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dalsh327 LEGEND

dalsh327

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They equal out as far as music videos go, but he was the first to make big budget epics. In terms of the music itself - I'd have to go with Michael Jackson over Madonna, although her 90s output has her best songs. Ray of Light, Erotica, and Bedtime Stories are classic albums,but when you do the Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad trifecta, it's hard to compare anything in pop to that.

She made impact as a visual artist in pushing the envelope with her live shows. He liked to wear gold outfits. I think Michael put on great shows, but they were kind of overkill and a bit megalomaniac, she was more personable and fun with the crowd. They both have live DVDs out, so you can compare something like the Girlie Show to Live in Bucharest, which were roughly around the same time. He had better choreography.

Just because Thriller was a phenomenon, that is why he made bigger impact between the two. There's a "classic album" where front to back every song is a classic, but it might not be a phenomenon when it comes out. Like AFD and Def Leppard's "Hysteria" weren't just albums, or Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet", or Bruce's "Born in the USA". U2's "Joshua Tree". All of which became phenomenons, but you can find flaws in any of them. It was a product of its times. Like New Kids on the Block's "Hanging Tough" or Britney Spears "Baby One More Time". I'm not talking about whether you like the music or not, but all the things that came out of it, because of it.

At that moment in time, it's a part of something bigger, and people want as much as possible out of it. To me, Madonna hit her stride on "True Blue", even though her first album is an early 80s dance classic, but nothing that indicated she'd be global. "Like a Virgin" and "True Blue" are what sold her on the public, then from "Like a Prayer" right up to "Music" she had a streak of hits, sticking strictly to studio albums and not soundtracks.

Madonna's managed to keep herself relevant in pop music, I'm sure she'll do something with Lady Gaga, just because she's heir apparant to Madonna, prob .more than they've tried to make Britney the "next Madonna". Britney has Michael Jackson level of fame and just as bizarre behavior that she's kind of morphed into a hybrid of both (and Sinead O'Connor, when she shaved her hair, and had been prone to doing weird stuff as well...).

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PappyTron LEGEND

PappyTron

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I think that Michael Jackson was more important to music but that Madonna was more relevant to music over the span of her career. Outside of his beginnings with the Jackson 5 Michael's career is actually quite short and was pretty much over from a musical standpoint by Dangerous. So, that gives us (and I had to look the dates up) 1979 (discounting his solo motown albums) to 1991 which is not very long at all for a peek career. Madonna on the otherhand has constantly toured and remained active and every time she looks as though she is fading she comes back with something huge. I mean, just look at Ray of Light - before that album came out she was considered washed up. She released it and the singles from it reignited her career - Ray of Light and Frozen are great songs.

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dalsh327 LEGEND

dalsh327

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I think that Michael Jackson was more important to music but that Madonna was more relevant to music over the span of her career. Outside of his beginnings with the Jackson 5 Michael's career is actually quite short and was pretty much over from a musical standpoint by Dangerous. So, that gives us (and I had to look the dates up) 1979 (discounting his solo motown albums) to 1991 which is not very long at all for a peek career. Madonna on the other hand has constantly toured and remained active and every time she looks as though she is fading she comes back with something huge. I mean, just look at Ray of Light - before that album came out she was considered washed up. She released it and the singles from it reignited her career - Ray of Light and Frozen are great songs.

I think her songs have more substance to them than his do, and there some really over the top cheesy songs in his catalog. Not saying Madonna has none, but none as over the top as his were.

Dance and pop songs in general are meant for the time they're created in, and the deciding factor on whether a dance song is classic or not is when it's played at a dance club and people don't leave the dance floor.

"Thriller" in itself was a polished R&B album with some ballads and a rock song. It wasn't the music that made him a superstar, because that record took a long time for people to notice. It's the performances on TV and music videos that sold it as well as not touring for it... when Don King had promoted the Victory Tour, that album had already won awards, and was more or less throwing his brothers some work and cashing in on his success. Ever hear that album? But that was a huge tour, but I also think Michael as a solo artist wasn't ready to do a solo tour. He had 2 albums, but that would've meant doing all of "Thriller", all of "Off the Wall", and a bunch of Jackson 5 songs. So it made sense to bring the brothers in and do a world tour. But they never promoted this as a Jacksons farewell tour, which they should have, halfway through.

"Billie Jean" is a dance floor classic and relevent, but put "Thriller" on and you'll see the dance floor clear in no time. Madonna's also able to have new songs played in dance clubs and make charting hits out of them. "You Rock My World" was one of those songs people had vague interest in, and put on the charts, but it dropped off pretty fast and there were no follow up hits off of "Invincible".

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PappyTron LEGEND

PappyTron

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MJ without a doubt

are there people who actually take modanna seriously?

More people than those who took Jackson seriously for the last 20 years.

You underestimated the size of the initial fanbase.

No, I don't and that's the point. Where were the 40 million fans who bought Thriller when he released HIStory? Let's be honest here - after about 1992 MJ was a joke and his musical output was, with very few exceptions, dire compared to his earlier work and his sales and evaporated fanbase reflected that.

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Towelie FRONTMAN

Towelie

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MJ without a doubt

are there people who actually take modanna seriously?

More people than those who took Jackson seriously for the last 20 years.

You underestimated the size of the initial fanbase.

No, I don't and that's the point. Where were the 40 million fans who bought Thriller when he released HIStory? Let's be honest here - after about 1992 MJ was a joke and his musical output was, with very few exceptions, dire compared to his earlier work and his sales and evaporated fanbase reflected that.

HIStory sold 18 million copies worldwide and is in the top 100 best selling albums of all time lists alongside OTW, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous.

And it's a fucking great record too.

The only letdown in Michael's back catalogue was Invincible.

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Towelie FRONTMAN

Towelie

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Invincible might've been his worst album, but it's still so much better than all the other crap that is being released these days.

Definately.

I dig Threatened, Unbreakable, You Rock My World and Heaven Can Wait.

Some of the ballads are also really nice, albeit a bit sickly sweet.

But as a whole album, it isn't a patch on Dangerous or HIStory, let alone his 80s stuff.

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PappyTron LEGEND

PappyTron

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MJ without a doubt

are there people who actually take modanna seriously?

More people than those who took Jackson seriously for the last 20 years.

You underestimated the size of the initial fanbase.

No, I don't and that's the point. Where were the 40 million fans who bought Thriller when he released HIStory? Let's be honest here - after about 1992 MJ was a joke and his musical output was, with very few exceptions, dire compared to his earlier work and his sales and evaporated fanbase reflected that.

HIStory sold 18 million copies worldwide and is in the top 100 best selling albums of all time lists alongside OTW, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous.

And it's a fucking great record too.

The only letdown in Michael's back catalogue was Invincible.

You are correct - I meant Invincible, not HIStory.

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