Morning Star
Well-Known Member
As someone who grew up with both, Micheal Jackson never had the musical skills (composition, instrument mastery) that you see in Prince. Prince is a self-contained musician, meaning that does not have to rely on producers like Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, or Teddy Riley to be a significant part of the music world.
For future reference, here is your litmus test:
Whenever you see a contemporary musician, ask yourself this.
During the height of the Classical/Romantic era, would this person be considered a musician or merely a performer?
With regard to Prince, he would be foremost considered a musician whereas Micheal would only be a performer. MJ's compositional skills were negligible; he never wrote anything half as good as Adore or Computer Blue. It's possible that he knew how to play instruments, but I never saw it.
Other modern musical figures who meet that criterion are Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis.
Actual musicians are much rarer than musical performers.
Your argument is VERY much convincing, but there's one little area you're overlooking: voice. It seems as though that vocals is a forgotten or neglected element of music instruments. After all, music instruments are based on sound. And pianos, string instruments, and what not didn't really exist up as long as the voice.
And to answer your question, regarding Prince and MJ, they would both be classified as performers and not so much regarded as musicians. How? They both know how to play instruments, with Prince being much more versatile and varied, but he still has a certain style or character that makes him more of a performer than a musician.

