Get a Widget for this title
RSS FeedWho has influenced music more: King of Pop or King of Rock?
Results so far:
| MJ | 70% | 662 votes | Total: 944 votes | |
| Elvis | 30% | 282 votes |
MJ
Write now
Print
Invite a writer™
Add to FavoritesI will answer in a totally biased unbiased fashion if this is at all possible because this highly emotionally charged debate is divided along generational lines.
The teenagers of the fifties will say Elvis and this teenager of the eighties must say Michael Jackson. After all, Michael Jackson is my Elvis. But as in the boxing world one usually asks the question, "who's the best boxer pound for pound"? I will coin my own phrase and ask a question of my own, "Who was the better artist talent for talent"? In my opinion there only can be one answer, and the question is now a rhetorical one because it must be "His Royal Highness- The King Of Pop" .. Michael Jackson was a child prodigy blessed with more than average talent by the creator and was already a veteran of the music business by age twelve and to preserve objectivity we will first look at the similarities between the two kings and then explain what makes Micheal bigger.
Elvis broke big at the advent of a new technology called television. Micheal gained super-stardom at the start of music television programming called MTV. Vocally Elvis truly outclassed other rock and rollers. Vocally Michael Jackson outclassed other black singers. Elvis as a live performer changed the face of rock and roll. Micheal as a live performer changed the face of popular music. But seriously though I am being really kind, too kind to Elvis. In his eulogy for MJ , Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records said this, "Michael as an artist and entertainer not only raised the bar he broke the bar" This is so true as MJ shattered every record and dismantled every stereo type of the black performer and became the standard that all others reach after. Who has the biggest single selling album of all time? It's not Elvis. It's Michael with the musical benchmark called "Thriller". Elvis built his career by covering other peoples material. Michael did not do covers because he never followed, he led. He [MJ] did not piggyback trends he was the trend
Michael's real legacy is that he was a true original in the purest form . He acknowledged, embraced and enforced his uniqueness to the point of weirdness. He was not ordinary and he made damn sure the world knew it. His vocal range was at least two octave and he was the master of vocal originality ,creativity and ad libbing. Visually he became the template for live performing creating his own dance moves and then some and along the way became a fashion icon with his attire on and off stage. But when all is said and done, Michael left us the music. The sheer volume and the quality of which Elvis didn't even come close to and which will be hard to duplicate even by artist who are still living. Elvis made good music but his career went into decline relegating him to a Vegas act. Michael, with that one album, "Thriller", transformed and rescued the then ailing music business. In songs like "Beat It" he made the hard rock song every rocker could be proud of. In "Billie Jean" the pop gem every artist dreams of writing." Wanna Be Starting Something" must be one of the best dance songs ever and "Lady In My Life" is a love song that is up there with the other classics. We should also remember that he revived the career of the aging Beatle Paul McCartney with their duet, "The Girl Is Mine" and also blew the shock rockers out of the water with the title track. Sorry Elvis the pelvis, that was a period when a musical genius touched the face of brilliance that even you would have had to admit was bloody awesome.
As for cultural impact there is a whole plethora of artist such as Backsreet Boys, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Neo and many others who are or have used the Michael Jackson mold to become successful. The worldwide reach and influence of MJ is a phenomenon in itself and music critics and journalist far and wide have already admitted that Michael's posthumous earnings will dwarf that of Elvis's. In every culture and nation on this planet. I strongly believe that more people want to be like "Mike", instead of Elvis.
Learn more about this author, Roger Grant.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Elvis
This debate shouldn’t even be up for question. Anyone who actually reasons that Michael Jackson was a bigger influence on music than Elvis Presley has either been dead for the last 50 years or is just a complete loon. Michael Jackson never produced anything really original in his entire career. Sure he released music that was off the wall but it wasn’t original. Elvis made music that had never been done or seen before.
His music was based on the blues yes, blues singers like muddy waters and Bo Didley influenced him as he grew up, but all rock music is based on that. Whether there were more talented musicians and more gifted singers out there is undoubted, better musicians and singers did exist, the difference here is that nobody had ever delivered music to the public in the way Elvis did, and nobody has done it quite as convincingly since. They either outright copy him or imitate his persona in some way or another. You can see a little bit of Elvis in every popular music performer.
I am neither an Elvis Presley nor Michael Jackson fan, but even I can see there is just no comparison. Michael Jackson jumped on every pop music bandwagon and turned it to his advantage. Intelligent musical decision making maybe, but hardly musical genius or influential. Any type of music Michael Jackson ever performed had all been done before. I agree he was a man of unquestionable musical and showmanship talent, but it doesn’t take much effort to go with the flow in the musical genres of the moment.
First he would be singing Motown songs, a genre that had been in the public domain for years. When popularity for this died away he moved onto soul, which was already well established, then disco, then cheesy 80’s pop. All of which were well established when he decided to put his mark on them, Even the idea behind the Thriller album was nothing new. The idea of epic songs, storybook music and even massive arena light and effects stage shows had all been around since the prog rock days.
All that was done here was to bring this musical direction to pop, a money making stroke of genius it was, but hardly an original idea. And you could argue that Jackson was using the Elvis technique of performing to a certain extent, massive wham bam in your face performance, a technique basically invented by Elvis. Nobody is denying Jackson did what he did brilliantly and that he was very influential to his fans as people, but influential to the direction of music? No. There are millions of talented musicians out there so this doesn’t make him a trailblazer.
Elvis however, was new and fresh in everything he did until the mid seventies when he was obviously in decline physically and mentally. He was the first to bring many different aspects of popular music to public attention. His many films, although quite terrible in production were an extra dimention for his legions of fans to follow, also people who were not great fans of his music could enjoy these films in a tongue in cheek way.
He even made gospel music popular to millions of people who had never even heard of it before. Arguably the biggest band in the world, The Beatles, although detested by Elvis were heavily influenced by him, many other beat bands who went on to mega rock stardom ranging from CCR, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and hundreds of others, even the major rock and pop bands of today were all influenced by his music or the musical style he pioneered.
You can here the Elvis undertone in all of this music. This I am afraid, is what makes Elvis the clear winner here. You can here him in every rock, bebop, Mersey beat, blues, new age rock or riff based song, and also every love ballard, a style music and singing of which he was also a pioneer. When I hear popular music today, I do not hear any influences or echoes of what Michael Jackson has done whatsoever, only things that were present all along. Only artists who are clearly plagiarizing his material make it seem this way. Michael Jackson was good for music there is no doubt, he threw a log on the fire to keep popular music burning, but we must not forget one very important thing, it was Elvis Presley who lit that fire in the first place.
Learn more about this author, Christopher Barratt.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Difference of opinion? Debate now.
