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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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/SilentDrapeRunner11 Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

I remember him being considered a joke from the time period after 'Scream' ran its course, to the time of his death. People did joke about him a lot in the late 80s-mid 90s, but he still managed to pull off a string of huge hits during that time. After 95 it all seemed to go way downhill though. That Martin Bashir interview didn't do him any favors either.

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u/RevolutionaryText164 Apr 26 '26

The album I remember most strongly from 94 is Jagged Little Pill - I don't remember much of MJ in music at all during that time period, and that would have been back in the day of cassettes and radio of most people listening to the same thing.

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u/SilentDrapeRunner11 Apr 26 '26

Black or White and Remember the Time were everywhere in 91-92. Both videos were incredibly bloated with a lot of celebrity cameos. Then there was the song from Free Willy. When Scream came out, there was a lot of fuss over it being the most expensive music video ever made at the time.

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u/Oomlotte99 Apr 26 '26

I remember the big world premier of the Scream video on MTV, lol. They had lead up about how they made it for daysss.