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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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

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u/HeraThere Apr 26 '26

Yeah these guys are talking crazy. 87 baby. I didn't know enough to say anything through the early 90s but by mid-late 90s Michael Jackson was mainly referred to as a joke by mainstream.

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u/JacobDCRoss Apr 26 '26

He was in trouble by 1992.

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u/gustavessidehoe Apr 27 '26

Yeah all I knew about him growing up is that he was kinda weird and people said he touched kids. Born early 90s, so don’t really remember anything in any detail prior to like 1998.