Bizarre Celebrity & Music Composer Comparisons

This past year with the passing of the King of Pop Michael Jackson, some interesting, if not downright bizarre, musical comparisons have been taking place between Michael Jackson and Amadeus Mozart. Yet, there have been a flurry of other celebrity comparison weirdness, from comparing Slayer to J.S. Bach and the guitarist Great Kat claiming to be Beethoven.

Michael Jackson and Mozart
Yes, the King of Pop and the Prince of Classical music had quite a few interesting similarities. Both were child prodigies prodded on by less-than-caring family members. Both seemed to succumb to the infamous child star syndrome, having reached fame and fortune before they were old enough to wear braces. (Okay, Mozart wouldn't have worn braces, but you get the point). Mozart and Jackson seemed to have difficulty adapting to adult life, the one becoming a social embarrassment and the other creating his own kingdom, while becoming a social embarrassment.

Now most classical music critics decide this comparison is garbage based on Mozart's musical superiority compared to Michael's pop tunes, but I want to take it a bit further. To date, no historical proof exists that shows that Amadeus Mozart was even remotely capable of a moonwalk. Not only did the classical genius fail to produce any meaningful music videos, not a single portrait shows the child prodigy growing werewolf hair at dizzying speed in front of a live video camera or managing to hold his own during a dance-off with man-eating zombies.

The Great Kat Priestess of the Guitar Shred and Beethoven
For those who are not aware of the musician Great Kat, well, consider yourself lucky. Great Kat, who according to some sources claimed to actually be a contemporary Ludwig van Beethoven, can perform some insanely crazy feats, including performing many of Beethoven's works at ridiculously mind-numbing speeds. But the comparison ends there although Great Kat and Beethoven demonstrated incredible music accomplishments. (Great Kat actually holds a degree from Julliard, according to the personal interview conducted by Bob Zerull on Zoiks! Online).

Firstly, Beethoven's eventual insanity was largely derived from his deafness and difficult situation with raising his nephew (who attempted suicide). The Great Kat Priestess of the Guitar Shred apparently just seems delusional. Secondly, Beethoven was the master of composing music. Great Kat, for all of her guitar shredding craziness, mainly plays classical music. Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, Beethoven's greatest musical protest dealt with changing the title of a composition from a homage to Napoleon to Erotica, not making visually disturbing music videos showing extremist torture. We'll ignore the kitschy costumes and makeup for now.

Other Bizarre Comparisons
Some other celebrity and composer comparisons are equally as bizarre. While according to some semi-reliable sources Slayer does attribute some musical influence to Bach, there is not much to compare there. Bono has been compared to a modern-day Beethoven because of his activism. And the list can go on. I say leave the classical composers to decompose and let the contemporary artists stand on their own merit.

Sources:
Wales, Lake and Ginger Statom. "Michael Jackson was good, but no Mozart". Newschief.com
"Michael Jackson, the Reincarnation of Mozart?", Personality & Spirituality.
Zerull, Bob, "The Great Cat is God and the reincarnation of Beethoven." Zoiks! online.