I believe Warner Bros. would need Prince's permission since he (Prince) owns the publishing to the music under "Paisley Park". I could be wrong though. I would love to see Rhino Records remaster "Purple Rain" in a Box Set with every song recorded for the movie, which according to the director of "Purple Rain", totaled 100 songs.

Purple Rain gets the edge IMO. Thriller is a great album, but I am sick of hearing the media talk about what a great album it is (like the recent "Thriller 25" release). Yes, it sold more than any other album but it's not the alpha and omega as a piece of work on it's own. It's a great album and I grew up listening to it, but the absolute greatest musical achievement known to man? Nahhhhh

I too would love a Purple Rain deluxe edition. Who knows, maybe the stars will align sometime

I think it would be tough to not base this on personal preference, considering that both albums were released about the time that most folks on this site were riding Big Wheels at the time...



I was in college when both albums were released (1982 for Thriller, 1984 for Purple Rain) and remember both of them as "new". Thriller broke the mold for successful pop albums... seven top-ten singles, Billboard #1 album for NINE MONTHS, nominated for a record-breaking 12 Grammys (won a record-breaking 8 of them)... when this album came out, Michael Jackson became the Tiger Woods of his genre.... in the pop music world, there was Michael, and there was everybody else.

Personally, I listen to Purple Rain more often than Thriller, but that wasn't the original question. Had Purple Rain come before Thriller, the verdict might be different, but considering the overall impact that Thriller had on the music industry and in establishing MJ as the King of Pop, the choice is obvious.

If you had been there, you'd know what I'm talking about.

Man, I would smoke you on that thing. Real boys rode....

Ha! That looks like a recumbent Big Wheel.

Both are pop classics, and rightly so, but Purple Rain is one that I can listen to now where as Thriller does not even enter my mind anymore. I would rather spin Off The Wall actually.

The original QUESTION was which one is better..... It wasnt which had a strong first impact... ????

1) Prince won the Oscar...
2) did you see Charlie Murphy do a MJ skit on Chappelle Show?

I rest my case...err..hmm.

I agree that Purple Rain is something I still listen to completely but I never listen to Thriller all the way through.

THRILLER may be losing in this poll, but it leads in album sales.

Well then I guess Hootie And The Blowfish is about the best fucking album ever.

What makes you think we haven't been there? Sounds like you might only be a year older than me. I was there as well. I think Purple Rain is a better album. The more I've thought about, Thriller has a couple of completely crap songs that actually sounded like crap on arrival. Not so with the Prince album.

Thriller. I had great memories with this one.

I agree!! I love it when the only thing MJ fans can bring up to slight Prince is album sales. I guess that means Hannah Freaking Montana is the greatest artist in the world just about now, right?

I grew up on MJ and Prince, but I think Prince has soooo much more to offer. MJ is all about selling records and concert tickets, Prince is so much more than that. MJ has never attempted to do some of the daring things Prince has done in his career, he wants to recapture Thriller's sales. Prince knows Purple Rain was a one-time-only success and doesn't live in 1984 eternally.

As someone who has followed both for over 20 years, I think a lot of people who don't truly pay attention don't realize the difference. A lot of people want to compare them because they were both black men with heavy James Brown/Little Richard influence who defied genre and had their peak of superstardom during the height of MTV. But I think if you look deeper than the hits, they're different as night and day. MJ has always been about making music for the masses, he wants fans from 4 to 94... that is why he has always stayed commercial and never tried to stray too far from what is popular. Prince has certainly written his share of mainstream songs, but I don't think his goal ever was to truly "take over the world". He had his brief moment as the #1 music star in the world with Purple Rain, and instead of trying to recapture it, he let it go and he continued on his way. "Around The World In A Day" is not the work of "hey, let's duplicate Purple Rain's success!!!", whereas "Bad" and "Dangerous" both were safe attempts at reclaiming Thriller's achievements. I have seen both in concert and they are both great at what they do, but if they weren't both black men who hit their biggest point in popularity around 1983-1984 and were the first black artists to receive heavy MTV airplay, the comparisons wouldn't be any more used than how much people compare Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen, since both were huge stars who peaked in the mid-1980's. Lionel Richie was more Michael's "competition" in the 80's, while Prince was more of a funky Springsteen or something along those lines.

Wow good post nothingfails. Interesting perspective

By the way. Am I the one one who thinks Parade is Prince's most underrated album? I'd rate it up there if not better than Purple Rain, simply because of 'Mountains' alone

I find Parade to be massively underrated as well. Granted, everyone and their mother knows "Kiss", but unfortunately, it seems like that is all people know from that album. It's like people are afraid to check the album out because of the reputation Under The Cherry Moon had, and I think it's a freaking great Prince album on it's own

Of course it also has Sometimes It Snows In April, which is one of Prince's best songs on any album.

I'm a fan of both but Purple Rain by far. I still listen to that album to this day and it hasn't lost a thing in 20+ years.

Around The World In A Day is another Prince album from the 80's I find incredibly underrated since albums like Purple Rain, 1999 and Sign O' The Times tower over it. Like Parade and Kiss, everyone knows and loves "Raspberry Beret", but just like Parade, people have never really dug beyond the hit single to realize what a great album is there.

Around The World is one of my favorite 4 Prince albums, along with Purple Rain, Sign O The Times, and Lovesexy.

I don't get that one either as I am right around there (predicting what the age is).

Parade was a good album too. Ah, the days of Prince and the Revolution.

New Position is one of my fave Prince tunes.

Purple Rain tells a story that comes to a climax (pun intended) with the great title track. Thriller is a collection of great singles and some terrible filler (PYT, etc.). The Prince for me.