Comparison Of Michael Jackson And Prince Rogers Nelson

There are many differences between Michael Jackson and Prince Rogers Nelson and the two are very distinct artists. Both Jackson and Prince were idols of the 80s with their own fan followings. Both artists took influence from funk, R&B and disco music as well as sharing influence from artists including James Brown, Little Richard, James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Jackie Wilson to create their own unique sound, defining the music of their time. They were often defined as “crossover artists who believed in musical fusion.” Both artist were of African American descent and both became reclusive later in life with Jackson spending time at his home Neverland in California and Prince at his in Paisley Park, Minnesota. The two artists were born in 1958

Jackson on the 29th of August and Prince on the 7th of June. They were born in Mid-West cities where Jackson was from Indiana and Prince Minnesota which undoubtedly playing apart in their future careers with both of these areas being known for their music. They also both had families interested in music. Princes father was a talented Jazz pianist and performer with his band The Prince Rogers Trio and Jackson’s father was a blues musician who performed with his band The Falcons. However, neither of their fathers experienced the fame and fortune that Jackson and Prince did. Not only did Jackson and Prince share family, personal and similarities of reclusiveness in their later lives but their music share similar including their use of instrumentation, vocal style and composition. Along with the similarities there are differences including the fact that Jackson did not often play instruments when performing live where as Prince would often play the guitar and was also known to play percussion, bass and keyboard. Both of their stage presence also varied with Jackson being known for his dance style whereas Prince was known for his virtuosic guitar playing. At the time it appeared that these were the only two names in the music industry. This paper will compare the two artists musically and stylistically.

Michael Jackson, also known as “The King of Pop,” explored many genres of music including pop, soul, blues, funk, rock disco, dance and swing.

Jackson had many top hits with Thriller selling over 1 billion records and Bad generating five number one singles. Collecting eight Grammy awards in 1984 Jacksons sound war pure showcasing his R&B background. His chart-topping albums include Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Dangerous (1991), History (1995) and Invincible (2001). His career was boosted when he was the first African American artist to be featured on MTV during its emergence during the early 1980s. His mini-movie with the feature of his Thriller music video created the way and changed how African Americans musicians were perceived for the better. Jacksons video futured scenes which were construed as having a sexual nature, with these scenes being edited out of the final publication to prevent it from being banned. Jackson was a fantastic song writer, fashion icon, dance and actor whose career began from a young age and during the 70s and 80s he became a master of pop music seeing him at the top of the charts. He was a tenor with a range of Eb2-F#6 and it was with his distinct voice and gasping that he became known. He had a sense of ‘grunt’ in his music which were achieved through a well-developed technique and polished vocal delivery. He also had different vocal styles with his fierce and demanding style as seen in Smooth Criminal as opposed to his mellow style

seen in Earth Song. Jackson had the ability to sing staccato rhythms in Smooth Criminal and legato with perfect timings. His vocal style had a bright mid-range which could adopt different timbres and tones including; a rock edge, soft mellow tone or light or heavy timbre. This shows his great control and versatility as a musician. Jackson was said to heavily rely on his falsetto register however, although he did use it regularly use the register this was not a cover for his full voice as you can hear the clarity in high notes which are sung with full voice and not falsetto. His voice was known to lack power and naturally gender neutral.

Prince Rogers Nelson was also a musical innovator who was known for his flamboyant strange presence, extravagant dress, makeup and wide vocal range.

Like Jackson, he drew musical influence from many genres including funk, rock, R&B, new wave, soul, psychedelic and pop. He had sold over one million records worldwide with top hits including “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” and “Kiss”. It is because of this that he has been named “one of the most influential artists of the rock ‘n’ roll era.” Prince was also known for his composition of the soundtrack for 1984 Academy Award winning film Purple Rain. Prince was known first and foremost as a vocalist but later a composer, guitarist and director. His vocal rage was that of a tenor with a higher range from G1-C7. Princes lyrics were often very sexual sung using his falsetto range, his work of that with women in the music industry began bridging the gender equality gap in popular music industry at the time. In terms of Princes vocal style, he was able to blend his lower register with an extensive falsetto and at times incorporating gritty screams and chesty belts common to that of the rock n roll era. He also incorporated whistles, “woos” and “ow-ows” which was particularly seen on his Purple Rain album. Most notably Princes When Doves Cry was an unusual pop recording the regards to the length running almost six minutes. In this particular song Prince composed, produces, recorded, sang and played all of the parts to this

particular song, something that was not commonly seen in the music industry. It was not only in this song but in fact on his first five albums Prince almost played all of the instruments in his albums. He also embraced technology in his music making pioneering use of drum machines including the LINN LM-1 in his early albums as well as using a wide range of studio effects of the final products. Not only this but Prince was also said to have started the NPG Music Club, a monthly online music subscription service and famously wrote “slave” on his face when in a dispute with his record label.

Comparatively Jackson and Prince have very similar vocal ranges both being tenors and they both use their falsetto ranges quite often. This was something that began to emerge during the 1960s with a shift into Motown, Soul and R&B music. However, this was not made popular until Jackson and Prince with their exceptional vocal ranges. Their music stylistically however, is rather different. Jacksons lyrics were clean cut whilst Princes were suggestive and sexual in nature. This also impacted the followers that these two artists attracted. Both musicians were labelled as ‘pop’ however, through this comparative analysis we have seen that there is a notable instrumental difference as well as genre influence which is seen to have been followed through into their music. Jacksons music has many influences but most notably rock, pop and R&B. Whereas, Princes music shows most influence from funk, rock, soul and R&B which is seen rhythmically, harmonically, structurally and instrumentally. The other large difference between the two artists is that of their technological influence within Prince seen to be pushing boundaries in terms of recording and the instruments he used. Jackson on the other hand did not show particular dedication to this and simply appeared to produce his for the accolades to achieve chart topping hits. Prince was also known as a more versatile musician with his ability to perform and compose on a very wide range of instruments whereas comparatively Jackson was not known to do this but would stick to the vocals and dancing in performances.

Both Jackson and Prince were talents of their generation with epic song videos, boundary pushing music and industry changing dance moves. The pop artists were often said to have a feud however, author Steven Hyden denies that there was ever any rivalry between them. He quotes “I think that they did motivate each other,” he also said that “They were both such outsized personalities and both of them playing into the rivalry was good PR.” However, regardless of the competition between them if it were true if only appears to have pushed them to strive for musical success. Public interest grew as did their careers with the peek at 1985. As discussed, they both came from musical families and Prince told his school newspaper when speaking about his band, "I was born here, unfortunately," "I think it is very hard for a band to make it in this state, even if they're good. I really feel that if we would have lived in Los Angeles or New York or some other big city, we would have gotten over by now." Prince perhaps had to work harder at his career for it to become established whereas performing was in Jacksons family and by the age of eighteen Jackson and his brothers were releasing their thirteenth studio album. Towards the end of their lives their careers were in different places, but both of their deaths were surrounded by tragedy and mystery. Jacksons death of acute Propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication his career was surrounded of sexual assault claims. At the time of death Jackson was about to start a tour that was supposed to be his comeback. Prince on the other hand died from an overdose on the painkiller fentanyl. Known for his raunchy lyrics and affairs he, a converted Jehovah Witness. Prince also passed during a tour.

Despite the fact that Jackson was deemed a mainstream and commercial artist and Prince was perceived as an alternative and an avant-garde challenger both artists have notable similarities in the sense that they share similarities of vocal styles. Jacksons sense of magic and wonder was different to that of Prince who had a sense of sex and transgression however, they were both very energetic showman who undoubtedly influenced what we perceive as popular music today. Musically, stylistically and image wise both Michael Jackson and Prince Rogers Nelson are very different however, they both share the same passion of music and regardless of their fame and fortune this was seen through their reclusiveness and passion for creating music for others to enjoy.

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