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I think the debate on whether Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley influenced music more is a very hard one to compare, I mean look the times were so different and far enough apart that it makes it extremely difficult to really make that comparison. As a woman in her mid forties I guess you could say I grew up with both Michael and Elvis making an impact on me. My mother was a huge Elvis fan and so from the time I was born he was a part of my life, we had all his records and his movies and as a child I enjoyed both watching and listening to him. I grew believing he was "The King of Rock N Roll" and when he died it was a big blow to both the music industry and even more, his fans.

I will never forget coming home one day when I was about thirteen to discover my mother in tears, my heart just stopped, I remember thinking what could have happened to make her so very sad and thinking of course of the worst, like maybe something happened to my dad or someone else in our family. I asked her what happened and she blubbered out, "Elvis died today" and then began crying even harder, I was stunned and immediately went into this fog like state, I walked to my room and then I broke down and cried. He was such a huge person in my life and this was my first experience losing someone outside of my family who was really such a big part of it.

As for Michael, wow, I loved him when he was with the Jackson Five and to think this musical talent came from a child just like me. I, like everyone else at the time just adored him and when he came out on his own in the late 70's early 80's he came out with a bang. When my kids were little in the 80's we, as a family, enjoyed watching his videos. Michael became the pop icon and the video king, no one could or did have the talent he possessed, everyone wanted to be him and most of all people couldn't take their eyes off of this multiply talented young man.

So, to say who influenced the music industry more, I'm honestly not sure. I think I would have to say that for each of their times they both influenced the music industry more than any other star of their perspective generations. They were both very talented human beings given awesome abilities though I will say that Michael influenced the MTV generation more but that is only because it didn't exist in Elvis's days. I will say that they both influenced my life and that they will continue, as Elvis has proved, to influence the music industry for generations to come.

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