s-endz > this is neofunk

This blog is in response to the following tweet from @JaspreetKTakhi

 trevor nelson once said that any true MJ fan would rate Off The Wall more than Thriller- are you in agreement?!

I’d actually go one further and say that 1980’s “Triumph” is probably better than both. True, it’s a Jacksons album and not an MJ solo album, BUT he sings lead on 8 of the 9 songs, he co-wrote 6 of them (more MJ writing credits than on either “Off The Wall” which has 3 or “Thriller” which has 4), he also a larger hand in the production, so in some respects it’s the most pure MJ….. and of course, stellar songs like “Can You Feel It” and “Heartbreak Hotel/This Place Hotel” are amongst the songs many diehard fans would place extremely highly. 

I think the love for “Off The Wall” is most warranted by it’s high points, which are stellar. But we are all guilty of downplaying the closing two tracks, a bit weaker than the rest but still good songs. “Thriller” has at least as many high points and the weaker points are stronger than those on “Off The Wall”. For me, each album has 5 bonafide MJ classics on it, so I don’t necessarily agree with Trevor. It’s all a matter of preference really. I happen to prefer “Bad” to both, as MJ wrote all of the songs bar 2 and it has more bonafide classics than any other MJ album IMO. It’s also my joint favorite album of all time by any artist (the other is Sign O’ The Times which actually came out the same year). And I know people that would fully agree and others who completely disagree. Everybody has different preferences and I think when you’re talking about the most famous and most loved artist of all time sentimentality will play into it depending on your age, earliest and fondest recollections of being a fan, etc. So for a man whose professional career lasted 40 years that’s gonna be a wide gamut of opinions. I definitely know where Trevor and other people who might say that are coming from but you can’t really make blanket statements like that really. It’s a little dangerous (no pun intended) to start saying things like “a real fan would say….” etc.