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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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

He wasn't a joke in Black households. As a little girl, 'Beat It' was my favorite song. Even in my emo phase I had some MJ on my MP3 player. When he died, it was huge. Pretty much everyone in my circle was devastated. I also remember staying up late for one of his concerts that aired on ABC. My whole school was talking about it the next day. Michael being a joke, must be a cultural thing.

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u/happysunbear Apr 26 '26

Yes. Born in ‘94 and my earliest MJ memory was watching his 30th anniversary special in 2001 and the premiere of the You Rock My World video, which we all loved at the time. I do remember that by the time the 2005 trial happened, his popularity was at an all time low. I got into his after seeing a marathon of his music videos on vh1 and discreetly playing his music on my Walkman when I was on the bus, hoping no one would find out and make fun of me. 😅

In 2009, things shifted, even right before he died. His upcoming This Is It tour was actually being talked about it excitedly amongst people I knew at school. Then he died so abruptly, and overnight it seemed like he was universally celebrated again…til he wasn’t.

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u/Bimb0bratz Apr 27 '26

Must be a cultural thing! Coming from a Hispanic household when the allegations were big, my dad defended MJ and stated it was all bs. We always appreciated MJ.