Berry Gordon just stated, "I think he (Michael Jackson) is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived." Do you agree? Disagree?

Disagree. Pretty strongly. I'll readily concede that MJ had a lot of talent and was masterful at delighting audiences.

He was very gifted at song writing, dancing...and I'll even give him some credit for his singing (though I think his singing talent alone doesn't stand up very well compared to some other greats). However... Berry Gordy was the major steam engine behind making MJ a star, a close friend of the Jackson family, and therefore had a pretty darn skewed view of what it means to be the "greatest entertainer that ever lived". (Did he pat himself on the back at the same time?

) Here's my opinion on Michael Jackson's ranking in entertainment history: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If he shuck down all of the freak show factor surrounding MJ, if we could just give the world Michael's talent without Bubbles the Chimp, plastic surgery, Neverland, a baby named "Blanket", and without the child molestation charges, I don't think MJ would be very relevant today. I think he was a big sensation for the better part of 20 years, and then faded. But okay, he was a legend, especially in his heyday.

He sold boatloads of records. No doubt. But he was also a product of a publicity machine.

Berry Gordy was very famous and good at making his singers S-T-A-R-S. Jackson started as a gimmick - a little kid who could sing and dance pretty well along with his brothers. And that gave him the keys to a solo career.

Would he have earned that solo career without the youth gimmick as a platform? Maybe. Maybe not.

Then with the full force of Motown and Epic Records behind him, he learned the biz - he was trained by the best choreographers money could buy. He had a built-in fan-base from his kindergarten years. A lot of MJ as we know him was, in many ways, manufactured.

So how does he stack up against other historical entertainers? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When I consider other entertainers through history - some of whom had no "label" helping to manufacture their image - I really can come up with a list of entertainers who I think were greater. Granted, the list is relatively short given the giant scope of history.

These are the *MUSICIANS* I think were greater than MJ: (these are in no particular order) ************************************ 1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 2. Frank Sinatra 3.

Elvis Presley 4. Ludwig Van Beethoven 5. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 6.

Duke Ellington 7. The Beatles & John Lennon (they get the same slot) 8. Aretha Franklin 9.

Johann Sebastian Bach 10. Bing Crosby (Madonna is a tie with MJ, and Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and The Stones come darn close to MJ's rank) And these are some other *ENTERTAINERS* who were also superior to MJ (IMHO): ***************************** 1. Lucille Ball 2.

Steven Spielberg 3. Charlie Chaplin 4. Will Rogers 5.

Al Jolson ...and if I sat here for days I know the lists would be MUCH longer! (In fact, I'd love to read comments about other names people can come up with! ) Sorry, Jacko.

You will be missed (by some), and you certainly made your mark on music and entertainment in the 20th century. But in decades to come, you will be more forgotten than most people would care to admit right now.

I don’t know if he was the best but certainly in the top ten, I believe he was the king of pop, the key word being pop just as I believe that Elvis is the king of Rock and Roll, I also think Snoop Dogg could be the king of Hip Hop/ Rap in that he has been around for a long time and has a voice that just sounds good and a large body of work. Now I really liked Michael Jackson and have since I was a small tyke, I was in kindergarten when never can say good bye came out and purchased Off the Wall along with Pink Floyds the wall in Late 1979 as a teen, I also went to see Ben with my older brother as kid, I remember driving my first car in Chicago and hearing wanna be starting something on the radio, this guy was good and one of the best, but best ever that’s really hard to say, I will say buying his music is a safe bet just as buying a Led Zeppelin album is a safe bet, there are lots of good acts out there and there are some great ones and he is probably in the top 10 but let 10 years pass and see how you feel about him. I will most likely still listen to his music but I grew up with and to be honest now that he is gone I feel like something is missing or has been taken away.

There are others that are great. Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, Rush, Metallica, Frank Sinatra, and if Coldplay keeps on putting out more music add them to the list.

Totalitarian absolutes such as _____ is the best/worst _____ that ever lived is a very arguable statement, regardless of who it's being said about. But I can understand that's the way Berry Gordy feels and he's welcome to his opinion!

If you define the success of an entertainer or musician in sales (which within the industry is exactly how it is defined) there is no comparison. Michael Jackson has sold more product, by far, than any other entertainer in the history of the business. He set the mark SO high in terms of sales which is why Gordy is not overstating Jackson's significance to the world.

Michael Jackson set the benchmark and forever changed the industry. --QUOTE-- Nearly 27 years after its release, "Thriller" still stands as the best-selling studio album in the United States, according to the RIAA, which has certified it 28-times platinum. More than 50 million copies have been sold internationally, according to estimates.

But the album's success can't be measured by sales alone. As Jackson moonwalked his way into music history, "Thriller" set a new benchmark for blockbusters that changed how the music business promoted and marketed superstar releases. It also changed MTV, breaking down the cable network's racial barriers and raising the bar for video quality.

It's hard for me to answer as I never had the chance to see MJ perform (live)but by the same token, I've also seen Pink Floyd live, which is a truly awe inspiring experience. Without a doubt, MJ is indeed the King of Pop. As far as the greatest entertainer that ever lived, I can go along with that, but that's pretty high accolades.

However, I'm hard pressed to provide a better example of the greatest entertainer that ever lived. Still, MJ consistantly did it, and did it all over the world. I talked myself into it - yes, I can agree, he deserves the title.

Berry Gordy, founder and former owner of Motown Records, was one of the people who discovered Michael and The Jackson Five, so he'd be in a position to know, but he's also probably biased. I think Michael Jackson is one of the greatest, but it's hard to say for sure if he is the greatest. I never saw him in concert or in person, so I don't have that to go on.

But everything I've seen of him in music videos, concert footage, and recent things people have written about their experiences with him, sounds like yes, he was simply an amazing entertainer. I mean, the guy could sing and dance both extremely well. And his fashion sense, though odd at times, was envied and copied throughout the world.

If I had to put another entertainer up to him, it'd be Elvis. Maybe also James Brown. But there's really no one else who had the singing and the dancing.

I mean, Britney Spears is talented, but not even in the same league.

I could never make a flat out statement like Mr. Gordy, but I am highly tempted to do so. For the sake of argument, I do agree. There are all the obvious reasons like him being the best selling musician of all time and the mass hysteria he caused wherever he went.

Though numbers are not necessarily an indication of quality; Michael Jackson's kind of massive numbers do make you think that maybe he has something that set him apart from other entertainers. But his qualifications for being the greatest entertainer go beyond that. Even reviewers of him when his first albums came out recognized his talent.

A New York Times reviewer wrote this about his voice in a review of Thriller: "Michael Jackson's ethereal tenor is a critical part of his success. ...Ever since the craze for the castrato in the 17th century, high male voices, with their paradoxical blend of asexuality and sensuousness, ecstasy and pain, have been the most prized of all vocal types, and Mr. Jackson epitomizes such singing better than anyone, in any musical genre. " Even if you find that to be an exaggeration, that Jackson's music could inspire a music critic to such praise has to be taken notice of.

About his 1979 release of Off The Wall, a Times critic wrote that even at his young age, he had the "technical control" of Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, two icons and major influences on R&B even today. In a critical article of Jackson's dance style, another Times reviewer notes that, in his opinion, despite the fact that Jackson's style never improved over time, that his dance "gifts" were "sensational" and that the "way he honed his skills was, at first, superb. " Michael Jackson also had a transfixing personality--his oddities and secrecy still have the capacity to increase people's fascination with him.

There is that tender, shy boy aspect of him that never left him; we all can recognize this in that tender voice of his and that smile. There are the scandals, the coverage and attention to which showed that people still being entertained even when Jackson was not singing and dancing! This enigmatic personality drew people to him like a magnet; he was amazing, he was omnipresent, and yet there was always the sense that we never quite knew him, which seemed to make the public want him more.

Certainly, Jackson and his runaway success has influenced many of the current pop stars out there such as Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Usher. His way of making a concert an event where you didn't just see someone stand on stage and sing, perhaps dance a little, has become a rule for pop stars today. He basically created MTV with his music videos that were "groundbreaking...short films.

" Jackson himself was not complacent about this; in an interview with MTV in 1999 he said "The idea is to take it a step further and innovate, otherwise why am I doing it? " he said. "I don't want to be just another can in the assembly line.

I want to create, do something that's totally different and unusual. " There were none quite like him before, and his unbelievable success comes from his innovative entertainment. He was never a can in the assembly line---he was the prototype that pop music is still copying today.

Even if you may not agree that he was--is--the best, you can't deny the giant footprint he left on music, indeed the world--especially if you watch this Thriller video:).

Personally, I never liked him, even a little bit. Don't listen to his music, view his videos, never have. I suppose he might be considered that who love his music, and there are a lot of people out there who have loved watching and listening to him.

I have been told by many that he was the greatest entertainer. He was. He put his all into every concert and you can tell.

Even those I have spoken to who dislike his style of music and feel he was a "freak" still thought he was the greatest entertainer of all and that says a lot. Even his harshest critics feel he was the greatest entertainer of all. He was simply very good at what he did, regardless of the bizarre lifestyle he led, his eccentricities and oddities, and his addiction to plastic surgery.

Yes I Agree Michael Jackson is simply the greatest entertainer ever lived...

Without ever having the opportunity to see Michael Jackson perform live, I cannot comment on whether he was the great entertainer that ever lived. However, the sheer number of people who were in attendance for his memorial service today shows the massive reach his life and talent had on the world. I think this is the true testament to his greatness.

Something as subjective as whether or not he was "the greatest" could always be debated, but I think it's obvious that to an extraordinary number of people HE WAS.

I agree! Although I am not a huge MJ fan he still to me puts on the most amazing shows. And really pushed the bar when it came to entertaining his fans!

From his music to stage theatrics to choreography his shows are hard to top!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.