The Rockability of HIStory | Teen Ink

The Rockability of HIStory

February 14, 2011
By ya-ya BRONZE, Morristown, New Jersey
ya-ya BRONZE, Morristown, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Sadly Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley are no longer in this world with us, but are still clearly remembered. Now these artists are in a fight to the finish. For a long time people have wondered who was the best at what they did? Michael Jackson is the best, and the proof was easy to find. By comparing the relevance, the performances, the popularity, and the talents the truth will come out, that Michael Jackson is the best there can be.

When comparing two artists, relevance is very important. Relevance is whether someone is still listened to or not. This is an important criteria. Even though Elvis was and still is very popular Michael Jackson was and still is known worldwide. After “The King of Pop” died people went into a craving for his things, such as albums, tee shirts, and movies. He was in the process of doing a comeback concert tour, and he shot footage of his practices but never planned to release them. But since he died before the tour, the practices were put together as a movie and were set to release in theaters on October 30th. The demand for his stuff was too strong the date was changed to the 28th instead. The movie sold over 30,000 tickets in one day. The movie was shown all over the world. It was also shown n IMAX. His CDs and records were selling like hotcakes. Elvis did sell a lot as well. His best selling album was “The Number 1’s”. This charted number one in the US and the UK. It just barely passed the Beatles in the UK. This is still an amazing accomplishment though. Elvis has been dead for more than 40 years now. Michael however, has been dead for a little more then a year now. Although Elvis did and still does have a fairly strong demand Michael Jackson’s is just a little stronger.
Knowing the talents an artist has can affect their music variety and performances. This is also a good criterion when comparing two artists. Obviously a singer can sing but not all of them can dance, play instruments, and act. Elvis was well talented in all of these areas. He acted he danced and he played instruments. One of his most famous dances was thrusting his pelvis. Later, Michael Jackson used this a couple times. Though this was used his most popular dances were spinning and land on his toes and doing a legendary dance, the Moonwalk. Also, both men were very talented actors. Both have played roles in several movies and exceeded in them. Both were also talented in the piano and guitar. Michael however could also play the drums and the keyboard. While performing, he could sing and play almost any instrument he wanted to. This improved his performances and music variety greatly. Michael’s performances were better and his music had more variety by these little things.

Lastly, the popularity aspect in comparing the two, this is the most important aspect of all but also the most difficult. This could seem very opinionated at first but after looking at the few facts provided it is east to see who is best. Elvis was well known around certain parts of the world and especially nationally. He preformed in the Europe and Canada more often then anywhere else in the world. He also sold 55 platinum albums, 97 gold albums and 25 multi-platinum albums. He also sold 27 platinum singles and 24 gold singles. Making a grand total of 117.5 million albums sold. This number is still growing slowly. He also had 10 consecutive number one hits. And 80 weeks on the top charts and 149 billboard 100s. Michael Jackson however mastered the game of record selling. He sold a total of 750 million albums. That’s a little more then 6 times the amount Elvis sold. He got 18 Grammy awards, 13 guineas world records and 26 American music awards. Plus 40 Billboards, 13 MTV’s, 10 soul trains, and 13 world music awards. Plus all of his top 10. Obviously Michael Jackson is the best.

Between the King of Pop and the King of Rock only one can be the true king. After checking the popularity, relevance, and talents someone came out on top. Michael Jackson has been proven to be the best. Though Elvis was close behind, MJ will forever be king.



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