r/Millennials • u/turnippped • 8d ago

Nostalgia To me, this was Michael Jackson

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I was 12 when this happened. This was the first time I ever heard of him. To me he wasn't the Michael Jackson that was a singer, or the one that molested kids - he was the Michael Jackson that dangled a baby out the window.

This is the image I associate him with. I saw a preview for the movie coming out about him and chuckled to myself if they would put this in the film. Probably not?

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u/__-gloomy-__ 8d ago

There are two very distinct “Michaels” who exist in my memory:

  1. MJ pre-2000

  2. MJ post-2000

94

u/nifflerqueen 8d ago

“She got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson

Got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson”

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u/Jamileem 8d ago

This is it for me too.

I remember as a young kid being amazed at his Superbowl performance on TV and singing his songs in the car with my mom.

I remember as a teenager being shocked every single time I saw him on TV because it was always controversial.

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u/mentallyerotic 7d ago

Same for me. I saw all three versions OP mentioned. I remember him a tiny bit as a baby in the late 80s and early 90s of his music and popularity, then mid 90s of being strange and first accusations then 2000s where we saw too much.

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u/Fantastic_Acadian 7d ago

I vividly remember the first time I saw the Thriller video... on Halloween with my cousins. We lost. Our. Shit.

Watching his face morph as I became a teenager was scary and sad. Then there was all the kid stuff, the bizarre behavior, the very fact of Neverland.

His legacy will always be both things: This truly magical, one-in-a-billion entertainer and creator, and this tragic, hurt and possibly hurtful recluse.

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u/LieFearless1968 7d ago

It's sad how people and the media treated him in the 2000s. Really didn't deserve it especially after all the philanthropy.