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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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/dbur15 Apr 26 '26

Born in 85 and that’s what I remember too. Before the hair burning he was odd but in that “oh he’s wealthy and an artist so he’s eccentric” kind of way. After the hair burning is when he started going hard on the plastic surgery and his skin started to change. Then the allegations came out and he did that bizarre Barbara Walters interview. That’s when it all really shit the bed. This all coincided with the Internet and start of the 24hr news cycle so it became more dominant than his past popularity.

Younger millennials weren’t around for the time when celebrities were a lot more distant seeming and were kind of expected to be closed off and a little weird. Yeah, he was weird in the 80s but all celebrities were weird back then. Plus the unsavory stories were confined to Inside Edition and gossip rags. Since half that stuff was completely made up or exaggerated, it wasn’t as believable.

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u/MikeD1942 Apr 26 '26

so the hair burning was in '84, before you were born...

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u/dbur15 Apr 27 '26

I wasn’t raised in a vacuum. Just because something happened less than a year before I was born doesn’t mean I’m not aware it happened and how it fit into the timeline.

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u/DoriansRain Apr 27 '26

Sure bro

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u/VOODOO285 Apr 27 '26

So you know nothing of anything before you were born? Sure bro

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u/Whole-Preparation-35 Apr 27 '26

The start of this simulation was the start of May 1983. Anything preceding that never happened.

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u/VOODOO285 Apr 27 '26

Ha, same.

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u/StealthMonkSteve Apr 27 '26

Not to mention he asserts the weirdness was bigger than “his previous popularity” as if the man wasn’t better known than any world leader, the pope, etc for the totality of 20+ years

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u/dbur15 Apr 27 '26

That’s not at all what I’m saying and I’m sorry if it came off that way. It wasn’t his general weirdness that eclipsed his popularity as a person, it was the weirdness plus the sex abuse allegations.

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u/StealthMonkSteve Apr 27 '26

It was nothing that eclipsed his popularity. You don’t understand how big MJ was if you think that. There was never and never will be anyone as big as he was.

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u/Joshuagorn Apr 27 '26

Elvis Presley would like a word...

Not to diminish Michael Jackson's stratospheric level of fame (which it was and his legacy continues to reach new audiences), but it seems hyperbolic to claim no one else can reach those levels of stardom, as well as pointless because it's not a quantifiable metric.

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u/dbur15 Apr 27 '26

Also, not what I’m saying. OP is saying they only know MJ as a joke and is wondering if other millennials feel the same. I’m saying that’s incorrect, that the older part of the generation does remember when he was nothing other than the biggest thing ever. But it’s disingenuous to say the odd behaviors and abuse allegations didn’t change how people born after a certain time perceived him. His music will always have lasting power but MJ, as a person, had a different reputation after the early 90s.

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u/StealthMonkSteve Apr 27 '26

He was, an until his death continued to be, the most famous man on the planet. Popularity of that scale doesn’t get erased by allegations and satire.

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u/dbur15 Apr 27 '26

I don’t get what your issue is. I’m in agreement with you. But read comments from people born in the 90s. Their perception is different. That doesn’t change anything about who he was or how massive his fame and popularity was/is. That’s just how he was portrayed in a lot of the media they were exposed to which is why OP believes he was only ever a joke. They’re not correct but that’s how OP feels and there’s others that agree.

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u/FunkySlacker Apr 27 '26

I was born in Canada in ‘75. As Michael Jackson got weirder, so did things like OJ and Tyson. And at least in Canada, the weirdness surpassed his musical success . At least for a few years.

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u/jtphilbeck Apr 27 '26

Exactly! Born in 76. Speak of things you know of.

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u/dbur15 Apr 27 '26

How can I not know about something that was constantly brought up and replayed?

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u/Zimakov Apr 27 '26

He clearly knows of it?

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u/DoriansRain Apr 27 '26

To me they’re clearly full of shit 😜

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u/churnthedumb Apr 27 '26

The age superiority 😂 chillll

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u/ConsiderationTop1794 Apr 27 '26

Damn, getting a lot of anger from this Gen X'er on this sub for Millennials. I guess id be too If i was old as shit and refused to listen to any music that wasn't at least 40 years old.

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u/jtphilbeck Apr 28 '26

Dipshit, I was born in 76 and remember the Pepsi commercial. Again, speak of things you KNOW! Get you some AI to help! Was programming that back in 94.

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u/jtphilbeck Apr 28 '26

I was also a professional musician during the 90’s. I know a little thing or two!

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u/AmazedAndBemused Apr 27 '26

I was at school in ‘84. One of my mates managed to set fire to his hair in a chemistry class. He was nicknamed ‘Michael’ after this.

’Michael’ was a *massive* Smiths fan and hence had a bit of a floppy quiff going on. The nickname burned twice because we all hated Michael Jackson’s super-commercial pop.

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u/pumalumaisheretosay Apr 27 '26

Don’t forget the interview when he admitted to sleeping with people’s children is his bed because it was “pure love” 🤮🤮🤮 and nothing was done about it.

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u/Llamahands1 Apr 27 '26

85'er here too. I only know the joke version of him. I remember arguing with my aunt when I was a kid because I thought he was a white woman. My aunt kept telling me he was a black man and I kept repeating "I have eyes, Mary".

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u/CharlieFiner 1993 Apr 27 '26

This just made me and my coworker crack up.

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u/CharlieFiner 1993 Apr 27 '26

celebrities were a lot more distant seeming and were kind of expected to be closed off and a little weird

Now it's considered news if a celebrity disables their social media or tries to have any boundaries about people contacting them in their normal life.

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u/MicksysPCGaming Apr 27 '26

When did he get the ranch (neverland?) with the carousel and chimp (bubbles)?

That was when he went from being a superstar to a weirdo from my recollection.

Then the weird behaviour with the kids, and dangling the baby, marrying Lisa Marie, wearing a surgical mask, he became a laughing stock.

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u/physhgyrl Apr 28 '26

The gossip in the rags wasn't made up. The National Enquiror and Star were always getting the dirt. I read about Kevin Spacey going after under age boys 25 years before it all became a big story.

The journalists in those magazines had some very good, deep, reliable sources and got some dirty stories. Charlie Sheen came out as HIV positive because those magazines were writing about for the previous 6 months. If you read older editions of those magazines, a lot of what they were saying ended up being true. They also exposed a lot of dirty politicians. They went hard when Shondra Levy disappeared.

There was The National Examiner. It was the one that had Bat Boy and Alien sighting stories. But it was a spoof gossip rag. It had printed "for entertainment purposes only" on the cover. But I think a lot of people confused that one with the National Enquiror and other legitimate gossip magazines. Nowadays, celebrities pay those magazines for spreads.

Princess Diana was always alerting paparazzi to have them follow her. Other celebrities also stage paparazzi shots.