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General discussion (archive)Michael Jackson or Freddie Mercury?(133 posts)(133 posts)
(133 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 27, 2013
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tinyE: You forgot The Wiz.

Just trying to be helpfull. :)
Okay you can add
Wiz : "You Can't Win" the only solo MJ has on the soundtrack if Wikipedia is right
and include Wiz: "Ease on Down the Road" ,"Be a Lion", "A Brand New Day"

I don't think it tips the scales in MJ's favour.
Posted January 27, 2013
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tinyE: You forgot The Wiz.

Just trying to be helpfull. :)
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Chimerical: Okay you can add
Wiz : "You Can't Win" the only solo MJ has on the soundtrack if Wikipedia is right
and include Wiz: "Ease on Down the Road" ,"Be a Lion", "A Brand New Day"

I don't think it tips the scales in MJ's favour.
I know! :D
Adding the Wiz is like giving Olivia Newton John a heads up for Xanadu.
Posted January 27, 2013
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cogadh: No one can deny that MJ was a popular artist or that he had significant influence on pop music in general, but popular does not always equal good or talented (Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber, etc.), it just means the artist had great marketing. Queen, on the other hand, had comparatively terrible marketing, but each individual member had arguably more talent than MJ could have ever hoped to have, with Freddie leading them all in that regard.
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hedwards: You're including a ton of tracks that don't get any play as far as I can tell and even the friends from whom I heard about Queen didn't know about more than 5 or 6 of those tracks.

This is why this is largely a pointless argument to make. I've personally never heard of more than like 4 Queen tracks, I can't recall ever having heard more than that and that's even when you include my days of nautical mischief where friends who are more musically inclined than I am would have tons of obscure tracks, I don't recall ever having seen more than about 5 or so Queen tracks in any collection and it's always the same 5 or so tracks.

Also, I'm not sure you're really average if you've somehow managed to avoid damn near all of MJ's hits and somehow rack up a list that long for Queen.
I agree, it is largely a pointless argument, since in the end it is really all subjective, but I would also say that you are far from average as well if you've only heard a handful of the songs I listed, all of which have received significant radio play worldwide from the 70's all through the 90's and even still today, though not necessarily on pop music stations (on that list, Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites the Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Your'e My Best Friend and We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions probably got the most pop airplay in their day).

I grew up listening to so-called "classic" rock, which Queen is... well... the queen of, so I would be far more likely to have heard a lot of Queen as opposed to MJ (also I personally own about 50 or so Queen tracks in my collection). Having been a teenager in the 80's I couldn't help but be aware of MJ's penultimate works like Thriller and Billy Jean and I'm sure I have heard others, but not so much that I could name them by title.

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tinyE: I know! :D
Adding the Wiz is like giving Olivia Newton John a heads up for Xanadu.
Bwahahahaha!
Post edited January 27, 2013 by cogadh
Posted January 27, 2013
Mr. Mercury. I don't think I ever heard him make a noise like someone just stepped on his tail.

That said, I could go without hearing "the hits" ever again.

I was never a "big fan" of either, but both did some songs that I enjoy.
Posted January 27, 2013
None of them, actually. But if I really have to choose, then Freddie Mercury it is.
Posted January 27, 2013
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Arteveld: It's a dumb forced choice, but what the hell. I'd say Jackson.
He wrote his songs, his lyrics, and he was sitting in the studio producing his albums.
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tinyE: Jackson wrote SOME of his songs and did NONE of his producing; Quincy Jones did. Freddie wrote and produced EVERYTHING (with Brian May).
No he didn't. Like half the Queen songs weren't written by Mercury at all. You guys are massively overrating Freddie Mercury.( though I didn't notice till now that artveld implied that Jackson wrote all of his songs, which isn't completely true either. He did write most of his adult hits though)

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cogadh: MJ:
Thriller
Billy Jean
Smooth Criminal (only really aware of that one because of Alien Ant Farm)
...
I got nothin' else.
I find it bizarre that these are the only songs you can think off of the top of your head. Especially the lack of Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. I mean it's a serious wtf moment.
Post edited January 28, 2013 by CaptainGyro
Posted January 27, 2013
Hansi Kursch. >.>

Of the two you chose, Freddy Mercury. Better music and better person.
Posted January 27, 2013
I kind of like Thriller, and that is the full extent that I care about Michael Jackson.

Freddy Mercury, all the way.
Posted January 27, 2013
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Red_Avatar: Eh what? Queen wasn't really that big in the US, that's it. They were big all over the world. With Michael Jackson, he was more a legend than anything else with only a few songs really being well known.

As much as I respected MJ, he was more about the life style, the man, than about the music. He was popular because he was a wierdo and I can't help but wonder whether he'd be remembered so well if he didn't have such an odd life style.
Bullshit. Jackson was ridiculously popular before he got extremely weird. In 1983-84 Thriller had reached the number one position in Japan, Australia, Canada and obviously the United States. It also was popular in Europe (reached number one in the UK, France, Italy , Austria) .Jackson started getting noticeably weird after Thriller. Also an argument can be made that he got LESS popular because of being a weirdo
Post edited January 28, 2013 by CaptainGyro
Posted January 27, 2013
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cogadh: MJ:
Thriller
Billy Jean
Smooth Criminal (only really aware of that one because of Alien Ant Farm)
...
I got nothin' else.
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CaptainGyro: I find it bizarre that these are the only songs you can think off of the top of your head. Especially the lack of Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. I mean it's a serious wtf moment.
I have no idea what song you are talking about. I probably have heard it, but I'm sure it just blended in with the other white noise of 80's pop music that I never liked and couldn't possibly name by title. I should add "Bad" and "Beat It" to that list (as they just occurred to me), but I'm only aware of those thanks to Weird Al's parodies of them.
Posted January 27, 2013
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CaptainGyro: I find it bizarre that these are the only songs you can think off of the top of your head. Especially the lack of Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. I mean it's a serious wtf moment.
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cogadh: I have no idea what song you are talking about. I probably have heard it, but I'm sure it just blended in with the other white noise of 80's pop music that I never liked and couldn't possibly name by title. I should add "Bad" and "Beat It" to that list (as they just occurred to me), but I'm only aware of those thanks to Weird Al's parodies of them.
Dude...I hate you so so much
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yURRmWtbTbo
Posted January 27, 2013
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cogadh: I have no idea what song you are talking about. I probably have heard it, but I'm sure it just blended in with the other white noise of 80's pop music that I never liked and couldn't possibly name by title. I should add "Bad" and "Beat It" to that list (as they just occurred to me), but I'm only aware of those thanks to Weird Al's parodies of them.
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CaptainGyro: Dude...I hate you so so much
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yURRmWtbTbo
Yup, I've heard that before, I think my mother used to really like that song back in the day. Had no idea that it was MJ though, thought it was just an old disco one hit wonder tune.
Posted January 27, 2013
Brian Connolly!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA-jVMMmkg0
Posted January 28, 2013
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Red_Avatar: Eh what? Queen wasn't really that big in the US, that's it. They were big all over the world. With Michael Jackson, he was more a legend than anything else with only a few songs really being well known.

As much as I respected MJ, he was more about the life style, the man, than about the music. He was popular because he was a wierdo and I can't help but wonder whether he'd be remembered so well if he didn't have such an odd life style.
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CaptainGyro: Bullshit. Jackson was ridiculously popular before he got extremely weird. In 1983-84 Thriller had reached the number one position in Japan, Australia, Canada and obviously the United States. It also was popular in Europe (reached number one in the UK, France, Italy , Austria) .Jackson started getting noticeably weird after Thriller. Also an argument can be made that he got LESS popular because of being a weirdo
EDIT: Because I'm exaggerating a bit too much.

MJ had quite a lot of well known songs too but he's very much a pop musician so they were designed to sell well. There's quite a few songs that are well known, but his real fame was during the 80's and then it went downhill with just the occasional small hit after that (i'm sure they were bigger hits in the US - he was far more popular there). Again, I think his life style and attitude got him a lot of extra fame - if you look at the other Jacksons whose music were mediocre at best, it didn't stop them being huge in the US either while they barely registered outside of the US.

Freddie, on the other hand, had 18 years at the top of his game and zero where he wasn't (unless you count Hot Space which was the only album that failed to sell well). Not only that, but Freddie was notoriously shy and timid and even introvert and created this showman character to use on stage where he could make the audience eat out of the palm of his hand. He was a true musician that could play a whole range of instruments and pretty much co-wrote every Queen song ever made. That is why he's so much bigger than MJ to me - I respect MJ like I said, but as an artist, I respect Freddie way more.
Post edited January 28, 2013 by Red_Avatar
Posted January 28, 2013
I also think it's a silly comparison. They were both great artists, and I like the music of both of them. I'm glad both of them were here and did what they did.

That said, I do miss Freddie way more than I miss Michael.
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General discussion (archive)Michael Jackson or Freddie Mercury?(133 posts)(133 posts)
(133 posts)