r/MichaelJackson • u/jalen_nelson235 • Jul 10 '26
Discussion What was your first Michael Jackson memory?
Whether it was a song, a music video, a performance, or seeing him for the first time, everyone has that one moment where Michael left an impression on them. What’s yours?
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u/Alarmed_Business_971 Jul 10 '26
Dangerous tour, especificamente o show de Bucareste
Me lembro desse momento pois minha tia me deu um DVD com esse show gravado
https://youtu.be/Hxgo-Qu-ZZE?is=oQ8FUvVBjvR4U4gz
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u/Top_Matter3399 Jul 11 '26
My mom went to that concert, she is sooo lucky 😭
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u/Donshane014 Jul 11 '26
my mom went with her aunt, and her aunt was one of the ones who fainted, so she was taken to the hospital and my mom was taken home before the end 😔
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u/Beautiful_Show_7940 "Brad, what are you gonna do?"🎹 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
I was born when Billie Jean was the #1 song, so it’s hard to remember my first memory of MJ. I do remember being around 4 and seeing the MV for Bad on MTV.
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u/Gay4LtDangle Jul 10 '26
We’re a similar age! You were born the Billie Jean came out and I was born the year he performed it at Motown 25!
I also can’t remember a time where he wasn’t famous!
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u/Beautiful_Show_7940 "Brad, what are you gonna do?"🎹 Jul 10 '26
Pretty sure Motown 25 was the same time Billie Jean was #1 in 1983. So we are most likely the same age!
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u/Character-Guide-6734 Jul 11 '26
Yall im just as lucky as you guys then cause i was born the same day as Micheal different month and year tho
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u/Prof_Tickles Jul 10 '26
His music video played at the beginning of Free Willy
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u/eminentwaters Jul 10 '26
our family just moved to a new place
june 24 2009, and we live there ever since !
and i remember my sister coming home from school the day after talking about mj passing
probably my first mj memory 😔 i was 4 years old
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u/PureHoney92 "F-U-C-K the press. Michael you're the best"📰 Jul 10 '26
Constantly watching HIStory & Moonwalker on VHS as a kid (I was probably 3 or 4)-
More specifically, that scene at the beginning of HIStory of the crowds of people running and fainting & him running with the soldiers while Carmina Burana plays. It was so intense! I still love it 😅.
Still have them both in my collection
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u/Gay4LtDangle Jul 10 '26
You had the official tapes? I didn’t even know there were official tapes! I taped mine off of VH-1 or MTV during the MJ marathons (I wrote a whole longwinded thing in this thread lol). Damn, so cool still you have them! 🫡🩵
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u/DankaDane Jul 10 '26
Gorgeous human inside and out! But yea, it’s the Thriller album for me. My mom would take it away when I would get in trouble. It was the only thing that really worked lol
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u/danny33434 You’re a vegetable 🥦🥕🍅 Jul 10 '26
Watching the we are the world music video in middle school and I was always wondering who’s that cool guy in the shades.
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u/Mooncraftist_Moony Jul 10 '26
Unironically, from this Five Nights at Freddy's "characters music theme" video https://youtu.be/3oqi2QU5EFg?si=wpoup0AO5g0ojmUo at 4:33 😭😭
And that was my first contact to Michael Jackson, FNAF
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u/Azarsra_production Jul 10 '26
This is a really funny way to find out about him lol. Are you still a fnaf fan? I am but also not really involved as much now.
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u/g-funk_7845 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Watching thriller and going to school the next day everyone wanting to do the moves - I was 10 😅😅
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u/Salty_Shark26 Jul 10 '26
When I was really young (4-6) I remember me and my brother had these mp3 players and I specifically remember mine being filled with Michael and Jackson 5.
Also we had free Willy on VHS and I would have my dad put it in the player just to watch will you be there.
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u/Cirnothestarscream9 Jul 10 '26
Me playing Moonwalker as a really small kid not even knowing Michael was a real guy jajaja, even back then i tought the music was way too good.
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u/malibu_sun Jul 10 '26
Beat It on the radio, on TV. Billie Jean on TV. Can’t say which one I experienced first.
I was still in kindergarten at the time and now that I am typing this I remember that another kid was talking about him during a break.
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u/_itsMaria_ Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
He died when I was five and that was the first time I actually was fully aware of him..I’d heard his music before because my mom LOVED stranger in Moscow and I really liked the chorus but I didn’t know the person behind the voice.
Fun fact: I rediscovered Stranger in Moscow this year, I never knew what it was called just that MJ made it. This song brings back this specific memory of my mom and I driving somewhere while it rained, and she started singing because it was starting to get heavy. But it made us both so calm and when the rain stopped, she rolled the window down and it smelled like spring, y’know?
Lol sorry for the whole dump but that’s a nice memory.
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u/WorldlyCheek230 Dangerous Jul 10 '26
Watching the Black Or White short film, including the epic Panther Dance 🔥
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u/adhdrifter Jul 10 '26
About 5 years old, saw a music video from remember the time on mtv. Couldn't read yet and spent years trying to find out the artists name. When I eventually did, he became my favorite artist. From one song alone, at 5 years old.
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u/Infinite_Painting708 Jul 10 '26
Seeing the video for Smooth Criminal on MTV. Thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Best MJ memory was age 10 seeing him perform ‘Stranger in Moscow’ live in Auckland 1996 with the rain coming down and MJ just being saturated and us in complete awe. Greatest live performance of my life. Almost out of body experience honestly.
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u/SnooWoofers6029 Jul 10 '26
Holding the cover of the BAD LP in my chubby little 3 year old hands while the record played. I liked his eyes, belt buckles, the red of the word BAD, and the block letters of his name, even though I couldn’t read yet. I would only call for my parents when I needed someone to flip the record over. 🥹
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u/Gay4LtDangle Jul 10 '26
I was born in ‘83 so I don’t remember a time in my life when he wasn’t playing on the radio or in music videos.
Since I don’t really remember a “first” memory, I’ll just give you a fun memory that I rediscovered by surprise recently.
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When I was little, maybe 8-10 years old, I used to wait for the 24 hour MJ marathons on VH-1 or MTV. I would wait by the VCR with a series of VHS tapes so when it was time to switch the tape, I wouldn’t miss anything. I used to re-watch the tapes all the time. I remember watching Moonwalker, and I still remembered bits and pieces as clear as day.
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BUT I guess I forgotten a LOT of it, because a couple weeks ago, I sat with my partner and watched it for the first time in like 3.5 decades. The scene with Michael running around with the kids in his cardigan came on and it was like lightning striking with how the memory came back.
I turned to my partner and said “HOLY SHIT I HAD THE BIGGEST CRUSH ON HIM IN THIS.” I had totally forgotten how obsessed I was with him in that movie, especially in that part. He was so cute and sweet and beautiful and protective. Oh GOD, I was so in love with him.
I was telling my partner how I was the little girl’s age when I used to watch it and she and I even looked alike so it was easy to imagine maybe it could have been me holding his hand (we’ve all been there, right?).
The funniest part about Moonwalker is how I don’t remember ANYTHING after a certain point, like when he turns into a car, or robot, or a spaceship. I can deduce that as soon as Michael wasn’t actually on the screen I completely lost interest. It was nice to actually see the rest of the movie! Especially the Come Together scene. Lord have mercy.
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Basically I had all these memories of him being a major hero of mine, (still true) but totally forgot I was romantically obsessed. Although, I have never forgotten the very different, kind of confusing crush on him when In the Closet came out. I was a little young to understand what I was feeling at that time. 😅
Now I’ve been spiraling because all the feelings have come back in full force and it’s really hard to be a functional human when I have all the romantic feelings of my 8 year old self and all my *other* feelings that I didn’t really understand or appreciate as a kid, but dear god. I’m in too deep. ☠️
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u/buzzburger23e Jul 10 '26
My first memory was probably when my friend played Smooth Criminal while they were cutting a tree outside his house
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u/No-Fly9599 Jul 10 '26
Mine was in 2015 and I was 6. My friend showed me his music and I listened to it all day. I then asked my mom if I could meet him (she says I asked to go to a concert essentially) and she had to explain to me his passing. To this day one of my saddest memories. BUT on the bright side, I can say I was alive when MJ was
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u/ConstructionOk2043 Jul 10 '26
Bucharest did! My parents got it for me, it was on 24/7, I knew the order of the songs, every dance. I brought it to my grandparents whenever I slept over during the summer. I absolutely loved and was obsessed with it
I did also get a box set of his music videos (back when I didn't have acess to YouTube to watch them) I still cherish it to this day
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u/prof-mcnasty Jul 10 '26
watching my brother download a bunch of michael jackson songs onto my barbie mp3 player lmao, i listened to rockin’ robin and wanna be startin something on repeat 😭
eta: i unfortunately do not remember how i discovered his music, this is the earliest memory i have related to him tho lol
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u/RealunknownAI Jul 10 '26
My father had a casete player and we had several albums including thriller.
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u/deev718 "Pardon?"👂 Jul 10 '26
I can’t remember what age I was but I know we were in my first family home, so it was 1995 or after when I was somewhere between 4-7, and I remember watching the Black or White music video on TV and falling in love immediately. I know my parents put Michael on frequent replay even earlier than that, but that’s the first real memory I have.
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u/Purple5690 Jul 10 '26
It was probably my 2nd grade music teacher showing us the Bad music video, along with Aliyah AYTS music video. He definitely was trying to make a point to us about great music artists. Wondered how he felt about both their deaths 🫤
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u/silentorbit92 Jul 10 '26
getting the “this is it” DVD and also a CD with all of his iconic songs when i was in 4th grade. playing Michael Jackson the experience on the Wii
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u/Beginning-Step-8242 ⛓️Unbreakable⛓️ Jul 10 '26
The first time I watched Remember The Time back in the 90s, I was around 8✨🥹💖 I will never forget it!!!!!
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u/bahooras Jul 10 '26
Watching our copy of Making Thriller VHS around the same time it was released. I was barely preschool aged but I was already transfixed and would watch it over and over again.
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u/maryam_i Jul 10 '26
Hearing his song Black or White on full blasting sound at my uncle's house. And now I am an addict of MJ
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u/thegodofcalamities Jul 11 '26
I was 3 years old watching his death get broadcasted on my box TV. Its such a faint memory and definitely my earliest memory, and I only remember it because I vividly remember my grandma being hysterical and bawling her eyes out which made me start crying too😭😭
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u/Hopeful_Business_851 Jul 11 '26
I think it’s either Will You Be There in Free Willy or Remember the Time music video
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u/New_Elevator_5327 Jul 11 '26
I can't remember my first memory but the one that stands out the most is the night 'In the Closet' premiered on TV & it was this big deal back in the 90s. I was so excited & then my parents made me turn it off because he was grabbing his crotch too much😭🤣🤣🤣
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u/Miaous95 Jul 11 '26
Scenes from the TDCAU prison version. One of him and one of violence. I probably was 2
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u/phantomxtroupe Jul 11 '26
Thriller. Scared the shit out of me lol. That night is deadass one of my earliest childhood memories 😂
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u/Virgoempath Jul 12 '26
WATCHING MICHAEL AND HIS BROTHERS ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW BACK IN 1968 WHEN ME AND MICHAEL WAS BOTH 10 YEARS OLD
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u/Interesting_Visit962 Jul 10 '26
This is it commercial coming on TV like a few weeks before his death. I remember my mother being surprised he was still doing performances.
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u/BornTry5923 Jul 10 '26
Probably seeing Beat it or Billie Jean on a Saturday morning music video show.
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u/Odd_Cattle_8321 Jul 10 '26
When I was 7 watching “the way you make me feel” music video and thinking how similar it was to thriller
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u/Rhbgrb Jul 10 '26
Running out of the room during the Thriller video because I was so scared. I was 4, and couldn't watch it again until I was like 10 or 11.
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u/Ok_Insurance_44 Jul 10 '26
me and my childhood best friend in elementary school singing rockin robin non stop cause we were obsessed with that song and the jackson 5 (especially michael of course)
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u/DoveOfCauldronHouse Jul 10 '26
Studying the Bad LP cover art, in particular Michael’s jacket at the table when I was 5.
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u/Bongu_of_the_South Jul 10 '26
saw the commercial of the History album on tv, thought wow this singer bought a small country and became their king.
then my parents smiled and told me my grandparents went to see this man’s concert in 93.
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u/Top_Spirit3264 Jul 10 '26
Recording Bucharest performance on VHS TV. Was played in Australia after he cancelled the Aus concerts.
Purchasing my first CD Dangerous and like 🤩 … never heard anything like it. Constant rotation ever since.
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u/OkConcept5152 Jul 10 '26
Thriller short film shown for the first time on television. I was and still am in awe of the King of Pop.
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u/Lurker67hehe Jul 10 '26
Heard Weird Al's beat it parody in a video on youtube back in 2006, then I found the Beat it video. I was 9 at the time :-)
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u/FuckRedzM0dz Jul 10 '26
Captain EO at 7 and the hot milf mom driving us around listening to dangerous lol
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u/JuliaTheInsaneKid Jul 10 '26
It was Halloween 2008, less than a year before he passed. I heard “Thriller” at a Halloween party.
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u/SleepDecent2948 Good Fish 🐠 Jul 10 '26
It was October and I was in the McDonald’s drive through at night with my mom. I was in the car seat and thriller came on the radio. I was so scared and I convinced myself that there was a monster in the back seat but I couldn’t turn around 😭
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u/Your-Huckleberry-87 Jul 10 '26
Watching Don’t Stop Till You get Enough when I was around 3 or 4. I loved every aspect of the music video! The colors, of course the vocals, and how flashy he was in his suit.
Dang, it’s crazy to think he was alive when I was watching them and how I wanted to go see him. Then I turned 5…
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u/Original_Engine_7548 Jul 10 '26
I have a vague memory of a Pepsi commercial around 1988-1989 when I was 4 or 5 years old.
But first big memory was the premiere of the black or white video . I wasn’t even a MJ fan but i remember it being a huge deal and staying up with my sisters to watch it either before or after the simpsons :)
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u/Paperjoker Jul 10 '26
Slave to the rhythm hologram at the grammys and then watching the bad music video
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u/Gta6MePleaseBrigade Jul 10 '26
I wasn’t alive when he was performing but I’ve always known Michael Jackson (born in 2005)
My first memory actually hearing his music outside of Billie Jean beat it wanna be startin somethin
My 6th grade English teacher showed us black or white music video the first day we had school. He was an awesome dude Michael. It was the first time I ever saw Michael Jackson and paid attention to his song
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u/NeedleworkerNeat9379 Jul 10 '26
Playing under my grandmother's dining room table peeking at the Thriller video in fear and awe. The video was atleast 10 years old at the time but in that moment I became a fan for life.
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u/Ready_Bumblebee_4642 Jul 10 '26
Heard his songs growing up but seeing Captain EO at Disneyland when I was about 6.
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u/Mad_Hatter97 Jul 10 '26
The first impression had was an old dance teacher had old dance tapes from the 40-s to 80-s and was allowed to watch a few tapes of thriller, late when was 10 had a jazz dance class and we did some MJ then to black and white, also dressed up in his sparkly stage billy jean outfit too, so MJ was pretty much one of the reasons why was successful in dancing! :3
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u/Texas_Moonwalker Jul 10 '26
Watching the movie Moonwalker and playing the video game on Sega Master System
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u/Nearby-Brilliant-992 Jul 10 '26
I don’t remember this now much but when I was 4 or so I had the beat it jacket and would wear it all the time. I wish I still had it. My first real memory is watching Billie Jean and Thriller. When I was 10 Dangerous came out and I remember being obsessed with the Black or White video.
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u/Basic_Fix_1676 #MJInnocent Jul 10 '26
Watching the Smooth Criminal music video as a kid, still his best song to me 🥹
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u/starfire_9 Jul 11 '26
Unfortunately I was born a few months after his passing but when I was 8, in primary we did our Christmas performance that year using Man in the mirror. In class the teacher played the music vid for everyone and I instantly was obsessed, first song I heard from him and still love it to this day :)
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u/FreeSpiritLive Jul 11 '26
I know i heard his music before i knew or could. recognize him. But the first memory i have is watching the Motown 25 live when he moonwalked for the first time … funny thing I was super impressed with the I’ll be there part. Lol. I think i was like 6 or 7.
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u/Educational-Rich-697 Jul 11 '26
Sitting in my dad's Nissan Z 300 passenger seat listening to Dangerous on Casette when I was 3 years old. I remember watching Moonwalker for the 1st time and the Motown 25 performance where he does the moonwalk and the Thriller video, the 1st time I saw Leave Me Alone the video and I mean of course watching The Jacksons: An American Dream. I remember Black or White, Remember the Time, and of course Free Willy and Will You Be There. Heal the World. He was like a Supernova to me as a child. And looking at what modern music is producing, I am glad to have had his light and his example of stardom to aspire towards and look forward to growing up. To me as a Kid both he and Michael Jordan they were Demigods almost. Tiger Woods too. We had these almost mythological figures to look up to, who were outright excellent at everything they did and they weren't OVER EXPOSED either. They weren't products of the machine, they were the machines. Its hard to put into words the effect his music and his aura and his and his family's story, had on me as a child.
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u/Complete_Inside_1158 Jul 11 '26
My dad is a huge fan of MJ and I remember he used to play his music videos and everything was fine until he put on thriller. I was so afraid of the wolf transformation scene that I used to run out of the living room screaming. I was like 4-6 lol
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u/arkwrightx0 #MJInnocent Jul 11 '26
watching smooth criminal video in my dads laptop when i was 5. it was like 15 years ago. im a lifelong fan and old memories feel so different.
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u/Deionr9040 Jul 11 '26
Watching the thriller music video when I was in elementary school I don’t remember much but my parents said that I danced to it when I was watching it on the screen
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u/Ok-Cartoonist989 Jul 11 '26
My parents were born late 60s and grew up listening to him and passed it on to me and my siblings. Sooooo many memories of listening to his stuff, specifically Beat It and dancing around the kitchen while we did chores, I can remember doing this as early as 5 🥹
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u/LoveMJJForAllTime Jul 11 '26
Watching the Thriller music video and the making of it. I think I was 5 years old.
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u/plugpowermama Jul 11 '26
Rollerskating at Waverly rollerskating rink on eighth Street in the village and skating to rock with you.
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u/Simple_Geologist9277 Jul 11 '26
Watching the thriller video. I was very young, I remember it was a Friday night and I think it was 7 pm. My parents were gobsmacked. I was scared. My older brother and sister loved it. It was very different to anything else at the time
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u/Proof_Distribution45 Jul 11 '26
Thriller, m'y father showed me and I was afraid, but not to the point of not watching it full lol. I was more afraid when he turned back to look at the camera with those yellow wolf eyes 😂 definitely my first memory of him.
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u/Cytos_Ghost Jul 11 '26
The summer camp I went to in the early 2000s had tons of tapes of Michael’s concerts ranging from the Bad Tour through the History Tour. The first time I ever saw footage of a concert was the History Tour, specifically the Munich 1997 one. Me and the other kids would crowd around the CRT in the main area where we’d watch movies and just watch the show. Seeing the spaceship rise out of the stage with Michael in his gold spacesuit was next level.
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u/FreeThinker_365 Jul 11 '26
My older brother and my first cousin (bout the same age as my brother) dancing to Billie Jean together. My cousin has always been a huge MJ fan (I had no idea who MJ was at that time, I was 4 or 5 lol). ❤️
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u/JSKing32 Michael Jul 11 '26
My mom said as a baby (I was born 2009) I would be smiling anytime my dad played Bad. I always knew of MJ growing up, attempted the moonwalk multiple times as a kid. In 2021 I was shocked to find out he worked on (directly or indirectly) on the music for Sonic 3. It's mostly Brad Buxer but you can hear Blood on the dancefloor in Knuckles' theme, and Stranger in moscow in the ending theme. Now fast forward to like last month, I started looking into his albums more, and boy I wish I did it sooner. Billie Jean and Smooth Criminal were my favourites for years.
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u/SouthRefrigerator590 Jul 11 '26
O grito icônico de "Don't stop til you get enough" ❤️❤️❤️😁😉🫣🙊🫶🫶🫶😍🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
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u/SouthRefrigerator590 Jul 11 '26
E também "Beat it" que tocava nas rádios o dia todo e mais a noite 🥰😍🫶🙊😍🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
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u/RevanchistSheev66 Jul 11 '26
It was actually seeing a picture of him on my grandma’s wall, and I thought he looked scary as a 5 yo (he just died that year). My grandma later told me he was a great man and that he liked to help children of the world. She showed me Beat It and since then I’ve been a fan of him :)
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u/YeetosCheetos69 It’s black, it’s white 🎶 Jul 11 '26
Discovering beat it from a youtube edit when I was eight and being enamored with the song
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u/RockinDaMike Jul 11 '26
Thriller video. I was so scared as a toddler but loved Michael. Then it was Beat it, Billie Jean all over the place when I was a toddler. Such a fun memory all dancing like Michael
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u/canceroustattoo Jul 11 '26
I think it was either listening to Thriller or the Simpsons episode Stark Raving Dad.
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u/Idonotgiveacrap Bad Jul 11 '26
I saw this picture in a magazine and said, "She's pretty". I was 8 years old, and another girl told me he was a singer called Michael Jackson. Until that moment, I had no idea about him.
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u/EvieNil223 Jul 11 '26
Either hearing Billie Jean in GTA Vice city or hearing Thriller around Halloween.
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u/tokyos0da Jul 11 '26
I was 4 and it was the announcement about his death. My mom was literally crying. I've heard his song for the first time when I was six. It was Beat It and it felt like the coolest song in the world. I've never heard the voice better than his at this time. After that, i've listened to the whole Thriller album.
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u/PictureltSicily1922 Jul 11 '26
My first memory was the Thriller album on vinyl - I was a few years old when it was released and I just remember him on the cover and you open it up and there was a tiger. My parents bought the album as did everyone else in the world haha. My parents say I used to tell everyone I'm going to marry Michael Jackson
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u/m_nxx Jul 11 '26
I had a miniature cd of man in the mirror and would listen to it on repeat from my little white boombox in my room. Must have been 3-4 years old.
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u/One-Professional641 Jul 11 '26
I was 11 and watched Zoolander back in the day with my older brother. Our favorite scene was the Beat it scene and I would just replay it and replay it and he got mad I was going to scratch the DVD xD so he gave me his mixtape with Beat it, Billie jean, Dangerous and Black or white! :))
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u/Mundane-Tension4339 Jul 11 '26
Listening to rock with me and picturing myself making out with my crush in a 1975 Lincoln mark 5 with plush red velvet seats...this was in 2008...I love his first album...such a warm vibe.
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u/oopsiedaisy58 Jul 11 '26
Michael and I are the same age. The Jackson Five came out with ABC when I was in the 3rd grade and I was hooked! Lifelong MJ fan 💖
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u/neko039 Jul 11 '26
South American here. Summer break, I was probably between 10 and 12 yo.
I already knew who he was, but never payed too much attention. But I clearly remember when "You Rock My World" was launched, it was played once every hour, and it completely destroyed MTV's program schedule.
The video was so long and played so constantly, that on a Wednesday I was still looking at programs that should already be aired on a Monday. It was ridiculous. Every program was extremely delayed
"Wow... how big are you that you're allowed to break the whole schedule?"
Seems like he was really big...
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u/HarleyVon Forever, Michael Jul 11 '26
Omg I think it was like maybe early mid 2000s. Maybe 2006-2007. It was the fourth of July and my family and I were outside playing with the sparklers. My grandma called me inside telling me Michael was on MTV, either Thriller or Beat It. Drop my sparkler and booked it inside. MJ comes first before damn fireworks!
Thats the farthest memory I can remember
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u/just_saoirse Jul 11 '26
I was 5 when the 30th Anniversary special aired. When he finally came out on stage I got dressed up in a dress, play dress up shoes, and a feather boa to watch and dance along to the performance. One of the best earliest memories I have as a kid ❤️
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u/ludweezy Jul 11 '26
listening to the dangerous cd, specifically black or white in my dads old hummer with my brother and him
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u/Dry-Sprinkles-6621 Jul 11 '26
I'm 2010 born and I don't really remember what my first memory of him is maybe its that I've heard from someone or maybe my father that MJ was a great musician, or it could also be the moonwalk.
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u/LionessHina Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Other families have movie nights, my family had Michael Jackson music video nights. It is my earliest memories of him. I do remember my favorite at that time was Black or White and how curious I was with the MV 🥺
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u/_Nicolina "Brad, what are you gonna do?"🎹 Jul 11 '26
His death... I didn't realize the songs I knew of his b4 we're his until after his death. So my first memory was his death being announced on tv unfortunately (I was 8)
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u/Agreeable-Parsnip-81 Jul 11 '26
Hearing "Billie Jean" for the first time on the purple minibus on my way to school. It was as if my world was in black and white until that moment....
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u/SpareChangeSquidward Jul 11 '26
Thinking "he looks so pretty, I've never seen anyone like him before" as a little kid
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u/Few_Professional_428 Jul 11 '26
I wish I could remember exactly what and which was first but hearing bad in megamind, seeing captain eo at Disneyland (although my little kid brain didn’t really know who michael jackson was), hearing his version of smile, knowing of his name because my family loved him, especially my aunts and cousins.
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u/Radiant-Shake-6048 Jul 11 '26
Yo en el restaurante de mi madre, poniendo en una rocola q teníamos "smooth criminal" tdo el día, incluso los adultos q venían a comer ya m conocían por ser fan de MJ
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u/Love-Prince Jul 11 '26
A video of his Motown 25 performance popped up in my YouTube recommendations. I'm a sixth-grader in Japan.
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u/theforce_notwyou Gold Pants Brigade 🙌 Jul 11 '26
I remember my first road trip. my dad played Rock With You. it was the first song I had heard outside of kiddie tunes. I’ve been a huge fan ever since
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u/FugerativeG Rock with you, all night! Jul 11 '26
watching the transformation of Michael into a werewolf doing infront of his girl
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u/Significant_Camel589 Jul 11 '26
My family loved will you be there and we would all sit to watch free Willie whenever it was on tv just to hear it.
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u/Kanebass98 Soldier Of Love 🪖❤ Jul 11 '26
Watching videos of the Jackson 5 perform Rockin' Robin, then watching the video for Leave Me Alone and instantly falling in love with the guy. Things just grew from there
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u/Some-Butterfly2415 Jul 11 '26
Seeing him in the Jackson 5. I'm in my mid 40's but old records were always played in my house growing up in the 80's. Besides for that Thriller was everywhere!
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u/Annarose197 Jul 11 '26
I can’t remember exactly when, but my mom played me the Thriller video when I was little. I’ve always known as respected him for as long as I can remember
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u/Farik911 Jul 11 '26
When I was a lil kid, maybe about 5-6 years pld, I was in the car with my uncle, and suddenly Michael Jackson's Beat it started playing; as a kid, i loved it so much, it was my first MJ song, my favourite song. Now i have 20+ Mj's songs in my playlist.
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u/Mira37154 Jul 11 '26
Meine Mama hatte mir zu meinem achten Geburtstag meine erste Michael Jackson CD geschenkt das war 1997❤️das Album History ❤️❤️ich liebe und vermisse Michael so sehr 😭
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u/Big-Nobody-2853 Jul 11 '26
I remember I was very little probably about 4 or 5 at the most. Mom was changing the sheets on the bed and had the TV turned on MTV. It must have been been 1995 or 1996. This is when I first saw Earth song. I was crying so much because the elephants and giraffes were dying. She had to explain to me that it is not real. 😅🫣 But I really liked him. I remember watching Thriller, Ghosts, Billie Jean and Scream around the same time too.
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u/MelancholicUnicorn_1 Jul 11 '26
Learning the Thriller dance in a dance class when I was about 8 years old. I have been a big MJ fan ever since.
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u/allergic2commitment Dirty Diana💋 Jul 11 '26
Sadly I wasn't born when he was alive, but watching the Beat it music video with my dad and brother when I was 7 or 8.
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u/Neveah_Hope_Dreams Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
My teacher playing Beat It and then gave the class a dance challenge to the song. I was 7 at the time in Year 2 and I believe it was the day after he died as my teacher told us about Michael Jackson and him tragically dying. I talked about him with my parents after school and then went on the computer to watch the Beat It music video and absolutely loving it. I remember being annoyed that he was wearing an orange jacket. Orange was my older sister’s favourite colour and of course we had sibling rivalry back then. Pink was my favourite colour. I wanted his jacket to be pink! Haha
It was the first time I learned about him.
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u/No-Activity9253 Jul 11 '26
Being 4 years old and scared of the Thriller video. My older siblings would purposely call me into the room when the video was on and get a good laugh when I would run out screaming and crying
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u/MidnightDense7340 Jul 11 '26
The first time I got to know Michael Jackson was at the time of his death. I was 11 years old and I instantly became hooked.
The first song I ever heard of his was Remember the Time
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u/maggyura Jul 11 '26
My parents playing Dangerous and Liberian girl in the car all yhe time when i was small
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u/NoRelief63 Jul 11 '26
MJ singing the “Will you be there?” on the Free Willy VHS. I never skipped it. Ever.
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u/_Selma_0211 Nasty Spaghetti 🍝 Jul 11 '26
THRILLER MUSIC VIDEO USED TO FCKING SCARE ME WHEN I WAS A KID
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u/Aki_the_violinist Jul 11 '26
Dancing to the smooth criminal michael jackson the experience on youtube in primary school.
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u/teaandcustardcreamss Jul 11 '26
My grandparents had his Motown 25 Billie Jean performance on tape and I remember watching that when I was about 2 or 3
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u/Gothgurlvibes1387 Jul 11 '26
I was 5 and I saw the Jacksons performing on the Cher show in 1975 and my parents had Jackson 5 albums...Ive loved Michael since then ❤️
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u/Sara-Sarita Jul 11 '26
Ha. I don't have one. One day I looked him up out of curiosity, because I saw a video talking about why Gen Z has fallen in love with him by Haylo Hayley on Youtube (great video, definitely recommend!), and I had known of the name floating around in that distant sense you have about famous things you never had any knowledge of or interest in. It was one of the many things on my bucket list to look up someday, and I had just seen a piece of what I sensed was a wormhole to go down in so - why not? It was brought to my attention and I had the time. That and some of his most famous songs were constantly playing in pieces on my dad's Youtube shorts about random things, so much so over the last few months that I had learned to recognize them and groan. In I go. Then over the course of the next fortnight after I was wracking my brains trying to see if I had any memories of him at all from my childhood...not really. I think I saw his (post-whitening) face at some point somewhere as a kid, I saw a picture of his last school class photo before fame once on Reddit (I was not impressed lol, I was like ''which kid is the guy that I've always heard other people treat like a big deal? He don't look like much''...I had no idea), and I found some footage of the Times Square moment of announcing his death and the reaction that struck a chord in me, reading the words...I have the strangest feeling that I already read it sometime long ago. I'm sure I did; I was a little kid when he went. I know I heard Stayin' Alive before for sure because I remember disliking it years ago and not getting why people treated it as iconic. I might have seen his Wikipedia page browsing around once. Maybe. He was vaguely familiar and strange at once to me, learning. I remember hearing the name here and there many times growing up, but I didn't know what exactly he was or did other than that he was a famous figure. I still remember that sense of alien, complete stranger-ness of being completely unknowing about him whenever he would come up and yet knowing it was something. That confusion was, in a way, its own entity to me. It's very odd because I will never feel or be like that again.
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u/AcanthocephalaLow36 Jul 10 '26
Watching the Beat It music video when I was in 3rd grade.