Paisley Park vs Neverland Ranch

Were Prince and Michael Jackson friends...?

A forgotten rivalry...?

"Bad" (the song and the music video) was originally supposed to be a duet between Prince and Michael Jackson, which would've been so fucking cool. The two of them facing off: that would've made more sense than Michael Jackson facing off against Wesley Snipes (in the video)...

Alas, Prince turned it down.

Two peculiar, shy, reclusive, black(ish) men who reached their career primes in the 1980s. Built their own private Xanadus. Men who exhibited strange behavior and weathered controversies. Men with mysterious private lives.

I wonder if they were friends. And if they were, imagine how surreal it would've been to see them hanging out together. How crazy it would've been to see them perform together.

Of course, Michael Jackson made Prince look positively down-to-earth. Prince was never the asexual icon that MJ was: the lyrics of Purple Rain were dripping with sex. You get the sense he's been around.

How many of his own songs did Michael Jackson write? Prince has always written his own songs, as well as written songs for others. He can play every instrument on earth, too. On that artistic level, he honestly blows MJ out of the water. Michael Jackson concerts were all about choreography and spectacle; Prince's concerts are about the music.

But in a weird way, MJ always tried to embrace the world. He wanted to be loved.

I think Prince was always more motivated by the music.