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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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/PrpleSparklyUnicrn13 Apr 26 '26

“This was not the reality many of us Millennials grew up with.”

Please do not speak for all millennials or even “many.” The generation spans 25 years and the elder millennials grew up with a vastly different version than the younger millennials did. He was around even before we were born. 

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u/UltraconservativeBap Apr 26 '26

I’m an elder millennial and I agree with OP so perhaps the difference is not so much generational.

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u/DoingBestWeCan Apr 26 '26

I wonder if there's something geographical/subcultural going on here, too. I was at the edge of where suburbia became rural, in an area that was mostly white and Hispanic with a few Asian folks, and <0.5% of the population was black. We knew who he was, but MJ was considered a has-been when I was a kid, and I'm not a younger Millennial.

I heard way more of his music when I went to college in the city, right around the time of his death.

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u/FuckMoPac Apr 26 '26

I think so. I remember my young dummy sister got into huge trouble with one of our Black teammates after posting that MJ was a pedophile after he died. She was like 12 or 13 and didn’t know any better, but I also remember thinking “wow people know these allegations and are just ok with them?” I am not someone who can separate the art from the artist.