The King of Pop
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You are currently reading a thread in /mu/ - Music
You are currently reading a thread in /mu/ - Music
Let's talk about Michael Jackson.
Opinions on him? Genius? Overrated?
Favorite albums? Favorite Songs?
Worst Albums? Worst Songs?
thats not robert pollard
i really
really
enjoy that Want You Back song when he was in the jackson 5
The most famous pedophile in the world.
I find The Jacksons criminally underrated.
>Opinions on him?
Probably the best super-mainstream pop artist of all time, nobody is more deserving of the "King of Pop" accolade than he is imo.
>Favorite albums?
Bad, Off the Wall, Dangerous
>Favorite songs?
Leave Me Alone, Rock With You, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, Human Nature, Liberian Girl, Remember the Time
>Worst Albums?
Does that new one count? That was terrible.
>Worst Songs?
I dunno about worst but I always felt like the title track on Thriller was really overrated
i strongly dislike billie jean
I really wish Xscape had the demos and the remixes on separate discs.
Then I could keep the demos and throw the remixes in the trash where they belong
>>48947020
What don't you like about Billie Jean?
>>48946810
All pop is overrated OP. His best song was smooth criminal
His worst album is objectively Invincible, that was terrible. Should've taken those songs Justin Timberlake got.
>>48947078
>All pop is overrated OP.
And yet the greatest pop album of all time has largely gone ignored.
>>48947078
>all pop is overrated
I strongly disagree, only because Thriller and Purple Rain (and Born to Run but that's not Pop) are my favorite albums o all time.
Even though the rest of the album is total garbage, I think the title track from "Blood On The Dance Floor" is one of his best songs.
Favorite songs are Billie Jean, Rock With You, Human Nature, and Working Day and Night personally.
>>48947064
i'm a music scrub without the vocabulary to talk about why i dislike certain songs, but i'll give it a shot
most of my dislike comes down to the vocals. i normally like michael's voice alright but there's something he's doing in this one that he's not doing in, say, smooth criminal that rubs me the wrong way. i don't like the guitar much, but there's a certain funk guitar sound i don't like automatically
i know pop music isn't musically adventurous but billie jean in particular feels pretty uninspired. i only remember it because it gets stuck in my head for days
Michael Joseph Jackson's music will live on for decades. He was the greatest musical entertainer in history.
jackson 5 was the best
>>48947444
>billie jean seems uninspired
you might be the only person on the planet to think this. also it was the kind of song that's better live. Watch the Motown 25 version.
>>48947444
lmao
I saw Thriller on the big screen at the Seattle EMP museum awhile ago and forgot just how genius that video really is.
That being said, the song itself I never thought was all that great, compared to the rest of the album.
>>48947558
>Motown 25
Agreed 100%.
Probably my favorite video of MJ to watch
>>48947558
well thanks, i'm enjoying this more than i thought
>>48947676
Billie Jean is one of those songs that once you see him perform it live, it enhances the song and you can't really separate them anymore. I can't listen to that song anymore without picturing the glove and the hat and the moonwalk with it.
>>48946810
He's a genius, and underrated if anything. There will likely never, ever be a life quite like Michael's to grace the world of music.
This is a man who from the age of 6 years old, was learning how to sing in a band with his brother's, performing in strip clubs and seedy bars, amateur talent shows, anything to try and make a name for themselves. According to his family, even as an 18 month old baby, Michael had the ability to hear a tune and start singing the tune of it, even if he couldn't say the words. When Joe Jackson was managing the band, even though Michael was 6, he made him the lead singer instead of his 10 year old brother Jermaine, because it was glaringly obvious that he had some kind of innate talent for singing his brother's just couldn't match. In his own words, even as a child, he had the ability to watch someone do a dance, and then emulate it perfectly after viewing it once. He actually learned to moonwalk from young black kids in the ghetto, and just started copying them and making it look more 'smooth'. This is a man who at the age of 12, had 4 number 1 hit singles in the United States.
He propelled music into a form of entertainment that could be more than just singing, dancing and playing instruments. Videos like Thriller and Bad seem to tell a story along with the music. Michael wasn't just some pop singer doing what everyone else told him to, far from it. Thriller likely would have never been made as it was without Michael constantly fighting for creative freedom. He wanted his music, his performances, his videos, his movie all to be spectacles that piqued your imagination. He would go out on stage and perform Thriller, then come back to a home filled with ancient Greek paintings and listen to Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. As a 25 year old.
"We Are the World" raised tens of millions of dollars of humanitarian aid for starving and sick children in Africa. He was possibly the world's greatest philanthropist.
He was truly the GOAT.
>>48948405
>and underrated if anything
stopped reading
He released the best selling album of all time. The fuck you on about?
>>48947064
she's not his lover.
>>48946810
the actual king of pop is paul mccartney, OP.
>>48948439
And yet, there are still people who think he was just another mindless pop star or a passing fad of the 80s. So yes, he's underrated even if Thriller, Bad, Off the Wall and Dangerous are some of top best selling albums of all time. Even if he's one of the most celebrated musicians ever, there are still people who would dismiss him as a plastic surgery addict (far from the truth), a pedophile (an outright lie) or simply another run of the mill pop musician.
Few people seem to understand just how intelligent, talented and revolutionary Michael actually was. It wasn't until after he died that people started to look at the big picture and realize how huge of an impact he actually made.
>>48948562
Not everyone will agree on something though. By your definition there are millions of underrated artists. Going further, any band or artist you like is actually underrated, since there will most likely be a healthy population that disses them.
>>48948509
that's the king of dadrock
>>48948653
>not grandpa rock
>>48948628
Until he's universally recognized as the greatest musical entertainer of the 20th century, he's underrated. Because that's really the only title that matches how good he was, even "King of Pop" feels like too small a title for him to wear.
I can't think of a better pop artist.
I love "Rock with you", "Billie Jean" and that song he made with Paul McCartney "Say say say".
>>48948509
He's not the King of anything. He was one of the Fab Four, which is good enough a title to hold. But his solo career wasn't nearly as popular as the Beatles as a group was, even if Wings was pretty popular for a while. Not close to Michael's level, after a while Paul had to do songs with Michael to gain a wider audience.
>>48948710
I think Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, or Paul McCartney could challenge him for that kind of title.
>>48948950
Yeah, no. The only two that even come within his orbit are Elvis and Paul for the title of "Greatest Musical Entertainer of the 20th Century". Louis Armstrong has made many songs that were great and still remembered, but his albums didn't sell or have the same kind of universal appeal Michael's did. You wouldn't likely hear many young kids these days finding Armstrong's music that appealing, but there are still kids these days who like Michael Jackson despite never being born in the 21st century. His music had very universal appeal. Miles Davis is better suited for arguing for title of "Best Jazz Musician of the 20th Century" along with others like Mingus, Coltran, Hancock and the rest; jazz is a great genre but it doesn't have universal appeal, and only sometimes does it have danceability. Bob Dylan was a poor musician and an even worse singer; whether or not his lyrics were that profound is a matter of debate, but just due to the fact that his singing and music isn't very good is enough to disqualify him from the title instantly. Elvis comes close because of the huge influence he had on rock and roll and live performances, but I don't feel like his music really has that much staying power. I can't think of any single person I've met in their 20s or so that likes Elvis as a musician; but I know a ton who all claim to love MJ. Yes, MJ was more recent, but again, his music had universal appeal. You would see kids, teens, 20-40 year olds, grandparents even at an MJ concert or who would, even today, call themselves MJ fans. This is why Paul is the only real competitor for it, and I would say on the basis of Paul not having contributed as much to dance and music videos as Michael did (I know he did some films and music videos with the Beatles, but he didn't make as many or as imaginative videos as Michael), he's not really quite as his level. No insult to Paul, he's a great musician and has made some great albums over the years, Mike just surpasses him to me.
![You+will+never+know+why[2].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/ESZmWGC.jpg "You+will+never+know+why[2].jpg")
>>48947078
but the world's best electropop album isn't even 'underground mainstream'
MJ>>>>Elvis or The Beatles
>>48949426
this
honestly and truly the only person who comes close to him in my mind is Prince. He's 2nd in command.
>>48948860
Rock With You Michael was hot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X-Mrc2l1d0
>>48946810
just got this a week or two ago. I can't stop listening to it. My God it is amazing and the remaster is dimensional. I love the intros outtros. Its crazy to think how Paul Maccartney appeared on this album and Off The Wall.
>she's out of my life
>the feel when
>>48947131
easy... Bandwagonesque is still up there
>>48949954
>tfw that GOAT tracklisting
>First is Girlfriend
>then She's Out of My Life, she leaves him and he feels terrible
>I Can't Help It is a jazzy kind of groove, he meets a new girl and can't help but be drawn
>It's the Falling In Love is him realizing that he loves falling in love with the new girl is better than the whole break up with the previous girl
>Burn this Disco Down just pumps you up again and the album goes out with a bang
it's honestly hard to call which is better between Thriller and Off the Wall.
>>48949426
Elvis can't compare to either of them. He was a decent singer who performed old blues songs, and songs written by professional songwriters. He's no better a musician than all the people before and after him that recorded the same songs.
>>48948405
These people act as if Jesus Christ just resurrected.
>>48950058
If you ever watch that "Old People React to Elvis" video, you can almost see the nostalgia blinding them when they watch videos of Elvis. It's kind of surreal.
>>48950043
it really is hard to call. Especially because many people are sick of the hits on Thriller, with exceptions between Gotta Be Startin Somethin and PYT, whereas Off The Wall has a lot of songs you don't hear too much anymore, like the song Off The Wall which is up there in the top 5 greatest MJ songs.
>>48950208
It's true, it's understandable because it's the Biggest Selling Album of All Time™, but the radios have kind of played Thriller songs to the exclusion of a lot of MJs other discog. Bad and Dangerous have a ton of great songs too. HIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor are weaker, but they still have a few great tracks/remixes.
>>48950335
need to listen to Dangerous and the others soon. I liked Xcape a lot, though that Horse With No Name sample came out of fucking nowhere
>>48948491
>>48949235
No one gave a shit about Jackson's music for quite awhile before he died.
I want hair like this.
>>48950438
Yeah that's why he was constantly being played on radios decades, constantly. That's why all 50 of his This Is It stadium concerts in London sold out within hours of going on sale. That's why people instantly started forming vigils and singing Michael Jackson songs out loud in the streets, from memory the day he died. That's why Thriller 25 sold enormously when it dropped in 2008, just a year before he died. That's why he had on of the highest grossing concerts of all time for the two 30th Anniversary concerts in 2001 with tickets selling out within 5 hours, despite some of the tickets costing $5000.
People never forgot Michael. People will never forget Michael.
>>48950570
I wonder when Michael started wearing a wig.
>>48950908
after his hair caught on fire
>>48950656
>Yeah that's why he was constantly being played on radios decades, constantly.
Speaking as a millenial born in 1996, I can't remember a single instance of this before he died.
>>48951573
Probably because you don't listen to 80's pop stations.
>>48951573
I was born in '91 and I remember singing Michael Jackson songs with my parents in the car years before he died. I'm actually really glad my parents got me into MJ, he's one of my top 5 musicians now.
>>48951647
>tfw you don't like modern pop but love 70s-90s pop music
pop music nowadays just doesn't feel as fun
>>48951143
makes sense.
when they did the autopsy, apparently most of his natural afro hair was balding and gone. he was a 50 year old man who had a wig attached to his hair most of the time.
I wish he never started doing drugs.
>>48946810
Genius
Thriller and Off the Wall are his best albums, although Bad and Dangerous are good too. Best song is Man in the Mirror or Billie Jean.
History and Blood on the Dance Floor are significantly weaker. I couldn't pick a worst song, but basically every song besides "Rock My World" on Invincible just sucked. Also all his songs about God sucked.
>>48946890
peter? is that you? it's me, your mom.
the cancer didn't get me i was resuscitated and i lived my life until old age wondering where you went
Tim Smith is the true King of Pop.
I like some of his songs, but haven't tried with his albums.
>>48954065
literally who
