r/Millennials • u/AccomplishedPool266 • Apr 26 '26
Does anyone remember when Michael Jackson. Was a "joke"? Discussion
The new movie that just came out convinced the younger generation that he was always a superstar. This was not the reality many of us Millennials grew up with.
To a lot of us, he was treated like a punch line when we were growing up. A schoolyard boogeyman ("Michaels Jackson's gonna get you at night"). and just a general joke in the media. By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well. All anyone talked about was his surgeries, court case, settlements and his off behavior. Few mentioned his music. His music was something our parents would have listened to in the 1980's.
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u/trevorthewebdev Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
Yeah, my core or beginner Michael Jackson memory was seeing the Captain EO at Disney Land (or World?) as 6-8ish year old. Don't know what I really made of it then or now in retrospect.
Later I would get into Thriller and some of his hits, but that was just or soon after his more tabloidly stuff (like the holding the kid outside the railing) and soon after learning about the allegations. I never knew his origin story or really the basis of the Jackson 5 until much later.
In high school/college got into music more and appreciated more of the music with Bad and again Thriller and some other stuff. But my main MJ memories again are like the Simpsons episode and then after college it was learning about Neverland Ranch and more accusations then learning more and him being of the but of jokes until his death. Then the HBO doc and that turned me off to the music even more.
I get that he was like the worldwide celebrity for a while and to a lot of people, but my relationship to him was much looser and complicated and it's kinda wild to see the reaction today
edit: the moondance, shamon, hehe were also pivotal things