Was Michael Jackson really that famous?

[Rider on the Storm]

Does a horse piss where it pleases?

 

[Yoel Bromero]

I get the opinion that MJ is more famous today than when he was alive. Great dance entertainer, some decent songs, but when alive he was a strange guy, having sleep overs with young boys, all the plastic surgery, bleaching his skin,... I just remember when growing up my friends and I thought he was weird.

You are 100% wrong.
He is no where close to as famous as he was in his prime.

You are likely just too young to have experienced it and only saw the tail end when his nose was falling off, dangling babies, renting grocery stores and his mind long gone.

80's early 90's michael jackson is a kind of fame the world will never see again. Too many channels, too many content creators. In his day there were literally less than 20 mass media outlets and they ALL followed his every move. He had the attention of the whole world for over a decade.

 

[jeff7b9]

Fighting CM Punk will do that.

One day you are just a regular guy, the next you can't go anywhere witout paparazzi following you.

 

[jeff7b9]

Man, to this day I love MJ. Got his records on vinyl, cassette, and CD. I like to sit and watch videos on YouTube of his dancing. Dude is amazing. Wish I had seen it in real time.

Check these out if you haven't already.

Beautiful stuff.

 

[MicroBrew]

Anyone remmember the name of the Tour video documentary from the 1980s that showed MJ touring various countries and fans going crazy ?

 

[Cariñito]

I mean was he like Top 5 most famous people who ever lived famous?

I remember after he died his funeral being broadcasted on my country's state TV channel, almost like he was some sort of famous foreign leader or something like that.

Talking to his obsessive fans you get the impression he was more famous then The Beatles, Hitler or Einstein, and on par with Jesus Christ.

Like watching this concert of his and people started screaming for over 2 minutes while he just stood still doing nothing.

He has the biggest selling album of all time and is probably the 2nd most recognizable figure of all time, only behind Jesus Christ.

 

[Yoricks Wisdom]

Gifted musician: upon further reviews, phile
Gifted Actor: upon further investigation, phile (Kevin Spacey)
Iconic Director: after learning more, phile (Woody Allen)
Fame corrupts Famously.

Also, be careful comparing yourself to Jesus.

 

[Cariñito]

Gifted musician: upon further reviews, phile
Gifted Actor: upon further investigation, phile (Kevin Spacey)
Iconic Director: after learning more, phile (Woody Allen)
Fame corrupts Famously.

Not guilty.

 

[Yoricks Wisdom]

you? of course not.
you're fine fellow.

 

[Andy Capp]

Yes.

This

 

[BFoe]

My favorite MJ song is Beat-It, and a big reason why is Eddie Van Halen's guitar riff. That riff is soo iconic and one of the GOAT riffs.

Psst. Read my spoiler at your own risk

Spoiler

Eddie only played the solo. The riff was actually written and played by Steve Lukather.

 

[Adamant]

Everywhere he went, at any point while he was alive (except obviously a baby), he got swarmed like nobody else. That's pretty damn famous.

 

[MicroBrew]

Gifted musician: upon further reviews, phile
Gifted Actor: upon further investigation, phile (Kevin Spacey)
Iconic Director: after learning more, phile (Woody Allen)
Fame corrupts Famously.

Also, be careful comparing yourself to Jesus.

@chardog I believe is poster here who read up on MJ accusations / credibility etc.

 

[MicroBrew]

Psst. Read my spoiler at your own risk

Spoiler

Eddie only played the solo. The riff was actually written and played by Steve Lukather.

Yeah I meant the solo, guess I used the wrong terminology when I said "riff"

Probably a year or 2 ago I read some articles about how Quincy Jones tried several times to get Eddie onboard, to contribute to the guitar portion.

 

[mozfonky]

To be fair to OP, his obsessive fans do have a weird view of him. Total cult vibes. He was that famous though. EVERYBODY knew exactly who he was, his songs, his life story and what he'd been accused of. Think of like if Game of Thrones and Trump and Kanye West was one person

Stars just aren't as big now, more TV channels less monoculture etc etc

they absolutely do, very protective and hypersensitive to any form of criticism. Elvis fans are about the same. From what I've seen on forums, Prince fans aren't like that, they actually seem to hate him and the Bruce Lee fans over on his forum seem to be about the same, it's weird.

 

[mozfonky]

for those who weren't around at the time, it was a phenomenon, not the least of which was he was acknowledged as doing all this as a black man in America. Not only that, it's hard to imagine today because he turned out getting so lost, but in his prime he was just like elvis in that he was very composed, smart, reflective in his interviews from the time. It's kind of like they matured in reverse. MJ was also known to be a sharp if not harsh business person, stories were that he'd fire anyone on the spot if they weren't on their game and he did have the resources to buy the music catalogue. He also was a pioneer in video, before his videos, vids were low budget, super corny and not very interesting. He sank his own money into the vids, if I recall correctly, he paid 100,000 for the Beat It vid. Wasn't just his talent as a singer/dancer, was a visionary.

 

[mozfonky]

Psst. Read my spoiler at your own risk

Spoiler

Eddie only played the solo. The riff was actually written and played by Steve Lukather.

I'm pretty sure MJ has sole songwriting credit on that, which doesn't mean it's 100 percent his but I thought he came up with the entire basis of his own songs, as heard on demos. People give Quincy a lot of credit (deservedly) but to listen to MJ's home demos is to hear just how brilliant he was on his own.

 

[skysolo]

When Mike was 11, grown women and girls would chase him and his brothers. Women would pull his afro and keep his hair as a trophy.

So yes, he was that famous.

And some people suck.

 

[Jesus X]

Michael Jackson was extremely famous my parents knew who he was and they didn't even own a tv like 2000 miles away in a very remote part of Mexicos mountains. The local arcade place in that remote town had the Michael jackson arcade.

 

[HARRISON_3]

He was bigger than U.S. Steel.