Remember The Time Vs You Rock My World

Themidwestcowboy

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Vs
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Both are a bit similar. They both share the same song structure, both are mid tempo R&B grooves, both has similar vocal approach.

In a battle to the end which song would stand victorious?
 
For me it would have to be YRMW. RTT was the first time I heard a new jack swing song and the first time a Michael Jackson song had to grow on me. It took awhile.

I liked YRMW immediately.

Video? Vice versa.
 
I'll be honest, I love both but, RTT is a stonewall MJ Classic. It helps that the short film is beautifully shot & edited with a new original concept & the celeb cameos have a script that works with the video.
YRMW is let down by the short film, although I actually like the full length version, it's very rehashed, but then, I wonder how much MJ's heart was in it, as he had his heart set on Unbreakable as the lead single & I would imagine had he been allowed, we would have had a 22 minute masterpiece. I hate always bringing the Sony situation into it, but things could have been alot different for Invincible all round. The vocals on the chorus are also ever so slightly a little too processed. YRMW has a great groove though. It's got a catchier hook than RTT, but as I say, I love both.
 
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Remember the Time.

Both the song and the shortfilm is a lot better than YRMW.

YRMF was like 50 ways of hiding MJ's face. - RTT has some incredible dance routines. The technology was very impressive back then.

So to me - even though I really really do like YRMW - RTT wins no doubt.
 
Gonna copy and paste my thoughts on the short films:
I think You Rock My World is a solid short film but I wouldn't consider it better than Remember the Time! It felt quite similar to his past short films, like Smooth Criminal and Dangerous particularly. He's dancing around a bar/club (again) wearing a suit that's almost entirely like the one he's been wearing for Dangerous' performances. Plus some of the dialogue is terrible and repetitive (especially those muttered by the goons near the end "That's it? That's all you got? You ain't nothin, come on big man show me what you got!!" repeat 5x). Marlon Brando's cameo felt somewhat forced and useless too. There's good sides to it as well, I love MJ's dancing when the standoff happens and I really love the part where the club patrons start making a beat of their own right before the dance-off fight scene. Love it enough that those two reasons have been enough for me to share the video with my friends on Facebook!

Overall though, Remember the Time was far more innovative and original as a concept. It followed the basic premise of MJ chasing after a girl, but the setting was far different than what MJ had done previously (or after for that matter). It was more visually spectacular imho and you never cringed at the antagonists, who didn't have terrible dialogue and actually tried to get Michael, not uselessly walk after him slowly as he casually dances around a bar in his typical badass fashion :p Outfit wise, I think MJ looks more amazing in his outfit here than the rehashed black/red suit in YRMW... plus his hair is done better here too. Ugh I can't wait to see this in HD someday.

I know a music video isn't meant to be a 100% realistic and there is absolutely more leeway than a more serious production, it's just that to me, Remember the Time is overall more flawless, original and innovative, hence it's the better short film imho :)

In regards to the songs by themselves, I like both the same, though I dance to YRMW a little bit more since the studio version has that awesome dance-off instrumental near the end.
 
Remember The Time is a much better song imo.
 
No contest, if i created this thread i would pit it against 'Can't Let Her Get Away' to be fair

Oh please Zakk! CLHGA is pure garbage compared to YRMW.

YRMW is actually very popular and well liked by a lot of folks outside MJ fan circles, whereas I don't think many people outside of the fanbase actually remember RTT.
 
You Rock My World is definitely the better song. I can't help but wonder if the difference in the quality of the shortfilms is clouding peoples judgement on the quality of the songs. What I mean is, RTT obviously has a much better video, MJ in his prime, original concept etc. YRMW video really didn't work, MJ was not in his best shape etc. But if you pretend the videos don't exist and try judging this solely based on the merits of each song, YRMW wins hands down.
Great point. Ironically, You Rock My World also charted higher in the UK (No 2) while Remember The Time peaked at No 3. As I say, I love both but You Rock My World is imo slightly more danceable.

I remember when MTV previewed YRMW to people on the streets of NYC, playing them the audio whilst they listened on headphones & the reaction was pretty great. People were feeling the groove. It falls short when compared to the RTT short-film, we'll all admit that, but on the dance floor YRMW is pure danceable smooth R&B bliss.
 
Oh please Zakk! CLHGA is pure garbage compared to YRMW.

YRMW is actually very popular and well liked by a lot of folks outside MJ fan circles, whereas I don't think many people outside of the fanbase actually remember RTT.
I prefer CLHGA over YRMW.

Regarding your second point, personally I have met a lot more non-fans who know RTT than YRMW.
 
Blasphemy!

I consider CLHGA to be the worst MJ song of all time. And I'm including Beat It 2008 feat Fergie.

ABOMINATION!!!!! 'Can't Let Her Get Away' is a great track.
 
The point here is that both RTT & YRMW are both in a similar vain musically, smooth R&B dance-pop, both were singles & have short-films, whereas CLHGA is a none-single album track more rooted in harder NJS. Line both RTT & YRMW up next to each other & you could almost imagine them seamlessly synchronising into one another.
 
Isn't this thread kinda unfair?

Why is this thread unfair? These two songs are extremely alike in both song structure, tempo, and approach. Zakk if you want to create another poll with other songs you are free to do that, but this thread is for RTT vs YRMY, so I see no reason to complain.

If you just compare the two songs, disregarding their videos, I would say they are kinda equals. Really. This is comming from a person that considers that dangerous, and everything on dangerous, is the best thing created since sliced bread
 
You Rock My World is definitely the better song. I can't help but wonder if the difference in the quality of the shortfilms is clouding peoples judgement on the quality of the songs. What I mean is, RTT obviously has a much better video, MJ in his prime, original concept etc. YRMW video really didn't work, MJ was not in his best shape etc. But if you pretend the videos don't exist and try judging this solely based on the merits of each song, YRMW wins hands down.

Great argument. I can definitely understand this perspective
 
Re: Remember The Time Vs You Rock My Worldi

It has to be said, both songs feature some of his all time greatest ad-libs, especially RTT. In fact, the whole Dangerous album featured stunning ad-libbing, more so than any other MJ album.
 
Re: Remember The Time Vs You Rock My Worldi

It has to be said, both songs feature some of his all time greatest ad-libs, especially RTT. In fact, the whole Dangerous album featured stunning ad-libbing, more so than any other MJ album.
Yeah it really does. On another I was happy too see him perform those adlibs live in MSG.


On a third note, this song is interesting, as R Kelly supposedly wrote it for MJ. It sounds like a fusion between RTT and YRMY

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YRMW is actually very popular and well liked by a lot of folks outside MJ fan circles, whereas I don't think many people outside of the fanbase actually remember RTT.

Then you are very much wrong. RTT is pretty popular even with the general public.I have seen non-fans "liking" in in the Facebook game SongPop. I have seen people raving about it on a forum targeted to African-Americans which has an MJ forum but is not a fan forum.
 
^^ Well obviously everyone has their own experiences, but from the people I've come across and experiences I've had YRMW has always seemed like a popular MJ track and I've never experienced anyone raving about RTT other than on the fanboards.
 
Blasphemy!

I consider CLHGA to be the worst MJ song of all time. And I'm including Beat It 2008 feat Fergie.
Man, that's harsh! Why exactly do you dislike it so much? To me it has a nice, infectuous funky groove that's interestingly contrasted with some nice mellow chords in the verses, as well as some of my all-time favourite harmonies ("Can't let gooo-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh GO"). I like You Rock My World too - nice bassline and strings (though the latter sound a bit over the top to me), but it just doesn't grab me as much as CLHGA.
 
Man, that's harsh! Why exactly do you dislike it so much? To me it has a nice, infectuous funky groove that's interestingly contrasted with some nice mellow chords in the verses, as well as some of my all-time favourite harmonies ("Can't let gooo-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh GO"). I like You Rock My World too - nice bassline and strings (though the latter sound a bit over the top to me), but it just doesn't grab me as much as CLHGA.



I've always felt the song just blows. it's got no hook, it's aged horribly and is tediously repetitive. I can't think of a single song on any other MJ album that's as bad as CLHGA.
 
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