Michael & Prince - Duality

Bromance: Prince

February 14, 2010 As close to a picture of Mike and Prince as we’ll ever get:
1984, Michael reading a story about “Purple Rain” (“Will Prince’s Purple, Reign?”)

1978:
From Latoya’s autobio:
Having grown up surrounded by so many brothers, I liked men as friends but was totally unversed in deciphering the nonverbal cues between men and women.
Shortly after Prince released, “Soft and Wet,” he shyly introduced himself to me at a roller skating party. “Hi.”
“Hi,” I said nonchalently.
“I’m Prince.”
“Yes, I know.” There was no mistaking the large broen eyes, downy moustache, and straight black hair. Although I was sitting down to put on my my skates, he was barely my height.
“I just want you to know that I’m madly in love with you,” he whispered passionately.
“Oh.” I thought this was his way of complimenting someone. I had no idea of his real intentions until he said, “I have all your pictures and everything, and I like everything about you.” His voice trailed off as if he had run out of words.
“Oh… that’s nice.”
Most girls would have kissed him or slapped him. Me? I stood up, offered a cheery “Well, hope you have a nice time tonight!” and skated off.
1981:
“In 1981 Prince had a song about mutual masturbation on his ‘Controversy’ album called ‘Jack U Off’.” Byron goes on to say that Michael made comments and asked questions like “What does that mean, exactly? What kind of person writes a song about that? I mean, that’s so private, isn’t it? Maybe I should write a song about something like that,” Michael said, teasing him. “Can’t you just see that?” Byron said, “no.”
– Byron Moore, a former associate of Michael, The Magic and Madness
1982:
Brian Banks: It was late in the evening one night when we were working, and Quincy came to us. We all knew how Thriller was going, they were trying to get Vincent Price, they were doing all this stuff, but he wanted this huge chord sequence – he said, ‘There’s this sound that I’ve got in my head, there’s this underground, this new artist, that nobody’s ever really heard of but he’s great, he’s hot, he’s got this great song.’ And he pulled out the album and it was Prince, ’1999′. And you know the opening sound on that? Duh-da da, Dur-duh-duh? Well that was the sound – that big, bitey chord sound at the opening of ’1999′ – he wanted that, but bigger, for Thriller.”
Source
1983
“Little Red Corvette” (directed by Bryan Greenberg and released in February 1983) was one of the first music videos by a black artist to get regular airplay on MTV. Michael Jackson was the first to break the color barrier with “Billie Jean” in January, and Prince’s hit soon followed. Michael reportedly was a fan of the song.
November,

John Landis: We had a première [for Thriller]- which was a riot – because Michael wanted a première. I’ve been to the Oscars and I’ve been to the Baftas, I’ve been to the Emmys, I’ve been to the Golden Globes, and I’ve never been anywhere like this première. It was incredible. There was everyone from Diana Ross and Warren Beatty to Prince. It was nuts. Amazing… got a standing ovation and all that stuff and they’re shouting, ‘Encore, encore,’ and I said ‘Encore? There is no f—ing encore!’
Then Eddie Murphy got up and shouted, ‘Show the goddamn thing again!’ So they sat and they watched Thriller again. Why not? It was just amazing, it was just amazing…
1984:
Soon after viewing “Purple Rain”, Michael invited Prince over to his home for dinner with Janet and La Toya. Prince is said to have made a few unsuccessful passes at La Toya. At the end of the evening, Prince gave Michael a gift – a box containing leaves, twigs and a cassette of some satanic like chants. “Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness” reported a similar event. “At another encounter with Michael, Prince brought him a present in a small box. Inside there were some colorful metal charms and some feathers. Michael closed the box quickly and shot a look at Quincy Jones, who was present. Then Prince left.”
*
While Prince was in Los Angeles, Quincy Jones arranged for him to meet Michael Jackson over dinner at Jackson’s Encino family home. Jones felt the two creative forces should know one another. “It was a strange summit,” according to writer Quincy Troupe. They’re so competitive with each other that neither would give anything up. They kind of sat there checking each other out, but saying very little. It was a fascinating stalemate between two very powerful dudes.”
–From Dance Music Sex Romance
1985
After a show Prince was scheduled to participate in an event that threatened to overshadow the awards itself. He along with more than forty other music stars had been invited to A&M Studios to record…”We Are The World.” The main creative forces behind the song was Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. A line had been written for Prince to sing and a space in the studio blocked out for him to stand next to Michael Jackson. But at some point during the course of the evening, he decided not to show up. Prince later said in interviews that he would have felt uncomfortable around so many entertainment luminaries.
Prince in any situation needed to feel in control, something that would have been impossible as a session dominated by his arch rival Michael Jackson. Prince agreed to contribute a song to the We Are The World album, “4 The Tears In Your Eyes.”
We Are The World, David Breskin, Life Magazine, April 1985
On the other side of Michael Jackson – between him and Paul Simon – is a space marked ‘Prince’. He never shows. He’d offered to play a steaming guitar part, but was asked to do the same as everybody else. (“Fuck him. What is he? A creep” – Bob Geldof.)
Dance Music Sex Romance: Prince: The First Decade

Jackson showed up backstage at a couple Prince shows in 1984. The two icons, whose “Thriller” and “Purple Rain” defined the 1980s, never did work together. Later that decade, when both were recording at the same Los Angeles studio, Prince invited Jackson to play ping-pong. Michael, a star since age 8 who had lived a sheltered life, didn’t know how.
“You want me to slam it?” Prince asked, according to engineer David Z, who was there. “Michael drops his paddle and holds his hands up in front of his face so the ball won’t hit him. Michael walks out with his bodyguard, and Prince starts strutting around like a rooster. ‘Did you see that? He played like Helen Keller.’”
But Bland insists the two icons got along fine: “They’d shoot hoops at Paisley Park,” Prince’s studio/home in Chanhassen. “We used to get packages from MJJ Productions [with] footage of Sly Stone performing in Europe. Prince would pop it in the VCR, and we’d watch it.”
1987:
Reports said that Michael Jackson was still bugged by the success of “Purple Rain”. He wanted more than just his goody, wholesome image. He wanted to show a “badder” side. The plan was to plant false stories in the tabloids (as many celebreties do) that there was a heated rivalry between the two. The plan would continue by having Michael’s manger making a statement in Rolling Stone magazine claiming that the rumors were untrue and that the two were actually good friends. With the controversy in full swing, the musical showdown of the century would begin. The two would finally meet on the single and video of “Bad”. Prince was actually willing to listen to Michael’s offer. But as it turned out, Prince was not satisfied. The “Bad” video ended up with Michael singing alone, facing off against a then little known Wesley Snipes in 1987. In a recent interview by Chris Rock, Prince said, “Well, that Wesley Snipes character, that would’ve been me (laughs). You run that video in your mind. The first line of that song is ‘Your butt is mine’. Now I said ‘Who gonna sing that to who? Cause you sure ain’t singin’ it to me. And I sure ain’t singin’ it to you’. So right there we got, y’know, right there we got a problem.”
*
“Michael Jackson – Bad” was originally supposed to be a duet with Prince and Michael, but Quincy says on the 25th Anniversary Release of Bad that Prince turned it down because he “felt it was a hit without him.”
*
Quincy Jones, Q Magazine, November 1987
How aware was Michael of Prince, and of his rise to prominence?
“Prince was making the biggest thrust right at the peak of Thriller, and Michael’s success had gotten so far out of control, at one point you could just feel it breaking that barrier, in almost a scary fashion. And right after that I think the public freaked out because all the hoopla was going on and here comes Prince with Purple Rain and in my opinion when the backlash started they used Prince to whip Michael with: it’s time for you to get pulled down and Prince is gonna be the one to do it.”
(Jones confirms that the two superstars did meet on one occasion: “a social call.” Nobody is claiming that the pair got along famously. There was, it seems, some polite conversation about vegetarianism.)
[...]

“He’s been in here a few times,” he says of Jackson. “He won’t look you straight in the eye. He’s a shy guy, I guess, but he will sign autographs, which is more than Prince does. If people knew how Prince treated his fans, he wouldn’t be so popular. Michael used to sign with whatever date it was. Now he signs 1998, I don’t know what means. Maybe it’s when he thinks the world is going to end or something.”
According to Bruce Swedian:
Aaron……
Isn’t it terrible how the press just can’t tell the whole story???
I was there for a couple of the meetings with Prince and Michael, Quincy and all. Personaly I think that after meeting with Michael, Quincy, Fredy DeMann and his team, Prince realized that he couldn’t win this duet/duel with MJ, artistically or other wise… And pulled out… He left the building, so to speak…
As far as I am concerned. I want to say that I love Prince’s music…
*
Marva King was initially going to sing duet with Michael in IJCSLY, but was replaced by Siedah Garrett, however her vocals remain in the background. She then performed on tour with Prince from 1997-1999.
Source
1988,
During a short break, Quincy Jones played a practical joke on Michael. He placed a photo of Prince on the seat next to him. Michael nodded his head as to say, “No Way!”
- During taping of the 1988 Grammy’s, Tatiana Thumbtzen’s bio
Bad Tour, Mike’s guitarist Jennifer Batten,
Somebody we know wanted us to ask you if you have ever met Prince.
Yeah, I didn’t actually officially meet him. He came backstage at one of the Jackson shows on the Bad tour, he had Shelia E and Cat with him. I had some friends who were sitting behind him at the show, they said he went nuts when I did my solo on Beat It! [chuckles] But I never met him personally.
1989
In 1989, while still enjoying the success of his “Bad” album, Michael released a home video called “Moonwalker”. In it, a group of kids reenact his “Bad” video, with the Wesley Snipes character played by a member of the group The Boys. At the end of the act, the little Michael is escorted off of the “Bad” subway set by a little entourage member. Little Michael asks about Bubbles the chimp, then asks what he is wearing. “He’s wearing a Prince t-shirt and red sneakers,” he is told. “PRINCE t-shirt?” little Michael asks.
*
29th March
Will the next big battle between the “Bad” manchild and the Purple One be on the big screen instead of the pop charts?
Another interesting coincidence is the fact that Prince’s new law firm is Ziffren, Brittenham and Branca. John Branca is Jackson’s attorney and is said to be handling the superstar while he searches for a new manager.
1990:
“Once More With Feeling,” Tatiana Thumbtzen
Tatiana adds, she met Prince at her birthday party. She was taken at how beautiful he was in person, even more so than on camera. She asked him to dance, everyone in the club stopped to watch. When the party ended, Prince invited her for a ride in his limo. They rode around for a couple of hours, listening to demos of his new music. He asked her to go to his hotel, she did. At one point, while they were talking, Prince reached over and pulled her top down. She was shocked and said, “I thought you were shy!” Referring to my breasts, he said, “They’re so beautiful!”
Next he led me to his big walk-in closet. He had hundreds of suits in every color. It was 4.a.m in the morning; he invited me to stay, promising to take me home in the morning. I agreed and he gave me a pair of silk pajamas and he put on a black Lycra cat suit. We kissed and cuddled as we drifted off to sleep. After that first date, Prince and I went out a few more times. One time, he sent his brother, Dwain in a Rolls Royce to pick me up. I brought him a birthday gift, a belt that spelled out Gemini. Since I knew he didn’t like to be handed gifts, Dwain promised to give it to him later. During the next several months, I shared a few more romantic interludes with Prince. There were moments of passion but he never went too far(they never had sex). The closeness we had, however, was more important than sex.
We talked and talked, there was nothing we didn’t talk about, And we would laugh hysterically.
Prince is wonderful but he is also eccentric. Along with the brilliance, there is a temperamental side and I’ve seen both his Dr. Jekyll and his Mr. Hyde. His mood could change at the drop of a hat. He’d be fine one minute, then dark, dramatic and withdrawn the next.
Prince and I lost touch for about four years. We met by chance one night at a club and started talking about an interview I had given to the Star tabloid during the scandal involving Michael Jackson and the underage boy. Prince was upset that I had spoken to the tabloid; he attacked me for my comments and he was especially bothered by a line that quoted me as saying that Michael would never get married. He shouted, “Did you need the money that bad? Are you that poor – that broke, that you sell your story to the tabloids?”
1991
But Prince isn’t taking any chances: He recently announced that he has hired a new business consultant: Frank Dileo, the management muscle behind Michael Jackson’s successful Thriller and Bad albums.
1992
Lori Werner was a dancer on Prince’s “Diamonds and Pearls,” in 1992 and then was later a TWYMMF dancer for Michael during the 1996 Brunei concert and the 1996/7 History tour.
October 13, 1992:
Prince releases the album “Love Symbol” which includes the song “My Name Is Prince” and the lyric: “You got to be a Prince befo’ yo’ King anyway” a likely reference to Michael’s “King of Pop” status.
1994:
BLACK&WHITE : Bob Jones told us Prince stopped by awhile ago, what’s up with that?!?
Bruce Swedien : This is true, Prince came to the studio. He was passing by, stopped in and wanted to see Michael…he hung around and heard a few songs…
BLACK&WHITE : Did he like them?
Bruce Swedien : He said they were good.
– “Black & White” Magazine
According to Rob Hoffman on Gearsltuz:
For what it’s worth, MJ and Prince did have a meeting during HIStory as well. We were all kicked out of the room however (Prince’s wishes, not MJ’s), so I don’t know what was said.
1995:
1995 was also the ten year anniversary of “We Are The World”. At another televised awards program, Quincy Jones had a group of artists join him up on stage to help sing it. Quincy’s good friend Michael was not there that evening, but his other friend Prince was. It was during Prince’s phaze of always being seen with a lollipop in his mouth. Prince joined Quincy as well as various other artists on stage to sing “We Are The World”. Prince, however was not singing. His mouth was too busy with his lollipop. Quincy placed a microphone towards Prince’s mouth so he would sing. But Prince just playfully placed his lollipop towards Quincy’s mouth. Quincy pretended like he was about to eat it.
Prince releases “The Truth” in 1998
The song “Fascination” includes the lyrics: “So called King gives birth to so called Prince.” Michael named his son Prince (after his grandfather, but I’m sure Prince got the irony).
2000
Link to an interiew (it won’t embed!) where Prince talks about who would win in an arm wrestling match (“Michael’s a lover not a fighter”) and where he tells people to chill out on Michael, “because we don’t really know what’s going on with him and we need to chill on that.”
Around 2000,
During the early 2000s, Prince was being interviewed (radio, I think) and the interviewer played a game with him. He said that he would hold up cards with names on them and Prince had to say the first thing that came to mind. The interviewer held up a card that said ‘Michael Jackson’ and Prince responded ‘Genius’. Later on, the interviewer held up a card that said ‘Janet Jackson’ and Prince responded ‘The genuis’ sister.”
Michael Jackson “Invincible” October 30, 2001
On the song “Invincible” Michael sings, “He’s buying diamonds and pearls, but he can’t do it like me.” Prince released the album, “Diamonds and Pearls” back in 1991.

Michael, KIIS FM Radio, September 10, 2003
Rick: Michael, it’s Rick Dees!
Michael: Rick, how are you?
Rick: How are you?
Michael: How’ve you been doin’?
Rick: Couldn’t be better, sir. And you’re in Toronto now?
Michael: Yes, I’m in Toronto. I just decided to come up here and write music.
Rick: You know who else is living in Toronto now? Prince. Prince decided to move from Minneapolis to Toronto.
Michael: The singer?
Rick: Yes, Prince the singer.
Michael: You’re kidding!
Rick: And he and his wife…in fact, Jimmy Jam told me they’re living there now.
Michael: Jimmy Jam is so nice.
Rick: Isn’t he the best?
Michael: Yeah…
2004
On his 2004 album Musicology, Prince had a lyric that went, “My voice is getting higher/And Eye ain’t never had my nose done/That’s the other guy.”
There is also rumoured to be another song on his album relating to an ex-girlfriend of Michael’s…
2005-2009 (anyone know the date?)
Crave online Interview With Will.I.Am:
Will.i.am: I don’t know but I know that one time I was in Vegas and [Michael Jackson's] like, “Oh, I heard you’re in Vegas.”
I was like, “Yeah, we have a show tonight. Can you come?”
“What time you guys go on?”
We go on at 9 o’clock. I swear to God, “Oh, rats.” He said rats. “Oh, rats, I can’t. I’ve got to put the kids to sleep.”
All right, well after we perform with the Peas, I’m performing with Prince. You should come to the show. So Prince invited me to perform with him at the Palms. Maybe you can come see me perform with Prince.
So Michael Jackson says, “Oh really? I’d love to. Call Prince and see if it’s cool.” I call Prince’s assistant. She’s like sure. So I’m like, “Yo, Mike, it’s great.”
Come on, dude. This sh*t ain’t real. To me, that that happened, it sounds like a big ass lie, right? Yeah, I’ll just call Prince and then bring Michael Jackson but it’s the realest sh*t. So, I’m late. I’m late. I’m in the cab, like aw, man, what a time to be f*ckin’ late. I’m always late and I’m late for Michael Jackson to see me perform with Prince.
So I hop off the cab and I’m running in Las Vegas. I’m running and people are like, “Wyclef!”
I’m like f*ck you, right? Then I run and I get to the place and I perform for Prince and I walk off stage and Michael’s there.
He’s like, “That was awesome. I didn’t know you rapped.” I was like, “What? You don’t know I rap? I’m in the Black Eyed Peas.”
“I didn’t think it was you that was the rapper. I thought it was the other guy.”
I was like, “No, that’s me, dude.”
“You’re awesome, that was awesome. We need to do something like that on my record where you rap and I sing.” Yeah, but that was a great experience to have Mike see me perform with Prince. It was nuts. That’s great, cool.
German interview with Will.I.Am:
Sp: You’ve also worked with Prince? The man has shocked the recording industry, by giving away his new CD in Great Britain for free with a newspaper.
Will.i.am: A visionaire. I performed with him. A few months ago,I was with the Black Eyed Peas in Las Vegas. Prince calls me, he played in a Casino and asks, “You want to perform with me tonight?” Sure, I say, of course! The next day his assistant called me and said: “Prince would like to know if you want to come along this evening too.” Want to? What’s more cool than to play with Prince? Right, to play with him two days in a row! A few minutes later I get a further call: “Hey, it’s Mike, wat are you doing?” Mike? Michael Jackson? Wow! He had changed studios at that time, from Ireland to Las Vegas. I say: “Hey, I’m playing with Prince here tonight.”
“Prince? That is great!”
“You should come!”
“Really? That would be cool!”
“That would be really cool!”
“Okay, I’ll come.” Imagine that: I’m playing with Prince, and Michael Jackson sits in the audience! Holy ish! What chance is there to get a call from Prince and then one from Michael Jackson within ten minutes?
Sp: that chance is zero.
Will.i.am: Right. Okay, I head for the concert in the early evening and – get stuck in traffic! I think by myself, @#$%, this is the worst time to be stuck ! So I jump out of the car and start to run. I make it at the last second into the club. Everything goes smoothly, after three minutes I ‘m back from the stage, Prince still yells in the microphone “Give it up for Will.i.am!” I creep into the hall and sit down to the table of – Michael Jackson. So he really came!
“What did you think of me?”, I ask him.
He answers: “I did not know you rapped.”
Now I ask you? The man lets me fly to bloody Ireland for a few photographs, and he doesn’t even know that I am not only a producer, but also a rapper!
I say: “Have you never heard my music, or looked at my videos? I @#$#%’ am the main rapper of the Black Eyed Peas!” Anyways. Besides Michael Jackson sits the actor Chris Tucker, and then Prince comes down from the stage to us…
Sp: … and sees Michael Jackson sitting at the table with you?
Will.i.am: Yo. He had his bass still strapped on and stops at our table. So there we sit : Michael Jackson, Chris Tucker and I. Prince stands directly before Michael Jackson and improvises on the bass: Slap! He does nothing- nothing! – and says nothing! Simply plays . What a scene! When Prince is again back on stage, Michael Jackson says to me: “Prince played his bass in the middle of my face! What’s up with that?” Now now, I say: “you are finally incognito here! Imagine that Prince would have said: ‘and by the way Michael Jackson is sitting here.’ The people are already excited because of Prince, let alone knowing you’re also here!” Yep, that was it then, the craziest night of my life.
Sp: And when you tell this story, nobody believes you.
Will.i.am: I would not even believe it! But I have to say: It is true. Each word. The next morning I had breakfast with Michael Jackson, we worked a bit on songs together – and that was the last time that I saw him.
2007
July 23rd
Michael Jackson is being advised on how to save his career by former chart rival Prince.
The eccentric star has reportedly turned to Prince, who he battled for pop supremacy in the 80s, for help with his comeback.
The ‘Purple Rain’ singer is said to have told Michael to play a series of acoustic shows in Las Vegas to prove to the world he is still an amazing talent.
A source told the New York Post newspaper: “Prince has been suggesting that Michael play a sequence of unplugged concerts in Las Vegas – just Michael and the microphone. No gimmicks, no costume changes, no smoke or mirrors, just his voice.”
It seems Prince has had a change of heart towards his one-time rival.
Earlier this year, the diminutive star snubbed Michael’s offer of a joint tour to help him re-launch himself on the world stage.
Prince was said to be concerned that the hype surrounding Michael’s comeback would over-shadow the concerts, and he wasn’t prepared to be the ‘Beat It’ singer’s support act.
Michael, Ebony, December 2007
“Billie Jean, you know, they said, we don’t – we won’t play it. And when they played it, it set the all-time record. And they were asking for everything we had. They were knocking our door down because it brought the audience. Then they – then Prince came, it opened a door for Prince and all the other black artists.”
2009
Michael’s choreographer Kenny Ortega was concerned about Michael’s insomnia because he knew he’d need a lot of stamina for the upcoming O2 concerts. Apparently Michael told Kenny that he’d wake up in the middle of the night with song ideas that were being given to him “from a higher power” and that he just had to write them down. Ortega wondered if Michael couldn’t make a deal with his “higher power” to give him these ideas at another time (instead of in the middle of the night). Michael responded, “no, I can’t ignore the ideas. Because then He might give them to Prince.”
June 27th,
Prince and Michael Jackson were friendly rivals? Seriously? According to former band members of the Purple One, it’s true.
A report in the Startribune, Bobby Z., Prince’s drummer for the Revolution, remembers watching the 1984 Grammys with Prince as Michael Jackson swept the Grammys.
“We were watching rough cuts of [the movie] ‘Purple Rain,’ and we knew that’s where Prince wanted to be the next year,” Z said Thursday.
Michael Jackson even showed up to 2 Purple Rain shows backstage. Although Michael Jackson did want to work with Prince a few years later, Prince declined due to lyrical differences.
Michael Bland insisted they got along fine. “They’d shoot hoops at Paisley Park,” Prince’s studio/home in Chanhassen. “We used to get packages from MJJ Productions [with] footage of Sly Stone performing in Europe. Prince would pop it in the VCR, and we’d watch it.”
Prince even defended Michael at a press conference in 2000 where he said something along the lines of “we don’t really know what is going on with him and maybe we need to chill on that.” (I can’t find the original transcript so paraphrasing people.)
Personally speaking, I did see Michael Jackson attend one of Prince’s shows at 3121 Las Vegas in 2006 with Wil I Am of the Black Eyed Peas and Chris Tucker. Michael did not make the after show as planned where he was to be seated with Michael Jordan.
Recently, Prince has been performing Michael Jackson songs in his sets, “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” and recently “Dancing Machine” by the Jackson 5
It’s nice to know my favorite artist Prince had an interesting connection with Michael that many of us did not know, beating him in hoops I am sure. -Dr.FB
15th October, 2009
At your concert at the Grand Palais, you’ve performed a song the Jackson 5 Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground). Was it a tribute?
My singer Elisa has the same timbre as Michael when he was young. And a good song is a good song.

How did you feel at the death of Michael Jackson?
(Prince, obviously reluctant, does not want to dwell on the subject.) It is always sad to lose someone you loved.

... like ... wow...

i love them both, but of course, I put MJ on a pedestal. i actually love that little rivalry they had because it wasn't a serious thing
and i love Bob Geldof reaction to Prince :lmao:

bromance lol .. I LOVE EM BOTH .

Thanks for posting DI! Love it! :wub:

P.S. mjbaybee..LOVE LOVE LOVE your new siggy/avatar! SOOOO beautiful!

Arklove said:

Thanks for posting DI! Love it! :wub:

P.S. mjbaybee..LOVE LOVE LOVE your new siggy/avatar! SOOOO beautiful!

Click to expand...

thanks love :wub:

wow, a very enjoyable read thanks

there's no doubt that Prince has respect for Michael Jackson, and always has. and there was some envy that Prince had, cus he would want to go out with the girl that appeared in the MJ vid, but didn't get down with her(maybe she stopped it).. he probably fearing that she would not respect him anymore while she was still so in awe of and still respecting Michael. a lot is revealed in that, and, the Moonwalker video reveals Mike's respect for and rival feelings about Prince. yeah..sure there was a rivalry. it's human. and now respective fans keep it, almost, too seriously..lol

LOL @ Bruce Sweiden saying that MJ is the ish, but wanting to qualify, by saying he loves Prince's music..lol...Bruce sounds like a fan on one of these sites.

and that episode where Tatiana admits to going to the tabloids about Michael, and her admission of Prince's strong reaction..first of all the fact that she was willing to admit that, and second of all.the fact that the press is admitting to it...at that point i am inclined to think that Prince not only respects michael..but loves Michael...and wanted to protect him.

Great compilation of stuff, thanks I've liked Prince since the 80's. Michael's on a whole other level for me, though. :heart: I love LaToya's story:lmao: And basketball at Paisley Park made me think of Chappelle's Show and "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories" :hysterical:

Ooo, I can think of a couple of macros for this, lol:
:lol:

On the song “Invincible” Michael sings, “He’s buying diamonds and pearls, but he can’t do it like me.” Prince released the album, “Diamonds and Pearls” back in 1991.

i like this.

SIDEWALK said:

On the song “Invincible” Michael sings, “He’s buying diamonds and pearls, but he can’t do it like me.” Prince released the album, “Diamonds and Pearls” back in 1991.

i like this.

Click to expand...

When I read that, I wondered... did anyone else really take those lyrics to be a Prince reference? I have never thought of that once until it was just pointed out now. I mean, Prince didn't exactly coin the phrase "diamonds and pearls"... he just used it in a song. Hmm. I suspect it simply fit into the context/topic of Invincible

SIDEWALK said:

On the song “Invincible” Michael sings, “He’s buying diamonds and pearls, but he can’t do it like me.” Prince released the album, “Diamonds and Pearls” back in 1991.

i like this.

Click to expand...

me too
I just wanna say, I realy don't like Prince:no:

mjbunny said:

Click to expand...

cloudfit :lmao:

What an interesting read.

It sounds like they had a "friendly" rivalry going on. I love how when Prince was asked to say the first thing that comes to mind when he hears "Michael Jackson" he said "genius." I think that says a lot.

Also what he said in regards to Michael's death...

thanks!! nice collection!

maybe Michaels "1998" signature had to do with Prince's "1999" album title?

Shake Your Body Down To The Ground 2009

Start at 2:24
[youtube]9b4KqoObUDs[/youtube]

GREAT contribution! thank you! that's why this forum is the mikepedia!

I love them both. Michael and Prince are two of my favorite male artists of all time. Both are musical geniuses.

I just "found" Prince and started listening to him. He is awesome talent too.

This is great topic. Thank you! It was very interesting reading about this "rivalry". I believe there is huge respect between these guys but it seems like Prince is still annoyed that Michael was huger success than Prince ever was.

Michael Jackson Vs. Prince: An Oral History

Keith Murphy
6-25-2010 7:58 am

“I heard you were looking for me,” said a deep voice on the other end of the phone. It was the fall of 1996, and Michael Jackson was holding court in a posh suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York. The King of Pop had instructed his handlers to contact his old peer and rival Prince for a planned collaboration. The prospect for such a headline-making union was indeed intriguing. For much of the ‘80s, Michael Joseph Jackson and Prince Rogers Nelson took turns ruling the musical landscape. MJ, the gifted Motown child prodigy who made good on his ambition to become the biggest pop star to ever walk the earth with the release of the record-breaking landmark Thriller. Prince, the at times outrageous, androgynous, one-man-band performer and producer who backed up his genius rep by pulling off one of the most unlikely coups in rock history after unleashing the multi-platinum 1984 Purple Rain soundtrack and Oscar winning film. A rivalry was born.
But more than a decade later, both had found themselves in a battle to save their respective careers. MJ struggled mightily to fight unproven child molestation accusations as the tabloid brigade hounded him relentlessly. Prince declared war against his longtime label Warner Bros. and changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol as he headed deeper into obscurity. Indeed, a team-up between the two icons would be perceived as a brilliant masterstroke. “I think it would be just great,” MJ told Prince. Yet, the collaboration to end all collaborations would never happen. Both aging legends would achieve comebacks on their own terms. With the untimely June 25, 2009 death of Jackson, their connection grows even more profound. The fact that the public is still enamored with MJ and Prince speaks volumes for their cultural impact and influential contributions to music. But what did these two titans really think of one another? Was there a true rivalry or deep respect? VIBE presents the Oral History of a King and a Prince.—Keith Murphy


A KING AND A PRINCE (1970-1982)

AHMIR “QUESTLOVE” THOMPSON (Leader, producer and drummer for the Philadelphia hip-hop band The Roots): I have an actual theory on why we started connecting Michael and Prince together early on. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both were born in the summer of 1958 in the Midwest and both basically represent different phases of the coming-of-age life of black youth. Michael captured the imagination of post civil-rights America as a youth and he was their guiding light. And Prince captured the same post-civil rights America when they became teenagers and helped them mature into adulthood.
ALAN LEEDS (Former tour manager for Prince and James Brown; Co-editor of the book The James Brown Reader): I remember seeing Michael’s first big tour with the Jackson 5 in 1970. When I was out with James Brown we crossed paths in Dayton, Ohio. They were playing the O’Hare Arena in Dayton the night before we were scheduled to perform. Onstage he had a charismatic presence that very few people had. I remember we were staying at the same hotel. And before the gig, I happened to be in the hotel lobby when the J5 left to go to sound check. I saw them come through with their security; screaming kids were outside the hotel and I recall seeing Michael and he looked like a little pimp [laughs]. He had that confident walk and he was only 10 years old! He totally understood, “Hey, I’m the star. I’m the reason these kids are out here.”
CYNTHIA HORNER (Former editor of Right On! Magazine from 1976-2005; Currently writes and edits for Hip-Hop Weekly): I met Michael back in 1976 and he was one of the shyest people that I’ve ever dealt with. It was a little difficult to interview him because even though as a professional entertainer he realized he needed the press, he wasn’t somebody that knew how to relate to the media in terms of being open with information. He was just super shy unless he was around his family. But he picked up the fact I was shy as well, so he kind of embraced me and we became friends. He and Prince were quite similar because Prince was shy as well. If you were a journalist he would give you the same monosyllabic answers that Michael did. But Prince would also speak in riddles a lot of the time; he was very evasive. He would never answer any of my questions [laughs]. He wanted to keep his privacy protected at all cost.
BRUCE SWEDIEN (Michael Jackson’s studio engineer for Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad, and Dangerous): It was very obvious to both me and Quincy [Jones] how great Michael was. He was somebody really special… the ultimate talent. We did a bunch of demos after listening to Rod Temperton’s music for Off The Wall. And Michael, in his typical fashion, went home, stayed up all night, and memorized the lyrics and we recorded those demos without a piece of paper in front of him. You tell me one other singer that could do that.
CYNTHIA HORNER: The first time I encountered Prince was in 1978. He kept calling me over and over again and I really wasn’t returning his phone calls because I didn’t know who he was and I really didn’t care. But he called me so much that I just wanted to get rid of him, so I agreed to meet with him down the street from my office, which was in Hollywood near the recording studio he was at. He wanted me to go to the studio to see a jam session. But what I didn’t realize at the time was that the jam session consisted of just one person: Prince! He played all of these different instruments. Prince was trying to prove to me that he was worthy of coverage and that he was more talented than probably a majority of the people who was appearing in [Right On!]. At that moment, Prince let me know that he was a songwriter that could produce, sing, and play all these different instruments. This was an once-in-a-lifetime talent. Once I saw that, I agreed to interview him.
ALAN LEEDS: Michael wasn’t a musician in the classic sense. He approached his music differently from the way Prince did although Michael could write a great song as well. But Prince was arguably a musician first. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Prince saw Michael as a symbol of where he wanted to go in terms [of notoriety]. Michael was one of the few artists on the planet that Prince did respect in that sense. Once we realized that he was in the process of writing what was the original idea for the film Purple Rain as he was scribbling in notebooks during the 1979 tour, we knew he wanted more. The word was beginning to spread: “Hey, Prince really thinks he’s writing a movie.” I don’t think any of us took it that seriously because it didn’t make sense that somebody who at that point only had a few pop hits was going to be able to get the funding for a film. But it certainly revealed an ambition he had and to his credit Prince would go on to pull it off.
CYNTHIA HORNER: I would give Michael copies of the magazines and he would see certain people in the book and ask me lots of questions about the artists he was interested in. And that’s how he was introduced to Prince. After that, I started to let Michael listen to some of the Prince music I had and he was intrigued. At that point, I realized that there was somewhat of a rivalry developing. Michael had been in the business longer, so naturally he didn’t want to get replaced by the newcomer.

BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY (1983-1993)

ALAN LEEDS: Prince went to a James Brown gig [in 1983] with Bobby Z, his drummer at the time, Big Chick, who was his security guard, and I think Jill Jones, who was one of his protégés. By now, everybody knows what happened at that gig. I don’t think Prince realized that Michael was going to be there. James looked a little puzzled in that video when Michael whispered in his ear, “Hey, bring Prince up.” And of course Prince didn’t really know what to do either. He went to the guitar first but he fumbles with that because it was left-handed. He played a few licks, did some dancing and knocked over a prop by accident. Now I always wondered if Michael intentionally brought Prince up to put him in that position just to say, “Hey, you think you’re on my ass? Well follow this, motherfucker [laughs].” Bobby Z called me and said, “Oh boy…he made an ass of himself tonight.” He said Prince didn’t say a word the whole way to the hotel.
TITO JACKSON (founding member and guitarist of the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons): Sure, my brothers and I listened to Prince…“1999,” “Little Red Corvette,” “When Doves Cry.” Thriller and Purple Rain were part of our times. That was a great era, wasn’t it? You had two great artists both doing incredible music at the same time. And then you had the fact that they both were exceptional live performers. Some people feel as though Prince is the greatest thing since sliced bread and some people feel like my brother is the greatest. To me, that’s what made that era so special.
ALAN LEEDS: Before we set out on the Purple Rain tour, it was a case of Prince wanting to see what Michael and the Jacksons were doing in terms of production, lighting, staging and everything with the Victory tour. We charted a jet with a couple of his bodyguards and Jerome Benton from the Time and Leroy Bennett, who was Prince’s lighting and production designer for his tours. We flew to Dallas to the old stadium where the Cowboys played. There was a feeling in our camp that while what they were doing was a very solid stadium production, there was nothing really cutting edge about the technology. The Varilites, which was a brand name for a type of computerized lighting, was the gold standard in the industry at that time. And we made sure we had all that shit. But the Jackson’s production didn’t. Prince had a lot of respect for Michael, but he was mildly impressed with the show.
QUESTLOVE: Michael attended many of the Purple Rain concerts. I have the four Purple Rain shows that were in Los Angeles in ’84. And now that I realize that Mike was in the audience, I often watch it to see if I can spot him [laughs]. But it makes you think. Why was Mike there four nights in a row? You have already created Thriller, you’ve done the Moonwalk, you’ve done the groundbreaking videos and you’ve sold a million a week. You are officially in the Guinness Book of World Records. For all intents and purposes, Purple Rain sold 15 million units, but it was hardly the 33 million that Thriller went on to sell. So why are you this curious to who is behind you? Then I realized that you can’t be that successful without being competitive. Michael knew Prince was a serious threat.
ALAN LEEDS: Quincy Jones organized a lunch that brought Michael and Prince together. At one point, they asked him to be a part of We All The World, but Prince respectfully declined and offered to give them a song [“4 The Tears In Your Eyes”]. All I remember Prince talking about afterwards is that he thought Michael was a little bit weird. And this is coming from a guy who wore high heels and pajamas to nightclubs [laughs].
QUESTLOVE: There’s the now-infamous story about a ping-pong match between Mike and Prince in 1986 while Prince was overdubbing Under The Cherry Moon and Mike was working on Captain Eo. And they were both vying for the attentions of Prince’s girl Sherilyn Fenn, who back then was the hot shit. It was a ping-pong game gone bonkers. He said that MJ played like Helen Keller. [Editors note: Prince’s drummer Bobby Z has gone on record about MJ’s and Prince’s good-natured showdowns in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “They'd shoot hoops at [Prince’s] Paisley Park," Bobby Z said of the unlikely pair. “Prince had a deep-seeded competitive nature, so it's easy to see where he would measure himself against Jackson's success.”]

BRUCE SWEDIEN: Prince is wonderful…just an incredible talent. Both he and Michael had a cordial relationship. They even hung out a few times. It’s common knowledge that the song “Bad” was written to be a duet between Michael and Prince. But as you know it never came together. When Prince left the studio after we were working on “Bad” he decided to pull out of it. He left the control room and as he turned around to go he said to us all, “Don’t worry, this record will be a big hit even if I’m not on it.”
ALAN LEEDS: But the thing about Michael coming to Prince and wanting him to do “Bad,” that really pissed him off. Prince was like, “Oh, he wants to punk me out on record. Who does he think I am, crazy?” He couldn’t get outside himself enough to realize that it was the kind of thing that probably could have benefited both of them. Still, it would have forever been Michael’s video with Prince as just a guest. So that captured what the relationship couldn’t be. They were like Ali vs. Frazier. And the media couldn’t get enough of pitting these guys against each other.
CYNTHIA HORNER: I take credit for that [laughs]. Right On! was a fan magazine, so I could get away with some of the things that I did. Michael and Prince were not actually battling each other on a serious level. But because I knew that was something the public found fascinating and everybody always talked about it, I wanted to have both of them on the cover together to project that element of Prince vs. Michael.​

TEDDY RILEY (Longtime Michael Jackson producer): We looked at Michael and Prince as Gods. I still remember getting the first call from Michael to work on the Dangerous album. I was trying to get Q-Tip to let me use his studio in Sound Works on 21st St. I had the whole floor booked out. In one room, I was working on Jane Child’s “Don’t Want To Fall In Love,” the other room was Keith Sweat’s “Make You Sweat” and the other one was Guy’s “Why You Wanna DOG Me Out.” And I went into the other room and created “Remember The Time.” I brought Michael back to our world—the young, black, New Jack Swing world. That was the moment that people said “Michael is R&B again.” He wasn’t just the King of Pop. He was the King of R&B. And Prince was the king of funk-rock.
QUESTLOVE: You recall that ill-fated duet Eddie Murphy did with Michael called “Whatzupwitu?” I have five hours of raw footage during filming for that video. Michael and Eddie had a green screen behind them, so somewhere in that second hour, the conversation turns to Prince. And Eddie is like, “Yeah man…Prince is a bad motherfucker. I’m glad I’m working with you, but another dream I have is working with him too.” And I don’t even think that Mike knew the camera was on him and he goes, “Yes, he’s a natural genius.” And then four beats later, Michael says, “But I can beat him [laughs].”

FALLS & COMEBACKS (1994-2010)

ALAN LEEDS: Michael wanted to be dangerous but no one ever took that side of him seriously. But Prince was always dangerous because he wasn’t afraid to push the envelope. But then Prince tried to upstage hip-hop by singing in a microphone shaped like a gun. He was trying to relate to the rap audience by having those wack rappers in his band.
CYNTHIA HORNER: Both Michael and Prince had their problems later in the ‘90s. I used to see and talk to Michael a lot, but he started to change. I didn’t have very much contact with him; my contact was with all of his relatives. Michael had all these people that surrounded him that kind of prevented his old friends and business peers from having any contact with him because they wanted to control what was going on with him. His own family didn’t really have a lot of contact with him. And Prince was dealing with his own issues. He woke up one day and realized that some of his business decisions with Warner Bros. had not worked out in his favor. He began to protest the music industry. Everyone remembers when he wrote the word slave across his face. He didn’t feel like he got his just due financially and artistically. Both Prince and Michael became very inaccessible.
MICHAEL BEARDEN (Keyboardist for Jackson’s 2001 30th Anniversary Show and music director for This Is It): The idea was to do a 30th anniversary show at Madison Square Garden to celebrate Michael’s years in the business. But once people found out that it was going to be a big deal everybody wanted to be there! Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, and tons of people were coming out. Michael didn’t want to do much on his own. He had just dropped his album Invincible. It wasn’t that people was upset with Michael. They were upset that other artists were onstage with him. They wanted to see more of Michael. People were not to cool with seeing all those other acts and Whitney [Houston] looking crazy [laughs].
DJ SPINNA (DJ, producer, musicologist and co-founder of Soul Slam’s MJ vs. Prince parties): We started the MJ vs. Prince parties in 2002. The whole idea came about after the success of doing Stevie Wonder tribute parties, which we started in 1999. And we thought who were the other two iconic music figures in the pop world but also made a major impact on black culture? And that was definitely Michael and Prince. I remember we did the first party at a venue in Lower Manhattan called Peppers and the crowd was overwhelming. During the parties, I play music from both camps—Michael and Prince catalogues—as well as artists that they have influenced and worked with. So you have the whole Minneapolis vibe going on with Prince, Sheila E, The Time, Vanity 6, Alexander O’Neal and you have Michael with Jermaine Jackson, Janet Jackson, and the Jackson 5. But at the end of the night, it’s really a party that reminds people of the best times of their lives.
WILL.I.AM (Leader of the Black Eye Peas; Has performed live with Prince and produced several tracks for Michael Jackson): I had a show with the Black Eyed Peas in 2008 and then late that night I performed with Prince at the Palms Hotel. I called Michael just before the show and I was like, “Hey Mike, I’m in Vegas.” I told him about the performance at the Palms with Prince and asked him if he wanted to come. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but I told him, “Let me call Prince to see if everything is OK.” I sat down with Mike after I finished a song with Prince and he comes down off the stage playing his bass and comes right to our table… ripping the bass in half! It was the coolest experience I’ve ever had. I was with both of my heroes. While we were working on new material for his album, MJ asked me why people didn’t think of him in the same way they thought of Prince as a serious songwriter. It was a shock to hear that coming from such an iconic artist.
KENNY ORTEGA (This Is It director): It was less about competing with Prince and more about respect. Michael felt God was going to give ideas to the next deserving artist who he felt was Prince. That’s a true respect, true admiration for Prince. He mentioned several times how he loved the song “Purple Rain.”

TRAVIS PAYNE (Choreographer and associate producer of This Is It): The huge success Prince was able to have at London’s O2 [with 2007’s 21 Nights concerts] was important when Michael was putting together This Is It. The desire for Michael’s contemporaries to still be seen by their audiences gave him further confirmation that his ideas were right. It wasn’t about just competing with Prince. It was about him competing with himself. He wanted to hold the Guinness Book of Worlds Record for the most shows. He wanted to show he was the greatest. And he was.
DJ SPINNA: I met Prince last year in February in L.A. through Rashida who is his personal DJ. It was quite surreal, but he couldn’t quite comprehend the concept of “vs.” Both Rashida and myself tried to explain to him that it wasn’t really a battle between MJ and himself. It’s more of a tribute to their music. But Prince had issues about being pitted against Michael like that. You could sense there was a real respect between the two. That was one of the things that made me change the theme of the MJ/Prince parties. And the other reason that made me change it was of course Michael’s passing. I felt like he left such a great legacy behind and it was unfair to label it MJ vs. Prince because Michael is not here anymore. Its’ a celebration of Michael’s and Prince’s music.

KENNY ORTEGA: You know how rumors followed Michael… like a bad shadow and it wasn’t something that he could escape. But the phones started ringing in our pockets the night we were finishing up rehearsals for the London shows. It was so vague that most of us had become so used to the crazy rumors that we wanted to believe the news of Michael’s death as just another story. A short time after, we discovered he died. And to this day it’s still difficult for me to explain what that felt like. I lost my balance. I couldn’t walk. I had to be helped to another room. I remember the place was spinning and feeling that the floor had fallen out. The only thing I could see as I walked around was this level of sorrow. It was a dark day.
TRAVIS PAYNE: I told Kenny after Michael died, “We’re not done. We can’t be finished.” Not only would Michael’s message get out there as he wanted it, people would get to see him creating the very show he was going to perform. He actually reached more fans than he would have with the concerts with [the This Is It] movie. So that made me very happy. But there’s not a day I don’t think about Michael.
CYNTHIA HORNER: One of the reasons why we still care about Michael and Prince is because we will never know everything we want to know about them. They both understood the power of mystique. They realized that was part of their power they had with their fans. And it’s always going to be that way because there will never be another like those two. When people talk about someone is the next Michael and Prince, I just laugh.
WILL.I.AM: You think the really big people are going to be assholes. And those artists are really not even that big. Then you meet real big artists like Michael and Prince and you are like, “Damn, these guys don’t act like the asshole I just met last week.” The reason why the assholes act like that is because they aren’t really that big. Michael and Prince are as big as you can get.

http://www.vibe.com/content/michael-jackson-prince-oral-history

^^^ Great, great post Duran!
I wish they would have been able to work together. That would have been awesome although interesting. Lol!

1 & 2

This is a German documentary, with English subtitles.


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Thank you so much for that last post from Vibe magazine, DuranDuran! I've always believed that the rivalry was built by the media but there was a natural deep respect and competitiveness between Michael and Prince.

A puzzling part of their relationship were the MJ references that Prince would put in his music. As if at times, he could only communicate to Michael through his music. Jermaine and Janet have also written songs to communicate to Michael because they could not get through to him. I don't think Prince is like Eminem (who would spite people through his lyrics just for the heck of it), so it just seems to be that he wanted to get clear messages across to Michael because he was actually (dare I say it. . .) concerned.

But yeah. . . there will definitely never be another MJ and Prince era.

Thanks for posting

I liked the docu...but I didn't like what that old man with the white hair said about what Prince thought of MJ...How can you claim to "resepct" someone but think that they are musically inferior to you?

DuranDuran said:

That "old man" is the former manager of James Brown, Prince, & many other acts. His name is Alan Leeds and is a big name behind the scenes in the music business. I think he means that Prince admired Michael's talent and success, but that he wasn't competition as a instrumentalist.

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Ok...but if thats what he meant lol he should have SAID exactly that, everybody knows MJ was not an "instrumentalist". Instead he made it sound (especially more so because he directly referenced the BAD song) like Prince thought the song was beneath him (in all aspects) and his lady friend (with the short blond hair) directly stated it. Oh well...Still went to numero uno so...