Okay. Let's Settle This Once & For All Times!!!

[Saccopoo]

Elvis. Not even remotely close.

Michael Jackson had one good album - Off The Wall, a small handful of good songs over the course of his career on his other albums and an understanding/taking advantage of being in the "right place at the right time" and utilizing a relatively new avenue/medium (MTV) to it's fullest extent for maximum impact. In addition, he was constantly in the public's eye for not his music, but his excentricities in his private life; e.g., trying to turn himself into a white pixie elf, sleeping in a hyperbolic chamber, Bobo, snuggling up with kids, Neverland, etc. While Thriller remains the highest selling album of all time, remember that the current biggest selling act in music right now is the Jonas Brothers.

The Beatles pushed the boundaries of rock in terms of melody, song writing and instrumentation, but they were almost unique in a sense rather than paving a road that a multitude of bands followed. More of their generations Nirvana than an overall influence of other bands. They were simply better in terms of overall creativity and musical understanding. Sure, St. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club was a genre shattering record that pushed the boundaries of creativity, and did spawn numerous imitators, but one would have to argue that the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin (at the tail end of the Beatles musical collective life) were actually more important in terms of overall impact and influence to music than the Beatles. Yes, their catalog of music, in a relatively short amount of time is nothing less than stunning (SPLHCB, Revolver, Let It Be, etc.), but they were more of being simply better than any other band at the time rather than being a bigger influence than any other band at the time.

Elvis, however, "invented" Rock and Roll. Redefined the whole concept of popular music in terms of what the buying public understood popular music to be. Without Elvis, there would be no "British Invasion," no Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, etc. No appreciation nor widespread public acceptance of the black blues influeneces that shaped not only Rock 'n Roll, but the Motown sound and numerous other styles. Elvis brought together a number of musical influences (such as blues, gospel, country/western, poppy bugglegum WWII Andrew Sisters stuff, Bing Crosby crooning, etc, etc, etc.) and combined them with raw sex appeal and an understanding of showmanship and entertaining that the world had never seen before and reinvented music as the world knew it.

Again, it's Elvis, and it's not even remotely close.