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Do you consider Don't Stop Til You Get Enough a classic?

Themidwestcowboy said:
. There are some Stevie Wonder songs and albums that not a lot of people bring up today that are nothing short of classics. They may not be very popular but fans agree that they rank among his finest work.

To parallel that Who Is It and Stranger In Moscow should also be defined as classics. A lot of times when we are talking about classics here in the community we rarely talk about songs in term of popularity but about the quality of the songs. Or else songs like Earth Song, Who Is It, Will You Be There and stranger in moscow would never be mentioned. So a lot that is quite subjective. I guess what i wanted to discuss was more the quality angle of DSTYGE compared to his other classics. I'm just trying to understand the rules
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Again, to me, a classic is a song that just lives forever. DSTYGE is classic Michael, because when you hear it, you think it immediately of Michael-it's the time he really rolled out all his classic signature stuff to the mainstream-the oooohs, the gasps, the hiccups. That song talks like Michael, walks like Michael, and sounds like Michael. And it moves people immediately-it'll be the same if they play it in a club in 2079 as when they played it in the clubs I danced in back in 1979. Everybody will jump on the floor.
Longevity and the way it makes people feel is what makes it a classic.

Stevie is the same way-I can hear certain songs and be happy-and think "that's classic Stevie, right there". But his deeper songs that came out later? Probably wouldn't think of them as classics.

But maybe if you're talking about quality or maturity or depth of composing and lyrics, and using Stevie Wonder as an example-or Earth Song or Stranger in Moscow or Who Is it-maybe that's when the term should be masterpiece of composing, rather than classic. (IMO)

(Although I think DSTYGE qualifies as both).
 
MattyJam said:
DSTYGE is NOT the Philosiphers Stone of MJ's catalogue. You need to be slapped for that one. Don't Stop is one of the best MJ songs of all time. If it were a Harry Potter book, it'd be Goblet of Fire, where you read the first three and you feel like you've got the measure of what it's all about, and then something comes out and you're like "wtf? I knew this Harry Potter stuff was good, but where the hell did THAT come from?".
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You very much misunderstood me, my friend.

The parallel was because it was the first one. Obviously not his first ever single, but in terms of adulthood it was the one that launched a phenomenon, in the same way Philosopher's Stone did. Better works may have come later but this started it all. The comparison wasn't there as to say DSTYGE was the worst.
 
MattyJam said:
No Tony, I didn't misunderstand you. The bolded line is what I take umbridge with. Severe umbridge.

Better was to come? Hmmm, in terms of singles, maybe Who Is It and Earth Song, possibly Billie Jean and TDCAU.... but that's it. What I mean to say is, DSTYGE was one of his all time greatest singles. He struck gold with his first adult solo single, and kept delivering to an impeccably high standard with every subsequent album, but DSTYGE would be in my personal top 10, possibly top 5 greatest MJ songs of all time, so even the mere suggestion that it was all uphill from there is cause for serious concern.


Umbridge I tell you. Severe umbridge.
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Dolores Umbridge?

By that logic then, DSTYGE is his best song?
 
Christ almighty! It's like Come Dine With Me with you two! :lol:
 
MattyJam said:
Don't try and play down the seriousness of your comment with a cute Harry Potter reference.

I don't think it's his all time best song (although it would be a top 10 contender), but I think it's amongst his best singles. Now if you had said "equally great stuff was to follow, with the occasional moment perhaps even eclipsing its sheer brilliance", then I wouldn't have take such Delores. But alas, you implied that DSTYGE was a mere trifle in the canon of great singles by Michael Jackson, and I can't be having that.
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I didn't. I just said better was to come, which it did.

DSTYGE is great, of course it is. But you can't deny better stuff on Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, HISTORY and in your opinion Invincible came later.
 
MattyJam said:
I would take DSTYGE over every song on Bad and Invincible, every song on Thriller except Billie Jean and every song on Dangerous except WII. Did I mention I really love DSTYGE?

Oh, and that Invincible comment hurt my feelings. It was subtle, but I saw it.
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Well then in that case my comment isn't true for you. However for me it is.

Obviously, the post asked for our opinions on the song, so I posted mine. It's not valid for you, which is fair enough.

If it was asking for thoughts on TWYMMF then your opinion would be different to others.

And the Invincible comment wasn't a dig, it was supposed to be nice and inclusive, obviously it didn't come across that way, apologies.
 
MattyJam said:
I'm really not that sensitive Tony, and besides, you know all my sordid MJ secrets, like how I only pretend to love Stranger In Moscow, so I have to keep you on side in case stuff like that gets out and smears the good MattyJam name.
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Ha! Smear that MattyJam!
 
Themidwestcowboy;4179057 said:
Yeah that is true.
I still think it's a slippery slope because TDCAU was considered a classic among MJ fans the moment we heard it and it's only now in retrospect that it has become really popular with the general audience. Let's take Stranger In Moscow as an example, the song was largely ignored when it was released but not only the fan community but many of Michael’s collaborators considers this song to be a true MJ classic and one his best. With the exception of TDCAU and some other songs, a lot of Michael’s popular song that resonated with the GA were his hits (obviously). But my point is If we just use popularity as a measuring stick the only classics will be his nr1 hits.

DSTYGE is a classic just by the impact it has made, I agree with that, but if we isolate and just look at the song in itself does it stand up there with his greatest work? a lot will say yes but my opinion is really unpopular on this topic.



But neither did Who Is It or stranger in Moscow or will you be there? These are songs that always gets recognized, (within the fan community) as MJ classics. I think it’s a slippery slope. Thinking in retrospect It would be foolish of me not to acknowledge DSTYGE as a classic due to it’s popularity but if I isolate the song and look at it just a piece of music I think it’s inferior to a lot of his classics he would go on and do later.



Obviously DSTYGE is an extremely popular song that is considered an MJ classic by many but imo, and I’m just talking about the song in itself not the impact that it had on pop culture or the charts, it sounds like a product of that era and time with it’s disco elements and it doesn’t transcend the way Michael music would do later in his career with songs such as, WBSS, Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, Earth Song, Black or white etc. It’s my least favorite of his “Classics” and I don’t think it’s a bad song in fact I like it very much but his later classics are just universal and transcendent imo. I know this is a very unpopular opinion.
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I just think by the very term "classic" a distinction has to be drawn. Who Is It and Will You Be There are great songs, and perhaps an argument can even be made, Will You Be There was part of a soundtrack for a iconic film at the time and the lyrics took on new meaning post-2009, so it's arguable? Who Is It is a great song but no matter how much we love it or how much of a masterpiece fans consider it to be I wouldn't imagine the world would consider it a classic. I mean what was the relivence or impact on pop culture? I mean it sounds great, it's great lyrically but we can't just call everything "a classic" or the term would cease to exist, there wouldn't be anything to define.
 
HAHA MattyJam and Tony R, oh you two :p

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Of course a classic, no math or deep thought needs to be made about it. It's one of those that it's just a given!
 
Like many said. Absolutely yes...

From the moment it was released it was a classic really.

Classic is written all over it....
 
It's a timeless classic!! I don't know of anybody has ever had a better first single to start their solo career

To think MJ was 20 when he wrote and co-produced this is staggering. What a genius
 
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