Greatest Male Solo Artist - Round 1 - Michael Jackson vs Elvis Presley

[Pidge]

Elvis for me, Suspicious Minds came on my shuffle earlier and had to replay it 2/3 times. MJ was great but, as a mid-80s kid I tend to associate him with my early years and don't think I've ever really listened to him consistently since i was like 7. 

 

I want you back is one of my favourite ever songs, but that's not a solo tune so doesn't count. 

 

The "TLW is racist" whinges are very funny and not tiresome at all.

[Bjornebye]

2 minutes ago, Pidge said:

Elvis for me, Suspicious Minds came on my shuffle earlier and had to replay it 2/3 times. MJ was great but, as a mid-80s kid I tend to associate him with my early years and don't think I've ever really listened to him consistently since i was like 7. 

 

I want you back is one of my favourite ever songs, but that's not a solo tune so doesn't count. 

 

The "TLW is racist" whinges are very funny and not tiresome at all.

Whose lawn you burning a cross on tonight mate? 

[Paul]

MJ: better singer, better songwriter, better dancer, mind-blowingly iconic on a global scale that wasn’t possible for the similarly huge Elvis. 
 

[TheHowieLama]

7 minutes ago, Paul said:

 mind-blowingly iconic on a global scale that wasn’t possible for the similarly huge Elvis. 
 

U wot??

[Paul]

Just now, TheHowieLama said:

U wot??

You don’t think Michael Jackson was absolutely huge? Best selling album of all time, global tours of 100,000 punter venues, practically owned MTV in its heyday, mobbed everywhere he went. Michael Jackson was iconic mate. 

[Juniper]

As artists (and separating the music from the men) it’s easily Jackson, for me.

[Bjornebye]

Yeah Michael Jackson was arguably bigger than anyone has ever been at their height. 

 

He absolutely could have won this whole tournament. 

 

 

 

[Pidge]

You think he, or anyone in music for that matter, is more iconic than Elvis Presley?

 

Jacko's definitely in the top tier, but not more than Elvis. No way.

[TheHowieLama]

3 minutes ago, Paul said:

You don’t think Michael Jackson was absolutely huge? Best selling album of all time, global tours of 100,000 punter venues, practically owned MTV in its heyday, mobbed everywhere he went. Michael Jackson was iconic mate. 

Yes he was - he was like the Elvis of the 80's.

[Paul]

Elvis was ridiculously big for his time, but that was pre-globalisation and pre-global mass media. It wasn’t possible for an artist to be truly global in his day like it was in Michael Jackson’s. MJ was huge in Asia and Africa as well as Europe and America. 

[cloggypop]

3 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

People are forgetting that whilst its common knowledge that Jacko liked them young.... Elvis nonced Forest Gump in-front of his own mother. 

Elvis was a bit noncey as well like

 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3k8z39/elvis-was-the-king-of-treating-women-like-shit-and-luring-14-year-olds-into-bed

[SasaS]

Just now, Paul said:

Elvis was ridiculously big for his time, but that was pre-globalisation and pre-global mass media. It wasn’t possible for an artist to be truly global in his day like it was in Michael Jackson’s. MJ was huge in Asia and Africa as well as Europe and America. 

That's actually an argument for Elvis.

[TheHowieLama]

2 minutes ago, Paul said:

Elvis was ridiculously big for his time, but that was pre-globalisation and pre-global mass media. It wasn’t possible for an artist to be truly global in his day like it was in Michael Jackson’s. MJ was huge in Asia and Africa as well as Europe and America. 

All well and good if that added up to anywhere near the saturation Elvis had on the "global market" of his time.

 

He is easily the biggest musical star ever.

[Paul]

Just now, SasaS said:

That's actually an argument for Elvis.

It’s not because it’s not possible to know how Elvis would’ve fared if he’d been born twenty years later. His iconic status was indelibly linked to the birth of rock and roll. We can speculate about what he might’ve done, but we know what MJ did. 

[Paul]

1 minute ago, TheHowieLama said:

All well and good if that added up to anywhere near the saturation Elvis had on the "global market" of his time.

 

He is easily the biggest musical star ever.

The smaller global market. 

[SasaS]

You think that global market wouldn't have embraced Elvis?

[TheHowieLama]

Just now, Paul said:

The smaller global market. 

It was actually a much larger, more manageable, cohesive global market.

He was undoubtedly the biggest personality in the world for years. Not just music star, not just movie star - the biggest superstar in the world.

[cloggypop]

8 minutes ago, Paul said:

You don’t think Michael Jackson was absolutely huge? Best selling album of all time, global tours of 100,000 punter venues, practically owned MTV in its heyday, mobbed everywhere he went. Michael Jackson was iconic mate. 

I'm in a smallish city in the Netherlands and there's at least one bloke that goes around dressed as Elvis constantly. There's also a full time gig putting on Elvis impersonator. There's one Michael Jackson but that's just a mate of mine from Belfast who happens to share the name. 

[Paul]

Just now, SasaS said:

You think that global market wouldn't have embraced Elvis?

Probably, but we don’t know do we? The 80s of Jackson’s pomp was a far more musically diverse era. Elvis dominated what was almost a mono-culture. Jackson dominated the most varied and biggest decade in musical history. 

[Carvalho Diablo]

Both nonces but Jacko had the moonwalk.

[Paul]

Elvis was a truly great artist by any definition. I just think timing was a far bigger factor in his status than Michael Jackson’s. He also had fewer obstacles to overcome. Jackson was only allowed on MTV as their first ever black artist because his label threatened to pull their entire roster of artists if the channel’s racist policy wasn’t retracted. 

[cloggypop]

Bill Drummond and Zodiac Mindwarp once tried to plant an effigy of Elvis on the North Pole to save humanity. It's all in the book Bad Wisdom. Wouldn't have been the same with Jacko. 

[TheHowieLama]

On MJ - great talent, and one of the top dogs in this.

He released two records in the 80's (read decade) and for me was not at the vanguard of the industry at anytime. Rap was way bigger.

[TheHowieLama]

5 minutes ago, Paul said:

 I just think timing was a far bigger factor in his status

Same would hold true for the Beatles.

[Pidge]

Elvis absolutely reached Asia, and Africa.