Why is Michael Jackson so overrated?

He never did anything groundbreaking, he didn't create pop or revolutionize it in the slightest, 98% of his fans are girls that thinks he is cute and can dance.

People compare him to legendsl ike Jimi Hendrix, Freddie Mercury or Bob Marley. I just dont see it, those three did something important for the culture and music, Jackson just put some dance moves in pop. Big deal.

Maybe people have different tastes than you and they just like his music.

?? Michael Jackson is undeniably one of the most influential artists ever.

Thriller alone sold over 50 million copies.

Just because the album sold so many copies doesnt it mean he is one of the most influential artists. To be fair, pop is more influenced by Bowie than MJ

People hate the best. Like when they hate on Cristiano Ronaldo,Eminem,etc...

Moral of the story:

People hate the best. This thread proves my point.

Why do you think your opinion overrides everyone else?

LMAO.

Rock too. A lot of famous Punk Rock bands and even a few metalheads cited his Ziggy Stardust phase as a huge influence on them.

Whatever you say. Thriller is one of the main reasons why MJ is one of the most influential artists. It didn't just sell 'so many copies', it's by far the highest selling album ever made, which can't be understated. MJ's influence encompasses more than just pop, hence why some of the most successful non-pop artists have cited him as an influence. He was a great peformer, too.

Because he has like 15 objectively good songs from his solo career alone. Most famous musicians only have a handful of hits that even non-fans can recognize.

He's known as the king of pop for a reason.

• Alright ill be short and sweet.
• Its music if you don't feel it then its not for you... if you do think hes all that then that's it move on. Theres no reason to try to justify your opinion though other people..
• Your not going to get any constructive, smart,Subversive or engaging conversations from these types of threads(Its music you either like it or you don't)..Your literally mostly only going to get two responses.
• People that agree with you and thinks hes overrated or People who think he deserves his status.
• These threads are completely pointless and mildly toxic becuase your literally asking people to debate/ argue about your personal opinion and or justify your opinion...So essentially threads like this scream troll bait.
• My personal Opinion: MJ=GOAT whether its Pop Music or Basketball.

Hater's gonna hate. Prince is still better tho.

That's your opinion, but I think he deserves all the praise that he has been given. MJ is the King of Pop for a reason. That status was earned, not a given.

Guy been doing it from he was young making hits.Selling out concerts all over the world.

The Grammys he won ,Fashion Icon, Made a dance move an made it famous The Moonwalk. Number one selling Album ever. The list goes on.

My question was how he earned the title

He's not overrated at all.

Jackson just put some dance moves in pop. Big deal.

Yeah it's not like he had any great songs/albums or anything.....

Who said Prince was better than Michael Jackson?

LOL

He isn't. Some people are just that good.

Claiming that because he wasn't as influential as Bowie, MJ wasn't influential is like saying if your net worth isn't on par with Richard Branson, your not rich O_o

Jackson was much more revolutionary to music then Hendrix, Mercury, or Marley. The only people who could compare to him on being revolutionaries in the music entertainment business are The Beatles, Elvis, and that's pretty much it...

@tparks: What makes you say that? They were a lot of artists in the same time as MJ who were doing similar funk/pop while there was never another Bowie or Sabbath.

Jimi Hendrix revolutionized for all guitar players which is the most played instrument in the world

Hey, that's just like, your opinion, man.....

He might be overrated for hater or people who doesn't like him . Everyone has different taste

But What He did To the world not only Music Icon but also Fashion , Dance , Musiv Videio . Spotlight , News Race. He is everywhere on earth . This man gets so much love by people around the world. He didn't write song for himself like romantic song but He also created music to the world "Heal the world" We are the world Earth song and His humanitarian . charity that He helped .

I think "no one more global as Michael Jackson I'm pretty sure that no body doesn't known him. Black , White , Asian ,African ,Russian .Latin China. He is truly World Wide.

Didn't you ever see Kids 4-5 year old try to dance like him ? His impact continuous to influences young generation.

@taquie: It's not just the singing it was the whole act, There had been comparable artists in terms of style (at least I'll take you word on that) however as a showman and performer I can count on one hand the number of artists who are comparable and not quite to the same extent

@giliad_: I agree Michael Jackson is a good entertainer, his moves he makes on stage is really cool, no doubt. Not many compares to him as a showman, I can only find 2 rivals. Freddie Mercury and Axl Rose. But as far as music/concerts go, I think he should have sang in live instead of lip sync, maybe sometimes when the beat goes he can make those flashy moves but It's so much better if he sang in live.

Sorry but those 3 are not even close to Michael Jackson's success and influence.

@jhazzroucher: Bob Marley doesn't come close to MJ's influence? You do realize Bob Marley was a pioneer of reggae (most consider him even as a prophet), reggae is -one of the biggest genres in Africa and parts of South America.

Over to Jimi Hendrix. This is the man nearly every single guitar player talks about, Jimi helped revolutionize electric guitar and made it a whole new thing.

Freddie Mercury, is mentioned to be the best singer of all time, if udont think thats successful then i dont know what is.

LOL, I might not be the biggest Michael Jackson fan but even I can recognize bait when I see it.

Ignoring the fact this is bait:

If you gonna bait, try harder...

Being a pioneer of raggae doesn't mean he gets all the credits.

Ask people, known or ordinary and they know Michael Jackson, they were inspired/influenced by Michael Jackson.

Millions of people around the world know a lot of Michael Jackson songs. I've heard of Bob Marley but he has really influenced people then why didn't it convert into sales? It is because there are different kinds of people and there are just people who like reggae music.

Pretty much Jimi is not the first. He may have been influenced by his father, or friend or somebody he knew but it doesn't make them influential.

Freddie, best singer? Wait. I have to look up to the dictionary cos I don't know him. Same with Jimi.

I agree when it comes to later in his career. He was coasting with mediocre for a long time. He should have retired especially when his health was so bad.

QFT

@jhazzroucher: If you don't know who Freddie Mercury or Jimi Hendrix are you do not deserve to even reply lol, seriously how can you not know about them? Freddie was in Queen, they sold over 200 million albums, Jimi hendrix createad a whole new sound which everyone stole after him

Because they are not as influential as Michael Jackson. We're talking about worldwide influence and they just don't have it.

Michael Jackson did revolutionize pop, as least, as one of the first African Americans in pop; when Michael did the moon dance, that made him a sensation and he was a very revolutionary dancer. I liked Michael, because, while women loved him and demonstrated his cuteness, Michael still acted shy (e.g. if you're a man, only women can tell you if you're cute or not); and while I might not be cute, or, at least Michael Jackson level (or, probably definitely not Michael Jackson level), we have shy in common and, for some reason, that made me relate to him. I liked Michael, because he also tried to maintain a child like innocence or character about himself that came across as as very real and genuine; his personality was very similar to my personality in that way; and, I'm generally more of an antagonist of good looking men, but, for me, Michael was just a little different; I liked Prince for a lot of the similar reasons and because he also acted shy, and, even though he tried to have a different take, his persona still stayed similar to Michael's and he didn't try to force his way away from it; on the opposite end of the spectrum was a person like Gary Coleman and lots of child actors; you should do your best to keep your child like innocence about yourself; most people have destroyed their childlike innocence a thousand times over, beginning at a very young age, but, what it back, at a later time, and after looking back on a series of bad judgments and choices throughout their lives. Michael Jackson is not only a legend like those but more a legend.

Bob Marley didn't pioneer reggae. As a member of the Wailers, they were originally a ska band before transitioning into reggae in the late 1960s. The groups, Larry and Alvin and the Beltone made the first two reggae tracks before reggae was even considered a word.

Jimi Hendrix and Queen (not Mercury alone) revolutionized rock in the same way that Mike revolutionized pop. As for Mercury being the best singer, his vocal range is wide, but there are singers with a much wide range than that. Axl Rose says hi. Either way, I doubt Mercury is the greatest singer of all.

Prince is probably better than Michael in terms of pure musical talent. Dude wrote all of his music, played most if not all of the instruments, and he was a vocalist. Then, of course, Prince put out way more music. He worked hell of a lot harder than Michael did.

I never understood why he is was so popular. I can only think of one song he made which doesn't say much but then again, I never knew way Beyonce was so popular either. I guess it's because she could twerk?

I did. Of course in terms of sales and overall performance, Michael has him beat, but Prince was a better artist overall. What with the instruments he can play and the fact that he writes/produces his own material unlike Michael. Furthermore he's undeniably sexier (thinking of the ladies) and when he dances it looks natural as opposed to Michael who was obviously great but looked way too staged and choreographed.

@lukehero said:

Jimi obviously has worldwide influence as guitar players all over the world talks about him and try to copy his style. Jimi was the first to do those crazy moves with guitar like playing with tongue or teeth and kids nowadays tries to copy

Prince is great but can he play/compose like Jimmy Page?

Prince is better than MJ.

Truth is, he is one of the most popular people today and definetely the most popular musician.
TBH, I never liked his music at all. Not even a little...But I guess that many people did and still do.

Never heard of him.

@goldroger1: Michael penned a hefty majority of his own music, so I don't know what you're going on about there. As far as dancing goes, I think most people would agree that Michael was better. I mean, you said he was a better performer, so it kinda goes without saying.

Appearance has nothing to do with anything.

Popularity doesn't automatically equate to being influential.