Originally Posted by blackboab

comparing prince to michael jackson is like comparing the beatles to the monkees ..i am amazed sometimes that on a music forum..a place where you would think most people would have some knowledge of music that they think you can compare these two ?..
if we are talking musical talent...prince is a million miles ahead of mj...lets have a look at what he brings to the table..
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prince is a multi instrumentalist...to the highest standard..one of the greatest guitar players in the world(ask eric clapton or steve vai how good he is)...add to that a brilliant bass player and great on the drums and keyboards..

prince has written and produced some of the best songs of the 20th century...in rolling stones 500 greatest songs of all time...prince wrote more of them than anyone else..bar lennon and mccartney...

his live performances are considered some of the greatest ever seen..and he remains a huge concert draw as his 21 nights in london and la recently have proved..

his influence on modern music can be heard everywhere..and he is a true musician's musician with almost everyone who works in music recognising his huge talent.

he was the first artist to release an album via the internet in 1997 (one of the first to see that record companies were finished in the internet age)...after he freed himself from the control of record companies and has remained free from record company control ever since .

he has written 8 us number one singles..had around 25 top tens singles and had more hits than any other artist between 1980 and 1999....add to that 5 number one albums and a dozen top ten entries and around 100 million album sales...mj clearly sold far more than prince but prince is one the most successful artists of all time just on sales alone..

michael jackson was a huge media star with a great voice and some songwriting talent but its also interesting to note that his most successful album was mainly written by other people...he was a talent but in no way does his musical talent compare to prince..