Michael Jackson, The definitive poll Options

[gulfcoast_highwa...]

Wow! 8 Grammies in one night?

So he's 8 times better than Milli Vanilli? He must be so proud.

Mind you, what does he care? He is the artist of the millennium...........................

[Hobbes]

Mind you, what does he care? He is the artist of the millennium...........................

surely 'of all time'?

also, who cares about all that now, when if he ever brings it up you can make an easy retort:

Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!

That would shut him up.

[empathy-with-bea...]

If you know of any other artists who sold 104million copies of a single album - who have sold over 750million records - who won eight grammies in one night and have won musical accolades an any other artists in history - and who own eight guinness world records, I'd be intrigued to hear who that is. .....

......There have been artists who have had a more prfound influence on music, but I didn't say there weren't. What I said was that his achievements were unequalled, which is correct.

Yes the man has certainly sold a lot of records and been acknowledged by the music industry for it. I look forward to hearing you praising the culinary achievements of various fast food franchises for having sold an awful lot of chips

I like a lot of Jackson's songs very much, they're a good laugh, and great pop. But the reason that people get uneasy about him is that he doesn't behave like a man who wrote some amusing numbers about gang warfare and the undead but like he's the most incredible person who ever lived.

Let's compare him to Bob Hope for a moment (stay with me here). Bob Hope was very, very popular, an awful lot of people laughed at his jokes and he was widely considered to be a national treasure. At the same time you probably couldn't say that Bob Hope was making a profound contribution to stand up comedy but he was certainly achieving a lot, and Bob Hope probably knew this. Now imagine that one day Bob Hope came out on stage and instead of telling some jokes about golf and how he found women sexually attractive he started implying he bore a ressemblence to the messiah, crying and telling people that he loved them, well people would be a bit weirded out wouldn't they? And that's pretty much what Jackson did with his nice, "everybody likes you" music career.

This post has been edited by empathy-with-beast: Jan 14 2007, 12:05 AM

[Sostie]

If you know of any other artists who sold 104million copies of a single album - who have sold over 750million records - who won eight grammies in one night and have won musical accolades an any other artists in history - and who own eight guinness world records, I'd be intrigued to hear who that is.

Elvis never wrote a single hit song in his career. He was plucked from his country western background by white music bosses who wanted to use him as a vehicle to bring a new black genre, rock and roll - being pioneered by the likes of Chuck Berry (who wrote his own material, by the way) - to the white masses.

His people used to abuse poor black songwriters, ie. Otis Blackwell, who were so hard up for cash that they would sell their songs for a miniscule, one off payment and never recieve royalties in any way, shape or form. Most of Elvis Presley's hits were written by poor black songwriters who died penniless, often in the streets. They never even got writing credits for several years.

Since when did record sales equal musical quality. The Tweets, Bob The Builder, Jive Bunney - all bigger single sellers than Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd & Otis Redding! Are Westlife a great band because they have sold so many records?

And aern't Grammys considered a bit of a joke ?

I think Otis Blackwell was a poor example. Elvis was the tip of the Iceberg when it comes to people he wrote for. He wrote thousands of songs, including "Great Balls of Fire". The songs he wrote sold around 200 million records. Did he really die penniless?

I'd like to know what these hits were that were written "poor black songwriters who died penniless, often in the streets". A lot of his stuff was written by established, successful songwriters or were covers! There may have been some, but such explotation is an accusation you can throw at a lot of labels/managers/artists in the 50s/60s, including Motown (coincidently the once home of Michael Jackson)

[logger]

This is fast becoming my favourite thread.

[widowspider]

Frankly, it's the most tedious and repetitive thread this board has, in my opinion.

[empathy-with-bea...]

But I'm just dying to find out why Paul McCartney shouldn't have been invited to James Brown's funeral.

[logger]

Frankly, it's the most tedious and repetitive thread this board has, in my opinion.

Thats why I love it.

[Zoe]

It was the title that was annoying me, so I corrected it.