“Your butt is mine,” sings Michael Jackson in the opening line of his 1987 release “Bad,” and it’s not entirely clear whose butt MJ is claiming ownership of. But the ambiguity was apparently enough for another pop icon — Prince — to back out of appearing in the song and accompanying video.
That’s just one of approximately countless Prince stories floating around since the musician’s death last week, and everyone seems to be on the same page on a few points: there was no one else like him musically, and he was a master of shade.
Those two facts enabled him to have a friendly (or not so friendly) feud with whomever he wanted, even the King of Pop himself.
In a resurfaced interview Prince did with Chris Rock, Rock asked, “There was never any rivalry between you and Mr. Jackson?”
Prince responded, “Not to me, no.”
But when the conversation turns to the part in MJ’s “Bad” he backed out of, Prince said, “The first line of that song is ‘Your butt is mine.’ Now, who is going to sing that to whom? Cause [he] sure ain’t singing that to me, and I sure ain’t singing it to [him].”
Other signs also point to friction between the two artists over the years.
Lyrics in Prince’s “Life ‘O’ The Party” off his 2004 album “Musicology” are thought to be a direct jab at Jackson:
“My voice is getting higher/And I ain’t never had my nose done/That’s the other guy.”
And there are accounts from close to Jackson that Prince often picked on him.
As the story goes, MJ attended a Prince concert in Las Vegas, where Prince approached MJ’s table and played aggressive slap bass right in his face.
Jackson biographer Steve Knopper said in Esquire that the next day, Jackson complained to will.i.am that, ““Prince has always been a meanie,” and, “He’s just a big meanie. He’s always been not nice to me.”
“Nobody really quite knows the full extent of their rivalry, and I think both of those guys had an interest in keeping it somewhat mysterious because they are both mysterious dudes,” Knopper continued to Esquire. “Before I die, I want to know what the full deal was between the two of them.”
Jackson’s youngest son, born in 2002, is named Prince. We won’t even try to unpack that.
On a complete side note, Jackson’s “Bad” video does feature another famous face — a then-rising star Wesley Snipes. It was also directed by Martin Scorsese.
h/t: Daily Beast
cdndmf
I think both of these two amazing artists did their very best to ‘be themselves’, but over a life-long era that had too many barriers and pressures. We -‘the public’ – can never know who they truly were. Long live them both. In the words of Mozart, “… love, love, love; that is the soul of genius.”
Billy Budd
Both died because of addictions. Normal life is too boring for geniuses. They need more.
dean089
“Meanie?” Seriously? LOL!
As I recall, both of Michael Jackson’s sons are named Prince, which is probably why the younger one has always gone by a nickname.
Arconcyyon
TWO TWO SUPER DIVVAS TWO ROCK IN ROOL GUYS MEGA GUYS TWO TWO MICHELLY JACKOSON´S AND PRINCE´SA GUYS DIVVA GUYS @ ! Peacee the angles Peacee last party planet TERRA MEDI TERRA .
Brian
Both Prince and Michael Jackson tried to project themselves as super-heterosexual. I never bought it. It’s funny how marketing can be used to create an image that may or may not reflect reality.
The music business is basically very homophobic in terms of male homosexuality because women find it offensive. Women will not buy from male singers who are not interested in women’s bodies or who might be thought of as dabbling in men. Women want all of the attention for themselves.
This is why I always say that women are the main driving forces of homophobia. Women see male homosexual desire as interfering with their business model – ie of gaining financially and emotionally from men who feel that women are the answer to all of his comforts, including erotic.
She wants to be rewarded and bought, and that can only happen on a consistent basis if he is interested only in women.
reallygoodthings
So tiresome. The were both gayer than pink ink.
Bob LaBlah
“Jackson’s youngest son, born in 2002, is named Prince.”
His kids look awfully white to say they have a biological black father.
KiwiJello
I am going to go with sexual tension. Prince was being a “meanie”? That’s what boys do when they like you, isn’t it?
In all seriousness, I regret that they didn’t make “Bad” a duet. It would have been epic.”Your butt is mine” is a figure of speech, and yet Prince writes “Erotic City” and has no issue with what that says? I think there is more to this story. Too bad we may never really know.
barkomatic
Prince was a great artist and I enjoy his music, but I hope someday we can put the need for closeted performers behind us.
joeyty
Prince is deservedly a music icon, but we have to accept that he was a homophobe too.
Bob LaBlah
@joeyty: If you have the time do a google, yahoo or bing search on Rick James and Prince and then Eddie Murphy and Prince. I LOVE Prince but I remember the stories about those meetings (at different times of course) and both left the meeting abruptly because they knew Prince was coming on to both of them. Now mind you, back in the eighties they were all cute and looked a lot different than they do now (and may Rick and Prince rest in peace).
Sadly, in the case of Michael Jackson, not even Madonna would have sex with him. And we all know how slutty she still is.
Wooly
They were both a little strange. I would bet my bottom dollar though, that MJ did have a little fun with minors and Prince had a dick or two up his butt at some point. When you’re famous, things are just handed to you on a silver platter.
scotty
didnt prince have a song called “jack u off?”
of course he was gay i mean hellloooo
Franklin
I love how queens on Queerty talks about two of the most private men in the entertainment industry as if they knew them. So much gossip, innuendo, and rumor. Let them both rest in peace.
Captain Obvious
@Wooly: I love how people like you throw around an accusation like that so casually at Michael when you have no clue if it’s true or not. I’d bet you’d have had a lot of fun in the witch trial era…
Guy068
I recall juror interviews after Michael’s trial where they stated they believed it was proved the man was a child molester. They just didn’t think it was proved he molested the child focused on in the trial…
Ogre Magi
Prince was an @hole
and not the good kind either
joeyty
@Bob LaBlah: Thanks for the info. I’ll look that up, should be interesting. (Though I’m no expert on any of them, I’ve heard the very talented Rick James was very cool about gays in general. Eddie Murphy was always a jerk about the subject, but of course he had that fascination with talking to trans prostitutes around L.A., but don’t know how far that went).
batesnight
“Your butt is mine.” is not a sexual line unless your dirty little mind goes there. It’s a song about being tough. I’m gonna get you. Your butt is mine.
batesnight
@Guy068: Cite the legitimate legal sources you have that shows it was proven Jackson molested anybody. Believing that because the media says so, or your friends say so, or because Michael is unusual and seems like he probably did, does not make him guilty. Still waiting for this supposed concrete evidence that doesn’t seem to exist anyway.