Why is Michael Jackson's music so timeless?

[Manny_Pacquiao]

His songs never get old. They sound just as good today as they did decades ago (before i was even born).

 

Is his music the standard for pop? Did the pop music industry simply stop evolving after Michael?

 

None of his songs would feel 'dated' or out of place in today's era.

 

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by Manny_Pacquiao

[I6MTW]

Same reason why Freddie Mercury's music or Led Zeppelin's music, Bob Marley's or ABBA's music never gets old. They're all legends and they made such quality songs that still withstand the test of time, and will likely continue to do so. 

[Sooda]

Almost as good as the Backstreet Boys, but not quite.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

12 hours ago, I6MTW said:

Same reason why Freddie Mercury's music or Led Zeppelin's music, Bob Marley's or ABBA's music never gets old. They're all legends and they made such quality songs that still withstand the test of time, and will likely continue to do so. 

All the names you mentioned aren't comparable to michael jackson, who's universally recognized. ABBA, for example, is hardly known outside of western europe.

 

I disagree with the 2nd point, as their songs have no exceptional 'quality'. Lyrically, they're memorable but lack any profound meaning.

[kosingh]

At least a few artists have sold more albums than MJ. To this day Beatles outsell MJ albums 

[velu]

I am a big fan of MJs music videos ..

Bille  jean , speed demon , smooth criminal , the way you make me feel are some of my favourites 

 

 

probably MJ started the trend of giving importance to it 

[I6MTW]

1 hour ago, Manny_Pacquiao said:

All the names you mentioned aren't comparable to michael jackson, who's universally recognized. ABBA, for example, is hardly known outside of western europe.

 

I disagree with the 2nd point, as their songs have no exceptional 'quality'. Lyrically, they're memorable but lack any profound meaning.

Well, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and  Elvis were as popular as MJ.  Queen(especially Freddie Mercury ) is still rated quite highly as one of the best bands, and FM having one of the best voices in history. ABBA I agree, they weren't as popular now as they were in the 80s. But during the 80s, they were quite popular throughout the world . Even in India, they had quite a following among the urban cities . 

 

As for quality, Led Zeppelin's music had great song quality as well as meaning. Check Stairway to Heaven for example. Even Queen had songs, that had lyrical meaning. Bob Marley had the best meaningful compositions of any top artist. All his songs were about peace, feeling good, getting together being united, slavery, love, etc. 

[maniac]

One of the greatest entertainers of all time, however I am conflicted about the whole artist vs person debate if we have to separate the 2.

 

I saw the HBO documentary- Finding Neverland. It was hard to watch, not because it was bad but because of the content in it. I l don’t think I can ever listen to a Michael Jackson song without think about  the haunting scenes in it ever again.

 

Fk Michael Jackson.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

On 6/8/2020 at 5:05 AM, I6MTW said:

Well, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and  Elvis were as popular as MJ.  Queen(especially Freddie Mercury ) is still rated quite highly as one of the best bands, and FM having one of the best voices in history. ABBA I agree, they weren't as popular now as they were in the 80s. But during the 80s, they were quite popular throughout the world . Even in India, they had quite a following among the urban cities . 

 

As for quality, Led Zeppelin's music had great song quality as well as meaning. Check Stairway to Heaven for example. Even Queen had songs, that had lyrical meaning. Bob Marley had the best meaningful compositions of any top artist. All his songs were about peace, feeling good, getting together being united, slavery, love, etc. 

Popular worldwide? i don't know about that. Michael jackson is known everywhere. You can't say the same for those bands. In india or china, whose name will people recognize? Michael jackson or elvis?

 

I was referring to the lyrics in michael jackson's songs. They are catchy without any real meaning. Maybe that's why they're so popular?

 

On 6/8/2020 at 4:53 AM, velu said:

I am a big fan of MJs music videos ..

Bille  jean , speed demon , smooth criminal , the way you make me feel are some of my favourites 

 

 

probably MJ started the trend of giving importance to it 

 

At this point, we might as say that he invented pop. Every pop artist seems to follow michael jackson, his music is like a template for a pop song.

[I6MTW]

6 hours ago, Manny_Pacquiao said:

Popular worldwide? i don't know about that. Michael jackson is known everywhere. You can't say the same for those bands. In india or china, whose name will people recognize? Michael jackson or elvis?

 

I was referring to the lyrics in michael jackson's songs. They are catchy without any real meaning. Maybe that's why they're so popular?

 

 

At this point, we might as say that he invented pop. Every pop artist seems to follow michael jackson, his music is like a template for a pop song.

Wel MJ is more recent than the other names I mentioned. I mean they all either broke up, or the artists died around 20-30 years back, while MJ died only 11 years ago. He's still fresh on people's minds over the world. There's no guarantee he'll be thag well known in every place in the world another 10-20 years from now. It'll be a similar recognition like the other artists get.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

41 minutes ago, I6MTW said:

Wel MJ is more recent than the other names I mentioned. I mean they all either broke up, or the artists died around 20-30 years back, while MJ died only 11 years ago. He's still fresh on people's minds over the world. There's no guarantee he'll be thag well known in every place in the world another 10-20 years from now. It'll be a similar recognition like the other artists get.

Fair point. 

I see MJ as the peak of western pop music. So he'll probably be around for a while.

 

But this goes back to what i'm saying: has there been anything after MJ? Who's the next MJ? Or what is the next musical style that will take the world by storm the way he did?

[I6MTW]

3 hours ago, Manny_Pacquiao said:

Fair point. 

I see MJ as the peak of western pop music. So he'll probably be around for a while.

 

But this goes back to what i'm saying: has there been anything after MJ? Who's the next MJ? Or what is the next musical style that will take the world by storm the way he did?

Well pop is the most popular music genre in the world. And MJ was the king of it. Plus his style , charisma, and dance moves were unmatched. So there won't be another MJ, but there will be future pop icons and sensations of that time period. 

[Manny_Pacquiao]

12 hours ago, I6MTW said:

Well pop is the most popular music genre in the world. And MJ was the king of it. Plus his style , charisma, and dance moves were unmatched. So there won't be another MJ, but there will be future pop icons and sensations of that time period. 

Don't you think pop is basically dying out? If all we have are copies of MJ's dance moves, lyrics and sounds..

 

It seems like electronic is making headway and replacing pop.

[Nikhil_cric]

Nature of the industry back then was to invest in a much smaller pool of artists/groups that had long term value. Access to music production was not available to anyone and everyone . Nor were the avenues for promotion. Technology has changed all that and now you have a much larger pool and artists in the mainstream change very rapidly. Also with auto tune etc., musical ability no longer matters as much. Anyone and everyone is expendable. They are always looking for the odd hit single and then move on. There's no long term 5-6 album planning to let artists mature and grow into their roles. 

[Manny_Pacquiao]

2 hours ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Nature of the industry back then was to invest in a much smaller pool of artists/groups that had long term value. Access to music production was not available to anyone and everyone . Nor were the avenues for promotion. Technology has changed all that and now you have a much larger pool and artists in the mainstream change very rapidly. Also with auto tune etc., musical ability no longer matters as much. Anyone and everyone is expendable. They are always looking for the odd hit single and then move on. There's no long term 5-6 album planning to let artists mature and grow into their roles. 

Does this mean that 'pop music' as a genre is branching off into several different forms of music? In other words, we'll never see traditional pop (ala MJ) ever again?

[nikred]

Well, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and  Elvis were as popular as MJ.  Queen(especially Freddie Mercury ) is still rated quite highly as one of the best bands, and FM having one of the best voices in history. ABBA I agree, they weren't as popular now as they were in the 80s. But during the 80s, they were quite popular throughout the world . Even in India, they had quite a following among the urban cities . 
 
As for quality, Led Zeppelin's music had great song quality as well as meaning. Check Stairway to Heaven for example. Even Queen had songs, that had lyrical meaning. Bob Marley had the best meaningful compositions of any top artist. All his songs were about peace, feeling good, getting together being united, slavery, love, etc. 

I will be honest. Even though I knew the Beatles never bothered to listen to them until I watched the movie "Yesterday". It was great discovering them so late in life.
The only Beatles song I heard before that was well "yesterday".

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

[Clarke]

Because black lives matter

[Manny_Pacquiao]

19 minutes ago, nikred said:

I will be honest. Even though I knew the Beatles never bothered to listen to them until I watched the movie "Yesterday". It was great discovering them so late in life.
The only Beatles song I heard before that was well "yesterday".

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk
 

I always thought the beatles were garbage. Back then, there was little to no competition.

[Nikhil_cric]

15 hours ago, Manny_Pacquiao said:

Does this mean that 'pop music' as a genre is branching off into several different forms of music? In other words, we'll never see traditional pop (ala MJ) ever again?

We'll never see artists that can sell big and sell over time.  Adele and, to some extent ,daft punk are the exceptions. "Pop" and "Rock" are more idioms than strict genres and that especially applies to pop. It draws from anything that sells. Back in the day, big swing bands could be termed pop . And ,recently, when electronic went mainstream, every single "pop" artist showed influences of electronic music in their work.