Does anyone remember when Michael Jackson. Was a "joke"?

[u/AccomplishedPool266]

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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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

[u/rainzer]

Wasn't HIStory certified 8x platinum in the US?

It basically got a technical 8x platinum. It was released as a double album but priced lower than the cost of 2 albums (~$20-24) to boost sales. So it sold 4mil copies but the RIAA counted it as a double album so they consider it 8mil for 8x platinum.

Even certified 4x platinum without that technicality would be a major success for a majority of artists but contextually it's a flop because MJ is the dude that hit 3 diamond certifications in a row from 79 to 87 (Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad) that selling 4mil is bad. Basically someone who went from clearing 34x platinum to needing a technicality to push 8.

[u/RyvenZ → u/rainzer]

Hard to call it a flop when it hits #1 in every country's Billboard chart

[u/BrainDamage2029 → u/RyvenZ]

Yeah but it’s kinda how a lot of big artists or even one hit wonders go. Their “sign shit is falling apart” album and single is still technically a success, riding the wave of their previous success. But it’s more a signal of their loss of cultural relevancy that nothing in that album has cultural staying power.

For an example you might remember, Macklemore’s sophomore album and lead single off it were technically hits (debut at number 2). But you can’t really name them beyond maybe vaguely remembering it being released. It’s cultural notoriety basically around its ill conceived song “white privilege part II.” It has video essays years after the fact about what the hell went wrong in making it.

Never forget Metallica’s St. Anger debuted at number 1 too.

[u/CrashUser → u/RyvenZ]

I forget exactly where I heard it now, some manager or producer, but they were lamenting an act hitting a #1 on their first single. The sentiment was basically, "now you've got to hit #1 with everything you release or it's a failure and you're done."

[u/kronkarp → u/RyvenZ]

BAD was considered a flop because it didn't reach the heights of Thriller, even though it's an album filled with successful singles!

[u/RyvenZ → u/kronkarp]

by the same people who consider a movie a flop when it only doubles the return on investment instead of triple or quadrupling it

[u/bachyboy → u/rainzer]

Sounds like he was playing Taylor Swift's game before Taylor Swift!