Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
I believe it is true however, that Michael Jackson was TALLER than Ringo . . .
I believe it is true however, that Michael Jackson was TALLER than Ringo . . .
Who's bigger? MJ or The Beatles?
- Thread starter Trekker4747
- Start date
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
They could have been even bigger if it wasn't for the tea drinking scandal....
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
with my parents generation the Beatles. With mine It's Jackson. With the generation coming up it's Spears.
with my parents generation the Beatles. With mine It's Jackson. With the generation coming up it's Spears.
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
Steady decline being, of course, a relative term.
Jackson bigger then the Beatles?
Jackson was a one hit wonder, Thriller was it, PERIOD.
The Beatles, Stones, Grateful Dead, Doors, have all endured for DECADES.
Not so much. Jackson, with the Jackson 5, and later with his solo work like "Off The Wall" was huge for decades as well. Big as the Beatles? No. Of course not. But he was huge. Thriller was just the capper - and the apex before the descent.
Agreed, it was the capper and he has been in steady decline since.
Steady decline being, of course, a relative term.
In Ethopia, locals did not really know who Elvis Presley was but they knew all about Michael Jackson.
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
And Elvis was taller than the Beatles and Michael (6'0 ½" according to the Army).
Funny story... When the Beatles met Elvis, they just sat on the floor and stared at him. He then said that if they were just going to stare at him, he was going to watch T.V.
The only other time that a Beatle met Elvis was backstage at his '72 Madison Square Garden set of concerts. George Harrison remarked on the fact that Elvis looked superhuman while he was wearing torn jeans and a beard. Harrison denounced the hippies because of it. It's interesting to note that while the other Beatles were jamming with Elvis during that meeting, Harrison was out by the pool smoking pot.
Elvis and Lennon definitely didn't get along politically, as he was listed among those (along with quite a few others) Elvis thought were harming America (the Nixon meeting). Though I imagine that with how religious Elvis was, the Jesus line probably didn't go over well with him. He was always the first to downgrade his abilities (so much so that people now don't think he could play more than 3 chords on the guitar because of a joke he made--when just watching him, you know he could play quite well) and be self-deprecatory. Once when fans were screaming out that he was "the King", he told them that he was just a man and that Jesus was the King. Compare that to Michael Jackson demanding to be referred to as the "King of Pop". Elvis was very humble and often said that the fans put the shirt on his back (granted, Elvis came from much more humble beginnings than any of the Beatles or Jacksons--the fans putting the shirt on Elvis' back wasn't too far from the truth).
Elvis was a lot more accessible and outgoing towards his fans, whereas the Beatles were somewhat scared off from their fans when they couldn't hear themselves performing live (also, Lennon had a problem with seeing the disabled people in the front row). Interesting story: during that Beatles visit, some of Elvis' fans had actually gotten into his house and were hiding in his shower. Elvis found them and the Beatles thought he would throw them out. Instead, Elvis told them that sneaking into his house was wrong, but then was more than happy to sign autographs. The Beatles didn't expect that at all.
That was typical Elvis (and more than a few fans hopped the Graceland wall, including an obese kid named Lamar Fike who ended up becoming one of the Memphis Mafia because Elvis couldn't stop laughing that he had made it over the wall to the front door with arms full of records to sign). Elvis fans were also really good at getting past security at concerts and making it on stage. There's some footage out there of Elvis getting surprised with hugs on stage. He didn't mind it at all. He used to go down to the gates at both his Memphis and Palm Springs homes and talk with fans (some would also be invited to come watch him watch T.V., go to the movies, roller rink or Liberty Land amusement park). There are anecdotes of him having the girls line up outside of the Graceland gates and kissing every single one of them.
When he was on stage in the '50s one time, the girls got a hold of his pant legs and ripped them right off. Elvis had to go change pants, of course. He actually tore them up further and threw the remaining bits of his shredded pants out the window to the fans below.
Another fun story is when the name of the street was changed to Elvis Presley Boulevard, he was seen on his go cart in his pajamas going up and down the street. When the police asked him what he was doing, he replied that it was his street.
Elvis also met Michael Jackson and the rest of the Jacksons (in the Jackson 5 era), believe it or not. They had a trip in an elevator together. And of course, Lisa Marie was eventually briefly married to Michael.
And Elvis was taller than the Beatles and Michael (6'0 ½" according to the Army).
Funny story... When the Beatles met Elvis, they just sat on the floor and stared at him. He then said that if they were just going to stare at him, he was going to watch T.V.
The only other time that a Beatle met Elvis was backstage at his '72 Madison Square Garden set of concerts. George Harrison remarked on the fact that Elvis looked superhuman while he was wearing torn jeans and a beard. Harrison denounced the hippies because of it. It's interesting to note that while the other Beatles were jamming with Elvis during that meeting, Harrison was out by the pool smoking pot.
Elvis and Lennon definitely didn't get along politically, as he was listed among those (along with quite a few others) Elvis thought were harming America (the Nixon meeting). Though I imagine that with how religious Elvis was, the Jesus line probably didn't go over well with him. He was always the first to downgrade his abilities (so much so that people now don't think he could play more than 3 chords on the guitar because of a joke he made--when just watching him, you know he could play quite well) and be self-deprecatory. Once when fans were screaming out that he was "the King", he told them that he was just a man and that Jesus was the King. Compare that to Michael Jackson demanding to be referred to as the "King of Pop". Elvis was very humble and often said that the fans put the shirt on his back (granted, Elvis came from much more humble beginnings than any of the Beatles or Jacksons--the fans putting the shirt on Elvis' back wasn't too far from the truth).
Elvis was a lot more accessible and outgoing towards his fans, whereas the Beatles were somewhat scared off from their fans when they couldn't hear themselves performing live (also, Lennon had a problem with seeing the disabled people in the front row). Interesting story: during that Beatles visit, some of Elvis' fans had actually gotten into his house and were hiding in his shower. Elvis found them and the Beatles thought he would throw them out. Instead, Elvis told them that sneaking into his house was wrong, but then was more than happy to sign autographs. The Beatles didn't expect that at all.
That was typical Elvis (and more than a few fans hopped the Graceland wall, including an obese kid named Lamar Fike who ended up becoming one of the Memphis Mafia because Elvis couldn't stop laughing that he had made it over the wall to the front door with arms full of records to sign). Elvis fans were also really good at getting past security at concerts and making it on stage. There's some footage out there of Elvis getting surprised with hugs on stage. He didn't mind it at all. He used to go down to the gates at both his Memphis and Palm Springs homes and talk with fans (some would also be invited to come watch him watch T.V., go to the movies, roller rink or Liberty Land amusement park). There are anecdotes of him having the girls line up outside of the Graceland gates and kissing every single one of them.
When he was on stage in the '50s one time, the girls got a hold of his pant legs and ripped them right off. Elvis had to go change pants, of course. He actually tore them up further and threw the remaining bits of his shredded pants out the window to the fans below.
Another fun story is when the name of the street was changed to Elvis Presley Boulevard, he was seen on his go cart in his pajamas going up and down the street. When the police asked him what he was doing, he replied that it was his street.
Elvis also met Michael Jackson and the rest of the Jacksons (in the Jackson 5 era), believe it or not. They had a trip in an elevator together. And of course, Lisa Marie was eventually briefly married to Michael.
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
I think a lot of that has to do with the origins of each act.
With Elvis, you had a guy of rural God-fearing American upbringing who sought out fame in his late teens. He made the choice to go for it as a person quite capable of making his own decisions. During the first few years after making that decision, he struggled to be seen as a lot of people saw him performing "black music" and wanted nothing to do with him. He finally broke through that racial stereotype and even after achieving great fame, never forgot his early years, and loved and appreciated all of his fans.
With the Beatles, you have four guys of relatively poor British upbringing who also sought out fame in their late teens. The thing that differed them from Elvis was that they really weren't prepared for the level of fame they received upon traveling to America the first time. Whereas Elvis' grew gradually over time. And they were also a bit more cerebral and detached religiously. So, instead of thanking God for their fame, they made comments on their observations in a detached way. Such as Lennon's comment on the American fans seeming to revere them more than they do Jesus. And as such is the case most times, when you are trying to convey a big idea condensed down to a sound bite the real meaning often gets lost.
With Michael Jackson, you have a young boy of urban American upbringing, a devout Jehovah's Witness, who was prodded into fame by his father and achieved it very early. Instead of being allowed to be a child as Elvis and the Beatles were, Michael was forced into rehearsing and honing his act with his brothers under threat of abuse. He did not feel loved by his father and was never really allowed to grow up. His childhood was spent on stage with his brothers instead of learning social skills to be better prepared to interact with people. His solo act was prompted by a cry out for the love he never felt as a child, and was very appreciative of the response he got from his fans. I believed him when he always said that he loved them all. And when Elizabeth Taylor named him "King of Pop", he did not dissuade the royal title as Elvis did because he saw that as an expression of that love that he dearly sought out and needed.
So when you look at them in the context of their origins, each of the three act's reaction to their fame can be put into context and you can see and understand why each reacted to it as differently as they did.
I think a lot of that has to do with the origins of each act.
With Elvis, you had a guy of rural God-fearing American upbringing who sought out fame in his late teens. He made the choice to go for it as a person quite capable of making his own decisions. During the first few years after making that decision, he struggled to be seen as a lot of people saw him performing "black music" and wanted nothing to do with him. He finally broke through that racial stereotype and even after achieving great fame, never forgot his early years, and loved and appreciated all of his fans.
With the Beatles, you have four guys of relatively poor British upbringing who also sought out fame in their late teens. The thing that differed them from Elvis was that they really weren't prepared for the level of fame they received upon traveling to America the first time. Whereas Elvis' grew gradually over time. And they were also a bit more cerebral and detached religiously. So, instead of thanking God for their fame, they made comments on their observations in a detached way. Such as Lennon's comment on the American fans seeming to revere them more than they do Jesus. And as such is the case most times, when you are trying to convey a big idea condensed down to a sound bite the real meaning often gets lost.
With Michael Jackson, you have a young boy of urban American upbringing, a devout Jehovah's Witness, who was prodded into fame by his father and achieved it very early. Instead of being allowed to be a child as Elvis and the Beatles were, Michael was forced into rehearsing and honing his act with his brothers under threat of abuse. He did not feel loved by his father and was never really allowed to grow up. His childhood was spent on stage with his brothers instead of learning social skills to be better prepared to interact with people. His solo act was prompted by a cry out for the love he never felt as a child, and was very appreciative of the response he got from his fans. I believed him when he always said that he loved them all. And when Elizabeth Taylor named him "King of Pop", he did not dissuade the royal title as Elvis did because he saw that as an expression of that love that he dearly sought out and needed.
So when you look at them in the context of their origins, each of the three act's reaction to their fame can be put into context and you can see and understand why each reacted to it as differently as they did.
you'll have to ask the police who took his nude photos for that. *shrug*
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
I think of Jackson as part of the 70s and 80s generation. His fans being the teenagers/pre teens from those decades. Not sure what 90s and 00s thought of him.
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
Well I was born in 1986 and I think people my age and younger have a much different view of him. I have heard his music before and I actually really enjoy the Jackson 5 stuff, but to us Michael Jackson was all about plastic surgeries and child molestation. I don't know if he actually did those things but that's what I know him best for and that's what I first think of when I think of him. His music is sort of secondary in my mind. Unless your parents were huge fans who exposed you to lots of his music, young people probably share my opinion.
Well I was born in 1986 and I think people my age and younger have a much different view of him. I have heard his music before and I actually really enjoy the Jackson 5 stuff, but to us Michael Jackson was all about plastic surgeries and child molestation. I don't know if he actually did those things but that's what I know him best for and that's what I first think of when I think of him. His music is sort of secondary in my mind. Unless your parents were huge fans who exposed you to lots of his music, young people probably share my opinion.
Re: Who's bigger? MJ or The Beetles?
If this keep up, I predict that within 50 years all intelligent life will be wiped out and the only life on earth will be brainless husks that walk around eating the remnants of our society.
*Realizes the so called decline of culture is all too real*
If this keep up, I predict that within 50 years all intelligent life will be wiped out and the only life on earth will be brainless husks that walk around eating the remnants of our society.
Same (b. 1987).
The Beatles will always have the marginal cultural edge if you ask me. Mike was great...but not John, Paul, George and Ringo great.
MJ actually shares with Elvis the fact that their primary talents were as performers rather than as artists/creators/innovations. The Beatles, especially John and Paul were always pressing the envelope and, in many cases were ahead of the curve in what they created even though they were "meh" as live performers.
Actually Elvis was quite the innovator if you look at what he did for rock'n'roll. Don't sell him short. He was the one that first mixed blues, country and gospel in a big way and made it acceptable for white people to sing the blues and black people to sing country if they wanted to. He blurred the color lines in music and desegregated it. He made it acceptable for everyone to listen to all kinds of music and for artists to mix all the genres.
The Beatles wouldn't have anything to innovate without Elvis breaking down the doors of music first. Heck, he was the first rock'n'roller that the Beatles heard on the other side of the pond.
Elvis brought Southern musical traditions in a mixed form across the rest of the country and the world. Before he came on the scene, it was northern New York-based big band that was big. And they were musical snobs that didn't know what hit them when the Hillbilly Cat showed up. While Nashville country and Memphis blues were big in segregated audiences in the South, they had not truly become national or international. Elvis put them together, desegregated them and put it in a viable package. He also changed how people performed music. You couldn't just stand around in the middle of the stage strumming a guitar or holding a microphone anymore; you had to move and you had to put on a show. He was the one that made putting on a show mandatory. People ended up having to compete with his act.
Elvis was also a very talented musical arranger (he did his own arrangements) and he was the boss of whatever he did with a song and how he wanted it to sound. Something he doesn't get credit for at all. You can see this talent of his if you watch the rehearsal portions of That's The Way It Is. He's telling people what instruments go where and when he wants the backup singers to come in.
He also had more musical skills than people give him credit for (mainly piano and guitar--and of course, his main instrument--his voice). And he was entirely self-taught without a singing, instrument or dancing lesson in his life. Everything he was thrown into was done by intuition.
Elvis Presley had a 3-octave range with the ability to emote and sing any kind of music he wanted. He was fearless when it came to genres (blues, country, gospel, pop, bluegrass, rockabilly, rock'n'roll, ballads, folk, opera, swamp funk, barbershop harmony, Dixieland jazz, mariachi, bossa nova--and I'm referring to "Almost In Love" not the obvious, Hawaiian, etc...). Heck, I have a clip of him doing a bizarre version of Moonlight Sonata. He did everything because he never thought he couldn't. He reached notes that a trained singer wouldn't have reached for. His voice was an instrument, too. One that blows away the vast majority of artists who have ever been in the business (and he did it without ever oversinging or trying to prove himself). Elvis was one of the greatest "interpreters" of music. The man could have probably made music out of reading the phone book. The song really didn't even matter; it was what his voice did with it. He could take an average song and make it a classic because of how he interpreted it.
The Beatles wouldn't have anything to innovate without Elvis breaking down the doors of music first. Heck, he was the first rock'n'roller that the Beatles heard on the other side of the pond.
Elvis brought Southern musical traditions in a mixed form across the rest of the country and the world. Before he came on the scene, it was northern New York-based big band that was big. And they were musical snobs that didn't know what hit them when the Hillbilly Cat showed up. While Nashville country and Memphis blues were big in segregated audiences in the South, they had not truly become national or international. Elvis put them together, desegregated them and put it in a viable package. He also changed how people performed music. You couldn't just stand around in the middle of the stage strumming a guitar or holding a microphone anymore; you had to move and you had to put on a show. He was the one that made putting on a show mandatory. People ended up having to compete with his act.
Elvis was also a very talented musical arranger (he did his own arrangements) and he was the boss of whatever he did with a song and how he wanted it to sound. Something he doesn't get credit for at all. You can see this talent of his if you watch the rehearsal portions of That's The Way It Is. He's telling people what instruments go where and when he wants the backup singers to come in.
He also had more musical skills than people give him credit for (mainly piano and guitar--and of course, his main instrument--his voice). And he was entirely self-taught without a singing, instrument or dancing lesson in his life. Everything he was thrown into was done by intuition.
Elvis Presley had a 3-octave range with the ability to emote and sing any kind of music he wanted. He was fearless when it came to genres (blues, country, gospel, pop, bluegrass, rockabilly, rock'n'roll, ballads, folk, opera, swamp funk, barbershop harmony, Dixieland jazz, mariachi, bossa nova--and I'm referring to "Almost In Love" not the obvious, Hawaiian, etc...). Heck, I have a clip of him doing a bizarre version of Moonlight Sonata. He did everything because he never thought he couldn't. He reached notes that a trained singer wouldn't have reached for. His voice was an instrument, too. One that blows away the vast majority of artists who have ever been in the business (and he did it without ever oversinging or trying to prove himself). Elvis was one of the greatest "interpreters" of music. The man could have probably made music out of reading the phone book. The song really didn't even matter; it was what his voice did with it. He could take an average song and make it a classic because of how he interpreted it.
Last edited: