Unfortunately Prince will not be held in the same esteem as Michael Jackson

Prince was a homophobic religious fundamentalist. Good fucking riddance.

No, Prince has nowhere near the musical output of Michael Jackson in terms of pop culture. He had hits from the time he was a child. This is just a fact. And I loathe Jackson personally.

I also hate the fact that Jacko' reputation has been whitewashed after his death and the history is being rewritten, you can see in talk shows now, many guests always recounting a good MJ' stories. where are the creepy tales that were talked about before his death! Also a huge population of young people, teenagers are new fans of MJ after his death, of course, they don't know what was happening before.

Sorry, OP, but Prince didn't have that many hits compared to MJ. I haven't checked the stats, but am pretty sure MJ outsold him too.

The day Prince died, some millennials at work looked sad and one wanted to play some of his music as a tribute. However, he didn't know any of his songs besides "When Doves Cry."

In the end it's only about the music

Michael had far more hits. Prince was more of an odd personality than that popular a musician, despite his being a musical genius. His years of dumping out second rate material just to fulfill his contracts hurt him.

I agree with r2. I fucking hate Michael Jackson and I hate his fans even more, but it is hard to deny Michael's place in pop culture. He was famous from the time he was 11 and never really left the spotlight. EVERYONE knows his songs, even people in third world countries and kids who weren't even born when he had his biggest hits. Honestly, his music is probably more universally known than anyone else's except for the Beatles and the Stones. It's really hard to find anyone over the age of ten who can't hum a few bars of Billie Jean or Thriller. While Prince was famous and successful, I'm not sure he was quite on that level.

[quote] Prince is the superior musical talent. But he won't be remembered that way.

I think that's really debatable that Prince was the superior musical talent. Michael wrote many of his biggest hits, and even wrote some of Jackson Five's best tunes such as "Shake Your Body." And heck yeah MJ sold more than Prince.

MJ's album sales are almost up there with Elvis and The Beatles. No question he was the bigger pop culture icon.

I love "You Rock World" and when I played it at work not long after it came out everyone that came in (young, old, domestic and foreign) they all started dancing. Prince may have been more respected as a musician by the critics (establishment) but MJ was loved by everyone. So Get over it.

I often listen to Michael's greatest hits. Rarely listen to prince

Michael Jackson is a bigger icon, duh. Beyonce, Adele and Taylor Swift will be bigger icons than Prince. Reputation only counts for what you can trade for it.

Prince is not sentimental nor begged the public to adore him. He was more of an old school band-leader and musician's musician. That the only contemporary cover song in the second album of a 22-year old Irish torch singer with a the voice of an angel like an angel and the fury of like a demon was one of his tracks is no coincidence.

This thread is delusional. Prince has already received more praise than MJ mostly because MJ life was marred in controversy. Him being an accused pedophile kinda puts a damper on everything.

Prince has his share of fans

Yep, a few sad homos on a nothing website called Datalounge have decided that Prince has no musical legacy. So, there you go, it is done. Have s nice day!

But unlike MJ there are many fillers in Prince's albums.

Michael Jackson was not "taboo" from the mid-90s until his death. He was seen as having problems, but on a more serious level this was much later than the 1990s, and nothing is being whitewashed. He was a huge global star for many decades, in a way that Prince never was, and was actually much more talented than Prince was.

Prince was a great talent, but not in the same way. Many of his songs are great but his output was not uniformly brilliant. He was also obnoxious, bizarre, anti-social and certainly didn't go out of his way to be loved by the public.

With MJ you can play his albums from start to finish.

MJ' music is more loved by people than Prince. BUT Michael Jackson is a JOKE, he's Not respected by the majority of people Except his rabid fans . On the contrary, Prince is a respected artist even if his music was not widely adored as MJ.

Cool people will revere Prince, the purple seer and funk Mozart, until the end of time. You can keep the industry Phantom of The Opera for yourselves.

Prince will always be a music legend no matter what the critics say and no matter what the haters say. Prince was all of that and a bag of chips. Peace.

Prince > Michael Jackson

I think Prince is the better artist, and I appreciate his body of work more.

But few humans on Earth ever reached the level of fame and celebrity Michael did. I don't know if esteem is the right word, but more people will know MJ. And often familiarity and fame are as strong at building a legacy as any artistic work.

Jackson had some catchy songs and could dance. Prince could do all that and more; he was a genius.

Why does it have to be a competition? They were both great.

Exactly, R23. Both were extraordinary entertainers and artists.

And I LOVE "Stranger in Moscow," and am not ashamed of that.

I was 21 when Jackson died and I was under the impression that he was seriously uncool, a laughingstock, in my teens. Suddenly the moment he died everyone was posting on Facebook about how he was the best ever, even though I'd never heard any of them profess to like him before. He went from a weirdo and probable child molester who hadn't been trendy with young people in 15 years to an untouchable icon again just like that.

Artists with the most worldwide #1 singles of all time on the United World Singles Chart:

1. Madonna -22

1. Elvis Presley (tie)- 22

2. The Beatles - 21

3. Michael Jackson -13

4. Rolling Stones-12

4. Rihanna -12 (tie)

5. Britney Spears -10

6. George Michael -9

7. The Bee Gees -9

Prince who?

R26 Sales does not equal quality.

Lots of trash has sold like hotcakes.

R27 true but these are the TRULY GLOBAL artists list, which is why I posted it

MJ with The Jackson 5 probably has a few more global #1 songs too

Side note, and I'm NOT the Madonna Stan, but her global numbers throughout her career are freaking insane, surprised she hasn't been brought up, when we're talking about GLOBAL fame and success

She has 144 #1 singles in the key top 11 music markets in the world for instance, even MJ only has around 80 in those markets and Prince less than 30

OP, that's always the way it is. Are you just realizing this? That's life. It's unfair.

R27 is absolutely right. Sales are not proof of artistic success, and do not predict how an artist will be remembered. If Prince was the superior artist time will sort that out.

Prince was an acquired taste. MJ has universal appeal.

Michael Jackson's legacy will get its deserved reckoning. The child rape he engaged in will bring the whole castle tumbling down.

Exactly R31.

Also MJ was always (his music at least) for the most part, clean.

My parents wouldn't even let me listen to Prince growing up because he appeared on tv singing, "Shaking that ass!" while wearing a pair of skin tight pants with the butt cut out.

[quote]I was 21 when Jackson died and I was under the impression that he was seriously uncool, a laughingstock, in my teens. Suddenly the moment he died everyone was posting on Facebook about how he was the best ever, even though I'd never heard any of them profess to like him before. He went from a weirdo and probable child molester who hadn't been trendy with young people in 15 years to an untouchable icon again just like that.

I was 24 at the time and I had the same impression as well. When I was a kid in the 90s I would hear tons of jokes about MJ being a pedo and becoming a white woman. I remember around 2002/2003 when the baby dangling and the Martin Brasheer interview he became a laughing stock and I remember the late night talk shows had field days with him. I noticed the same things you mentioned when he died and all of sudden he was untouchable. I remember all of sudden people who were doing social media tributes. Several months before his death, American Idol did an MJ night and then FOX reaired that episode a few days after his death along with The Simpsons episode.

OP has millennial-wannabe marketing brain.

N.B. -

Ozymandias

Fox is a great big bunch of gyps.

R26 is simple-minded twit if he thinks record sales are an indicator of artistic merit. Yeah, Britney Spears is a greater musical talent than Prince. R26, You're a MORON. Prince was brilliant songwriter, a genius producer, a virtuoso musician, particularly guitarist, and a breathtaking live performer. Michael, whose music I like, wrote some great songs and could dance like nobody's business but he wasn't as all around gifted as Prince. Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain, Parade and Sign o' the Times are all GENIUS albums and all sonically and musically different from one another. Michael spent his career trying to recreate Thriller and all his albums sounded the same after awhile.

Each album after “Bad” was worse than the one before it. At least he didn’t crank them out like some recording artists do.

That's the way he wanted it, OP. People who really care about his music will keep his legacy alive, but it won't be on the same scale as MJ. I feel the same way about George Michael, but again that's obviously what he wanted otherwise he would have appointed a business manager to come up with a long term plan.

R34 He was a laughing stock in the end, but he had already acquired the most incredible level of fame and produced a huge body of work. It’s impossible for people who don’t remember him in the mid 80s to understand how famous he was. The name ‘Michael Jackson’ just meant almost god like fame.

He was also a lot more mysterious when he was younger. But then by the later 80s all that really extreme plastic surgery started and he was branded wacko jacko.

I blame that fire incident from that Pepsi commercial. His biggest downhill slide didn’t happen until after that.

R4/R25 I was about to turn 24 when Prince died, and I was inconsolable for a month or more. I didn’t talk to anybody at work, barely ate or drank for days at a time, went home every night of the first week and just cried or stared at a wall or my laptop screen or a blank page of a notebook. It was like a piece of my heart had been cut away.

Mary! me rightfully. But I was raised on Prince’s music in lieu of a father & mentor, basically. He taught me everything I know and hold dear about love and spirituality and the human experience. From the age of 3 I was raised on his records, and even not knowing what they meant and being too young for the subject matter I could feel in my cells that those sounds & rhythms were important righteous next-level vibes. I was proudly bumping his new stuff in school when all the other rapcore & numetal & triphop kids thought it was weird and perverse to like them - MUSICOLOGY, 3121, PLANET EARTH (to this day one of my favorite of his albums), INDIGO NIGHTS & LOTUSFLOW3R. I played some of the music he wrote with Eric Leeds in my HS recitals, because to me it is divine and accomplished as classical (whoever compared him to Mozart, right on). I even use some of his lyrics in my own spiritual practise.

I can still sing along to rare B-sides, and own most of his songs on disc & mp3 (working on the records). I don’t think I’ll have kids but if I do (or end up adopting, teaching/mentoring, even babysitting) I will play these records for the next Gen and make sure they know all that Prince is.

Prince’s work elevates him and makes him close to immortal. Jackson should putrefy.

Enjoying this with my coffee.

Prince is already remembered as a musical genius. What are you talking about, OP?

[quote]But no one would ever admit to even hearing You Rock My World and Stranger In Moscow.

Shame about the latter, because SIM is his best ballad next to the all time greatest, Human Nature.

Prince was a better musician. Much more creative in his work than MJ. Better songs, and way deeper. Plus he was the definition of cool.

MJ however was a far better entertainer. He is up there with Marlyn Monroe and Elvis in terms of having a universal fame. Even once his songs are forgotten (which they prob ever won’t) he will remain as a pop cultural icon. That isn’t a judgement on his talent or music or personal life. Its as “fact” as anything subjective can be. Like others have said, you would have to look far to find someone, even in the poorest of places, who don’t have any idea who MJ is.

R46 I would also add The Beatles and Madonna to your list of ridiculously famous GLOBAL pop culture icons

MJ had the biggest peak and era in music history with Thriller but Madonna had the insane longevity, from 1984-2009, it waa global hit after global hit for her, which is why she has more #1 singles in more countries than any artist ever in music history.

She was consistently referred to as the world's most famous woman from the late 80s to at least the mid 2000s

Funny OP, R25 and R34, I posted something similar in a different thread today before reading this. Something I wonder about is whether the 80s icons will endure once the memory of them as entertainers fades. Does Jackson's music have the staying power of Prince's? (I know Prince's music may not be [italic]as[/italic] popular but I think his musical legacy is guaranteed.)

We’re not talk about her, Madonnaloon R47.