As we all know, there are many artists who can sing and dance, but what do you think makes Michael different?What makes him the KING OF POP?

I'd say his style of music and dance, they way he keeps the rhythm and stride flowing no matter what beat or tune is playing.

I really don't think you can pick just one thing. Its the combination of all of those things that have made him as big as he is

I actually voted all because all of those choices are extremely true! :yes:

I actually voted all because all of those choices are extremely true! :yes:

Haha I didn't know you could vote for more than one thing!:laughing:

Haha I didn't know you could vote for more than one thing!:laughing:

:laughing: Well it's because they're checkboxes, of course you can choose more than one choice! Those circular ones you see on the MaxJax Survivor Polls, you can only choose one. :)

While there are people who can sing and dance, most of them are obviously counting steps as they're dancing like Justin, Britney or Usher and many more. It's rare to find a dancer who can simply dance without counting steps and singing at the same time. Fred Astaire, James Brown, Gene Kelly and MJ can/could all dance without having to count steps. I hate watching dancers counting their steps and they get a massive mark down from me when they do it.

Many artists today don't seem to have the one thing that made the legends so electrifying and their music endured the years...that is charisma. So many stars today have their careers propped up on the strength of being attractive to others...far too many to count, but Justin Usher and even Britney are amongst them. The old legends like Michael, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Springsteen, Tina Turner, et al, had charisma seeping out of their pores. They also had PASSION in bucket loads...the so-called stars today are far too driven by money and status to completely rely on passion for music.

Another thing today's crappy acts don't seem to have is a natural, instinctive skill for music. This is what made so many music greats stand out too - naturally, instinctive feel for music the way Freddie Mercury, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, etc had it. Today, they just follow the same formula that confusingly gets young people into the stores to pick up sub-standard, lack lustre, unoriginal rubbish from acts who are exactly tnat themselves.

Some of the greats know how to keep the public guessing, especially about sexuality like Bowie or MJ. Other greats had a natural knack for being able to provoke a reaction, especially sexual, while saying something with meaning behind it - Madonna comes to mind like when she talked about a cat appearing at the end of one of her videos and she said "I guess I wanted to say 'Pussy rules the world!'" :lmao: I can't think of one single act who keeps the public guessing or has a natural knack for getting a reaction - it's like they're so scared of rejection and they toe the line in a weird way.

One more thing that makes greats like MJ stand out is their obvious INDIVIDUALITY. Today's stars are so seemingly hell bent on being part of a particular crowd they're aiming their music at - hip-hop stars want to prove they're so bad & dangerous to appeal to kids from the rough side of the track when they're really rich pampered stars. Other stars try to kid that they're like Joe Bloggs on the street despite the trappings of wealth like, cough, J-LO who so isn't Jenny from the block and many others. I mean, we had Freddie Mercury, James Brown, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, etc, who were absolute individuals who could also get that across through their artistry.

Michael is all of the above and more. His unorthodox attitudes and behaviour also mark him out as being different - always has even in the days of the J5.

I chose all of them too
all of those things make him who he is :wub:

Well said Gary!:clapping:

You go Alice!:yeahbaby:

I didn't realize you could vote for more than one in this poll! I was wondering why the results were so tied :laughing: I voted style, because it seemed the closest to "originality" or "individuality" which were along the lines of what I was thinking.

:laughing: Well it's because they're checkboxes, of course you can choose more than one choice! Those circular ones you see on the MaxJax Survivor Polls, you can only choose one. :)

Lol it all makes sense now, cheers!

I chose his performing skills

Personally,I believe
His ability to open up so completely that everybody watching and listening to him feels as if he is singing for them alone.

Also his ability to reach out to people of any race and ethnicity

That's what makes Michael Jackson stand out :yes:

"None Of The Above"..

I agree with what all of you guys are saying.When I made this poll,I tried to make sure I had all the bases covered. It's true all of those things combined is what makes him stand out to me.Thanks guys for leaving the comments.:)

I agree with what all of you guys are saying.When I made this poll,I tried to make sure I had all the bases covered. It's true all of those things combined is what makes him stand out to me.Thanks guys for leaving the comments.:)

You're quite welcome Gabi! This poll you created is great! Awesome thinking and awesome job!:clapping:

^^ Thanks Amanda

Well, I didn't go all ball-tastic with checking boxes...so his style, his record breaking albums, performing skills, and innovative music videos were the ones I selected.

You go Alice!

aw ur so sweet! lol!
thanks :)

"None Of The Above"..

:huh:

why??

.His record breaking albums
.Performing skills( singing and dancing live)
.Inovative music videos

All of the above + his changing physical appearance and odd lifestyle.

All of the Above. :D

Performing skills( singing and dancing live)

Inovative music videos

Style

Song writing

I'm not sure how you got 'humbleness' as part of his character.

Even ignoring the fact that it's not a word (you mean humility).

How many humble people get 40 foot statues of themselves throughout the world? How many portray themselves as a Christ-like figure healing people (Earth Song performance)? Or how many fill their CD booklets with quotes from people saying how great they are?

Great he is, humble he isn't!

Having said that if I'd achieved what he has, I'm not sure I'd be humble.

Anyroad, I agree with Owen, 'none of the above' as you seem to have missed out the main reason we should all be here, 'the consistent quality of his music'.

^^^It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am. - Ali.

Man, I do love it when people who really are great say things like that or do things that scream 'Hell, I'm bloody great, so I am!' ;)

^ You do? It smacks of ****-ism to me.

Ali was very tongue in cheek with his comments and it fit into the macho boxing world that all boxers continue to this day.

Mike should let his sales & achievements speak for themselves. Who's he trying to convince?

I agree with you Tony on this. Gary & I have had many an heated debate about MJ's er..."humility". His ego is not one of the best things about him, imo. I can't stand ego.

As a performer though, he was amazing. Yes, I'm aware I said "was".

^ You do? It smacks of ****-ism to me.

Ali was very tongue in cheek with his comments and it fit into the macho boxing world that all boxers continue to this day.

Mike should let his sales & achievements speak for themselves. Who's he trying to convince?

There were times when Ali was tongue in cheek, but other times he wasn't like when he beat Liston and turned to the media with "I'm the greatest of all time!"

He was a bit of both including when he was adamant he wouldn't be broken. But the whole 'I'm bloody great!' works with only those who really are the best and whose achievements haven't been surpassed.

Sorry, doesn't wash.

If you're truly the greatest, you don't need to tell people, your record speaks for itself.

It smacks of desparation if you're the one doing the telling rather than people telling you.

We've gone over this many, many times about the whole HIStory campaign so I won't rake it up again. But the beauty of the Invincible booklet to me totally outshone it. Just plain and simple, no pomposity.

You might not feel it washes, but it certainly does. Has any mediocre act ever done that? They couldn't pull the thing off! :hmm:

Naturally, HIStory's promo got mixed reactions, but it was genius and the trailer was art. No matter how you felt about - it is very arty.

i say, style and proformance

You might not feel it washes, but it certainly does. Has any mediocre act ever done that? They couldn't pull the thing off! :hmm:

Naturally, HIStory's promo got mixed reactions, but it was genius and the trailer was art. No matter how you felt about - it is very arty.

Michael can't pull it off! It was awful and totally overshadowed the music.

And don't get me started on 'arty', what exactly does that mean? Tracy ****ing Emin!?

You're straying into the same territory we were talking about on the other thread.

Someone saying I'm great comes across as a tosser, whether it's Liam Gallagher or Michael Jackson and is just asking for someone to bring them back down to earth (song), enter Jarvis Cocker.

Someone saying I'm great comes across as a tosser, whether it's Liam Gallagher or Michael Jackson and is just asking for someone to bring them back down to earth (song), enter Jarvis Cocker.

Ooh, clever :wink:


I do agree though, Ali was very tongue in cheek and his over-confidence was a big part of the "macho" charisma carried by boxers in a psychological battle against any and every challenger. Whereas if Michael said something like "I am the most talented musical artist in the history of mankind" I'd think mmm...

And Cocker certainly wasn't protesting for the reasons the manky little twit claimed he was. :blink:

None of that stuff has happened by the time he went on the stage and no one was thinking that when MJ was on that crane in rags either. The end bit - that's it, And that manky Cocker doesn't come into this one - nonsense from the spotty, bespectacled idiot! :hmm: Fact.

Sometimes Ali was tongue in cheek and other times he certainly wasn't which is true like when he beat Liston and proclaimed himself the greatest to White America.

I know, I know but you get my point and it gave Cocker's invasion credibility. And there is a chance he'd seen the rehearsal so he knew what was coming up.

I'm not defending him though, it was uncalled for. Although if I'd have been there I might have stage invaded for lip-syncing!

^^ Actually thats one thing that makes Michael stand out, his over-used lip syncing! That and dance off's against 6 foot rabbits.

That and dance off's against 6 foot rabbits.

We've all done it.

I know, I know but you get my point and it gave Cocker's invasion credibility. And there is a chance he'd seen the rehearsal so he knew what was coming up.

I'm not defending him though, it was uncalled for. Although if I'd have been there I might have stage invaded for lip-syncing!

No, Cocker definitely didn't see teh rehearsal. Not one act performing that night saw MJ's rehearsal. MJ had it as part of his contract that his rehearsal be secret which it was.

Cocker's invasion had zero credibility since it was not done for the reason he claimed. Credibility works only when you do it for the correct reason and not a manipulation of the event in question.

He's still a manky, bespectacled nit-wit. :mellow:

No, Cocker definitely didn't see teh rehearsal. Not one act performing that night saw MJ's rehearsal. MJ had it as part of his contract that his rehearsal be secret which it was.

Cocker's invasion had zero credibility since it was not done for the reason he claimed. Credibility works only when you do it for the correct reason and not a manipulation of the event in question.

He's still a manky, bespectacled nit-wit. :mellow:

He's made some great tunes though!

Cocker's invasion had zero credibility since it was not done for the reason he claimed. :

I'm unclear on this, Pompous Git. What was his true reason?

^ Booze......

^ah, well that simplifies things. haha

I thought maybe PG had posted somewhere else and I had missed his thoughts on the reason he felt this guy did what he did. I am interested to hear it. I find it quite appalling that he (Cocker) would get up on stage like that...for any reason.

I think we did have a full discussion on it, but I can't find it anywhere.

I'm a Jarvis fan, but what he did was pretty reprehensible, even though he tried to validate it afterwards.

I chose all of them too. All of these things make Michael stand out.

I could've checked them all, as all of them are reasons that Michael stands out, however I thought that would be too easy so I picked his personality and character as a major factor.

The reason I chose his personality and character is because it is the driving force for the others. His drive, will, creativeness, determination, kindness, perfectionist attitude, perserverence, stamina, and so on are "personality traits" that guide him into great performances, successful albums, humanitarian efforts, stellar dancing, brilliant song writing and innovative creativity.

But the whole 'I'm bloody great!' works with only those who really are the best and whose achievements haven't been surpassed.

I can't believe you still actually swallow that bull****. :ohmy: Ali was often tongue in cheek, he knew how to wind people up with stuff like "It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am" and such like.

MJ has an excuse to come out with all that ego stuff? Please. If he was tongue in cheek about it, I could just about buy it. But he believes his own hype, he stirs it up himself. It makes me cringe. That History statue nonsense years ago made me want to hide under my duvet. Ridiculous, nonsensical behaviour which is not endearing to many people. Including fans like myself. :rolleyes: And then you wonder why the late Heath Ledger appeals so much to me...now there was a man who was humble and gracious. :wink:

Edit - Look at Robbie Williams. Case in point, right there... :whistle:

^^Sometimes Ali was winding people up, but also at other times he really wasn't - beating Liston is an example where he said 'I'm the greatest of ALL time!' instead of 'greatest boxer'. At that point, Ali was leaning right over the ropes looking deadly serious. Even Bruce Lee himself didn't say that kind of thing.

Other ones like 'I'm so fast I was in bed before the light went out' WAS tongue in cheek. He had his share of tongue in cheek remarks, but there were other remarks that weren't tongue in cheek at times. He did believe his own hype too. I don't personally mind it.

When I said it works, I never did say that people had to like it for it to work. I always meant it only works if you have the success and achievements to back it up - just pure hard stats. If you don't have that, it's much more silly than if you actually do. Only success and achievements. :yes:

If we wanna say 'is it right to boast?', then I'll agree that it isn't. If we're asking 'Is it endearing to boast?', I'll also agree it isn't.

All of the above.

But the beauty of the Invincible booklet to me totally outshone it. Just plain and simple, no pomposity.

true that...and ppl do change so who r we to say that he still thinks that he's the best...

ya and any way he is the best soo it really doesn't matter if he admits it... what is he suppose to do, it would be weird if he denied it?? :)LOL

It's all of them for me.:yes:Michael couldn't be just one.

^^thats true...

He stands out above everyone else, as he has all the skills, mention in your poll.
No other Artist is able to do the same as him

^^well said...

I voted for his record-breaking albums, performing skills, character, and style.:whistle:

I went for his performing, because the stuff he does on stage is cool.

When he's spinning or moonwalking it's kinda cool.:):):)

^^awww...that's cute...:)

voted for His Performing skills ( singing and dancing live) & Inovative music videos


Sadly not a lot of people know about his humanitarian efforts :(
Thanks to Beyonce when she said on WMA 06 that Michael has given more than 300 million dollars to charity, that is why we call him the King of Pop!

THE LIVE PERFOMANCE IS THE BEST....BUT ALL THIS IN POLL FIT ON MJ THE KING OF POP. KISS TO ALL MJ FANS AROUND THE WORLD

I voted for all!!! There's really no way to describe how Michael stands out. He's been the King of Pop ever since he first started singing at a really young age.

Yea mayne.
I voted for all...everything he does just makes him more of the best person in the world to me.

But to the rest of the world; I'd assume record-breaking albums, skills, and music videos.

For me, it's a mix:
His humanitarian efforts -- So few public figures dedicate a portion of their life/career to charitable needs on their own accord the way Michael has; I think this is a very important part of Michael's career that few people like to focus on, unfortunately.
Performing skills( singing and dancing live) -- Michael was truly an impeccable performer -- and not just because of the Jackson 5. Michael spent time in his hotel rooms and at his personal home practicing and perfecting his skill, again, at his own accord.
His character( personality, humbleness) -- aside from Michael being very humble, he was so shy and silly. He was full of smiles, so playful. So many musical artists are into this "adult" lifestyle, and take little time to show that they enjoy just having an innocent, good time -- that they're giving, fun, playful people. MJ wasn't into this "being cool" attitude, purposefully. He stayed true to his roots and values for the most part.
Style -- Michael's style was definitely a style of his own & one that has been imitated/emulated many generations after him. The fact that he wasn't afraid to wear stuff that he liked, no matter what people thought of it, is just awesome. So many people are into following fashion today but Michael made fashion -- even stuff he wore from fashion designers were designed for him.
Song writing -- the way MJ can turn a song into a story full of emotion and jumps, like a rollercoaster, is amazing to me. Personally, I think he is one of the best songwriters that we've come across. His songs come from the heart but they can also be related to, no matter what year, decade you're in. They have no "age" to them, yet they're full of meaning, even the silly ones, or the "love" songs. He also doesn't stick to clichès, while at the same time incorporating lines from texts he's read, art sculptures, etc. and creating amazing musical art with it.

His performing skills make him stand out for me. He's just the best dancer ever!!!

Well it's everything really but his perfoming skills are always going to be one of the tops! :)

Even ignoring the fact that it's not a word (you mean humility).


According to Merriam it is a word (a noun). See bottom of humble definition.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humbleness

I think it's everything together, as a packet. He had the voice, the body, the style, the personality, yano, everything, and the most important, he had a stunning soul! I wish i had the chance to meet him :/

everything!:biggrin:

Okay, I'm changing mine: I say everything about him stands out!

To start, I'm in wholehearted agreeance with what Pompous Git first wrote in this thread (nigh 2 years ago now). One's best (and arguably novel) efforts in performing and writing in any medium of artistry (or high art, if you would) stem of wholly feeling, heart, and soul put into it as far as I'm concerned (and, like Michael said, much more feeling than thinking in many ways, at least when performing), not contrived and banal efforts to appease vogues and popularity, which has taken upon most popular music these days. But to be more direct to the thread, my answer would be succinctly narrowed down to "presence" (as well as how catchy Michael could be with it in all regards, and how well he intertwined). I think Michael's presence is what made him stand out, because I find that it seeped through in everything he did. I always found myself nothing less than mesmerized whenever he (more than) acrobatically (not to mention quite quickly and with most electrifying incandescence at that) glided, glossed, glittered, thundered, and glazed across the stage with such nonchalant, peaceful, and otherworldly grace (I would say what he did qualified for more than "dancing"), not only because he had such a charismatic and commanding way of doing it, but because he had a way of making all his other talents seamlessly merge when doing it (IE, the musician becoming one with the music) whilst also putting so much energy into all he did. In my view, all this not only applied to him but expressly to the accompanying musicians and performers in his shows and work (as I'd say that's how good Michael was at working with others in music).

If you combine that with the amount of verve and stimulating (chain reaction-inducing) rushes of excitement and energy he'd put into every inkling of not only his performances but his songs (and that the audience in live performances would compliment and augment greatly, and especially large audiences at that), I feel it only furthers the above said. The man knew how to give off a wonderfully entertaining display of theatrics with very sincere and revolutionary talent that would be recognized as such for decades to come no matter what anyone negatively and erroneously made him out to be (with avarice), unanimously. And I think Michael harbored that kind of talent all along, even in his youngest days. The kind of synchronization abounding in the deeply running and ranging harmonies of his voice, and, in turn, in the stunningly smooth motions of his dancing always staggered me very much, in a very awesome way. That and how he always managed an invigorating smile in every aspect of his music and persona, in even the darkest of times, is what I think made him stand out most - his presence and his capacity to uplift in ineffable ways (that I feel call to especially epic nature) through his achievements alone. I do think he was unique, gifted, but sensitive, all of which I respect deeply just as I do what I think he commanded in all he did, as aforementioned.

I've got to be honest, while his skills kick-started his massive amount of fame, I believe his behavior and looks fueled it as the years went on.

I voted all of them lol =D

That he could just do it and you couldn't help watching him as Hepburn once said.

Performing, naturally.

I voted for all of them. IMO, every one of those makes him stand out.