Yeah, bro, the Velvet Rope is amazing. I don't think I'd go so far as to say I'd take it over any MJ album (wow, man.) but it's definitely in that class of outstanding late mid-late '90s experimental R&B albums that re-wrote the book for the genre. It's similar to Voodoo and The Score in that respect, only it's generally a bit more light hearted than either. But "Got 'Til it's Gone" was one of the most beautifully whacked sample based tracks of that era.
I also have tons of love for Control, which truly is a classic of epic proportions.

But Ima have to go ahead and disagree with you about taking it over MJ. Janet's had some excellent moments, but dude... Off the Wall? Thriller? Bad? Even Dangerous is pretty stiff competition. You're telling me NONE of these beasts can hold a candle to Velvet Rope? I'm just not sure I can get on board with that.

No, I've never really listened to much solo Consequence. Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned that listening to "Gone" on repeat had inspired me to dig Purple Haze back out and to finally buy Don't Quit Your Day Job!? Well, that's the first and only Cons album I've ever owned.

I will check this out though. I think I can make time for it... especially if you can make time to listen to a certain track that's currently on Spotify, but a certain someone... ;)

Those are all classics of course but I don't know, I guess I prefer The Velvet Rope by a small margin.

Yes, gotta thank Dilla (who was left uncredited) for "Got 'Til It's Gone."

So, did y'all hear Drake's complete and utter sacrilegious butchering of "These Days?" What in the hell would compel that dude to try something like that?

Another list, this one the result of a more exhaustive "march madness" style survey, has determined that the top four albums in hip hop history are (not yet in order)

A Tribe Called Quest - Mindnight Marauders
Nas - Illmatic
Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)

Here's the link:
http://ambrosiaforheads.com/2016/03/...decided-by-you

I do not enjoy Kanye music, but I respect his achievements in it.

Same for David Bowie.....

More of this biggie propaganda. All these writers must be from new york!

I love me some Janet but i think even Janet would take MJ over any Janet album any day. A

Janet Jackson's albums suck shit. she could never sing (just that whisper bullhsit like Britney Spears, and she rode the coattails of her brother in creating big giant spectacle dance pieces for her videos.

Plus Michael Jackson actually helped write his songs, not just the "change a word get a third" trick that people like Janet and Taylor Swift use to get writing credits on their albums.

As a singer i couldn't disagree with you more. I can sing someone elses songs but give me a lyric sheet and say come up with something and i am done. I respect even taylor swift because i could go into her studio with a guitar and come up with dozens of original songs but if she gave me a lyric sheet i probably couldn't get even one chorus done on my own whereas she is a singer and vocalist who can create music spontaneously with her voice. Janet too.. from strictly an artist's perspective i respect that because i understand its not easy. The art they create might not agree with our sense of taste, but it is genuinely art.

Janet did not come up with the melody lines for her vocals. Michael was a melodic genius, much like Bob Marley as described by Lee Perry. He had the gift of melody, beautiful melodies just came out of them. Janet? She was a dancer first and a singer last.

Taylor Swift DOES NOT WRITE HER SONGS MAN! neither words nor music. She is a faker, like I said, you add one word to a lyric and you can get 1/3 of the writing credit. Look it up. SDhe also cannot dance for shit, so Janet is one up on her from the get.

Janet and Taylor are studio creations

I didn't say they wrote their lyrics, i said they created to vocals. Jerry Garcia never wrote a single lyric either but reality was Bob Hunter couldn't sing a note for his life. He wrote the words, Jerry turned the poetry into songs by actually singing them. Taylor Swift does the same unless you have evidence that some one not only writes her lyrics but also even creates the vocal parts that she just copies because frankly i doubt that.

is that onions I smell?

*sniff sniff*

I feel you. I've played in many bands, and written a lot of music over the years, but even though I've never had a problem writing down my thoughts, or writing articles at work, I am just plain NOT a lyricist.

Whenever I've found myself in a position to sing, I've pretty much only done covers of songs that I can relate to deeply. I have ZERO songwriting talent, and I'm far too self-critical and obsessive compulsive to ever put my final stamp of approval on a song. I could try, but there would go the rest of my life.

I've always been happy to let other people write lyrics for my songs, and I've played in a lot of instrumental bands, just because this is something I can't even begin to get around. Fuck it man.

songwriting was easy when I was romantic and had the muse. chords. beat. chorus. make up lyrics...... then got laid really hard and pussy became no.1. years later after getting around and busking around in my room the songwriting turned fragile and twisted, unstructured. then I had a daughter and my brain went SLAPT. everything was for her and only sang Julia too her laying on my bed while trying to get her to sleep. I still haven't came up with a song for her yet but, it's all for the best. I don't see her much lately and love sick.:(

That's sweet. And sad. Sorry greezy.

thanks man.:) that makes me feel better instead of the tears. I tried to spread some but im too frigid right now.;)

Why are y'all such sexists? Janet is a an extremely talented individual. Britney doesn't sing as well as she does (although she was definitely influenced by her), nor is she as great of an artist. None of Michael's albums are as deep and insightful as The Velvet Rope, nor as eclectic in terms of sound. You know nothing about her creative process as you weren't with her at the studio, so please.

Hey, I love the Velvet Rope. I don't really listen to MJ anymore... still like him but just never find myself in the mood. I do listen to the Velvet Rope, though. I've always liked that album.

"Scream" was such a good track... those two, together. Yowza

It really was.. and it was when MJ was still MJ.. remember when that video was a cultural event???

Do you mean Rob cuz you said yall like anyone else dissed Janet yo

Probably but I didn't wanna make it seem like it's personal.. lol

I remember when it debuted. I was just thinkingof this last night. I haven't actually listened to the song from start to finish since the '90s, but I'm pretty sure I can recite the entire thing from memory, guitar solo and all.

What a Flying V guitar would be doing in the far future, though, is beyond me.

Flying V's are classic and aerodynamic. that's prove enough of time travel.

btw. I love "scream". I also love "leave me alone", "man in the mirror" and "remember the time". all that new jack me off swing. though it's much more shallow and plastic. Jackson 5 up until Thriller is king.

I remember I was friends with this blind kid in school who complained that MJ was white during the Dangerous era. im like " how da fuck you know?, u blind ass". lol.

BAD has some really great singles! "Leave me Alone" could compete with Tom Petty's "Don't come around here no More" for crazy bitch song of the 80's.

"leave me alone" has the greatest vocal harmonies of all time in pop. the video is still awesome too.

Hell yeah, that's a classic video. Remember that shit from Moonwalker, yo. Underrated song in general.

Also, I do not like "you are not alone." That video and song just totally are shit. Michael's choice of women makes Kanye's look downright enviable. Jesus...

Oh well, I'm not here to talk shit. Not today anyway.

"Wolves" is SO much better on TLOP version 3.0 (or whatever). I think the album's going to be available for download soon. I like what Ye's done to it in the interim. 30 Hours sounds a little better too, and some slight adjustment to FML make it even more ridiculously awesome.

Moonwalker! hell yeah! I loved that movie. my favorite scene is his past history part. I discovered the Jackson 5 that way. MJ could sing his ass off when young. still my favorite soul singing.

As I've said before, I cried when Joe Pesci beat his ass the first time I saw that.

Then he turned into a car... for some reason. Not sure why to this day. Didn't even use the car to get back at Pesci. Just turned into a car and flew off, and then he was running around in the forest with some kids.

Weird. But yeah, classic movie.

^^fuck yeah. I remember that now. ha. love you man! I have confidence that's it's still a weird wonderful movie. I cried too.

Nirvana came and I forgot all about it.

nothing can beat a young MJ singing on "Got to be There".

It is entirely possible that MJ is what we call asexual. Its a real thing. I personally don't believe him a pedophile so being asexual actually explain all his weird behavior.. my mom trusted MJ and explained that she believed him because all those "mothers" took $ settlements. She said she would burn down the world to convict a person who had molested her kids and even more aptly they could have fought for criminal charges AND sued him in civil court. But they didn't. They went after $...

of course he was asexual. everybody knows that. weather or not he had sexual relations with children is the key. me, I've always been up in air. don't know. but I think he might have done some showing off play time of his genitals that his crazy mind shouldn't have done. little deviant which is wrong but, not a molester.

fucking kids? no! don't think he did that but, who knows whatthrough people like his minds. either way the mans was def crazy!

this placeis gpoing delite with the edit shit. what causes that? like you earase a word and the word just kjoasdfoiuaosdufo evaporates in fuck hit goddamnn man. it disappears into nothing

dude!

Yeah, yep. That's about how it went for me too. But in 1988 and 89, it was all about Moonwalker and Bad. I also had a Paula Abdoul thing going for a while.

I understand that asexuality is a real thing. But he certainly tried to make it look like he was splittin' bimbos in half for a while. Then he had like five kids with someone whose name or lot in life I cannot remember, so... not sure how that fits into everything.

I think Michael was harmless, but probably suffered from overly simplistic and idyllic worldview. I think his childhood being what it was made him focus so much on preserving childhood later in his life, which really looks creepy to people who want headlines to do all the thinking for them.

I think he probably did a few things that he shouldn't have, but I don't think he meant to do any harm, and I don't think he was actually a pedophile.

I've always seen Mike as kind of a tragic figure, sort of like Lenny in Of Mice and Men. Only instead of killing mice and accidentally breaking a bitch's neck, I think he probably just participated in one too many tickle fights.

As much respect as I have for him, I have to say I don't believe he was playing with a full deck. Hard to pinpoint when it started to seem like he was a little .... ah.... retarded.... but it started to seem like he'd sustained brain damage or something, somewhere around 1994. He just stopped making sense in interviews, and his vocabulary seemed to suffer. Perhaps he had early onset dimentia. I feel bad for the guy. What a tough life.

Don't forget "Bette David Eyes" ... That's a real crazy Bitch song. "Leave me Alone" was about the media as far as I know.

The kids were not necessarily sexually produced, possibly in vitro? Obviously having the appearance of a sex life was important for his image particularly in the extra horny 80s..

I think asexual most succinctly explains all of MJ's weird and otherwise unexplainable behavior. But i digress..

I'd rather talk about MJ the artist and not MJ the weirdo.

It also gets forgotten how Nirvana knocked MJ off the charts. Which is amazing no matter how you slice that cake.