Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

[Fresh Tendrils]

On a couple of boards I frequent, there have been a couple discussions about Michael Jackson. One discussion essentially credits Quincy Jones for all of MJ's success, while the other gives MJ his infamous title of "The King of Pop." So I was curious what the OS crowd thought. Is MJ the King of Pop or is he overrated?

[trobinson97]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

King of Pop.

[Birdsonbat]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

King of Pop.

Quincy Jones didn't sing the songs. Quincy Jones didn't do the moves.

[SPTO]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

A bit overrated.

Quincy Jones took what was a great talent and refined it to its best qualities. Yeah he didn't sing the songs nor did he do the dance moves but he did what I think is the most important thing. He gave the songs their life by infusing very influential sounds into MJ's music. If you listen carefully you can actually hear very faint echoes up upbeat jazz and some old school RnB in the Jones/Jackson collabs.

Nothing Michael has done before or since has touched the musical mastery and influence that his work with Quincy Jones did.

[JayBee74]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

King of Pop, but what do I know? If Elvis was the King Of Rock why not?

[SPTO]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

King of Pop, but what do I know? If Elvis was the King Of Rock why not?

Which is kinda funny because rock music has changed so much that Elvis is more pop then rock these days.

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

King of Pop for sure... When he was on top of his game no one was better.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

Which is kinda funny because rock music has changed so much that Elvis is more pop then rock these days.

I would actually consider Chuck Berry King of Rock or at least somebody similar. I think Elvis made rock into what is today, which is an entertainment business rather than an entertainment art.

As for MJ, I would actually consider Prince to be the King of Pop if I were to hand out titles. Yeah, MJ had some good moves, but so did/does a lot of other entertainers. To me, MJ's music is more about Quincy Jone's production than MJ's vocals.

[Rocky]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

I would actually consider Chuck Berry King of Rock or at least somebody similar. I think Elvis made rock into what is today, which is an entertainment business rather than an entertainment art.

As for MJ, I would actually consider Prince to be the King of Pop if I were to hand out titles. Yeah, MJ had some good moves, but so did/does a lot of other entertainers. To me, MJ's music is more about Quincy Jone's production than MJ's vocals.

I REALLLLY disagree with you here. Michael Jackson is the bridge between James Brown and all the R&B entertainers that you seen for the last 20 years. Without MJ, no Bobby Brown, New Edition, Jodeci, Usher, JT, or anyone of that nature and still 20+ years later...MJ's moves are about 10x's more recognizable than any of the aforementioned artists. Sure, you may say all these guys are crap, but they have sold bajillions of records to so many different types of people that it's pretty significant IMO.

And so he vibed with a great producer, that's damn smart IMO. But the argument that QJ made MJ is pretty invalid because:

1-Michael had a much, much more involvement in the creative process than people give him credit for. So much more that JT or Usher have in the creative process today. Dangerous produced by Teddy Riley was a great album and up there with Thriller and OTW.

2-Nobody could've sang those songs like Michael. It's not just about vocal skill(which MJ had tons of btw), it's about charisma and making the song yours. When you hear Billie Jean, you visually associate the video and dance moves with it, no? Even when people cover MJ songs, most still have MJ's voice sampled in the song.

3-Again, you can't deny his success both before and after Quincy. And this is when he wasn't in his artistic peak. I think it was a marriage of MJ being at his artistic peak when Quincy was the producer......and for a producer as accomplished as Quincy Jones is, the work he has done with MJ being one of his biggest achievements speaks volumes about Michael.

[jmood88]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

I don't know how anyone can say that he's overrated. One thing I hate about him is how his voice got worse as he got older. When he was a kid his voice was much deeper and he sounded way better than he did later on.

[Flyboy]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

I don't know how anyone can say that he's overrated. One thing I hate about him is how his voice got worse as he got older. When he was a kid his voice was much deeper and he sounded way better than he did later on.

*shrugs* Michael could still blow regardless. Listen to the Invincible album if you don't believe me.

King of Pop. Easily.

[AI_Franchise]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

MJ was the best in his days.
So was the other MJ.

[jmood88]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

*shrugs* Michael could still blow regardless. Listen to the Invincible album if you don't believe me.

King of Pop. Easily.

That album was alright but he sounded like a bitch. I don't understand how he got older and his voice got higher and completely different from when he was a kid.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

I REALLLLY disagree with you here. Michael Jackson is the bridge between James Brown and all the R&B entertainers that you seen for the last 20 years. Without MJ, no Bobby Brown, New Edition, Jodeci, Usher, JT, or anyone of that nature and still 20+ years later...MJ's moves are about 10x's more recognizable than any of the aforementioned artists. Sure, you may say all these guys are crap, but they have sold bajillions of records to so many different types of people that it's pretty significant IMO.

And so he vibed with a great producer, that's damn smart IMO. But the argument that QJ made MJ is pretty invalid because:

1-Michael had a much, much more involvement in the creative process than people give him credit for. So much more that JT or Usher have in the creative process today. Dangerous produced by Teddy Riley was a great album and up there with Thriller and OTW.

2-Nobody could've sang those songs like Michael. It's not just about vocal skill(which MJ had tons of btw), it's about charisma and making the song yours. When you hear Billie Jean, you visually associate the video and dance moves with it, no? Even when people cover MJ songs, most still have MJ's voice sampled in the song.

3-Again, you can't deny his success both before and after Quincy. And this is when he wasn't in his artistic peak. I think it was a marriage of MJ being at his artistic peak when Quincy was the producer......and for a producer as accomplished as Quincy Jones is, the work he has done with MJ being one of his biggest achievements speaks volumes about Michael.

I'm not sure what you're really disagreeing with since I never did discredit MJ's influence to music/pop at all, other than the fact that he obviously had some good dance moves, as have others over the years, but to me that doesn't necessarily cut it when it comes to musical talent.

And I realize all of those points, but as I said before, MJ's music is more about the production than the vocals to me - which means I like his music more for the production than MJ's vocals, which doesn't mean I'm discrediting MJ as a vocalist or as a performer; I simply associate Thriller (for example) with the production, specifically Beat It and Billie Jan, rather than for Michael's vocals.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Michael Jackson - King of Pop or Overrated?

That album was alright but he sounded like a bitch. I don't understand how he got older and his voice got higher and completely different from when he was a kid.

All those nose surgeries.