When people defend him against his current charges, you often hear “he never grew up” “he’s just a big kid” and so on to explain why he’d enjoy innocently hanging out with little boys.
From statements like this you’d expect that this sort of thing had been bandied about his entire career. But were they? My earliest memories of Jackson come from the time around the release of Thriller, and as best I recall he was just considered a “cool guy” like Bruce Springstein was. Everyone wanted his red jacket because it was cool, too. No one mentioned peter pan syndrome in my hearing back then. I didn’t hear anything about his oddness until several years later when he tried to buy the Elephant man’s bones and people spent a lot of time joking about Bubbles.
So, was he considered weird and a big kid back when he was cool, or did people think he was (more) normal grown up male in the 80s? If it’s the latter, I’m not sure what to make of the defenses…severe regression?
When the Jackson’s first hit it big in the late 60s, Michael was just a cute little kids that could dance like no one you had ever seen before. After they started doing solo acts, he seemed like a real “lady killer sexy dude”, yeah, just a real cool dude that could still dazzle with his dancing. About the time Thriller came out, Mikey began to morph into his current state of oddness. As the years went by, his morphing got more and more severe, as did is outlandish behavior. I figured one day he would eventually morph into some kind of alien space traveler, sprout wings, and fly away.
I remember seeing Michael Jackson on the Mike Douglas show when he was around 14 or 15 years old. He had a giant winter scarf wrapped around his neck during the interview and when Douglas asked him why, Jackson replied in a near-whisper that his voice had to be protected. My Mom and I were watching and I remember Mom saying, “You know, that kid is starting to be really weird.”
He was weird for a really long time. First, his monkey pal. Then the purchase of the Elephant Man’s skeleton. Then, his disastrous attempts at reclaiming his childhood. He was an adorable, normal kid, but I think all that fame and fortune put a lot of bad joojoo on an already on-the-edge family. It’s a wonder any of them made it out alive.
The hyperbaric chamber story (which was a total hoax) came out around 1982 or so, I think. BLOOM COUNTY had Opus visiting his Neverland-like (he hadn’t bought the ranch yet) place in the early 80s and MJ was flitting around like Peter Pan even then. So yes, the weirdness has been for a while. When I was a teen he was just another major pop star, just sorta flashy.
The last time Michael Jackson seemed vaguely normal was when he released his Off the Wall album.
Around the time he released Thriller, his weirdness blossomed. The first signs I remember were the plastic surgery and the whole business about only wearing one glove and never being seen without it.
I also remember a news magazine interview with Jackson from the early 80s (Time? Newsweek?) which vaguely hinted that Jackson might have a thing for young boys.
If I recall correctly, the interview began with the interviewer’s description of being led back into Michael Jackson’s inner sanctum, and being surprised to find Jackson alone with a young boy. Seems there was some vaguely unsavory touching going on as well. Hand-holding, maybe? Can’t recall. But the interviewer seemed a little creeped out by the scene.
Well, when he won all those Grammies for Thriller, he took Brooke Shields along as his date…and Emmanuel Lewis. Then he carried Lewis up on stage with him to accept his awards and at one point kissed the top of Lewis’s head. (But never Brooke).
Remember he was still pretty young, only 24 by my calculations, when Thriller came out. People in general are much more willing to cut someone in their twenties some slack if they act like in some way like a “big kid”. A lot of people that age don’t act completely grown up (whatever that means).
Someone who is in their mid forties, like he is now? People are much less forgiving.
Back in high school, we had just gotten cable (along with MTV) when they premiered the “Beat It” video. My entire family sat around the t.v. and watched it, with our mouths agape. After a half moment of silence, my mother said, “Man, that boy can dance.”
Michael Jackson was HOT.
It’s a real shame that he’s turned out so horrifically deformed and strange. It’s kinda the kids today who cannot picture Elvis Presley without the sequins and blubber. At one time, he was the sexiest man on the planet. Fame does weird things to people.
Why does michael Jackson show up for court wearing various-colored armbands? What is he trying to express?
Also, when he showed up in court wearing pajamas-what was that all about?
That was a really long time ago, maybe way back in '73.
But I do vaguely remember that he was considered a little odd back then because he had a pet rat - and wrote a song about it (Ben). Back in the 70s it was pretty much unheard of for people to keep rats as pets.