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Was Michael Jackson more of a “Pop” or “R&B” artist?

DaSepticTank

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Even though MJ is considered to be the “King of Pop,” or the most famous pop singer, I personally don’t see him as such.
What I mean is that I consider him to be more of an “R&B/Soul” artist than a “Pop” one.
Yes, I know that pop just means “popular music” & isn’t really a genre, but the majority of his hits or albums consisted of music that sounded a lot closer to what other R&B artists were making and the stuff you’d hear on Black radio stations instead of the typical mainstream “Pop” artists or Top 40 hits stations of his time at least.
Besides songs like “Beat It,” “Dirty Diana,” “Black or White,” “Give in to Me,” etc. most of the stuff throughout his entire career had an R&B, Soul, and/or Funk sound.
Michael’s singing voice was also VERY soulful, and was obviously influenced by other R&B artists like Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Mavis Staples, Diana Ross, David Ruffin, etc. I can’t name any Pop or non-black artists of (or before) his time that had a similar voice either.
Overall, I consider Michael Jackson to be the ultimate crossover-R&B artist instead of a Pop one. He just had huge mainstream appeal, but still retained his black american music roots.
This may be an already established stance, but I just want to see whether anyone agrees or not.
 

RothGarland

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Well he couldn't be called the King of R&B, first of all, that would have caused a backlash like no other. Secondly, the albums that put him on that status weren't strictly R&B, those being Thriller, Bad and Dangerous.
 

DaSepticTank

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a similar thread was made a few months ago:


he’s the king of pop after all. his r&b influences disappeared during the bad era.
No ma‘am, I dont think that they went anywhere.
Bad had more hits on the R&B charts than any of his albums.
1/2 of the songs on Dangerous had the new jack swing sound and were produced by Teddy Riley. Other songs from there like “Who Is It,” “Will You Be There,” and “Keep The Faith” also had more of a “contemporary R&B sound too.
Most of HIStory was produced by either Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin, Rene Moore, or MJ himself and also featured R. Kelly with “You Are Not Alone.” Only about 4 songs on there were Pop-ish or Non-R&B influenced.
Invincible was his most-R&B album since Off The Wall and was mainly produced by Rodney Jerkins and/or Teddy Riley and also featured R. Kelly again, Dr. Freeze, Andre Harris, & Babyface for others.
Michael’s physical appearance was certainly less black after Bad, but I wouldn’t say the same for most of his music.

(Edit)
I sholl didn’t see that other thread earlier though Lol.
 
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SarahCameron

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No ma‘am, I dont think that they went anywhere.
Bad had more hits on the R&B charts than any of his albums.
1/2 of the songs on Dangerous had the new jack swing sound and were produced by Teddy Riley. Other songs from there like “Who Is It,” “Will You Be There,” and “Keep The Faith” also had more of a “contemporary R&B sound too.
Most of HIStory was produced by either Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin, Rene Moore, or MJ himself and also featured R. Kelly with “You Are Not Alone.” Only about 4 songs on there were Pop-ish or Non-R&B influenced.
Invincible was his most-R&B album since Off The Wall and was mainly produced by Rodney Jerkins and/or Teddy Riley and also featured R. Kelly again, Dr. Freeze, Andre Harris, & Babyface for others.
Michael’s physical appearance was certainly less black after Bad, but I wouldn’t say the same for most of his music.

(Edit)
I sholl didn’t see that other thread earlier though Lol.

in his early years, mainly during the jacksons era and up to the OTW era his R&B influences in his music were stronger. after the OTW era, his most important notion was to merge genres as much as possible to sell as many albums as possible. his R&B influences were back in force in the invincible album.
 

DaSepticTank

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in his early years, mainly during the jacksons era and up to the OTW era his R&B influences in his music were stronger. after the OTW era, his most important notion was to merge genres as much as possible to sell as many albums as possible. his R&B influences were back in force in the invincible album.
Yeah, this was a pretty accurate way of putting things.
 

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Pop is a more inclusive term than R&B and since he did a lot of genres (including but not limited to R&B) I'm OK with pop. But he could do anything convincingly: from rock to R&B to gospel etc.
 

AfroSoul

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He spent the first 20 years of his career as an exclusively RNB act and the last 20 years as a mix of all . And let's not forget that pop music original definition is the music that is popular , Rap is POP music now , it wasnt back in the 80's . MJ is King Pop as , King Of Music .
 

GOAT4EVR

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He spent the first 20 years of his career as an exclusively RNB act and the last 20 years as a mix of all . And let's not forget that pop music original definition is the music that is popular , Rap is POP music now , it wasnt back in the 80's . MJ is King Pop as , King Of Music .


Your last sentence is the truth. I don't think people realize what the moniker actually means. It's beyond pop in terms of the genre. It's about music and the industry as a whole. And again, this goes back to people not understanding that pop music is not really a distinct genre.
 

Mikky Dee

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I think POP and R & B are too confining for him and King of POP was always too narrow a title. To me, "Michael Jackson" is its own genre. There is Michael Jackson music and then there's everything else. I'm very serious about that - not joking at all and I have said it many times before.
 
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SabrinaFairchild

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As others have mentioned, pop essentially means popular. The genre isn't really defined and changes depending on what is mainstream for the era.

OTW and his tracks with the Jacksons are all classically R&B and despite him having crossover success I think it's safe to say that R&B remained a mainstay throughout his music. "Dangerous" is largely a New Jack Swing album which is a whole genre of R&B in and of itself. Only having two solo albums that fully encompass the sound doesn't mean he abandoned the sound all together.

This man as an individual dominated all genres of music and was the most famous entertainer on the planet so giving him the title of King Of Pop is befitting in many ways. I would argue for both.
 

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