Really enjoyed this. I do find this whole 'Michael / Prince' thing weird, boring and exhausting. As you say, it's crazy to compare them as they were such different artists. I know the media love to do this - Beatles vs. The Stones, Madonna vs. Cyndi etc. But it's nonsense. Plus, as you point out, no-one needs to choose. We can have it all, lol.
I've never been that bothered about Prince. Just never really appealed to me that much. The only song I had was SOTT. That did change late last year. I had a sudden Prince moment and managed to pick up a few more songs that I like. I think I've got about 6, now. But it's still the case that he mostly leaves me unmoved. But it's not bc I think he's inferior to Michael. It's just personal taste.
I enjoyed this but, I dunno, hidden gems? SIM? Got to No.4 in the UK. It's never gonna be talked about as freely as BJ or Thriller or Beat It, for sure, but that goes for so much of his output, doesn't it?
GITM - god, yeah, that is easily Slash's best ever solo and one of the best ever from anybody in any decade. I don't read muso mags very often but I do like to catch Slash interviews when I can but that guitar solo never gets mentioned. Or I haven't seen it. Don't understand that at all. It's an astonishing piece of work.
Butterflies - can't argue with that although was hoping for DWA, lol. But any time Invincible gets some love, I'm happy.
Streetwalker - yeah, fine, but I was hoping you'd go for Abortion Papers. Of course, I understand that these are *your* preferences not mine! It's just that Song Groove / Abortion Papers seems to get pretty much no attention, imo. The conversations always seem to be about Streetwalker.