Madhouse and NPG.

THEN there's the loads of unreleased material that has been circulating for years! lol
 
innuendo141 said:
After Bowie died I envied everyone hearing certain things for the first time. Bittersweet journey but good lord HitNRun Phase 2 has some TUNES. (On Controversy now).
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What's your favourite track from each album from For You to Controversy?
 
MattyJam said:
As you know, I've been a Prince fan my entire life. I got into him at around the same time as Michael and have listened to both of them constantly for over twenty years now. I don't really feel the need to pick one over the other, there are times when I'll watch Bad tour footage and I think "yup, MJ is number one, nobody can touch him", but then I've had similar thoughts about Prince when I'm listening to his music.

Like you said, it's apples and oranges. There are parts of Prince's career that I wish MJ emulated more (I wish MJ had a bigger catalogue of work), but then similarily, there are parts of Prince's career that I wish were more like MJ (I've always wished he spent more money and took more effort on his music videos like MJ). Really, it's pointless, because they both excelled in different areas - they were different artists, with different priorities and different talents.

People harp on about Prince's prolific output (and it is impressive), but then MJ was always more about the whole package. The dancing, the music videos.... I saw someone on Facebook saying about how MJ did two albums in the 80s, compared to Prince's ten. They completely ignore his albums with The Jacksons, as well as the fact that he revolutionised music videos... it's not like MJ was sat on his ass while Prince was recording all this music.
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I'm going to be blunt, and this is no shade at at Prince (he was one of the best and extremely talented), but between Michael and Prince Michael was/is the more famous, influential, and successful of the two (there are numbers that prove this).

Some of Prince's fans are jealous of MJ's success, so they try to belittle MJ in every way they can (no matter how little sense it makes).

I've actually seen some Prince fans say that Prince had "won" or was "better then MJ" because Michael was dead while Prince was still alive.
They were legit making fun of MJ's death, and using it to try and uplift Prince.

Michael's fans very rarely get that hostile over anything because we don't have to, we simply know MJ is the best.

If you have to uplift your fave by tearing down another artist chances are your fave isn't as good as you think they are.
If they were, you wouldn't have to be so insecure as to try and lower another artist to uplift them, and instead you would just praise and appreciate your fave because you know your fave is the best.

The only time I get angry on MJ's behalf is when someone believes the allegations and talks bad about MJ.
I also become miffed when someone puts another artist on MJ's level, or says someone is the new MJ/King of Pop, etc.


TLDR: people need to be less petty and put some more respeck on Michael's name.
 
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MattyJam said:
And you're right about the comparisons coming mainly from Prince fans, whereas MJ fans seldom feel the need to compare the two. I think it's the nature of the beast, when you're as big as MJ was, he is the measure by which everyone is compared. It's a compliment in a weird way.
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Everyone and their mama has been compared to King MJ.
It's because he's the undisputed standard when it comes to being an artist and entertainer. :)
 
MJWATER said:
i'll just remove the damn comment jeez
you happy now

ya'll need to stop putting these celebrities on a pedestal, I'm fan of Michael but sometimes I crack jokes on him too
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Yeah, some of us are gay,do you that is funny or something. I am a bear, we are not known for our sense of humour. Your remarks insulted Michael, Prince, and the whole gay community. Thanks to respect77 for dealing with it.
 
I really love this thread though, the article was cool.
Initially I was worried thinking "Oh no not this MJ vs Prince shit again" I know I do it, but I don't force choices and this one didn't either. Threads like this, Boards like this and prince.org are proof that for so many of us, there is room for both Michael and Prince to be loved by all of us.

Been away for a while reconnecting with my Prince music, but once the greiving process ends, MIchael will be back in rotation again. Just playing a bit more Prince like most of us now for recent reasons.

For allI know Prince and Michael are up there in heaven making all sorts of music together and there is no paparazzi or gossipers there to make up crap about them.
 
Pink Diamond Princess said:
I'm going to be blunt, and this is no shade at at Prince (he was one of the best and extremely talented), but between Michael and Prince Michael was/is the more famous, influential, and successful of the two (there are numbers that prove this).

Some of Prince's fans are jealous of MJ's success, so they try to belittle MJ in every way they can (no matter how little sense it makes).

I've actually seen some Prince fans say that Prince had "won" or was "better then MJ" because Michael was dead while Prince was still alive.
They were legit making fun of MJ's death, and using it to try and uplift Prince.

Michael's fans very rarely get that hostile over anything because we don't have to, we simply know MJ is the best.

If you have to uplift your fave by tearing down another artist chances are your fave isn't as good as you think they are.
If they were, you wouldn't have to be so insecure as to try and lower another artist to uplift them, and instead you would just praise and appreciate your fave because you know your fave is the best.

The only time I get angry on MJ's behalf is when someone believes the allegations and talks bad about MJ.
I also become miffed when someone puts another artist on MJ's level, or says someone is the new MJ/King of Pop, etc.


TLDR: people need to be less petty and put some more respeck on Michael's name.
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You act like things work in a vacuum.

MJ fans have been known to compare MJ to Elvis, and in turn shit on Elvis and say, well because he never wrote any or many songs, that means He's not as good as MJ.
 
It's interesting to think what if MJ had left the tap running, and been as creatively active as Prince all those years, and if Prince only released an album every 4-5 years.
 
Psychoniff said:
You act like things work in a vacuum.

MJ fans have been known to compare MJ to Elvis, and in turn shit on Elvis and say, well because he never wrote any or many songs, that means He's not as good as MJ.
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When a known troll tries to pick a fight and start some mess with a false statement. :)
 
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innuendo141 said:
It's interesting to think what if MJ had left the tap running, and been as creatively active as Prince all those years, and if Prince only released an album every 4-5 years.
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Here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unreleased_songs_recorded_by_Michael_Jackson

There was certainly many songs left on the cutting room floor. But the question is, to what extent are these songs finsihed and ready for release. We saw what happen when the lousy estate tried to in 2014.
 
I like Prince and Mj. I viewed some Prince performances last evening and man he was fantastic of course. I have seen both men in concert Mj twice once for Prince all in the 80's. This morning I decided I would watch some This is it clips. My take while both performers are top notch there is absolutely no comparison when you really break it down. The magic alone that Mj creates is chilling. The hair stood on the back of my neck as I viewed human nature and wanna be starting something. That was a rehearsal the man simply had the it factor with him at all times. As they sort out what happened to Prince in his death it angers me that we still don't know the truth about what happened to Mj. Will we ever know? I doubt it. I has some thoughts on what went down but I still have anger. To some extent I believed this men were tortured with there gifts. It all just pisses me off.
 
MattyJam said:
Well, if you're that impressed by Hit N Run Phase 2, then I think you're going to love some of his other albums (I personally wouldn't rate HNR Phase 2 in his top 20 albums). Be sure to check out Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, Love Symbol and Emancipation for some awesome 90s albums. And of course, everything from the 80s was just magical.
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I dont know how long it'll be before I get to them... currently brainwashed by Diamonds & Pearls!!!!

I've heard about these bootleg albums. Looks like Prince fans have been spoiled compared to MJ fans. Glad Im only beginning.
 
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