today is part one of prince versus elvis
two icons to enter one will leave hey
everybody welcome to prince's friend
exploring music through Prince I just
want to jump on here real quick and say
I am very excited about this video and I
hope that you have a great time watching
it I did have to split it into two parts
so here's part one and today we are
doing a really cool collab that I'm
doing here with Prince Elvis Jackson 88
if you don't know his channel he does a
bunch of music collection stuff he's
really really cool guy but today what
we're gonna be doing is going over a
cool verses video it's gonna be Prince
vs. Elvis and I brought on Johnny
because he is both a big Prince fan and
a big Elvis fan so say hi to everybody
Johnny and tell us a little bit about is
out there hey everybody this is me
Johnny I'm located in Atlanta Georgia my
channel and mostly of my favorite
artists in the title of my username
Prince Elvis Presley Michael Jackson I
show a lot of my collection I do seal
reveals unboxings and reviews or certain
albums and I also I'm gonna start
showing other artists I enjoy too and
just do various topics very cool like
you know and I don't even I don't even
collect vinyl or anything but like
watching your your collection videos
that you do makes me want to start
collecting vinyl even though I don't
even have a record player
it's a it's one of those things like you
do a good job and I share your videos
every so often I'm sure anybody watching
has see me share a few of his videos
here and there and I want to preface
this by saying that Johnny did send me a
bunch of songs that I needed to listen
to and make sure that I knew them so
that we could debate and and have a
discussion about him and he sent me a
really great list of about 15 like have
to listen to songs oh yeah
and I was really surprised that I knew I
think I knew probably 11 of them I think
that I just like new you know and then a
few of the others were like I know the
name of the song and that he did it but
I didn't know the song but it was
it was really really cool that you
shared that with me and that you were
willing to come on and do this collab so
thank you very much
No thank you it's a great honor man I've
been follow your channel for a while I
love it
it's tough very good job good job help
them keep his legacy alive I really do
enjoy your channel man well thank you I
appreciate that so this is gonna follow
a similar format from I got a you're
making me blush over here it's gonna
follow a similar format to some of the
other versus videos that we've done
where there's nine criteria we're gonna
go down the list and we're gonna compare
and see who gets the point
and you know by the end of this we'll
have a winner either Prince or Elvis now
me you and me were talking a little bit
about it at the beginning where we were
like it might be slightly skewed in one
artists Direction more than the other
but we're gonna get into the reasons why
in our formal discussion here so the
first criteria is singing Johnny I'm
gonna let you start it off Johnny tell
me your thoughts on both of their
singing qualities and who you would give
that point to I'll be honest you man I'm
gonna I would probably give it the
Prince miss Prince is just he's very
versatile with his voice I mean he does
Fallston he can do everything he has a
huge range to me you do crazy falsetto
voices you can do like a deep baritone
voice like it's just so crazy how much
he can do Elvis was more of a I guess he
would say a baritone voice and it was
said when he was younger he really
wanted to be a part of a quartet like a
gospel quartet but but then again he has
examples of a tenor voice like in songs
like it's now or never or surrender he
just mostly has that deep voice I don't
know but Prince he just seems to be all
over the place as far as like his range
he is a huge vocal range so I think I
would just give it to Prince I really
would
okay now now see and that's interesting
because this was one of the I'm not
gonna say one of the few but the first
one that I thought of that I was like
obviously this point has to go to Elvis
yo
gosh for me like just listening to the
songs and like you know cuz I don't
listen to Elvis generally but the moment
that an Elvis song comes on and you
start listening to it it's by an iconic
voice you know that it's him it is it's
a strong voice as well it's a powerful
voice that he has and honestly like like
I said with the the collection of songs
that you sent me like he can do soft he
can do hard he can do loud he can do you
know emotional and Prince can do all of
that stuff too
but Prince he was like so much of a
chameleon that you know unless he was
doing his falsetto voice like if he just
came on the radio you might go oh who's
that you know what I mean like some some
people and probably not me I know all of
the Prince songs but you know somebody
else might go like oh that guy sounds
cool who's that and you'd go oh my god
that's Prince he's like oh my god it
sounds so different than the other thing
that he did over here and all that stuff
that's Prince too and like that's an
amazing thing but I think it's also a
really awesome thing to just be able to
be like from no.1 BAM that's Elvis you
know that's true so I would probably
give the point to Elvis you would give
it to Prince um yeah so I they both get
a point we can't agree so they both get
a point for singing so no but I think
that's and it's interesting cuz I
thought you were gonna come out of the
gate with Elvis on that one but hmm and
ended up me having a fight for Elvis no
no that's what this is for like you know
me like if you watch the channel you
know I don't care if you disagree with
me so second criteria is dancing I'll
start off on this one I would probably
give it to Prince mostly because there's
a whole lotta he does a whole lot of
footwork he does the jumping off of the
banisters he does choreography and dance
and he has dancers on stage that he has
to sync up with and you know it's much
more of like a giant
so when it comes to the showmanship of
dancing at a prince show I did go and
see some footage of Elvis and you know
his his dancing at the time was like
very everybody knows the story it's like
super controversial because his hips are
moving his leg but if you remove that he
didn't he didn't have a whole lot in his
in his arsenal of dance moves so I
personally would give Prince the point
you're go you tell me that's a good
argument man yeah I mean Elvis he was
probably the first to be controversial
his moves yes oh my god he moved when
music was playing you know you know on
TV and making the girls go crazy but you
know I I gotta say I think I agree with
you too
I mean I saw Prince in concert myself and
oh my gosh amazing amazing amazing
movement and by that time he stopped
doing all the crazy splits and
everything he used to do but it was it
was very good well I think when you see
Elvis in concert it's more of just like
oh my gosh you know it's Elvis like star
power and all that but yeah I really
have anything to defend on besides his
with like his his wiggling hips so I do
I would give it the Prince man that guy
break it down okay so dancing Prince
gets the point
awesome the next thing we have is song
writing slash musicianship you you tell
me what your thoughts are on both of
them and which one you pick songwriting
for Elvis Elvis wasn't really a
songwriter he was more during his
lifetime he's more of just a performer
he really honestly only has true credit
to one song he recorded during his
career it was actually only end up being
a b-side of a crappy soundtrack song and
it was called that's someone you never
forget it was said to be about his
mother came out like 66
oh wow so he didn't actually write any
of his own songs for his whole career no
okay like you'll see songs like
Heartbreak Hotel don't be cruel all that
it has a coke co-write to Elvis but
think about his manager he was a huge
business man it was all about the money
and at that time when Elvis came out in
their fifties everyone that everybody
wanted all of us to do their songs and
he would say okay you want to let's do a
song then you had to give up 50% of your
rights to be he had to public companies
one called Hill and range and the other
one called Gladys music which was named
after his mother oh wow so as far as
songwriting he really relied on other
people's materials the way he would do
it he would go in the studio you have a
stack of demos and they would arrange
him you know and perform them right
there but he was like to produce it for
those more like a producer but he'll
really really guys one true prayed to a
song oh wow yeah and musicianship or the
musicianship about all this I would say
he really he knows how to put a piano in
the guitar really I'm honestly I didn't
know really I thought when I first
started listening Elvis I thought Elvis
couldn't really play guitar but you see
him go like this but then when he
watched a 68 comeback special which I
highly recommend you can see his
musicianship with the guitar I was like
oh wow he can play that good but and
then by the 70s we were turned into live
performing it was really more of a stage
prop but he was a great guitar player
and as far as piano he never really
showed it publicly publicly I feel like
maybe he wasn't confident with that be
hearing a lot of rare home recordings
with him playing okay there's only a few
pieces of footage as show them actually
playing piano those are really the two
inch admits he knows how to play and as
far as Prince
I mean Prince like I can write anything
yeah I mean it kind of when you when you
when you lay out in India what Elvis did
it's like oh well then the point goes to
Prince cuz Prince could played all the
instruments and
wrote a million thousand songs and all
kinds of stuff so Prince I would say the
point gets to Prince that sounded
like that's where you were going from
what I also heard and one of my live
streams Elvis popped up and I'd be start
talking about Elvis and somebody said
that Prince used to make the revolution
rehearse to rockabilly music that is
actually like and delirious is
apparently prince has take on like a
rockabilly song yeah and you know what
like before somebody on my channel said
that I never would have linked it and
then as soon as they said it that's all
I hear now you know it sounds like it
was in the eighties maybe he would have
done something like that maybe but you
know but but you know I think also I
think also a lot of the reason why
Prince also wins the song the song
writing a musicianship I think is also
cuz I've seen you know I haven't
listened to a ton of Elvis music but I
have watched I like watched a couple of
the biopics and like all that like
i'vei've I know about Elvis even if I
was never really like deep into him and
one of the things that I do remember
from one of the biopics was that he even
if he had wanted to go crazy in the song
writing a musicianship he was limited by
Nashville and he was limited by hmm kind
of where he began because the way that
the way that it was portrayed at least
was that you know alright man like when
he started off like this is how we make
music in Nashville and he's just like
well I got I want to do something
different well you can't you know be
otherwise we're not gonna play you and
we're not gonna release your records
because this is what people want so I
mean you tell me like this is just stuff
I got from a biopic you tell me if
that's correct or not I think it's
correct as far as like limiting himself
as far as his magic goes with that type
of stuff not really with the music he
really kind of did what he always wanted
to do but it was maybe we'll talk about
it more when we come up with
other points with maybe his manager will
come up again miss I was looking at
these points so I'll explain some more
as we go okay well the next point is
production and engineering okay so I'm
starting this list all talk about his
Prince on this one I actually don't know
anything about any of the production in
engineering that Elvis did so I'm gonna
tell you I Prince did and you can fill me
in on Elvis and then we'll decide at the
end
so essentially you know Prince started
off obviously getting his production he
produced himself from the very beginning
his production improved as he got as he
went along like it was always good but
it always it kept getting better and
better
there was even a point where he like
kind of just lived like he would just go
down to his basement and then he had
like a whole production studio down
there and he would just make songs and
obviously in the 80s he got Paisley Park
and then from that point on everything
sounded amazing at Paisley Park any time
he would record there but he would also
go around and he would record in
different places one of the things that
Prince had always said was the the key
to longevity is to you know master every
piece of the music making process
so so he could arrange he could produce
he could engineer he could do the sound
he could do everything he could you know
he he was all over the place so like
hands down usually this point goes to
Prince you know but I actually again I
don't know much about Elvis and his
process so I'm very interested to hear
kind of his side of it so tell me more
tell me more about Elvis on the
Production Engineering Slater was really
involved with his music like I said when
he would go into the studio there would
be a stack of demos for him he would
check him out and he would listen to
them and they would literally which is
taboo now really everyone live in the
studio at one time you know take after
take oh wow and they were yeah and they
would arrange and arrange it until you
know overdubbing got big around mid to
late 60s you know but he was very
involved he every time he looked at a
song he always like okay
he was he was trying to think as a
listener you know okay would I listen to
this
would I buy this or or when I see him in
concert would I wanted to play this
right so he was very involved if
something sound too loud you know this I
I collect all his music I hear the
outtakes you can tell he's very involved
it's like oh that was a tattoo fast that
I was a tattoo slow or you need to be
higher or lower and I think with the
arranging but I think I mean correct me
if I'm wrong sometimes I felt like with
Prince he would be like okay I don't
want your input you know this is my this
is my stuff he would totally do that
yeah I think I really encourage ideas
from the outside I really do feel like
he did someone has somebody take a let's
try that out if it works you know use it
if not I don't know that's what he would
say I mean I think he liked outside
input I think yeah a little bit more
than Prince I would say so so what are
you thinking I think probably I would
probably still give this to Prince
honest and it's so hard to like do this
in this particular way but the strides
and technology in terms of production
and engineering we kind of have to take
that into account right mm-hmm
so I think Prince on the whole probably
did better production and engineering
but he also had more tools at his
disposal so so let's select yeah so
let's think of it that way like could
Elvis possibly get this point by being
amazing with what he had to work with I
think so
you think so oh definitely okay I
personally think it should be a tie but
that's just me you want to give another
two out I'm cool with I you know I'm
trying to give the benefit of the doubt
here because I don't know enough about
Elvis's you know process and stuff and I
also know like you know again Prince got
better and better and better but also he
was old like he was a computer nerd so
he was always like all over whatever the
latest thing was he was
you know so you know so he was always on
the cutting edge because he had all
these tools that he could use you know
whereas if we were if we're talking
about Elvis you know and he's like all
right everybody get into the room
together and we have to overdub and we
have to make sure that this thing works
and stuff you know and you know if he's
trying like to really do this amazing
production on a shoestring budget
comparatively you know you almost have
to give them kudos kind of like those
like indie movies that cost like $5,000
and then they make millions and you're
like oh my god that's that's so great
like this movie this movie that cost
millions also made millions but you made
millions off of nothing like that
exactly so so anyway we'll give him that
we'll give him the point cuz I think
that I think Prince technically would
probably get the point just because
again he had so much more access to
things but Elvis gets a point as well so
okay cool then the next area is acting
and I actually went and I didn't watch
entire Elvis movies but I did go and
watch a few of the Elvis movies but this
is actually your category to start so
tell me what you think of Elvis's acting
versus Prince's acting I gotta say I
think Elvis I think Elvis was a great
actor I think it's a shame that he
didn't do more serious roles than he
usually got he got like a lot of you
know boy meets girl boy gets girl and he
sings a few songs and then he can maybe
kick a guy's butt every now and then you
know in the movie but he was a very good
actor there's good examples of his
acting and if you ever watch an Elvis
movie the one I recommend his change of
habit okay great
I'm telling you great movie he was in 33
films Wow really that many yeah 31 was
scripted
you know most like I said he mostly had
the same storyline but they were he is
very good Jim I think it's a shame
beginning getting more dramatic roles
like
classic stories he was supposed to be in
a star is born with Barbra Streisand no
no I didn't know that he got offered
Midnight Cowboy
with Dustin Hoffman I love old movies
too by the way hello I'm like so I think
I literally I think I've seen like four
Elvis movies like I didn't know that it
was 33 movies like that's that is a
ridiculous number of movies then how
would you compare that then to Prince's
acting it's it's hard to compare I mean
I think Prince I think it's a shame he
didn't do more acting he could have
maybe grew as an actor I mean we're
technically when you think about it as
far as full-blown acting you can really
I can only think of like what three
things he did full acting in pre-brief
pieces yeah it was only three it was a
new girl well was pretty if we want to
use that it was Purple Reign under the
cherry moon graffiti bridge those were
the main three yeah that was the one
where he actually acted in the other two
cuz then and this was always my thing
with Prince is that he wasn't
necessarily a good a good actor but he
could a Moute like nobody's business you
know so like you could he could just he
could just go like a and you'd be like
oh I know everything that he's thinking
you know exactly he'd be like I'm sad
now exactly and you'd be like oh I get
it just from his face but what would end
up happening is and this is obviously
just my opinion and I love his movies
anyway by to whenever he would be acting
it would sound like he was saying words
that were written beforehand and that
he's you know is so I would I would say
he wasn't necessarily the best actor
whether or not I loved the movies
I also would give this point to Elvis
and and especially now that I know that
he was in 33 movies bad yeah I'm telling
ya like I just blew my mind
yeah change of habit I would say change
of happen
in the country dozer and King Creole
those are good examples of his acting
okay yeah I think I've only seen so let
me see I saw the one where he was on the
beach doing the the I don't know lying
yes blue Hawaii yes I saw blue Hawaii
and I saw the one where he was the army
man GI blues so those are the two that I
watched recently to prepare for this
video so but I didn't watch the whole
movies I just watched like scenes
because I just wanted to be like let me
get a feel for his acting style and
honestly he was a good actor like he
just he came in he delivered his lines
well I didn't think that he was just you
know a Ken doll there just to just to
sing even though I feel like that's what
the makers of the movie wanted him to be
I think originally yes especially when
he first his first movie came out in
1956 Love Me Tender you know they sell
this the biggest star you know in the
scene and they just wanted they the
heartthrob on the screen you know
exactly he was if you watch his first
movie to his less good to move Lee
definitely he he grew as an actor
definitely big-time very cool right so
no point to Elvis then all right that's
his first what he's got that's his first
one he's got all right that was part one
of Prince versus Elvis tune in tomorrow
for part two an amazing time will be had
by all
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may he live to see the dawn
