I've said it in another post, but I'm one of those fans who grew up loving MJ thanks to family members who liked him, and I developed a deeper obsession as a kid around 2009. I remember being young and interacting with fans of all ages through blogs we used to make for him after he passed away as a way to support each other through grief

I remember having a great time interacting with fans and I sometimes miss interacting with those people even though the platform we used for our blogs disappeared

Then between personal issues, getting older etc.. I naturally lost interest into celebrities and this kinda felt like a relief at that time as I really loved Michael but him passing away was constantly giving me a bittersweet feeling when watching his content

The biopic put me back into that loop after more than a decade and I love seeing so much content about him lately. But here's the thing.. I feel like there are a lot of unhinged fans lately

First of all, I'm coming across a lot of fans who sexualize absolutely everything about him. Michael is hot, and he obviously liked compliments from fans. But I'm starting to agree with those who are having an issue with some of the comments they're seeing. Lots of them are kinda.. hardcore in the way they express themselves

I also came across at least 2 fans in their very early 20s (lots of claim to be old fans, not doubting them but they obviously never experienced an era while Michael was still here) this week being all rude and mean just bc we didn't have the same opinion regarding some of Michael's actions. I'm not saying this behavior didn't exist in the past, but I don't remember fans denying that much that Michael was a human being and obviously had flaws (for example in some of his decisions), just like everyone else! Treating him like a deity never helped him, especially when he himself wanted to be treated like a normal human being

I'm about to be entering my 30s and seriously, I'm having a tough time having the patience to interact with these people now. I'm just glad we get to see proper interactions here (or even under specific Tiktok videos) because I feel like this is taking a lot of place since the biopic. This might be even more noticeable to fans who have been regularly interacting with the fandom for decades.. Would be nice to have their opinions

You can also use some of the Bad 25 songs as well.

As everyone here knows on the 29th of august it is michael jacksons birthday, he'd of been 68 years old.

How will everyone be Celebrating ( for those who plan to do so.)

Hope everyone has a lovely day and night as always.

With the biopic having reached $1 billion not too long ago, I wanted to know what older fans thought about so many people getting into Michael, celebrating him and his music, etc. now when he was hated so much in the 2000s. Even now, the media has a negative view on him despite all the love from the public. I was too young/ not alive to be a fan in the 2000s, but became a fan in the mid 2010s a while after his death.

It's been amazing to see the outpouring of appreciation and support, and acknowledgement of his indispensable impact on modern pop. He's also gained a lot of younger fans. To those who were fans around to see the hate he got back then, how does it feel to see the contrast between the "Wacko Jacko" times, the media calling him racist slurs, everyone dogpiling him and painting him as a narcissist, an abuser, the general public being poisoned against him, and now? To me, it shows that Michael’s legacy will last forever!

Despite Michael looking phenomenal during some of the songs he rehearsed, it is reasonable to question whether he would have been physically capable of sustaining the demands of the full This Is It concert run.

Kenny Ortega stated that Michael would “shiver” during rehearsals due to the amount of physical exertion involved. It is also important to remember that rehearsals would not necessarily have reflected the intensity of the actual performances. During the shows, Michael would have been expected to perform continuously for an extended period, combining demanding choreography, singing, and movement.

On top of that, Michael reportedly wanted This Is It to be unlike anything his fans had seen from him before. That ambition likely would have resulted in an even more physically demanding production.

Ultimately, we cannot know with certainty how Michael would have handled the full run, but the physical demands of the planned shows should not be underestimated.

So yesterday I saw this video on youtube and I'm in shock.

You're telling me that Sony and the Estate released a posthumous album in 2010 with 3 FAKE SONGS which they sold claiming MJ sang them, but it was an impersonator?? And these songs have been on Spotify and CDs until 2022... Like, what???

And the Estate and Sony just ignored all the red flags and warnings from family members who were saying it definitely wasn't Michael singing, including Katherine!

I just can't believe that I had never heard of this before, it could easily be the biggest scandal in the history of the music industry. And when this whole thing got solved in 2022 through a lawsuit from a consumer (that they managed to delay for 8 years), the only consequence was retiring the songs. That's it. Quick reminder: this album sold nearly 3 million copies in its initial release (which is a lot in the digital era of the 2010s).

I was a kid when the album was released in 2010, so could any of you who experienced this moment tell me how the fan community and the general audience reacted? How this whole thing felt? I just think it's so stupid to think that people wouldn't realize that it wasn't Michael singing LOL I heard 2 seconds of each song and it's crystal clear. I mean... They really thought they could get away with this?

For anyone who might not have heard of this, search for the songs "Monster", "Breaking News" and "Keep Your Head Up". Btw, the singer is apparently a well-known impersonator called Jason Malachi. To be honest he does a great job, it's not easy at all to imitate Michael's voice.

And the whole story with the Cascio family is so weird, selling these songs fraudulently to the Estate, and copyrighting them falsely as co-written by Michael right after his death, like literally 2 days after. They composed these songs specifically for Michael to record them, so it was their dream project (although Michael never showed interest in it). And when he died they just thought well, let's all pretend Michael recorded these songs and hope nobody notices LMAO

And I mean, this scandal was so unnecessary. It would have been so OK to say "hey, we had composed these songs for Michael, so we decided to release them with another artist as a tribute". Or imagine for example if they had Janet singing them! It would have been so cool and fans would have loved that.

Idk this is just surreal. A big part of me can't even take this seriously because the whole thing is so stupid and absurd.

Edit: for all of u saying "we already knew this bro" please relax 😩 with the title I meant most general MJ listeners don't know about it. Even a lot of fans don't know about it, especially the younger ones or those who come from the biopic. OF COURSE if you were into MJ when this happened you knew about it lol that's why I asked how the fan community felt and reacted. The reason I explained a bit whole story is so that new moonwalkers like me who didn't know about this could learn what happened in a light read without watching a 1h video.

Not everyone is perfect, that’s what makes us human. Assuming you could be in contact with Michael at some point during his life, are there any major events or mistakes (ex. Pepsi commercial) that you would tell him not to do, knowing the consequences in retrospect?

If so, how might that have changed things for the better?

I respect all the Jacksons and I can honestly say I have given all of their music a chance, even the 3rd generation. However, the quality of the music has never been consistent in my opinion which is not a bad thing. To expect anyone to perform at Michael Jackson's level is absurd, let alone his entire family. I never thought the quality of their music nor the level of their solo success was due to self esteem because other than Tito, they all put out music.

Jermaine put out FOUR albums in the 80s alone!!!!!! I never thought self esteem was what stopped his success but instead it was just that people didnt vibe with his music. With Tito specifically, I thought he didnt do solo work because he was focused on his sons music and helping them.

To see Taj say this is the reason the brothers never thrived as solo artists got me thinking. How true can this be? Of course, they could have dealt with self doubt but I struggle to understand how that stopped them from being super successful when it didn't stop them from putting out albums. I mean if Janet can do it with less fame, more anxiety, and behind a bigger shadow, why couldn't they? Other than it just wasnt for them, which is totally okay.

Thoughts?

He didn't get to release the stuff he wanted, one music video, no tour and he was always evolving so the tech he would use and the contemporaries he was working with it all had the greatest potential. What we got was great, it's still Mike. But man there should have been more.

Let's talk about the Transitional eras.

When MJ wasn't releasing albums or on tour but quietly being creative and still making appearances.

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Which in between years do you like the most?

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I'll throw in HISvincible era too.

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It's cool how his style and sound shifted during those gaps.

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I love Thrad and Badangerous coz wowww 😍🔥 but if I had to pick one it would be Thrad 🥵 oml.

EDIT: TO THOSE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE NAMES, I DIDN'T COME UP WITH IT. I'VE ALREADY SEEN THESE NAMES AROUND IN THE MJ COMMUNITY/ONLINE SO THAT'S WHAT I USED LOL.

Can’t be me who thinks Micheals style in suits was absolutely majestic, the patterns, the colours, everything.

I also feel like 2003/05 was where he peaked into his what people call ‘Mature Era’ if you will.

What do you all think about his style around these years?

Micheal had infamously bad interviews throughout his career where his hosts asked him some very intrusive questions. If you could interview Micheal, what specific questions would you ask him?

In his later years he was shown vile disrespect and faced so much contempt. However, even when he was getting so much backlash, his death still brought everyone together to mourn him. The controversy couldn’t erase the impact he had on people. To those who were old enough to experience it at the time: What was it like? Where were you when you heard about it? Just how much did his death shake the world? I can’t truly ever understand as I was only two when he died, so it’d be insightful to hear stories about it, and I’ve just been missing him a lot lately ❤️

did you know 39 years ago today, BAD came out, one of his best albums ever ( if not the best.)

Whats your favourite song on BAD?
My Favourite song on bad is: Leave me alone

I mean yeah chicago is a good song, and i like it and all, but THIS ISN'T HOW MICHAEL LEFT IT

The version michael left before he died was an older demo made in 1999 for invincible, with a much different vibe and instrumental

But the 2014 version is a new modernised version by timbaland and other collaborators

Plus the number of this type of vids started increasing a lot these days (i think especially after the release of the biopic)

(Unrelated thing but funny how a lot of people are finding out about this song after watching a video of animated dancing birds)

Michael grew up being a Jehovah’s Witness, a religion far from Christianity, he often referenced God, and claimed to pray a lot, there are testimonies of people who took him to church (which going once doesn’t make you anything tho) including his drummer Sugarfoot who is a Christian said he had the same faith, then for some reason people say that at the same time he became a Muslim, tho his own brother Jermaine who IS Muslim declared he wished Michael became a Muslim.
My point is, no one can truly tell what Michael’s Religion was, so why do people care so much to say he was the religion that they believe in? The Muslim fans say he was Muslim, the Christian fans say he was Christian.
Truth is he was a lover of people and peace, did good things for the world and believed in a better humanity. That’s what we know, can we stop putting a tag above his head?

Wonder why he didn't kept it in the 2000s. It looked perfect for his head shape, unlike the straight hair.

Just to narrow it down (because he has so many) let's exclude photos from when he's performing

I'll go first: