Rolling Stone Readers Pick Their 10 Favorite Dancing Musicians

billyworld99

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1. Michael Jackson
It should come as no surprise that the King of Pop won this poll by a significant margin. Michael Jackson's superhuman level of talent extended to an uncanny and utterly natural gift for dancing. On top of possessing remarkable grace, Jackson was also wildly innovative. In this clip from the Motown 25 special on March 25, 1983, the pop legend debuts the moonwalk, a backwards gliding motion which would become his signature move and one of the most famous dance techniques of the 20th Century.

2. Britney Spears
Britney Spears took a whopping percentage of the votes in this poll, clearly establishing the pop starlet as your favorite female dancer. The music video for the 2001 hit "I'm A Slave 4 U" is prime Britney, with the singer deliberately subverting her still-girlish appearance with overt, unapologetic sexuality.

3. James Brown
James Brown may be the most physical singer of all time, a man who spent pretty much every moment on stage over the course of five decades in constant motion. Brown's music developed largely in response to his dancing, with his band developing entirely new styles of funk and rhythm to suit their singer's ecstatic movements. These new beats ended up becoming the foundation of funk rock, house music, hip-hop and beyond, making Brown one of the most influential artists of all time

4. Mick Jagger
A lot of the physicality that we associate with rock stars today can be traced back to Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, whose fluid motions and sassy rooster strut set the template for the likes of Freddie Mercury, Axl Rose, Steven Tyler and countless others. This clip of the Stones performing "Jumpin' Jack Flash" circa 1968 presents Jagger in his prime, though much of the footage is unfortunately focused above his waistline.

5. Lady Gaga

Though dancing is arguably the least of Lady Gaga's many talents, it is a central component of her live performances and visionary music videos. "Bad Romance" boasts her most inspired choreography along with some of the most indelible images of the singer's career to date. The best bit is the velociraptor-like monster arm motion, one of the most instantly iconic moves of the past decade.

6. Prince
The most iconic images of Prince usually involve him playing a guitar, so you'd be forgiven if it slipped your mind that the R&B legend happens to be a world class dancer. In this incredible footage from around 1980, Prince is brought up on stage by Michael Jackson during a James Brown performance, leading the pint-sized pop genius to upstage both men with surreal, wildly imaginative moves.

7. Madonna
Madonna is entirely synonymous with dancing. If she's not singing about dancing or making music for dance floors around the world, she's dancing in videos or on stage. Just as Madonna is responsible for bringing elements of several underground dance music genres into the mainstream with her pop hits, she has done the same for several dance styles, most notably voguing in the early Nineties. It's actually sort of hard to pick just one Madonna video to showcase her dancing – we went with the clip for her early hit "Holiday" because it's so totally focused on her movement and serves as a fine example of the singer's tough-girl physicality.

8. Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson may not have the widespread cultural impact of her older brother Michael, but she is a brilliant dancer in her own right, and has arguably had a greater long-term impact on the choreography of contemporary music videos. Her 1989 video for "Rhythm Nation," in which she and a quasi-militaristic ensemble dance in some sort of urban dystopia, set the template for hundreds of videos to come in the Nineties and aughts.

9. Nicole Scherzinger
Nicole Scherzinger is a dance pop veteran, having started off in the girl group Eden's Crush before breaking big as the frontwoman of the Pussycat Dolls. With that group, she specialized in overtly sexy moves that borrowed elements of burlesque and pole dancing. In this video for "Poison," a single from her 2010 solo disc Killer Love, Scherzinger cuts loose to a heavy club beat provided by Lady Gaga collaborator RedOne.

10. Thom Yorke
It seems likely that many of you were being sarcastic when you voted for Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, but in any case, the elfin art rocker actually does have a totally fascinating – if entirely unconventional – style of dance. After years of shaking, twitching and stomping around like a dinosaur whenever he was not burdened with a guitar on stage, Yorke got around to showcasing his dance moves in the band's video for "Lotus Flower" earlier this year. It's a mesmerizing clip, full of bizarre moments that instantly became fodder for a number of re-edited fan videos, including this particularly funny clip in which Yorke is cut into Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/p...cing-musicians-20110714/10-thom-yorke-0589996
 
:wild: :dance: :dancing: :punk:
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I cant believe they said Mj and James Brown were upstaged by Prince in that video. I know theres hundreds here who have seen that video, did Rolling Stone forget to watch the part where Prince falls off the stage? Or did I miss when being a grown man being piggy-backing to the stage was considering upstaging?
 
Besides MJ, I'm not really happy about that list, Britney doesn't deserve number 2, Lady Gaga doesn't deserve to even be on there, and Madonna shouldn't be above Janet when she is a much better dancer.


Anyway most importantly MJ was number one :woohoo:
 
imo, the women should've been ranked this:
-janet jackson
-madonna
-britney
-gaga (sings and plays piano very well but can't dance to save her life haha)

and where's tina turner?!?! what about the "proud mary" dance?

but mj's number one woo!
 
oh no, Lady Gaga is no.5, so where is Beyonce?? I don't think Gaga is great dancer, but Beyonce is.

Of course, Michael is no.1, and James Brown should be no.2
 
I am glad he was picked number 1. He was the first to have choreography in videos. He started it and when I see people do their dances now I think of him.
 
MJ is for sure going to be No1.
The female ranking is quite weird. Maddona better than Janet?
and Lady Gaga? She is an okay dancer but no way better than Janet and Beyonce.
Where is Beyonce by the way?
Britney is a great dancer before the mess. She still can't find that back till now.
 
MJ is for sure going to be No1.
The female ranking is quite weird. Maddona better than Janet?
and Lady Gaga? She is an okay dancer but no way better than Janet and Beyonce.
Where is Beyonce by the way?
Britney is a great dancer before the mess. She still can't find that back till now.

I agree. Because it's different when you are a natural dancer and people notice when you are the other kind of "dancer"
 
Some of the choices are curious (Mick Jagger? I also would not have placed Britney as high as 2nd), but I'm glad Michael won. And frankly, that's totally obvious!

And Prince "upstaged" MJ and James Brown in that video? I wonder what RS were watching, since Prince didn't dance there and he rather made a total fool of himself and even people around him said later he was very angry on the way home that MJ upstaged him! But oh well, it's the usual RS bias for Prince against MJ. They had to say something that would make Prince look better - at least for a moment. Sorry RS, but dancing is not one of the areas where Prince can compete with MJ.
 
Some of the choices are curious (Mick Jagger? I also would not have placed Britney as high as 2nd), but I'm glad Michael won. And frankly, that's totally obvious!

And Prince "upstaged" MJ and James Brown in that video? I wonder what RS were watching, since Prince didn't dance there and he rather made a total fool of himself and even people around him said later he was very angry on the way home that MJ upstaged him! But oh well, it's the usual RS bias for Prince against MJ. They had to say something that would make Prince look better - at least for a moment. Sorry RS, but dancing is not one of the areas where Prince can compete with MJ.

RS liked that performance because Prince acted like he was stoned and broke some things from the stage, Rock and roll!! you know? (sarcasm) :lol:

Oh geee :doh:
 
I was scared to read this after reading that People article about people who defined our time. But I'm glad to see that Michael wasn't underrated or disrespected here. He deserves to be #1. There's no one better than the greatest.

King of Pop, Rock, and Soul: Michael Jackson.
 
They mentioned Rhythm Nation as a cultural impact in dancing. Well, this is choreographed by Michael, so I think this goes to him too. Janet is very good dancer, but her best video dance was Michael's work.
 
And the performance with Michael and Prince. Are these people serious, this was a very low point in Prince's career to do this. He looked very childish and drunk. It is embarrassing to even watch.
 
ALAN LEEDS: Prince went to a James Brown gig [in 1983] with Bobby Z, his drummer at the time, Big Chick, who was his security guard, and I think Jill Jones, who was one of his protégés. By now, everybody knows what happened at that gig. I don’t think Prince realized that Michael was going to be there. James looked a little puzzled in that video when Michael whispered in his ear, “Hey, bring Prince up.” And of course Prince didn’t really know what to do either. He went to the guitar first but he fumbles with that because it was left-handed. He played a few licks, did some dancing and knocked over a prop by accident. Now I always wondered if Michael intentionally brought Prince up to put him in that position just to say, “Hey, you think you’re on my ass? Well follow this, motherfucker [laughs].” Bobby Z called me and said, “Oh boy…he made an ass of himself tonight.” He said Prince didn’t say a word the whole way to the hotel.

http://www.vibe.com/content/michael-jackson-vs-prince-oral-history-pg-2
 
The list is a bit weird but at least Michael is where he belongs ;)

...leading the pint-sized pop genius to upstage both men with surreal, wildly imaginative moves.
Ok? That's a bit much, I think. Maybe it's the quality, but Prince really didn't do all that much...
 
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