Elvis...or Michael?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by mousepod

No snark here. I know you said that. But you also used the verb "create" a bunch, too. Feel free to replace "innovate" with "create" in my response.

My use of "create" and "creative component" were in reference to the fact that he wrote a lot of his own songs (including many of the hits), choreographed, was an active participant in the creation of his videos, and collaborated with many other artists to create other music and projects. In contrast to Elvis who did not write his own songs. I suppose I don't have any proof to back this up, but I'll got out on a limb and guess that Michael Jackson gave more creative input during the production of his music video, or The Wiz, than Elvis did for any of his movies. Michale Jackson owned music catalogs and produced other people's music.

No, he wasn't the innovator any of those individual elements, but he did actively help create the Michael Jackson industry and in doing so changed the music landscape (for better or for worse).

In all of those regards, I consider Michael Jackson a more active participant in creating his legacy and influence than was Elvis. How great of a legacy and influence that ended up being is a separate question, which I earlier conceded, from a "how the industry operates" standpoint, may very well favor Elvis. But I'd still argue that when dealing with absolute mega-stars that go far beyond the details of how "good" their music was, or who explicitly claims them as influences, or how record labels changed to accommodate them there's no clear-cut way to simply say, "Yes, so-and-so was more influential than the other guy."