Do you remember...

[ForeverTheKing]

-when BAD was released
-the premiere of the Black or White and Remember the Time short films?
-Whatzupwitu w/ Eddie Murphy (and how much people hated the song lol)
-the oprah interview
-the Dangerous Tour on HBO premiere
-watching MJ at the superbowl halftime show
-when MJ and LMP got married and all its hoopla (and the Diana Sawyer interview)
-MJ at the 95' MTV VMAs
-the premiere of SCREAM
-the infamous statement MJ made regarding the charges (and following trial like it was OJ all over again)
-the Jackson family honors
-The An American Dream premiere on TV (and falling IN LOVE with Jason Weaver lol)
-watching the J5 cartoon and american bandstand reruns saturday mornings
-MOONWALKER!
-CAPTIAN EO!
-3T'S WHY w/ MJ
-when TDCAU came out and everyone called MJ a racist

those are just a few MJ major events i remember from my childhood...me being the complete fool that I am...remember doing these things...

-had a jheri curl (80,90's don't front like u never had one black people!)
-wore knee and shin pads (to school...like a dumbass lol)
-stole my mothers disco ball in attempt to reenact the RWY video
-while living overseas i made my mother rent An American Dream EVERY WEEKEND till the people just said eff it and gave us the damn thing
-not buying magazines but just ripping the pictures of MJ out (i was bad hehe)
-writing to MJ every day in hopes to get an invite to Neverland
-listening DSTYGE all day JUST to figure out what he was saying (and then writing down the lyrics so i would never forget)
-made an MJ book (where i wrote down all his lyrics to songs, pictures, etc)
-joined chorus in 4th grade and singing nothing but MJ songs when im suppose to be learning some other songs
-joined band in 5th grade cuz i couldnt sing my MJ songs in 4th grade
-told my teacher in 3rd grade i wanted to be MJ when i grew up
-told myself at age 9 that my life goal was to meet MJ (thats when i started collecting)
-cried for weeks when my father told me i couldnt go see the history tour in London (still upset about that to this day)
-went to sleep every night listening to OTW (i took my mothers tape)
-almost cut a ***** when this little hefer stole my history dvd!!!!!!! (again..i dont play when it comes to MJ)
-going over to my friends house and teaching them MJ dances ( i was the MJ source growing up lol)
-trying to do the SC lean
-watching the Dangerous tour with my cousin every time i went back home and trying to figure out his adlibs
-learning how to moonwalk (and my cousin sliding into my aunts wall *RIP* and breaking her clock)
-drinking pepsi cuz MJ endorsed it
-doing the Jackson 5 routines from the American Dream movie

^^^

i can literally go on and on...MJ REALLY is/was a huge part of my life. Thats why when people ask me how can I be so upset and hurt about MJ when I never knew him personally I tell them that for some people in this world Michael was more than just the music...he's more than Billie Jean...hes more than the moonwalk dance...he's Thriller. For me he was my biggest inspiration in life. He taught me how to love, how to be caring...and he taught me all the wonderful things that you can do through music and THAT is why i love and appreciate music (all types) and especially MJ SO MUCH. I've always wanted to do something with music in my life and that is because of MJ. I can honestly say that if he never exist i have no idea what or where I would be right now

[JaneBender]

I remember listening to my dad's OTW and Thriller albums when he wasn't home, then him getting mad at me because I didn't put the records back in their sleeves properly and they would fall out when he went to listen to them.

I remember playing my ET storybook om my Fisher Price record player.

I remember sitting intensely with my Thriller album and my Bad tape and wondering why the two dudes on the covers looked so different even though they both said Michael Jackson. Then I decided I didn't care, put the tape in my stereo and rocked out!

I remember being mad as HELL at my mom for not taking me back to Disney World when Captain Eo came out, even thought we had just been there a few months before.

I remember watching the Bad Tour on MTV and wondering what the hell kinda magic spell Mike had on ppl to make them pass the hell out left and right while he was performing.

I remember watching the 1995 VMA's in the dorm's lounge my first year of college. Everyone was jamming whooping and cheering during Black or White.

I remember the LMP marriage hype after the allegations and that DS interview. UGH. Awkward.

I remember the statement Mike made about the charges and being AMAZED that he actually used the word penis. And I remember how angry he sounded. Like that anger/sadness you try to hold inside but that still comes out in your voice.

I remember the Black or White video premiere and how like EVERYONE was in front of the TV that night. I also remember the backlash from the panther scenes.

I remember seeing Can You Feel It and thinking it was like THE most amazing video ever. Freaking fire and rainbows and these slow motion shots and they were like giants sprinkling gold love dust all over everybody. Awesome.

I remember watching Moonwalker, although I'm not sure HOW since it wasn't realeased here in the states. (Or for some reason I think it might have been released on VHS and my uncle had a copy and brought it over? I can't remember I was young). But I do remember seeing it and LOVING how cute he was running away from the crazy claymation fans, the Speed Demon sequence, the Smooth Criminal Sequence with the lean and the credits with Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

I could go on but my dinner is cooking!

[CaptainEoLove85]

This is going to be a long post because it's basically a story of all the memories I have of being a casual fan. Now I've become an obsessive fan haha. These memories aren't in any sort of order, but anyway

*I remember I was with my mom when I was younger driving in a car listening to a CD. The song “ABC” was on there along with songs by other artists I don't remember. We listened to that CD quite often, but this one time my mom told me that was Michael Jackson singing. I was like “Really?” Before this I had only known about adult Michael Jackson's singing. Didn't know about the Jackson 5. I was simply amazed because to me it sounded like an adult singing. I was incredibly amazed by his talent, even when he was a kid.

*I have a vague memory of seeing him doing what was probably a Billie Jean performance on the TV. I don't remember which one it was or when I saw it.

*I remember seeing Thriller when I was very young, and remember watching it every once in a while over the years. I also think I saw the Billie Jean video when I was quite young. For some reason seeing the lit up tiles strikes nostalgia in me.

*I'm sure my mom told me at one point about MJ's vitiligo because I didn't know why he went from being black to white. I had no answer for why that was, just accepted it I guess. I really didn't care what he looked like though. I grew up in a time with all this controversy surrounding Michael, about him molesting kids and his nose falling off, and all these plastic surgeries and everything. I thought it was strange, but didn't pay much attention to it. I always just found him interesting anyway. I don't think I knew whether these stories were true or not, but I just didn't care.

*Captain Eo and Moonwalker were probably my earliest memories of Michael and what made me fall in love with him in the first place. I remember being freaked out by the 3D in Captain Eo at Disneyland, but also thinking it was really cool. I have very good memories of it, so I must have seen it more than once. As for Moonwalker, I had only vague memories of it up until now. What I remember the most was him saving the kids and turning into a robot. I didn't remember Speed Demon, or Leave Me Alone, so maybe I had only seen that movie part of it. What's interesting is I've always had that memory pop in my head now and again and I was always wondering what it was from. I figured it had to do something with Michael Jackson, but didn't know it was the film Moonwalker until I started looking into it after his death.

*Neverland Ranch is something I knew about, but didn't know a whole lot until his trial in 2005. I saw it on the news. I don't remember anything of the 1993 allegations, but Michael never struck me as someone who could be a child molester, based on how I came to know how he was. I think the Bashir interview, as horrible as it was, did show me how normal Michael really is. I totally understood and empathized with him at this point, which is interesting because the whole point of the interview was to paint a bad picture of him. Instead it showed me how childlike Michael was and I could relate to that. He also seemed just kinda inhibited sexually to me. I knew he meant the kids sleeping in bed with him, as just that, sleeping. Another thing I remember from the trial was Neverland employees saying they were being mistreated, but I always just assumed they were after his money. It was then after the trial Michael left the country and I couldn't blame him for leaving. I felt so sorry for what he went through. I saw how much he really needed a friend, and wishing I could befriend him.

*Another thing I didn't really care about was what Michael's children looked like. So many claims that they weren't his biological children. I didn't know the truth, but I wasn't going to jump to the conclusion that they weren't, and Michael didn't strike me as a liar anyway. My mom didn't believe the kids were his and I recently had to set her straight on that one. It's weird how my mom believed some stories about what the media says about him and some she didn't (like changing his skin color). I do remember the baby dangling incident. I didn't know why he did that, but I didn't hold it against him. I think I was wishing the media would just shut up at this point.

*I remember seeing the “You Rock My World” video for the first time. It was amazing and showed me how Michael still had it. I had not seen a Michael Jackson video in a long long time, so it was a special treat.

*I think I remember seeing that 9/11 tribute concert as well, but after that it's like Michael kind of went out of my mind, probably because after the trial he wasn't doing much (as far as I knew anyway). I assumed he was still doing stuff, but I didn't pay much attention. It didn't seem like the media covered him much, or I wasn't watching the news really. I pretty much stopped watching the news a few years back because it's all negative. His death was a shock to me and the fact that he was planning on doing a comeback was also a surprise. Had no idea he was doing that. Would I have known about this if he was still alive and doing these tours right now? Of course maybe it is because it was only in London. For some reason in these later years I think there's more coverage of him in Europe than in America. So maybe I'm not all to blame. I have no idea if I would know because I stopped watching the news and paying attention to mainstream music. Well if it was big news I might of known, but would I become obsessed like I am now? It's sad to think I would only become obsessed after his death, but what can you do? His death has made me come to appreciate music more and the other artists I've been a fan of.

I also have some memories of his songs. I didn't know about all his songs before his death. These are the ones I knew about before his death (including some I didn't even know he sang them)

I Want You Back
The Love You Save
I'll Be There
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) (didn't know the Jackson 5 sang it)
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (always knew the song, but didn't know he sang it. I thought it was BeeGees or something lol)
Rock with You
Off the Wall
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Thriller
Beat It
Billie Jean
Human Nature (I think I only had vague memories of this song)
P.Y.T. (knew the song, didn't know the title until after his death)
Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
Another Part of Me (from Captain Eo of course, same with We Are Here to Change the World)
Man in the Mirror (this was probably my favorite song when I was a kid)
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Smooth Criminal (my favorite music video)
Remember the Time (this is a song I forgot about until I watched the music video because I remembered seeing it when I was little)
Will You Be There (one I had forgotten about)
Keep the Faith
Smile
You Rock My World
Butterflies (didn't know he sang it)

So, those were the songs I knew about. Everything else was new to me. But hey, I was always a casual fan. Now I'm building some new memories and I'm loving the ride.

[ForeverTheKing]

This is going to be a long post because it's basically a story of all the memories I have of being a casual fan. Now I've become an obsessive fan haha. These memories aren't in any sort of order, but anyway

*I remember I was with my mom when I was younger driving in a car listening to a CD. The song “ABC” was on there along with songs by other artists I don't remember. We listened to that CD quite often, but this one time my mom told me that was Michael Jackson singing. I was like “Really?” Before this I had only known about adult Michael Jackson's singing. Didn't know about the Jackson 5. I was simply amazed because to me it sounded like an adult singing. I was incredibly amazed by his talent, even when he was a kid.

*I have a vague memory of seeing him doing what was probably a Billie Jean performance on the TV. I don't remember which one it was or when I saw it.

*I remember seeing Thriller when I was very young, and remember watching it every once in a while over the years. I also think I saw the Billie Jean video when I was quite young. For some reason seeing the lit up tiles strikes nostalgia in me.

*I'm sure my mom told me at one point about MJ's vitiligo because I didn't know why he went from being black to white. I had no answer for why that was, just accepted it I guess. I really didn't care what he looked like though. I grew up in a time with all this controversy surrounding Michael, about him molesting kids and his nose falling off, and all these plastic surgeries and everything. I thought it was strange, but didn't pay much attention to it. I always just found him interesting anyway. I don't think I knew whether these stories were true or not, but I just didn't care.

*Captain Eo and Moonwalker were probably my earliest memories of Michael and what made me fall in love with him in the first place. I remember being freaked out by the 3D in Captain Eo at Disneyland, but also thinking it was really cool. I have very good memories of it, so I must have seen it more than once. As for Moonwalker, I had only vague memories of it up until now. What I remember the most was him saving the kids and turning into a robot. I didn't remember Speed Demon, or Leave Me Alone, so maybe I had only seen that movie part of it. What's interesting is I've always had that memory pop in my head now and again and I was always wondering what it was from. I figured it had to do something with Michael Jackson, but didn't know it was the film Moonwalker until I started looking into it after his death.

*Neverland Ranch is something I knew about, but didn't know a whole lot until his trial in 2005. I saw it on the news. I don't remember anything of the 1993 allegations, but Michael never struck me as someone who could be a child molester, based on how I came to know how he was. I think the Bashir interview, as horrible as it was, did show me how normal Michael really is. I totally understood and empathized with him at this point, which is interesting because the whole point of the interview was to paint a bad picture of him. Instead it showed me how childlike Michael was and I could relate to that. He also seemed just kinda inhibited sexually to me. I knew he meant the kids sleeping in bed with him, as just that, sleeping. Another thing I remember from the trial was Neverland employees saying they were being mistreated, but I always just assumed they were after his money. It was then after the trial Michael left the country and I couldn't blame him for leaving. I felt so sorry for what he went through. I saw how much he really needed a friend, and wishing I could befriend him.

*Another thing I didn't really care about was what Michael's children looked like. So many claims that they weren't his biological children. I didn't know the truth, but I wasn't going to jump to the conclusion that they weren't, and Michael didn't strike me as a liar anyway. My mom didn't believe the kids were his and I recently had to set her straight on that one. It's weird how my mom believed some stories about what the media says about him and some she didn't (like changing his skin color). I do remember the baby dangling incident. I didn't know why he did that, but I didn't hold it against him. I think I was wishing the media would just shut up at this point.

*I remember seeing the “You Rock My World” video for the first time. It was amazing and showed me how Michael still had it. I had not seen a Michael Jackson video in a long long time, so it was a special treat.

*I think I remember seeing that 9/11 tribute concert as well, but after that it's like Michael kind of went out of my mind, probably because after the trial he wasn't doing much (as far as I knew anyway). I assumed he was still doing stuff, but I didn't pay much attention. It didn't seem like the media covered him much, or I wasn't watching the news really. I pretty much stopped watching the news a few years back because it's all negative. His death was a shock to me and the fact that he was planning on doing a comeback was also a surprise. Had no idea he was doing that. Would I have known about this if he was still alive and doing these tours right now? Of course maybe it is because it was only in London. For some reason in these later years I think there's more coverage of him in Europe than in America. So maybe I'm not all to blame. I have no idea if I would know because I stopped watching the news and paying attention to mainstream music. Well if it was big news I might of known, but would I become obsessed like I am now? It's sad to think I would only become obsessed after his death, but what can you do? His death has made me come to appreciate music more and the other artists I've been a fan of.

I also have some memories of his songs. I didn't know about all his songs before his death. These are the ones I knew about before his death (including some I didn't even know he sang them)

I Want You Back
The Love You Save
I'll Be There
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) (didn't know the Jackson 5 sang it)
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (always knew the song, but didn't know he sang it. I thought it was BeeGees or something lol)
Rock with You
Off the Wall
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Thriller
Beat It
Billie Jean
Human Nature (I think I only had vague memories of this song)
P.Y.T. (knew the song, didn't know the title until after his death)
Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
Another Part of Me (from Captain Eo of course, same with We Are Here to Change the World)
Man in the Mirror (this was probably my favorite song when I was a kid)
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Smooth Criminal (my favorite music video)
Remember the Time (this is a song I forgot about until I watched the music video because I remembered seeing it when I was little)
Will You Be There (one I had forgotten about)
Keep the Faith
Smile
You Rock My World
Butterflies (didn't know he sang it)

So, those were the songs I knew about. Everything else was new to me. But hey, I was always a casual fan. Now I'm building some new memories and I'm loving the ride.

awww it doesn't matter if your a casual fan or not! everyone has there own memories of MJ and those are what I think we should hold on too rather than the material things after his death..those memories are what all brought us here tgogether

[MJsBollywoodGirl7]

I totally remember some of them. Especially since I will be 30 in early January. I remember some of the following:

The Oprah Interview

This was my first MJ interview that I had ever seen. I was 13 years old when I saw it. And I remember all day long I had such trouble concentrating on my school work. Because all I could think about was that interview. And how excited I was to see it. All I could think about was be at home to see that interview. I even remember forcing my mother cutting our K-mart trip short. Because I had to be home in time to see that interview. Which I was of course. And from the moment it had started to the time it had ended. My eyes were totally glued to the tv. That interview just made me love Michael more than I already did then.

They Don't Care About Us Controversy

OMG do I ever remember that. I was 16 at them time. And I had tape alot of the news stories that was about that back then. And I remember the changes that had to be made to the song. But I have the oringal song version on my HIStory cd.

The Remember The Time performance at the Soul Train awards

OMG do I ever rember seeing that performance. It was just so cool of how Michael perform that song sitting down. Because he had injured his foot at the time. I even remember getting a little upset. When I saw Michael going up on to the stage on crutches. And I remember saying Michael what happen to you? And he mention how he had injured himself.

The Barbara Walters interview

I would never forget when I saw that interview. I remember taping it and I still have it on tape of course. How could I not remember it. I was 17 at the time and I had to stay home from school. Because I had really bad streph throat. And all day long I had spent my time listening to Michael. And just be really excited to watch and tape that interview that night. Well Michael had pretty much cleared up my streph throat. The second he came on and I had saw what he was wearing. I still like to think that Michael must have known that one of his female fans was sick. And he would wear something that might make his fan feel better. Boy did he ever made me feel better. By wearing that outfit that he had on. And he made me feel all the more better by wearing his fedora with the outfit. I so love it when I see that hat on him.

The Diane Sawyer Interview

I still remember watching and taping that interview. That Michael and Lisa did with Diane. It was also my second MJ interview ever.

Seeing the Bucharest Dangerous Concert

I don't remember seeing it when it first aired. Seeing I didn't have HBO at the time. But luckily my only by marriage cousin who was also MJ fan taped it. And when she showed me the concert when I went to her house for a visit. I was 12 then and I was just so really amazed by it. And I just totally loved it of course. That was the first MJ concert I had ever saw.

The 96 World Music Awards

I still have the entire awards show on tape. As well as some news stories about it. Back then I pretty much had to tape anything that was about Michael then. That Earth Song performance is like one of the best performances I had ever seen from Michael. I was really crying as I watched it. That performance makes me cry every single time I would watch it. I very rarily would watch that performance cause it just makes me cry every single time. Even though I love that performance so very much.

LA Gear

Back during the late 80s and early 90s. I had a huge major obsession with LA Gear. My mother no matter how hard she tried could not get me to wear another company brand of sneaker. My sneakers always had to be LA Gear or I wouldn't wear them. And they always had to be high tops. This was before I realize Michael used to advertise for them. But the one pair of LA Gear high tops I remember loving more than any other pair I had ever gotten. Was my MJ LA Gear high tops. OMG did I ever so love them back then. I thought they were my most coolest pair ever. I even remember seeing the LA Gear Street commercial that Michael did back then. This was probably 20 years ago when he did that commercial. I have commercial on my laptop. Michael was just so cute in that commercial.


I have lots of other memories of course. But I might post them later when my fingers don't feel as tired.

[ForeverTheKing]

I totally remember some of them. Especially since I will be 30 in early January. I remember some of the following:

The Oprah Interview

This was my first MJ interview that I had ever seen. I was 13 years old when I saw it. And I remember all day long I had such trouble concentrating on my school work. Because all I could think about was that interview. And how excited I was to see it. All I could think about was be at home to see that interview. I even remember forcing my mother cutting our K-mart trip short. Because I had to be home in time to see that interview. Which I was of course. And from the moment it had started to the time it had ended. My eyes were totally glued to the tv. That interview just made me love Michael more than I already did then.

They Don't Care About Us Controversy

OMG do I ever remember that. I was 16 at them time. And I had tape alot of the news stories that was about that back then. And I remember the changes that had to be made to the song. But I have the oringal song version on my HIStory cd.

The Remember The Time performance at the Soul Train awards

OMG do I ever rember seeing that performance. It was just so cool of how Michael perform that song sitting down. Because he had injured his foot at the time. I even remember getting a little upset. When I saw Michael going up on to the stage on crutches. And I remember saying Michael what happen to you? And he mention how he had injured himself.

The Barbara Walters interview

I would never forget when I saw that interview. I remember taping it and I still have it on tape of course. How could I not remember it. I was 17 at the time and I had to stay home from school. Because I had really bad streph throat. And all day long I had spent my time listening to Michael. And just be really excited to watch and tape that interview that night. Well Michael had pretty much cleared up my streph throat. The second he came on and I had saw what he was wearing. I still like to think that Michael must have known that one of his female fans was sick. And he would wear something that might make his fan feel better. Boy did he ever made me feel better. By wearing that outfit that he had on. And he made me feel all the more better by wearing his fedora with the outfit. I so love it when I see that hat on him.

The Diane Sawyer Interview

I still remember watching and taping that interview. That Michael and Lisa did with Diane. It was also my second MJ interview ever.

Seeing the Bucharest Dangerous Concert

I don't remember seeing it when it first aired. Seeing I didn't have HBO at the time. But luckily my only by marriage cousin who was also MJ fan taped it. And when she showed me the concert when I went to her house for a visit. I was 12 then and I was just so really amazed by it. And I just totally loved it of course. That was the first MJ concert I had ever saw.

The 96 World Music Awards

I still have the entire awards show on tape. As well as some news stories about it. Back then I pretty much had to tape anything that was about Michael then. That Earth Song performance is like one of the best performances I had ever seen from Michael. I was really crying as I watched it. That performance makes me cry every single time I would watch it. I very rarily would watch that performance cause it just makes me cry every single time. Even though I love that performance so very much.

LA Gear

Back during the late 80s and early 90s. I had a huge major obsession with LA Gear. My mother no matter how hard she tried could not get me to wear another company brand of sneaker. My sneakers always had to be LA Gear or I wouldn't wear them. And they always had to be high tops. This was before I realize Michael used to advertise for them. But the one pair of LA Gear high tops I remember loving more than any other pair I had ever gotten. Was my MJ LA Gear high tops. OMG did I ever so love them back then. I thought they were my most coolest pair ever. I even remember seeing the LA Gear Street commercial that Michael did back then. This was probably 20 years ago when he did that commercial. I have commercial on my laptop. Michael was just so cute in that commercial.


I have lots of other memories of course. But I might post them later when my fingers don't feel as tired.

oh man...i totally remember the barbara walters interview and the remember the time performance..and how could i forget about La gear!!!! and the NAACP awards appearance he did in 94..oh man..such good memories

[leannascarlet]

well when i was young:

-i was a toddler during the Dangerous and HIStory era,so basicly MJ's music was among the earliest music i've ever known and heard
-i used to laugh at naomi campbell thinking that she was trying too hard to get michael's attention in 'In The Closet'
-i was surprised to know Janet was his sister seeing how different they looked from eachother
-i saw space jam,and afterwards the 'Jam' vid of michael and michael jordan.i was so small and confused,so i thought michael was among the extra terrestrials from some other planet,who came down looney land to teach bugs bunny & friends how to dance. haha.
-i used to love thriller,but was too scared to watch michael's thriller performance in his concert live in bucharest.probably the walking skulls scared the s*** out of me.
-i always had a 'dance-off' with my brother to see who can immitate MJ better
-'dangerous' had always been my personal favourite.

well,that's what i could remember.

[PrincessMichaela]

This is going to be a long post because it's basically a story of all the memories I have of being a casual fan. Now I've become an obsessive fan haha. These memories aren't in any sort of order, but anyway

*I remember I was with my mom when I was younger driving in a car listening to a CD. The song “ABC” was on there along with songs by other artists I don't remember. We listened to that CD quite often, but this one time my mom told me that was Michael Jackson singing. I was like “Really?” Before this I had only known about adult Michael Jackson's singing. Didn't know about the Jackson 5. I was simply amazed because to me it sounded like an adult singing. I was incredibly amazed by his talent, even when he was a kid.

*I have a vague memory of seeing him doing what was probably a Billie Jean performance on the TV. I don't remember which one it was or when I saw it.

*I remember seeing Thriller when I was very young, and remember watching it every once in a while over the years. I also think I saw the Billie Jean video when I was quite young. For some reason seeing the lit up tiles strikes nostalgia in me.

*I'm sure my mom told me at one point about MJ's vitiligo because I didn't know why he went from being black to white. I had no answer for why that was, just accepted it I guess. I really didn't care what he looked like though. I grew up in a time with all this controversy surrounding Michael, about him molesting kids and his nose falling off, and all these plastic surgeries and everything. I thought it was strange, but didn't pay much attention to it. I always just found him interesting anyway. I don't think I knew whether these stories were true or not, but I just didn't care.

*Captain Eo and Moonwalker were probably my earliest memories of Michael and what made me fall in love with him in the first place. I remember being freaked out by the 3D in Captain Eo at Disneyland, but also thinking it was really cool. I have very good memories of it, so I must have seen it more than once. As for Moonwalker, I had only vague memories of it up until now. What I remember the most was him saving the kids and turning into a robot. I didn't remember Speed Demon, or Leave Me Alone, so maybe I had only seen that movie part of it. What's interesting is I've always had that memory pop in my head now and again and I was always wondering what it was from. I figured it had to do something with Michael Jackson, but didn't know it was the film Moonwalker until I started looking into it after his death.

*Neverland Ranch is something I knew about, but didn't know a whole lot until his trial in 2005. I saw it on the news. I don't remember anything of the 1993 allegations, but Michael never struck me as someone who could be a child molester, based on how I came to know how he was. I think the Bashir interview, as horrible as it was, did show me how normal Michael really is. I totally understood and empathized with him at this point, which is interesting because the whole point of the interview was to paint a bad picture of him. Instead it showed me how childlike Michael was and I could relate to that. He also seemed just kinda inhibited sexually to me. I knew he meant the kids sleeping in bed with him, as just that, sleeping. Another thing I remember from the trial was Neverland employees saying they were being mistreated, but I always just assumed they were after his money. It was then after the trial Michael left the country and I couldn't blame him for leaving. I felt so sorry for what he went through. I saw how much he really needed a friend, and wishing I could befriend him.

*Another thing I didn't really care about was what Michael's children looked like. So many claims that they weren't his biological children. I didn't know the truth, but I wasn't going to jump to the conclusion that they weren't, and Michael didn't strike me as a liar anyway. My mom didn't believe the kids were his and I recently had to set her straight on that one. It's weird how my mom believed some stories about what the media says about him and some she didn't (like changing his skin color). I do remember the baby dangling incident. I didn't know why he did that, but I didn't hold it against him. I think I was wishing the media would just shut up at this point.

*I remember seeing the “You Rock My World” video for the first time. It was amazing and showed me how Michael still had it. I had not seen a Michael Jackson video in a long long time, so it was a special treat.

*I think I remember seeing that 9/11 tribute concert as well, but after that it's like Michael kind of went out of my mind, probably because after the trial he wasn't doing much (as far as I knew anyway). I assumed he was still doing stuff, but I didn't pay much attention. It didn't seem like the media covered him much, or I wasn't watching the news really. I pretty much stopped watching the news a few years back because it's all negative. His death was a shock to me and the fact that he was planning on doing a comeback was also a surprise. Had no idea he was doing that. Would I have known about this if he was still alive and doing these tours right now? Of course maybe it is because it was only in London. For some reason in these later years I think there's more coverage of him in Europe than in America. So maybe I'm not all to blame. I have no idea if I would know because I stopped watching the news and paying attention to mainstream music. Well if it was big news I might of known, but would I become obsessed like I am now? It's sad to think I would only become obsessed after his death, but what can you do? His death has made me come to appreciate music more and the other artists I've been a fan of.

I also have some memories of his songs. I didn't know about all his songs before his death. These are the ones I knew about before his death (including some I didn't even know he sang them)

I Want You Back
The Love You Save
I'll Be There
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) (didn't know the Jackson 5 sang it)
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (always knew the song, but didn't know he sang it. I thought it was BeeGees or something lol)
Rock with You
Off the Wall
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Thriller
Beat It
Billie Jean
Human Nature (I think I only had vague memories of this song)
P.Y.T. (knew the song, didn't know the title until after his death)
Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
Another Part of Me (from Captain Eo of course, same with We Are Here to Change the World)
Man in the Mirror (this was probably my favorite song when I was a kid)
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Smooth Criminal (my favorite music video)
Remember the Time (this is a song I forgot about until I watched the music video because I remembered seeing it when I was little)
Will You Be There (one I had forgotten about)
Keep the Faith
Smile
You Rock My World
Butterflies (didn't know he sang it)

So, those were the songs I knew about. Everything else was new to me. But hey, I was always a casual fan. Now I'm building some new memories and I'm loving the ride.

We have veeeeery similar stories. I had the exact same amount of knowledge of him and his music as you. I hate hate hate that this had to happen for me to dive into him and his music like I have, but the one thing that makes me feel good is that I'm not a convert. (For those who are, it's okay, it was so easy just to believe the stories. It took no effort. I'm just so thankful that you finally took control. The media is so deceitful.) I never believed anyone else over him. I guess because I grew up in the theatre with the most open-minded people you could ever ever meet, I just wasn't in that kind of environment. I never had the negativity about him coming at me from all around. It was pretty much just the tabloids, which I couldn't care less about. I didn't know what was true and what wasn't, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let someone else decide that for me. I always liked him, regardless. I did stand up for him when others said something, even before I knew for sure that I was right. The fact the media was always blatantly disrespectful took away their credibility. I just never trusted them. But it kills me to think about all the wonderful stuff I missed out on all and how much I could have given him! I would do anything for him. Anything. I just think back and I'm like "Where was I back then and what was I doing? How did I miss all of this?" Well,...Musical Theatre and the Spice Girls - Dominated most of my childhood and teenage years too. =P I'm thankful it did, but I do wish MJ could have been sandwiched in there too. =/