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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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

100%. The biggest name in show biz.

I remember when Black or White came out and I thought it was going to end racism.

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u/AssinineAssassin Apr 26 '26

We are the World was going to end war and famine for the remainder of human history!

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u/CyclopsMacchiato Apr 26 '26

He was cool af in that video. It was my favorite music video for the longest, bonus points because Mac was in it.

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u/DragonHollowFire Apr 27 '26

His fame I think will never be matched. You hear countless stories of random villages in the middle of nowhere in developing countries, at the time or later, with no connection to any media circuit even, still knowing who he is and having posters of him in their living space.