Prince and Michael Jackson were constantly compared, and rumors of a rivalry between
the two pop legends have long been reported.
Since they both passed away, others in the music industry have shed light on their famed
"rivalry."
Here's everything we know about Michael Jackson and Prince's relationship.
Worst meeting ever
By the mid '80s, after Purple Rain and Thriller were both released, The Purple One and the
King of Pop were at the height of their careers.
So it's kind of amazing to hear that they might have actually collaborated back then,
if only they could have gotten along.
When Michael Jackson was working on Bad, he and producer Quincy Jones invited Prince over
to Jackson's house to talk about the two possibly dueting on the title track.
However, judging from Jones' account, the vibe between the two superstars was rough
from the start.
Jones spilled the beans in a no-holds-barred interview with GQ, saying that Prince strangely
taunted Jackson as soon as he arrived at his home.
The famed producer said,
"[Prince] came in and he had an overcoat on, and he had a big white box labeled 'Camille.'
He called Michael 'Camille.'"
Then, as if it couldn't get any more awkward...it did.
Jones continued,
"The box had all kinds of stuff, some cuff links with Tootsie Rolls on them.
Michael was scared to death, he thought there was some voodoo in there."
"That's stupid."
"You're stupid."
Despite Jones' best attempts to make sure everyone was comfortable at the meeting, some
of the small talk quickly became a big problem.
According to Jones, Michael said,
"'I never been to Minnenapolis.'
[Prince] said [angrily], 'It's Minneapolis!'...Then Janet went by.
[Prince] said, 'Relax your lips, girl.'
And it was not going well, that's for sure."
Prince re-recorded "Bad"
Prince's ex-fiance Susannah Melvoin, who is the twin sister of Wendy Melvoin, a former
member of Prince's band, claims that Michael Jackson asked Prince to collaborate on "Bad,"
and sent him an early track, which Prince wasn't impressed with at all.
Susannah Melvoin told Love City podcast host Toure in 2018:
"When Michael did 'I'm Bad,' he sent that track to Prince before he released it, and
Michael wanted Prince to sing it with him.
He couldn't believe Michael had the nerve to call it 'I'm Bad.'...He was like, 'There's
nothing badass about him.'"
While most artists would simply decline the invitation to collaborate, Prince decided
to take things to the next level.
He re-recorded the entire song and sent the new version back to Jackson...because he wanted
to show him how it should be done.
Prince wouldn't join Michael's gang
Not only did Prince totally reject the idea of singing on "Bad," but he also turned down
a big role in the music video.
He would have played the part of a rough gang member, which eventually went to Wesley Snipes.
In the late '90s, Prince sat down with comedian Chris Rock and he had this to say about the
potential role.
"You know, that Wesley Snipes character?
That would have been me.
Alright, now you run that video in your mind."
Yet, it wasn't really the idea of playing a gang member that bothered Prince.
He went on to tell Rock,
"The first line of that song is 'Your butt is mine.'
Now I said, 'Who's gonna sing that to whom?
Because you sure ain't singing it to me.
And I sure ain't singing it to you.'
So right there...we got a problem."
Despite Prince's complete disinterest in "Bad," the role turned out to be a breakthrough performance
for Snipes, who was still a couple years away from major parts in Mo' Better Blues and New
Jack City.
In 2017, thirty years after the Bad video was released, he talked about the casting
experience with Conan O'Brien, and Snipes remembered it a bit differently than Prince.
"Me and Prince auditioning together, and I blew Prince out of the water."
Snipes went on to say,
"Michael had told Prince that he had the role, and then he met me."
"Is that true?"
"This is a true story."
Prince falls for James Brown
On one fateful night in 1983, James Brown performed at Los Angeles' Beverly Theater,
with both Prince and Michael Jackson in the audience.
James Brown called Jackson onto the stage, who pretty much slayed the audience with his
dance moves.
Afterward, Jackson reportedly whispered to Brown to call Prince on the stage next.
Quincy Jones probably summed it up best when he said,
"[Prince] made a damn fool out of himself."
Judging from later reports and surviving video of the event, Prince tried to swing onto a
nearby lamppost as he left the stage.
He didn't realize it was just a prop and tumbled into the audience.
But what really upset Prince was that Jackson acquired a recording of the whole performance,
including the fall.
Jones claimed that Prince was furious and told Michael he'd kill him if he showed the
footage to anybody.
He told GQ,
"[Prince] waited in the limousine to try and run over [Jackson] and [his sister] La Toya
and his mother."
Michael thought Prince was nasty
According to previously unreleased interview recordings for his 1988 autobiography Moonwalk,
Jackson had some not-so-nice things to say about Prince.
In the recordings, obtained by The Mirror, we allegedly hear the voice of Jackson saying
in reference to Prince:
"He was so rude, one of [the] rudest people I have ever met...He has been very mean and
nasty to my family."
If these tapes are indeed real, then it sounds like Prince's potential limo attack after
the James Brown concert didn't sit well at all with The Gloved One.
He also made direct reference to that night, saying,
"[Prince] made a fool of himself.
He was a joke.
People were running and screaming.
I was so embarrassed.
It was all on video."
Finally, when it came to his supposed rivalry with Prince, Jackson apparently said:
"I don't like to be compared to Prince at all.
I have proven myself since I was real little...He feels like I'm his opponent.
I hope he changes because, boy, he's gonna get hurt."
"Shamone!"
"More kicks?"
"Closer!
Closer!
Closer to your face!"
"You almost hit me, there."
"Shamone!"
We aren't the world
When Prince was asked to join a group of America's most talented artists to produce the single
"We Are the World" for African famine relief, he refused.
Since it was co-written by Michael Jackson, some speculated that it was because Prince
had a beef with the King of Pop.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote the song with Jackson, told talk show host Jimmy Kimmel
that even though Prince said no, he kept trying to change his mind.
Richie said,
"I kept calling.
I was not going to let it go, and I said, 'Let me try one more time.
Prince, we need you down here.'"
Prince then asked Richie for a separate room to record in.
Unfortunately, Richie couldn't give him special treatment in a studio full of megastars, and
Richie's response to his request didn't please The Purple One.
"And then I made the worst mistake.
I said, 'Listen, I'll put you right next to Michael.'"
"Oh.
And he didn't want to be next to Michael?"
"Done."
On his song "Hello," Prince sings:
"I tried to tell them that I didn't want to sing, but I'd gladly write a song instead."
Fans speculate that he was referring to the "We Are the World" project.
And here's the kicker: Prince did write a song called "4 the Tears in Your Eyes," which
he donated to the cause, and which was included on the We Are the World album.
A bass in the face
Will.i.am, who collaborated with both Prince and Michael Jackson, once told a story on
The Graham Norton Show about an interesting encounter between the two legends.
According to Will.i.am, he got a phone call from Michael Jackson saying he wanted to get
together, and the two agreed that Jackson would come to a Prince show that Will.i.am
was attending that night along with actor Chris Tucker.
What happened next was both odd and hilarious.
"To make a long story short, Prince steps off the stage and plays the bass in Michael
Jackson's face."
The next morning, Will.i.am and Jackson met up for breakfast and to talk about the show
the night before.
Jackson had a simple question about his close encounter with Prince.
"First words he says: 'Why was Prince playing the bass in my face?
You know, Prince, he's always been a meanie.'"
Prince slammed Michael
We all know that Prince and Jackson were said to be competitive when it came to music, but
word has it that they once competed privately over what should have been a friendly game.
Apparently, at one point, the two stars happened to be working in the same Los Angeles studio
and Prince invited Jackson to play a game of ping pong.
Even though Jackson didn't know how, they played anyway, much to the apparent amusement
of Prince.
One of Prince's engineers, who witnessed the smackdown, described the bizarre scene to
the Star Tribune.
He said that Prince asked,
"You want me to slam it?...Michael drops his paddle and holds his hands up in front of
his face so the ball won't hit him.
Michael walks out...and Prince starts strutting around like a rooster.
'Did you see that?
He played like Helen Keller.'"
"This bores me.
Is anyone up for a game of basketball?"
Prince's drummer, Michael Bland, also told the Star Tribune that the two superstars even
went head-to-head in a game of basketball but it seemed like they had a friendly relationship.
He said,
"They'd shoot hoops at Paisley Park...We used to get packages from [Michael Jackson's production
company with] footage of Sly Stone performing in Europe.
Prince would pop it in the VCR, and we'd watch it."
Michael loved watching Prince fall
In his autobiography, Sing to Me, famed music producer L.A. Reid described an incident where
he went to visit Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch.
After getting a tour of the grounds by the King of Pop, the two then went into a screening
room where he said Jackson showed him a recording from the James Brown concert, when Prince
fell off the stage.
Reid continued to say that Michael really enjoyed laughing at that part of the video.
Reid then said Jackson brought out a second Prince video.
Jackson was apparently having a good time at the Purple One's expense.
Reid said,
"After that, he put on a scene from Prince's movie 'Under The Cherry Moon,' the artsy black-and-white
bomb he made after 'Purple Rain,' and he laughed some more at Prince."
Prince actually defended Michael
Despite speculation, Prince denied there was any beef between him and Michael Jackson.
Comedian Chris Rock asked Prince in 1997 which artist made him feel like he needed to get
back in the studio and compete, opening the door for Prince to mention Jackson, and Prince
seemed to squash those rumors.
Prince said,
"Contrary to what a lot of people might believe, it was never somebody who was my contemporary."
Rock then asked Prince directly if there was ever a beef between himself and Jackson.
Prince said,
"Not to me, no."
Not only that, but Prince once defended Jackson to the press.
When asked by a plucky reporter who he thought would win in fist-fight between him and Jackson,
Prince laughed and said that, quote, "Michael's not a fighter, he's a lover."
When the crowd's laughter quickly turned into a low roar, presumably because of the longstanding
abuse allegations against Jackson, Prince told everyone to reserve judgment:
"Can I just say something?
I've never really spoke publicly about Michael.
We should all just kind of, like, chill, because...he may know something none of us really know."
Prince mourned Michael's death
Talk show host Tavis Smiley, who wrote the book Before You Judge Me: The Triumph and
Tragedy of Michael Jackson's Last Days, described a meeting he had with Prince right after Jackson
died, which put Prince's relationship with Jackson into a different perspective.
He told Conan O'Brien that upon hearing about Jackson's death, Prince locked himself in
his room for days and didn't talk to anybody.
Days later, Smiley said he met up with Prince at his hotel suite after a concert, and had
a private discussion with him about Jackson.
Smiley told O'Brien:
"And from 1:30, 2 o'clock in the morning until the sun came up, I sat and listened to him
talk about his respect for Michael's artistic genius."
Summing up his night talking with the music legend, Smiley had this to say about Prince's
reflections on the talent of Michael Jackson.
"It's something I'll never forget, listening to this one artistic genius revel in the humanity
and the dignity and the craft of another artistic genius.
It was a powerful evening."
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