Why is that some people don't give credit to MJ as a songwriter?

[analogue]

This is something that i really don't understand. People credit MJ for his dancing and sometimes his singing but there's never any mention of him as a songwriter. Why is this? Do some people find it hard to believe that MJ really could be that talented so they downplay one of his talents? Or do they honestly don't know that MJ is a songwriter because the media never spoke about him as a songwriter when it came to his music?

Or is it the fact that MJ didn't/couldn't play any instruments? When someone see's someone on stage strumming away on a guitar or playing a piano they instantly think ''Wow that person is playing an instrument. He/she must be a real songwriter'' but when they see MJ singing and dancing on stage and not playing any instruments some people think ''That's a manufactured pop star who is nothing but a puppet to his record label''

It's very sad but i've noticed that people will give you more respect musically if you play an instrument. This comes from my own experience. I can't play any instruments but a friend of mine plays piano and guitar but i compose my own music (The same way MJ did by singing the music parts) and my friend as not composed one bit of music in his life but people think my friend is more creative than me just because he plays instruments.

 

[HIStory]

This is something that i really don't understand. People credit MJ for his dancing and sometimes his singing but there's never any mention of him as a songwriter. Why is this? Do some people find it hard to believe that MJ really could be that talented so they downplay one of his talents? Or do they honestly don't know that MJ is a songwriter because the media never spoke about him as a songwriter when it came to his music?

I think yes. People often have the false idea that MJ didn't write his songs, someone else (like Quincy) did or something. It's just ignorance.

Or is it the fact that MJ didn't/couldn't play any instruments? When someone see's someone on stage strumming away on a guitar or playing a piano they instantly think ''Wow that person is playing an instrument. He/she must be a real songwriter'' but when they see MJ singing and dancing on stage and not playing any instruments some people think ''That's a manufactured pop star who is nothing but a puppet to his record label''

It's very sad but i've noticed that people will give you more respect musically if you play an instrument. This comes from my own experience. I can't play any instruments but a friend of mine plays piano and guitar but i compose my own music (The same way MJ did by singing the music parts) and my friend as not composed one bit of music in his life but people think my friend is more creative than me just because he plays instruments.

Snobism. Playing instruments has nothing to do with creativity and songwriting skills. For example look at Eric Clapton. People will think he is such a huge musician and he probably writes his own material. While they look at Michael and see him dancing on the stage instead of with a guitar and they assume he didn't write his own material. Both is false. Clapton hardly wrote any of his music and Michael wrote much of it. So who is more creative?

 

[teli-mj]

Yes, the fact that Mike didn't play a music instrument is a major issue.People tend to respect more artists who seem to play some kind of an instrument and especially a guitar. Even if the music that those artist is no where near to the quality of the music that Mike did, they still get more credits and praise than MJ, just because of that fact.

I have said this before but there is a kind of snobism when it comes to pop music, even though i personally think that Mike was never a pop singer. People think that pop is a shallow kind of genre that doesn't diserve any kind of respect. So that's why they don't even bother to look Mike as a serious artist. They think that he is just a singing and dancing boy and that's it.

Then, of course there are other issues that i don't want to mention here but we all know wich they are.

 

[*Completly dry*]

I guess part of the reason is that it's the nature of pop music to focus on the visual. So you don't really talk about musicians anymore, you talk about entertainers in regards to popmusic. And everything that is behind the screen somewhat gets ignored. If you look at the history of pop music, there is a huge turn from the time where songwriters were the most important part of the musicbiz and got the most money to the time that singers got the most attention and therefore are not the focus of fame and money. Now if somebody plays an instrument on stage, that is a visual musical action so it gets noticed more than if somebody writes a song. In other genres its a little different so it's difficult to compare. But if you look at other pop music artists like Mariah, J.Lo, Xtina, there is no real interest in them writing their own songs either. Which is sad, because for me it upgrades an artist a lot. I think it deserves attention! And especially Michael's because his songs are just masterpieces! I'm still hoping that in the process of the next years we will see a re-evaluation of Michael so that not all emphasize is being layed only on the visual artist he was but also on him as a real musician.

 

[HIStory]

But if you look at other pop music artists like Mariah, J.Lo, Xtina, there is no real interest in them writing their own songs either. Which is sad, because for me it upgrades an artist a lot. I think it deserves attention!

I cannot consider an artist truly complete if he/she doesn't write songs. I mean, to me at least, art is about creativity! Yes, it's cool if somebody is a great singer with a huge voice. Or if he/she masterfully plays an instrument. That's a talent too and I listen to them too. But I will always consider those who write songs and create to be on another level compared to those who only perform!

 

[Indra]

I thought he played the piano?

 

[analogue]

I thought he played the piano?

I always get three different answers for this.

It's either one of these

He played piano but at a very basic level
He could play the Piano very well
He was a terrible piano player

 

[Lucilla]

Snobism. Playing instruments has nothing to do with creativity and songwriting skills. For example look at Eric Clapton. People will think he is such a huge musician and he probably writes his own material. While they look at Michael and see him dancing on the stage instead of with a guitar and they assume he didn't write his own material. Both is false. Clapton hardly wrote any of his music and Michael wrote much of it. So who is more creative?

So true.

 

[ultravioletrae]

Michael plays drums and percussion on his recordings, very professionally. According to Paddy Dunning in the studio in Ireland, Michael could play ANY instrument competently. If they were discussing a song, he would pick up whatever instrument was around and play it. But the world just doesn't seems quite ready to conceive of a talent on such an enormous level as MJ, that is writing, producing, engineering, choreographing, dancing, directing, (I'm sure I'm leaving some out) as well as anyone has ever done - all in one package - Michael Jackson. It's just too mind blowing, I think. It's easier to think of him as a singer/dancer because we don't have any previous models of this kind of multiple intelligence to compare him to.