I think most of this rivalry was dreamed up to titillate us all. I go with the understanding, that in the early and mid 1980s there may have been some, but after Prince's later albums did not reach Purple Rain levels of fame, Michael relaxed and over time they became friends.
To mesome evidence, is that they avoided releasing albums at the same time. Prince albums came out months or even years later than MJ. Okay Thriller came out some 2 months after 1999, but at the time Prince was barely known outside R and B and a few nightclub circles, 1999 was not a huge breakthrough until Little Red Corvette was a big hit (US #6) in May 1983 (The single was released in Feb, but took a long time to hit). The original release of 1999 as a single in August 1982 was a flop stiffing at 45 on the pop chart. Then Delirious got to #8 in August and 1999 was released again hitting #12 in November 1983. The last single of 1999 was a flop and it was the rather explicit "Lets Pretend were married" which included the f word several times and graphic rape fantasy lyrics. 1999 the album never climbed above #9 on the chart, whereas Thriller was #1 for 37 weeks, Thriller sold 30 million copies in the period Dec 1982 to June 1984 (With 50 million more since), 1999 sold 2 million copies in comparison. The Thriller era, Michael Jackson was a much bigger star.
Sign o the Times which had 2 Top 3 hits and hit #3 was released in March 1987, by the Time bad arrived in August, SOTT was in freefall as Prince had not done a tour of the USA (Only Europe) and the 2nd single "If I was ur girlfriend" was a colossal flop stalling in the 60s. The song a cult classic was not understood by pop audiences at large. U got the look the 3rd single came out in August and hit #2 in October, but kept out of the top by Bad and I wanna dance with somebody by Whitney Houston. Prince's next album Lovesexy, another cult fan favourite came out in May 1988 and was an even bigger flop with only Top 10 hit Alphabet street which stopped at #10, and the other two singles (Glam Slam, Eye wish u heaven) which were minor hits elsewhere, failed the chart in the increasingly bland and hip hop fuelled late 1980s. Lovesexy was his first album not to go Top 10 since 1981's Controversy stalling at #11. The Lovesexy tour did well in Europe, but it was shadowed by the phenomenon of 1988 - Michael Jackson's Bad, with its 5 x #1 hits and a massive tour.
Dnagerous was released 2 months after Diamonds and Pearls, again Dangerous had 8 top 40 hits including 3 Top 5s and a #1 hit. Prince's Diamonds and Pearls was a comeback of sorts selling 3 million copies, and having 4 Top 30 hits and also a number one with Cream. But the album is not that well regarded by Prince fans, being a trend following with his new rapper Tony M who was very mediocre. Prince's brief chart uptick ended the next year. Dangerous was not quite on the level of Bad and Thriller commercially but still moved 10 times as many copies as Diamonds and Pearls. Unlike Diamonds and Pearls, Dangerous was an outsatnding album and still proved Michael was at the forefront of musical trends with its slick pop and new jack swing sound and the unique MJ touch.
After 1992 there is no contest, Prince went on making most well regarded albums that pleased his fan, whereas Michael had more chart impact, but it did decline from the heights of the previous decade. Prince and MJ respected each other as they grew up and even Prince played up the rivalry. In the 2008 live disc on 21 Nights Prince chats and says "Come on Prince, one photo of you and Michael Jackson together, it could top my career".
I still think both resented the comparisons as they saw it as lazy journalism as the uneducated masses and populist press that serves them, loved to lump Prince and Michael Jackson together, because both were Black pop superstars and had a similar dance sound and were considered quite weird and effete by the crowd at large.In reality I love them for different reasons, Michael as the crowd pleasing, awesome singer and dancer who could write some great songs, yet knew his commercial limitations and was a marketing genius. While I see Prince as the consummate Musician who could write songs of many types, he was a Musician and composer more than a dancer and singer, unlike Michael though Prince could not contain all his creativity and this led to a glut of product, some of which was very poor, whereas Michael was a stickler for quality control.
Also Michael was very shy and reserved, his music was polite and mostly inoffensive, he never swore (Except that one time in Scream) or sang about graphic sex, disrespected women or the like. Prince on the other hand may have been shy and reserved off stage, but he was very fond of swearing gratuitous sex and speaking his mind up to 1998 and then a big social rights crusader afterwards, although the sex had crept back in his post 2010 recordings.
Now I will read the article.
