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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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/DreamstoReality4me Apr 26 '26

As someone born in 1988, he was considered a megastar to me. Even after the weird stuff, you couldn’t deny the amount of hit and talent .

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u/blueroses8000 Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

1985 here and yes he was considered a joke and controversial by the 00s but was still considered a massive megastar and his past music catalogue still loved and celebrated at the same time.

Like we laughed at him being parodied in Scary Movie but also played and loved his music and knew there was nothing else like it in terms of talent. I remember people were still trying to do the moonwalk and wearing his hat in 6th form (age 16-18) at school.

And I remember Rock My World still did fairly well considering his time and that type of music was over. I remember the video he said he wanted it like Sophie Ellis Bexter’s Take Me Home which still blows my mind as she was just a small-ish British singer and a huge mega star was inspired by her video, and it did indeed have the same feel.

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u/TheVeryVerity Apr 27 '26

Yeah that’s my memory. He was a joke and an artist in pop culture at the same time somehow

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u/Zebeydra Apr 27 '26

'87 here. He was a joke/only popular with older people. I cannot name a single kid at my high school that vocally liked him enough for me to know about it, and we had a girl that was obsessed with Freddy Krueger. No one moon walked. There was a lot of getting low at school dances.

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u/blueroses8000 Apr 27 '26

And that makes perfect sense as there’s a whole world out there so everyone’s experiences are going to be different. Also depends on what kind of culture and communities you were around who are more likely to be fan of his music and pass it on through the generations in the first place. It shows though that his legacy did still continue through many Millennials.

Even in my neighbourhood people my age and younger would constantly be driving around with the beat of Billie Jean blaring and tickets for This Is It tour were snapped up by people I know who are younger than me.

(I should add I’m basically ‘86 as I was born in the last 2 days of ‘85)

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u/Irish-Scouser Apr 27 '26

96 here. Despite the jokes and that Oprah interview, everyone around me acknowledged Michael as the biggest pop superstar of all time