IN YOUR OPINION, who was the greatest music artist who ever lived?

Originally posted by FistOfThe North
Hardly? Yet he was the biggest influence "culturally"? What's that suppose to mean..

Look, i'm honestly not trying to start a long and drawn out back and forth argument with you cause may think that i'm playing the race card here, so don't think i'm implying anything, cause i'm not, but, had you'd of of said that if he was of white heritage?

MJ was/is a music icon. A global mega superstar, music artist who's set many trends musically and that have been copied a hundred-fold over, that we couldn't really imagine the enormous impact he's had as a very talented musical artist.

MJ, as a musical artist, owned the 80's cause of his skill and talent as, a musical artist, cause of the impact he's had, due to his musical artistry.

Quincy Jones was arguably the bigger influence as it was he who developed and produced the sound of MJ's more important albums. He also wrote quite a few of the songs from those albums.

Originally posted by jaden101
Quincy Jones was arguably the bigger influence as it was he who developed and produced the sound of MJ's more important albums. He also wrote quite a few of the songs from those albums.

Quincy only co-wrote one track from 'Off The Wall - Thriller - Bad'.
I'd call Rod Temperton much more influential as he wrote the songs Thriller and Off The Wall.

Originally posted by Funkadelic
Quincy only co-wrote one track from 'Off The Wall - Thriller - Bad'.
I'd call Rod Temperton much more influential as he wrote the songs Thriller and Off The Wall.

Although my main point was the production....

John Lennon (So cliche but i don't care)

Some Tibetan throat singers, Romani musicians who's music every genre on the planet is based on, and a bunch of Franciscan monks who first came up with the basics of tonal music, harmony, modern notation and music theory.

Originally posted by Tptmanno1
Miles Davis.

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
I'm about as big of an M.J. fan as they come. Don't be so pathetic as to bring in the race card in the same thread where I named Prince as my favourite musician of all time. Don't be ridiculous. EVERYTHING is about f*cking race with you. That's the irony.

He simply isn't the most musically influential of all time. He did not do anything musically that was MASSIVELY, structurally, compositionally or conceptually (Really) innovative.

He took what existed, added a little twist here and there and blew it through the straosphere. He influenced culture, not necessarily music. More kids dressed like him and did the moonwalk than decided to pick up an instrument and play.

He was inspirational more than influential.

He never owned the 80s in any other way than exposure. Prince was out in the 80s, and you don't wanna argue the musical talent of M.J. Vs Prince.

-AC

Johann Sebastian Bach.

Originally posted by Punkyhermy
MJ pwns Prince.

Prince has mastered 27 instruments, writes every single piece of all the music on his 30 plus releases, and has written classic songs for other artists. He has spanned almost every genre there is and his virtuosity on instruments is lauded by some of the best musicians in the world.

John Blackwell hails him as a great drummer, Steve Vai was shocked at how blindingly skilled he is as a guitarist, and Victor Wooten has called Prince a "great bass player".

Michael Jackson was an amazing performer and singer who had the good fortune of having many people write or co-write the songs with him.

The two are not even in the same league. Not even close.

-AC

In case the thread was asking about modern song writters: David Bowie is my personal favorite, by far.

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Prince has mastered 27 instruments, writes every single piece of all the music on his 30 plus releases, and has written classic songs for other artists. He has spanned almost every genre there is and his virtuosity on instruments is lauded by some of the best musicians in the world.

John Blackwell hails him as a great drummer, Steve Vai was shocked at how blindingly skilled he is as a guitarist, and Victor Wooten has called Prince a "great bass player".

Michael Jackson was an amazing performer and singer who had the good fortune of having many people write or co-write the songs with him.

The two are not even in the same league. Not even close.

-AC

right, they totally aren't.

its a blasphemy to even compare mj to prince. mj was a musical cherub who blossomed at age 11. he was a visionary. his stuff will be heard years from now while prince will fade into obscurity.

Originally posted by Punkyhermy
right, they totally aren't.

its a blasphemy to even compare mj to prince. mj was a musical cherub who blossomed at age 11. he was a visionary. his stuff will be heard years from now while prince will fade into obscurity.

Who is arguing about how long someone's stuff will be heard? You said MJ owns Prince.

Not only do I disagree on a subjective level (Don't get it twisted, I am a huge MJ fan), but on many levels Prince factually owns an untold amount of musicians.

Michael Jackson was, essentially, someone who could co-write some amazing, timeless songs and sing really well. Prince is a master musician, with virtuosity highly regarded by virtuosos themselves. MJ isn't.

Secondly, you're talking about fame and legacy, not actual musical ability.

Michael Jackson is more famous than most humans in the history of Earth, so in that sense, you're right. MJ "owns" just about everyone when you talk about fame.

I love MJ, I have since I was a kid, but this is a thread about the greatest music artist who ever lived. So, whilst there isn't an answer for that, when debating the subject you MUST focus more on people who actually have an immeasurable amount of instrumental and creative talent. MJ was amazing, one of the best, but the very fact that he didn't write all his own music or play very many instruments at all is what knocks him down and out of contention with Prince.

He's not as musically talented as Prince. Never was. When Prince was 19 he recorded his debut album. He wasn't 11, but he played all 23 instruments on that album. Jackson was still the lead, but not only songwriter in The Jackson 5 at that point. Jackson started first, but when Prince was 19 he was already the superior musician.

Prince will never fade into obscurity because he's still extremely famous. Very much so. If that's the road you want to take. He's extremely famous, he did a 21 night stint at London's o2 (Sold out all 21 nights, as well as aftershow tickets). Still sells multiple millions of albums.

People said, as you did, that nobody cared about him anymore (Which is factually untrue, because he has fans, but they meant in the mainstream). Then in 2006 he came back with 3121 and topped the billboard chart. It wasn't even regarded as his best album.

Prince isn't as famous as Michael Jackson culturally, but he is way more respected musically for both his musical ability AND his ability to create insane amounts of hits.

Michael Jackson wanted PRINCE to duet with him on Bad, not vice versa. Michael Jackson sought out Prince.

Just to seal your point off;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHaFj7gOWh4

Michael Jackson insisting, INSISTING, to James Brown that Prince come on stage and play. Not the other way around.

Michael Jackson gets on stage, does some singing, some dancing and bails. Prince comes on and actually starts jamming, because he can.

So you have a little think about that before you start throwing out unfounded claims.

Michael Jackson didn't even put himself above Prince.

-AC

Arguing over opinions? Seriously?

It's not really an opinion that Prince is/was a better musician that Jackson ever was.

Jackson had better vocals and could dance better , IMO.

But Prince was a more skilled muscian -- as shown that he can play various instruments and wrote his own music. Jackson didn't even write his own music and IIRC didn't even play an instrument for any songs on his solo albums.

The title to this thread is "greatest music artist", whether that is synonymous with "best musician" is up for debate.

Originally posted by Blinky
It's not really an opinion that Prince is/was a better musician that Jackson ever was.

Jackson had better vocals and could dance better , IMO.

Dancing isn't musicianship and Prince has far greater range than Michael. Both higher and lower.

Originally posted by Blinky
But Prince was a more skilled muscian -- as shown that he can play various instruments and wrote his own music. Jackson didn't even write his own music and IIRC didn't even play an instrument for any songs on his solo albums.

The title to this thread is "greatest music artist", whether that is synonymous with "best musician" is up for debate.

That's what I've been saying, yet your opening post said that it was up for debate.

My whole point is that while we'll never find a winner in this thread, you should consider Prince before you consider Michael Jackson, simply because he was a legitimately, supremely skilled musician who wrote all his own music. Michael Jackson was not.

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri

Dancing isn't musicianship and Prince has far greater range than Michael. Both higher and lower.

As for Prince being a better vocalist (merely because he has a wider range)... I have to disagree with you there.

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri

That's what I've been saying, yet your opening post said that it was up for debate.

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri

My whole point is that while we'll never find a winner in this thread, you should consider Prince before you consider Michael Jackson, simply because he was a legitimately, supremely skilled musician who wrote all his own music. Michael Jackson was not..
-AC

Yeah dude and I was agreeing with you. I don't consider Micheal Jackson a great musician. Though I don't care much for Prince's music -- he is the better musician.

For me, it's either John Lennon or Bob Dylan. Both capable of such variety. They may not have been as technically proficient as many other artists, but they were the greatest songwriters of the 20th century, I believe.

Originally posted by Blinky
Well firstly, I never said that Dancing has any relationship to musicianship. But It could be considered part of being a "great music ARTIST" (to some people), this title is vague, hence why I bought up dancing.

As for Prince being a better vocalist (merely because he has a wider range)... I have to disagree with you there.

Prince is the more technically able singer.

That doesn't mean you have to prefer him.

Originally posted by Blinky
What post are you reffering to? The only thing I said was open to debate is what the thread starter meant by "greatest music artist". To me, that means greatest musical song writter, but who knows what he meant.

The musicianship part.

Originally posted by Blinky
Yeah dude and I was agreeing with you. I don't consider Micheal Jackson a great musician. Though I don't care much for Prince's music -- he is the better musician.

No worries.

-AC

Originally posted by Blinky
Johann Sebastian Bach.

Originally posted by red g jacks
old ass ice-t ass nigga. when you was born niggas drove wooden cars. on some flintstones shit. niggas didn't even have walmart yet.

... hmmmm, OK.