Thriller vs. Purple Rain

Off the Wall is as good as any Prince album that isn't Sign 'O' the Times, but I voted PR, obv.

purple rain will take this easy

In general I love Prince much much more than MJ, but Purple Rain is not among my favourite albums by him (too much rock, too little funk, and he's written much better ballads than the titular song) so this is quite hard. "When Doves Cry" is obviously classic, but "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" are better than anything on Purple Rain besides "When Doves Cry". If Prince would've replaced the title song with "Erotic City" and the 12" version "I Would Die 4 U" Purple Rain would be a better album.

Yeah, Geir will weigh in soon, too. zzzzz

"Morrissey" isn't a poll option?

where are the Lime Spiders on this poll

Lime Spiders vs Celibate Rifles

TS: Thriller vs. Purple Rain

polls still lame btw, the other thread will bear this out - there'll be a good post or two from Chuck here and otherwise ppl goin "Thriller" "no Purple Rain" "no Thriller" - super exciting & edifying

If Prince would've replaced the title song with "Erotic City" and the 12" version "I Would Die 4 U" Purple Rain would be a better album.

OK, you can certainly say that he's written better ballads than "Purple Rain", but remove it from the album altogether? That's craaazy.

I can't pick between these ... but if I go by Scott's formula from the other thread, i.e. "I haven't listened to either of these albums in ages, so which one would I dust off and listen to right now if I had to choose?", it would be "Purple Rain". I think it comes down to being more burned out on the "Thriller" singles than the "Purple Rain" singles.

Love both, but it's still "Thriller" for its overall qualities. The best of MJ is still better than the best of Prince.

"The Beautiful Ones" is the best song on either album, and "The Girl is Mine" is the worst on either album ... so why do I feel compelled to vote for Thriller?

Ranking the non-singles:

The Beautiful Ones
Baby I'm A Star
Baby Be Mine
Computer Blue
The Lady in My Life
Darlin Nikki

(And yes, of the collective 18 songs here, only 6 weren't singles.)

c'mon. Thriller was THE pop event of our (mostly) era; choosing anything else is pretty much tantamount to hating the time in which you live.

I was 3 when Thriller came out, the first MJ song I remember hearing was "Bad".

I too was 3 when Thriller came out, and clearly remember shaking my preschooler ass to "Ma Ma Se, Ma Ma Sa, Ma Ma Coo Sa."

so you live in the post-Thriller era. poor kid. ;^)

xp

I was 11 when "Thriller" came out and I first thought of "The Girl Is Mine" as some kind of followup to "Ebony & Ivory". Of course, that song is nothing like the rest of the album, but I still consider it better than "Say Say Say". "The Man" is their best collaborative number though.

When Doves Cry. Period. (Accepted, Thriller is an excellent album, but still...)

Purple Rain, Thriller not even close

I never watched the movie Purple Rain, so all I saw of it was the footage in the videos and it looked cool there. The movie Thriller on the other hand was shown complete over and over on television and it was terrible.

First there was the gang fight dance in "Beat It" video, then dancing chorus of zombies, and the next thing you know Pat Benatar is shaking her tits in front of a pimps and whores dance troop.

ruined music video forever.

you have a weird definition of "ruined"

pretty sure the Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield" video pre-dates "Beat It," but Dan OTM

Both were shot around the same time ('82-'83).

Let's settle this fair & square because I am determined that Prince is gonna win this thing so we can all rest and deal with it.

still stuck on how dumb this is

the purpose of TS threads whether there's a poll or no is to have a good and lively discussion, not to get some lame hand-count.

"Thriller" music video was released in December 1983; "Love Is A Battelfield" single and video was also released that year, presumably before December.

i'm not voting, i already stated my case in a different thread

TS > polls

now THEREs a poll

"Thriller" music video was released in December 1983; "Love Is A Battelfield" single and video was also released that year, presumably before December.

read this as "Love is a Battletoad" and was pleased

love is really more of a skirmishfrog

"both of us knowing/love is a chaotic neutral mage"

My time-line is all confused. I blame Fame the movie and tv show from here on out.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Dirty Mind > Thriller > Purple Rain = Off the Wall

Geir [sigh] OTM.

Get over yourselves. Thriller is hoarily overrated garbage.

Alex, 1984 is the cutoff for we rockists. Get one memo.

Thriller, obv

cutoff for rockists???

Gasp! Papawheelie! Are you trying to challenge the dominance of Purple Rain on this thread?
How dare you! :)

(alright folks who have suggested an Off The Wall vs. Purple Rain thing, that is another matter entirely)

Even Pappawheelie said Thriller was better than Purple Rain! There is no justice in this world!

Just to settle it:
"Thriller" > "Purple Rain" > "Off The Wall"

wrong

geir otm

NO THRILLER IS NOT BETTER THAN OFF THE WALL.

I killfiled Geir because of that post. Last straw.

"Bad" > "Off The Wall"

But, after all:

"Off The Wall" >>> Anything he did after 1990.

"Bad" > "Off The Wall"

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, May 9, 2009 3:52 PM Bookmark

you stopped being otm

Granted, I might be the only person in the world who'd seriously consider: Triumph > Dirty Mind

1999 versus Thriller would be much easier for me, as 1999 is probably better than any album MJ has ever made. "Billy Jean" vs "Let's Pretend We're Married" would be a tough one though.

Or "Billie Jean" vs "1999" (the song). I seriously wouldn't know which one to choose.

Granted, I might be the only person in the world who'd seriously consider: Triumph > Dirty Mind

No. They're very close in my book. For now (and for me):

Side one of Triumph > side one of Dirty Mind

Side two of Dirty Mind > side two of Triumph

Geir, serious question, do you like the last Ne-Yo album?

Granted, I might be the only person in the world who'd seriously consider: Triumph > Dirty Mind

"Triumph" is not at all a bad album, several great tracks on there. But "Dirty Mind" is one of my favourite Prince albums, so....

Geir, serious question, do you like the last Ne-Yo album?

No idea, although it would surprise me if I did.

Can you listen to it? I'm interested in your opinion, seeing as we have a mainstream rnb singer who is at least in theory making Geir-friendly ultra-melodic pop music.

What I've heard is melodic but manufactured. Which is not a good thing. Prefer acts who write their own stuff and have their own style rather than having pro songwriters constructing calculated hitsongs.

And the beats are annoying and staccato as well. They should calm down and make it straight 4/4.

(you know.... Like "Thriller")

Which is not a good thing. Prefer acts who write their own stuff and have their own style rather than having pro songwriters constructing calculated hitsongs.

Isnät this exactly what Michael Jackson did on Thriller?

Wrote his own songs, you mean? With a few exceptions: Yes.

Ne-Yo writes all his own songs and has written many big hits for others.

Geir what I was trying to do was alert you to the dangers of unexamined assumptions and you have just blundered into a massive one. Ne-Yo is first and foremost a singer-songwriter who happens to be working within rnb.

(Haha also what is Closer if not straight 4/4 - and what do staccato beats matter if melody is all-important anyway?)

(Also "pro songwriters constructing calculated hitsongs" doesn't seem to be an issue when, say, Kylie does it...)

Kylie writes here songs these days, at least partly. Back when she didn't, she wasn't worth wasting much time on.

As for Ne-Yo. Dunno about the credits, but most of his songs are actually composed by Norwegians....

thought you didn't care about lyrics? so who gives a fuck who wrote the song?

do you hear a song for the first time and think "Oh God this sounds good I really hope they wrote it all by themselves (lyrically / melodically / whatever) otherwise it's disqualified from my laughably narrow-minded idea of what constitutes good music as art and entertainment?" such lame bullshit

um isn't it obvious by now that Geir's goalposts are movable

MY GOD THIS GOALPOST IS JUST A BUNCH OF DRINKING STRAWS

Geir's goalposts are movable

Who's aren't? (Not to defend Geir, just saying.)

But Geir, as somebody who may well find most current r&b as unlistenable as you do, I just want to say that you really should check Ne-Yo out sometime. He's really good.

Geir is Ne-Yo and you are all getting trolled

PROOF:

most of his songs are actually composed by Norwegians

Who's aren't? (Not to defend Geir, just saying.)

sure sure I just meant its extra pointless to play this "gotcha!" game with Geir, cuz you aren't gonna change his mind about his basic, underlying assumptions

he'll just make necessary exceptions and go back to talking about how melody is the most important thing blah blah blah

i think Ne-Yo is mostly zzzz but that may well be more the fault of bloody Stargate than him

I've only heard two Ne-Yo songs and they were both unbelievably horrible, I don't get the hype

also is lame bullshit to try to get Geir to view music the way you do.

And the beats are annoying and staccato as well. They should calm down and make it straight 4/4.

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, May 10, 2009 9:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

not an expert on ne-yo but i'd be pretty fucking shocked if all his radio hits were in like 7/8 or 5/4....or do you just lazily use "4/4" as "rhythmically boring"? i.e. is syncopation you real enemy i would imagine?

also is lame bullshit to try to get Geir to view music the way you do.

no because this is actually science vs religion

there is some nice syncopation in his vocal melody for "Talking to a Computer"

you want everyone to take a logical, scientific approach to appreciating music?

who said 'everyone'?

It makes me sad that Talking to a Computer never made it onto Year of the Gentleman.

happy w/ both the results and the thin margin here

"Bad" > "Off The Wall"

wait, really?

no, not really, that's baby ca-ca talk

thought you didn't care about lyrics? so who gives a fuck who wrote the song?

Because the melody is the entire song and the only thing that counts. And who wrote the melody should have the credit alone and not share it with anyone else.

not an expert on ne-yo but i'd be pretty fucking shocked if all his radio hits were in like 7/8 or 5/4....

When I say straight 4/4 I mean absolutely no syncopation in the beat. The bass drum should play only exactly the 1st and 3rd beat while the snare drum should play only exactly the 2nd and 4th beat (and also be obviously very different sounding from the bassdrum, and preferrably more powerful". I am speaking the early 80s sound here, which has always been superior.

bhahaha shit never gets old

http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/images/RoxDeath.JPG

Because the melody is the entire song and the only thing that counts. And who wrote the melody should have the credit alone and not share it with anyone else.

Ok but what if you got a call from Coldplay, and they wanted to cover "Talking to a Computer" for a concept album they were working on, but Chris Martin wanted to change the words, so he'd share a credit for that, but then they'd give you 600,000 pounds and a profit percentage for the rights

^^ I am asking this question as a joke, cuz seriously, if there is anything I know Geir has, it is the strength of his convictions

Because the melody is the entire song and the only thing that counts

This displays such stunning ignorance of what melody and harmony actually are that I have to believe you wrote it as a joke. (Hint: The same series of tones and intervals over two completely different sets of chords is not "the same melody.")

don't go there

This one is going on Geir's Greatest Hits.

This displays such stunning ignorance of what melody and harmony actually are that I have to believe you wrote it as a joke. (Hint: The same series of tones and intervals over two completely different sets of chords is not "the same melody.")

This is why I think the original chords should always be used in all cover versions.

also original lyrics

shame on y'all for mentioning ne-yo in a mj/prince thread

there's no shame at all

People always told me
Be careful what you do
Don't go around getting little girls high
Hee