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I posted this a LOOOOOOONG time ago on the Lesson. It's a long ass read, but here ya go......
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If you are talking about the most complete/talented popular artist of all time....It's Prince by a mile....
Yes, it's been said time and time again (that he did a variety of things well)...But hey, it's true.....Sure, there were more expansive songwriters (Stevie, Dylan); better vocalist (70's and '80s MJ, Luther...); more impactful on black culture (James Brown); slightly more diverse producers (Quincy, '80s Jam & Lewis) and better musicians (Eddie Van Halen, Jimi, Miles, Coletrane ect...)
But Prince beats them all by being able to give a nod to all of their musical strengths....
You want to know why people say that Prince only had one great decade of music? That's because the decade he produced his best music in was so prolific and had never been seen before...
You need proof? Prince managed to have a string of great/landmark albums (Dirty Mind, 1999, PR, Parade, SOTT) that rival all of the greats (Beatles, Dylan, Miles, Stevie, Sly, Elton John, Marvin, Bowie..ect...) and then had the nerve to create his own musical universe where he could be a hardcore funk band (The Time); a censorship destroying menace (Vanity 6); a post jazz-funk troupe (Madhouse); a girly pop songwriter (The Bangles); a under-the-cut rock player-musician (Stevie Nick's "Stand Back")...and then for shits and giggles a dude who wrote songs for everyone from teen idols (Tevin Campbell) to church wailers (Patti Labelle)....
Again, it's the genre-jumping that is most impressive...Yes, Lionel did it with some of his songwrting (his country work with Kenny Rogers), but he wasn't as obsessed or prolific as Prince in terms of songwriting...
MJ's greatness was always in his groundbreaking success...In other words, MJ's music itself was rarely about challenging his listeners (I think "Stranger In Moscow" is that one song that goes beyond being a GREAT dance/pop hit); When we mostly talk about MJ's groundbreaking contributions it usually pertains to his videos which took music to a TOTALLY DIFFERENT PLACE and how he changed the whole dynamic of how albums could be sold and promoted to the mass public....MJ simply obliterated any ideas of a what a pop artist could be...He was bigger than Jesus (RIP John)
It's about the fact that MJ was able to crossover in such a unimaginable way and TOTALLY re-write the book on what a musical performer could be)
MJ'S OVERALL game-changing success is his true brilliance...He's the biggest musical act we will ever see...There's no other way to say it...
This is why Prince remains the most complete artist in popular music history...At certain points in his career, he has strived to make the serious, thought provoking musical statements on par with Dylan, Stevie, Smokey and Joni; offer the same stage performing greatness as JB; make fearless genre-crossing music that manages to become a sound all his own as Sly Stone was able to do; demonstrate some pillow talk and fuck your women like Marvin; showcase his rock god street cred in the wildman mode of Jimi and flex his musicianship and band leader skills like he was the twisted, stripped down, modern day pop star version of Duke Ellington; revel in the freedom of underground obscurity (Frank Zappa) and showcase the guts, ambition and will in his attempt to become the biggest pop star on the planet during the Purple Rain era just as MJ had did two years before with Thriller...
This^^^is some other shit....
GOAT of his era......long live Prince.....God is alive....
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