I love Kate Bush. I saw her Before The Dawn show second row from the front and it was one of the best shows I've ever been to.
I know what you mean about measuring success through commercial means, but it's swings and roundabouts. MJ was very concerned with being the best and I think he felt validated as an artist through his commercial successes. But for MJ, that spurred him on, to become the greatest. With other artists, being concerned with commercial viability often leads to them chasing trends, selling out, not being true to themselves etc. I don't think MJ ever had that problem, he always put his stamp on whatever he did, even when he was embracing new musical trends or using contemporary producers. This is partly why a project like Xscape kind of falls flat, because MJ's final touch is the missing ingredient.
But when I say it's swings and roundabouts, what concerns me as a fan of someone like Prince, is how his legacy will last for future generations. I am not concerned about this with Michael, despite everything that he's had thrown at him, I feel secure in my belief that his musical legacy will live on for hundreds of years to come, I truly believe that. MJ's music was always so universal, and young kids today love MJ just as they did thirty years ago. His hits compilations are constantly lingering in the charts, week in, week out. Thriller is played every Halloween without fail, you go to a wedding, nine times out of ten the DJ will play at least 2 or 3 MJ songs and everyone will get up on the dancefloor.
With Prince or Kate Bush and artists of their ilk, they have an almost cult following, and since Prince has passed, I have wondered what will become of his legacy once the people who became fans during his lifetime are gone. I mean, the man didn't exactly do himself any favours, by making so much of his music inaccessible, a good chunk of his later work is now out-of-print and he had an overly-zealous obsession with making sure his music couldn't be listened to or watched online without him being compensated for it. It's all very well taking that stance and fighting for artists rights, it some ways it's commendable, but what about preserving your own legacy for future generations? Warner Bros recently put out Prince's first posthumous release, a hits compilation which was fairly heavily promoted and has come out just in time for the Christmas market in the same year as his death. It failed to reach the top 20 here in the UK and just about scraped the top 40 Stateside. Prince could've had so much more universal appeal than he did, but he shot himself in the foot repeatedly and I fear his musical legacy will largely die out with his fanbase.
For MJ, he knew what he was doing. It wasn't just about being number 1 that week, he talked often about building a legacy and about the importance of his work living on and being immortalised. He achieved it through his unparalelled talent, attention to detail and ambiton, and whilst I think his appeal was unique exclusively to him, I do think other artists could've achieved a more enduring legacy had they taken the time and foresight to look beyond their own creative whims and self-indulgence.
