ELVIS OR MICHAEL?

Or Sinatra, or Nat King Cole, or Charles Aznavour, or Pavarotti, or Bing Crosby?
The list could be endless, depending of whom you ask or in what time we lived. or what kind of music we enjoy better, or how nationalistic we are. There are many factors to choose from to determine who was the greatest talent.
Today, in the year 2009 and for many years to come, perhaps another 50, is Michael Jackson.
That said, let's get down to earth and be a little bit more realistic. Is an entertainer, no matter how great an artist, more important than for instance Fleming? If you forgot who Alexander Fleming was, he discovered PENICILLIN in 1928, which has cured and will continue curing millions of people. Fleming was born in 1881 and died in 1955, two years after Elvis' introduction to the world of music.
Is an entertainer more important than a paint artist, like Michelangelo, or Leonardo, or Velazquez, or Rembrandt, or many other greats alike?
I have this dilemma...who remembers the music of the 30s or the 40s? Obviously people who today are close to the age of 80. When these people leave us who is going to remember the Andrew Sisters or Glen Miller? Very few. But we still see pictures of Wyeth or Winslow Homer's masterpieces. And we still read Cervantes' "Don Quijote de la Mancha", Shakespeare's "Othello", and Dante's "La Divina Commedia". In medicine, art and literature there is no time limit. They last forever.
Unfortunately for entertainment and music, time elapses with time. Songs written, sang and performed yesterday have been or will be forgotten or buried in the cruel reality of time. Imagine, if this planet earth ever reaches the 30th century, who will be singing then "Beat it", or
"Billie Jean"? My guess is no one. But the great immortal works of Dali or Beethoven will prevail and still be there.

I am not trying to put Michael Jackson's popularity down. He was by his own talent one of the greatest entertainers, but the rest of us, who are merely mortal followers, feel today that Michael was more than that, that he was indeed the greatest of them all. I do not share that feeling, perhaps because I believe that there is no ultimate best of anything. No one is the best of everything, unless he is God, like no country is the best country of the world in everything, unless it is a utopic place, and that is not real. Was Michael Jackson real? I think he was. He had virtues and defects, like all of us, he was a superior talent performing, but a total mess in his personal life.
Today's generation, together with the media has made him a superman, close to a God and I believe we've gone over the top.
Michael, like the Beatles, like Elvis, like Sinatra, like many other great singers and performers will be part of the world musical treasure, but that'll be all. No human accomplishments, no hero status, not savior of humanity.
Michael, you made our lives happier and that is perhaps your greatest achievement. Thank you. Rest in peace