by Bahija Haidaoui

Created on: July 14, 2009   Last Updated: July 15, 2009

King of Rock or the King of Pop: Who Influenced Music More?

I grew up watching Elvis movies, singing along and falling in love, but I also remember my Michael Jackson blow-up pillow, plucked from the depths of a cereal box when I was very young, and Michael was a member of the Jackson Five. A pillow I slept with for an entire summer spent listening to my older cousins' forty-fives and a crackly radio in the fresh air just outside of Woodstock, NY. So I pondered this question for quite some time. In the end, I think the answer lies in the question. Who has influenced music more?

Were the question who had influenced American Culture more, I might answer Elvis. Elvis changed the way rock music was presented to the masses, but I'm not sure he really changed rock music. He was a consummate performer but not really an innovator. When we think about Elvis in comparison to his cohorts, Jerry Lee Lewis, or Little Richard, for example, was Elvis really offering something so radically different from a musical perspective? Yes, Elvis was able to bring a new musical style and presentation into the public arena, but he was not solely responsible for a new genre of music.

Michael Jackson, while practically born on the stage, did not merely follow along in Jackson Five formula. Like a sponge, he soaked up all the elements of music that had come before, blues and pop, rock in all its incarnations, early rap, even international influences. Then, he produced a truly new look and sound within the music industry. Listen to the music. Who before Michael was so successful at blending and reworking so many sounds? Michael not only paved the way for the integration of technology and video into mainstream music, he did so with passion, genius and flare.

I got my red I Want My MTV shirt by hounding my mom to call the number on TV and then badgered her to call the cable company and ask for "Music Video TV" as she called it. Little did I know what a thrilling world awaited, where I could watch Bon Jovi flip their hair, Devo strut around in what I now believe resembled upside down flour pots atop their heads, and the Go-Gos, well, go-go. But then, we got word of Thriller, a never before heard of video concept with a real story, like a mini-movie musical. Kids gathered in groups to watch its debut, and none were disappointed. There may not be a lot of music still on MTV, according to the Bowling for Soup song, but Michael changed forever what the image of a music video

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