Over the past few weeks, you may have read an article or two about the late Michael Jackson. Maybe you even noticed the occasional blurb on tv. It seems a Jackson revival is upon us.
Meanwhile, the inevitable comparisons to another music icon have already begun. That being the immortal Elvis Presley and how both of their lives and deaths were similar. Questions have arisen such as — Which of these legends will leave the bigger stamp on music history? Which of these late greats will make more money in the afterlife? Who is the bigger legend?
But aren’t we missing the most obvious question? The vital inquiry that needs answering? An event that will ultimately decide supremacy… What, you may ask, am I referring to? Dance moves, of course!
But how you may ask, could we ever determine a winner? How would we ever know who would hold the top spot? The only fair, non-biased way: Dance off.
That’s right – an old-fashioned battle royale. Pitting Elvis’s pelvis against Jacko’s moonwalk. And before you hand the trophy to M.J. just because you’ve seen the moonwalk footage a gazillion times and have attempted it yourself, and failed, a half-gazillion, let’s go back to how this revolution started.
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Back in 1956 – I know you all remember it well – Elvis was starting to make it big. On a live performance on The Milton Berle Show, Elvis broke lose with some hip gyrations that would land most in the emergency room. Women across America were never the same. At the time, it was deemed such a controversy that when he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show a few months later, the cameras were only allowed to show “The Pelvis” from the waist up. The rest is history.
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Everyone knows Mr. Jackson’s dance move all to well. During a live performance of “Billie Jean” in 1983, his first time solo, Michael went slip-slidin’ in his loafers across the stage and into legend with a dance move that has not yet found an equal.
So put away the number-one1 hits, the money made, the rhinestone jumpsuits and the sparkly glove. Let’s focus on what’s important.
So, which is it? Elvis’s gyrating and pelvic thrusting (shield your eyes kids!)? Or MJ’s intergalactic walk (what the…?)?
You make the call — leave your comments below. I’ll tally the results and, most importantly, declare the winner.
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2009.
Moonwalk wins by a landslide. Have you ever tried the Moonwalk after putting back a few cold ones. Emergency room here i come.
I personally feel MJ has contributed more to music than EP. I’ve never seen the appeal of EP so I’m probably biased since I’ve listened to MJ for 31 years…and he is the only artist to ever win 8 grammy awards at once so that counts for alot in my book.
My vote is MJ…final answer.
Interesting question; both Elvis and MJ are icons in their own era. I believe what Elvis transition dance while MJ revolutionize dance.
Good article and great discussion question.
There is no doubt that Michael Jackson was an awesome dancer! His moves influenced dancers and singers and helped start the Music Video era. But Elvis led the way with his moves and music. At the time, Elvis made a huge impression on people. So I think I consider it a tiebreaker.
Well, Elvis took the time to pass the “pelvis” torch on to Forest Gump. MJ made us all figure it out on our own. I’m a teacher at heart, so I have to give the nod to Elvis. I also asked myself which would impress the ladies more if one were to bust loose with the moves at a party today. From my experience, the moonwalk gets a lot of eye-rolling and uncomfortable chuckling. The classic pelvic gyrations are still respected in all social circles. Grind on!
To begin with, Elvis beats Michael in this particular match up between their performances of “Hound Dog” and “Billie Jean”, respectively, and for two reasons, none of which having to do with the dancing, an area where Michael Jackson has no peer, in the history of entertainment.
Ridiculous, then, to leave the last word, as to who was the more influential, or whose legacy is greater, by limiting our vote to one area only.
But, let’s play the game, anyways. First, as I said, Elvis beats Jackson in the above mentioned performaces for two reasons. First is the surprising fact that Michael conveniently chose to lipsync his way out of the song. To many of you out there, this may be, or may not be fresh news but, nevertheless, please note that that was the main reason “TV Guide” ranked that MJ particular performance second, not first, in their own special on the best music performances, in the history of television.
Secondly, the ratings for that night in no way match those attracted by Elvis on the Berle show, in spite of the fact that there were, check this out, about 50 more television sets in 1983, than they were in 1956.
Moreover, with the exception of FOX, and MTV, there were still only three main networks showing entertainment of this caliber, in 1983.
TRENDEX ratings for Elvis’ second appearance at the Milton Berle Show show, published the week after, showed 28 million viewers watchiong that performance. The 25th Motown Anniversary, also shown at primetime, 17 years later, got less than 21 million.
Presley, of course, attracted 40 million at ABC’s Steve Allen Show, less than a month later, then a whooping 62 million viewers for each, I repeat, for each of his three appearances at the Ed Sullivan Show, and that was a mere three, four and six months after the Berle show. And it was all because of the Berle performance.
Lastly, the performance TV Guide ranked as the number one musical performance by an artist, in the history of television, was not the Sullivan presentation by either Elvis or the Beatles, but Presley’s live segment at the 1968 NBC Special “Elvis”, later known as the “Comeback Special”.
Here we (and the remaining 50 million glued to the tube that night), can clearly see Presley delivering a blistering, non stop, gimmick-less live, I repeat, live medley of seven of his number one records, namely “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Hound Dog”, “All Shook Up”, “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, “Jailhouse Rock” and “Love me tender”, and all of it lasting well over 8 minutes.
That is the most outstanding music display of musical talent, in the history of television, as stated by a panel of experts, and published by TV guide about ten years ago. Check it out.
I also remember Preley’s moves during that part of the special. They were electrifying, to say the least. He starts with an electric guitar hanging on his body, then after less than 20 seconds, gives it to one of the staffers. From there on, he just doesn’t go down to his knees, but at one point is literally an incg from the floor, the look in t
I also remember Preley’s moves during that part of the special. They were electrifying, to say the least. He starts with an electric guitar hanging on his body, then after less than a minute, gives it to one of the staffers. From then on, he just doesn’t sing up a storm, changing genres as if they were given wholesale, but applies an almost unreal physicality to the whole medley, going down on his knees at one point and, at another, landing literally, and parallely, an inch from the floor, the look in the lucky African American lady’s face, seating an inch from where he chose to rest his body, whilst simultaneosuly singing, not lypsinching, worth more that I could write here.
In fact, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8AlfND-8lM, then observe, at 6.38 into the clip, the stamina, athletic prowess, guts and singing talent that is required for someone to sing, not lipsybc, that particular verse, in that position.
Michael.
There is only one King of Music, and that is Elvis. MJ was amazing and definitely did a lot for music but there is really no comparison. MJ’s music would not of even been heard if it wasn’t for what Elvis did…he broke all of the rules and made it possible for people like Michael.
Mike wins this one (level of difficulty, lol) I’ve been trying since 85 to do the Moonwalk, and still can’t do it. And in these two performances, look at how much more Mike was “Gettin’ it” on the dancefloor, lol. I’m back to Moonwalk practice, Thanks Jason.
I’ve seen many duplicate the moonwalk but nobody who could do what Elvis did during that performance of Hound Dog – vocally and physically. And as was mentioned before – all those crazy moves without the need to lipsync. Nothing was rehearsed or choreographed, Elvis appeared like a man charged with a huge bolt of electricity – And 53 years after that performance tha world is still feeling the jolt!! Long Live the King!
Sarah Jean said it right, although I wouldn’t go as far as saying that Michael’s music would not even have been heard, if it wasn’t for what Elvis did. It would have been heard, as this was a special boy who loved James Brown but the market would have 360 degrees different. Here’s what really happened. In 1957, Barry Gordy Jr., as per his own admission, read his biography, created TAMLA, which immediately led to its sucessor, Motown, because he wanted to give African Americans the chance that SUN records, an independent label in Memphis, had given Presley three years earlier.Naturally, his hopes were high, since he did this when Presley was no longer at SUN, and was the biggest name in music, not just in Memphis, or in the South, or in America, but throughout the world. A place where his type of R&B, I repeat, his type of R&B, not necessarily that of James Brown, or of Ray Chales, or of Fats Domino, all of whom worked on the main lables, could express itself, free of the control the main labels had, over artists, and what they were fed to record. The fact that after Presley left SUN, Sam Phillips was really getting other huge artists to develop their artistry (too many to mention here, but JLL, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison, were selling a lot of SUN singles, and they were thought to have been influenced by Presley’s rocabilly sound, three years before), made the thought of founding TAMLA even more than just an “ethically right” proposition, but one which, if handled properly, could result in huge financial gains as well.
So, had Gordy not given these guys what they needed, a TAMLA and a Motown, what we would have encountered, in terms of the music market in the early 60’s, would have been, really, a continuation of treating African American artists like special artists within the big labels. A child such as Michael, without Motown to develop his and nhis brother’s immense talents would have resulted in either landing, like Brown, in a label like KING, or like Charles, who fought allm his life with AStlantic records, no matter what the resuklts were. So, it would have been a reallyn difficult position, for all African Americans, had Berry Gordy not thought of TAMLA, again, as na lable scrcitly created to develop the kind of talent that a lable like, say, Chess, could only dream about, even with artists in their roster of the caliber of Chuck berry and Bo Diddley. it was Presley’s, (not Jerry Lee, or Perkins, or Orbison’s), global success that made the whole enterprise look attainable. If someone like Elvis Presley could do what he did at SUN (check out his output…), and then be what heb became (before veing drafted, naturally), then everything was possible. So, summing up, Michale Jackson would have been just another James Brown, but not more than that, had the promise of Elvis nPresley been just that, a promise. Presley’s advent turned the entire record industry around with eveb SONY, whcih had just been created in Japan, getting into the act by investing millions into research and development for record players, radios, televisions, and even records, such was the increase in sales of these and other entertainment related items in nthe period covering from January of 1956 and january of 1957.
There is no comparison. Elvis will never be the king of ANYTHING for me because he stole his moves and music from black artists who were not played on mainstream radio. Micheal was inventive, creative and a humanitarian.
Incidentally, just following up on what Stutz said, the difference between the Elvis Presley of the fifties and of the seventies, as far as a stage perfoemer is concerned, namely what he did in those 1,600 concerts, and what he actually did when he knew the cameras were filming him (television specials, etc), is abysmal.
When some people, today, look at these clips and they say, what was all the fuzz all about?, they are half right, but know only half of the answer.
The reason is simple. They did not attend a Presley concert in the 1950’s, or in the seventies. But, just to mention two people you readers may have heard about, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon, they certainly did. What Lennon told Dylan, who was with him at MSG, in New York, after the concert on June 10, 1972, was something to the effect that Presley’s act was “like an atomic bomb”. Three weeks later, he played the same venue, and can be heard shouting, as he sings, yes, “Hound Dog”, “I love you Elvis”, not just once, but twice, for all those 20,000 there to hear. Did he think Presley lived in new York, or that he was going to be there? Not, it was just what the Elvis concert had done to him.
Now, concerning Hendrix’s experience at an Elvis concert, this one in the fifties. After attending his 1 September, 1957 concert in Seattle, Jimi’s life changed, immediately. Not only did he buy his first electric guitar, the week after, but by 1967, ten years later!!!!, he remained such a devoted Elvis fan that he would literally play the national anthem, on his knees.
And, some people here may ask, what on earth does that have to do with Elvis. Well, a lot. After watching him sing and get the crowd in a real feeling of hysteria, for the whole show, Hendrix was stunned to see Presley toy with the audience that, for the finale, he was going to sing the national anthem. He teased them for over two minutes, then launched into a frantic version of “Hound Dog”, with his Gold lame jacket flying all over the place, then jumping into a waiting limousine, the same limo which, by chance, he and his brother saw pass right next to them, a few minutes later, as they returned home from the concert.
In brief, all those pictures of Presley, on the floor, on his knees, having a truly exceptional relationship with his audience, is something Presley never allowed the cameras to catch, in any of his 13 television appearances in the 50’s.
At the other end of the spectrum, there was nothing Michael Jackson could add, to what he did in his MTV videos.
Nothing out of what one expected him doing.
Even in that regard, Presley was different. And this attitude was contunued during the sevebties, too. Check out what he does when singing the end of “Hurt”, in his May 1, 1977 concert in Chicago.
At the end, he hits the seven second note, yes, exactly as he did for his 1977 CBS special, But in doing so, he rolls into the floor whilst simulataneosuly hitting the note. Unreal!!!
To Jackie, are you more knowledgeable about what Presley did, to advance African American music (because he loved it), than B.B. King, Jackie Wilson, Mohammed Ali, Dick Gregory, James Brown, Al Green, Barry White, and even Chuck D who, after dishing Presley in 1989 (much like you are doing now, so truly out of date…), retracted in 2002, saying that “as as usicologist, I admire Presley because of his brilliance and for the respect he had for black music”?
Do you know more than these guys?
Get a life…
As a humanitarian, I will be surprised if you are aware that a marvellous place like “St. Jude’s Hospital” , in Memphis, TN, was able to really get off the ground because of Presley’s appearance at a benefit, in 1957, or because he then donated President Roosevelt’s Presidential yatch, the “Potomac”, in 1964 so that Danny Thomas, the hospital’s founder, could then start building another one of the hospital’s most important wards.
Or, have you visited Honolulu, and be one of the millions who pay their respects, year inb, and year out, to the thousands of soldiers at the USS Arizona, who lost their lives to defend freedom? Do you know whose idea, and money from a benefit concert, were used to finally launch the actual building of the Arizona Memorial? Elvis Presley, in 1961.
I could go on, and on, but your writing such nonsense tells me that you have done zero research as to Presley’s life, otherwise you would not dismissed him, for everything, as you have.
And nothing pleases me most than debating with someone who has not done his homework. I know everything Michalr did, the good, the bad, and the ugly, but you certainly know little about Presley, other than, inter-alia, having heard Public Enemy’s “Fight the power” album, which is fine with me, but then remain unaware, in total darkness, of Chuck D’s own retraction. Do your research, or get a second life.
Michael for sure. He did so much more for music than elvis. Additionally, Michael Jackson had so much more than the moonwalk, he had a million other great dance moves and so many hits.
My heart will always belong to Elvis. There has never been a performer like him. He opened the door for all future singers to dance and sing. This performance was Elvis at the beginning of his memorable career. He was an amazing singer and performer!
Don’t get me wrong, I am also a huge Michael Jackson fan! This performance was MJ at his best. I have loved Michael’s music since he was with the Jackson Five. I have every album Elvis ever released and every one of Michael’s.
I vote for Elvis. There will never be anyone like him ever.
Great comparison. I would go with MJ’s intergalactic walk!
MJ died?
I would have to vote for Elvis because of his versatility.
For example, check out his sexy twist (Return to Sender) and his humorous tango (The Walls Have Ears)–both in the movie Girls! Girls! Girls!
And remember that his amazing movie fight scenes were choreographed just like dances.
My vote goes to Elvis because without him, we couldn’t have pop/rock music and performers as we know it.
Elvis Presley was so much better than Michael Jackson. Elvis was the whole package – the talent, the voice, the looks, the masculinity, the charisma, could act well when he got the chance, a great mover and was extremely humble with it.
It was Elvis alone who broke down social and cultural barriers in 1950’s U.S.A. making it easier for all artists who followed him including Michael Jackson and The Beatles. Elvis was the template and had no-one to set him any kind of example.
It was he who paved the way for Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960’s.
Further, Elvis could, and did, sing in virtually every musical genre available to him and this alone makes him unique. I am still waiting to hear some of Michael Jackson’s Country, Gospel, Calypso, Blues, and Rock ‘n’ Roll tracks.
Elvis also matured as an artist and his concerts were always attended by people of all ages unlike Jackson who never matured and appealed mainly to teenagers.
The only real talent Michael Jackson had was for dance and this again was aimed mainly at teenagers. However, Elvis was also a great mover as can be witnessed by such movie sequences as ‘Jailhouse Rock’; Baby I Don’t Care’; ‘Poor Boy’; ‘Let Me’; ‘We’re Gonna Move’; ‘Polk Salad Annie’ and the greatest live performance of all time by any artist ‘Suspicious Minds’.
We will never see another artist in the same class as Elvis, he was truly ‘sui generis’.
Their talents were different – you cannot compare Michael’s singing to Elvis’. Elvis wins there, hands down. Both influenced many, many musicians who came after them. Elvis never wrote his own music and Michael did – good music. But without Elvis introducing the white world to black music, there would have been no Michael Jackson phenomenon.
Michael did it well, but if you think his moonwalk was original, check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZcLWAmdco
Elvis elvis elvis elvis by faaaarrrrrrrr!
WHAT!!!!!!!! pesk gj. Ha lol. Are you crazy? Its obvious you know absolutely NOTHING about Elvis otherwise you would not have written such utter unadulterated rubbish. Saying MJ did more for music than Elvis. Research, which will take you ages into what Elvis did for charities and ordinary people, then when you have done that come back and make another comment. See you in 12 months.
To Robert de Jonge-
1. Speaking of someone doing his/her homework- spell check works wonders.
2. I don’t dispute the fact that Elvis loved black music. In fact, I’m pretty sure he did hence the reason he stole it.
3. I don’t need to take my cues and opinions from Chuck D. or anyone else because I know my history and music history and am able to form my own thoughts and opinions based on my own research.
4. If you want to sit here and talk about who has done his/her homework cite your sources. To say that Elvis did more for black music than all of the men you listed is opinion, NOT fact.
FYI: Elvis wasn’t the first and only artist to steal black music. Hence the reason artists like Little Richard sang songs in such a manner that would make it hard for white artist to replicate. YET, he still became a mainstream act (without the help of Elvis) In fact, I don’t recall there being a joint performance between Elvis and Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton (the original singer of Hound Dog). Maybe I missed that recognition, does someone have the youtube link for that?
Brian Quinn- how could you even begin to say that Michael Jackson only appealed to teenagers? That statement is so backwards it barely warrants a response. But I will give you one anyway, free of charge.
Though both men are great musically, MJ transcended race, generations and was an international superstar. He shattered records and revolutionized the music and video industry. Last time I checked, MJs concerts were attended by mostly adults.
Mandy and so many others. Here are the known facts. Elvis sold over 1 billion records. More than any other. Elvis had 18 billboard number 1’s, Michael had 13. Almost a million people visit Graceland each year. It is something that will never happen for any other star. Michael had Thriller, and that is something special… However, Elvis is still the King, and the biggest star who ever lived, hands down..
Jackie-
Why would Elvis have to record a duet with Big Mama? Big Mama’s Hound Dog was a blues song that came out about three or four years before Elvis version. Elvis’ version is a reworked version, not at all like Thorntons. What, you don’t think artists cover other songs? Hound Dog was written for Thornton by two Jewish guys. Without Elvis millions of other people would not even know Thorntons name. ELvis didnt “steal”black music, he combined the music that he grew up on in Tupelo and Memphis, which was country and blues. He himself never said he invented it, even though he pretty much was the first to combine both musical genres before anyone-and they called it Rockabilly music. ( in 1954) before Little Richard, Before Chuck Berry-two artists that people always seem to think deserve the title of King of Rock.
For that matter, Jackie- do a search for “Bear Cat” 1953 by Rufus Thomas. Thats stealing-in fact Sam Phillips almost lost Sun records due to copyright infingement