About

Michael Jackson was an American singer-songwriter who became an international pop music icon prior to his death in June 2009, earning him the honorific nickname "King of Pop." Online, Jackson is often remembered for his eccentric reputation, impressive stage presence and child molestation accusations.

Career

Starting in 1965, Jackson began singing with his brothers in a band formed by their father Joseph named The Jackson Brothers. The following year, the group's name was changed to The Jackson 5. In 1979, Jackson launched his solo career with the album Off the Wall. In 1983, Jackson's released Thriller which went on to become the best-selling album of all time. Over the next 12 years, Jackson released several other successful albums, including Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

Online History

In 2001, Sony Music Entertainment launched MichaelJackson.com,^[6] which initially contained an interactive Flash animation that allowed the user to navigate the site (shown below).

On June 21st, 2005, a Michael Jackson YouTube^[3] channel was created, which accumulated upwards of 7.5 million video views and 590,000 subscribers over the following nine years. On March 28th, 2007, the Videojug YouTube channel uploaded a instructional video demonstrating how to perform Jackson's signature "moonwalk" dance move, garnering over 33.6 million views and 19,800 comments in the first eight years (shown below).

On December 19th, the official "Michael Jackson" Facebook^[1] page was launched, gaining more than 75 million likes in the next seven years. On July 6th, 2009, the @michaeljackson Twitter feed was created, gathering more than 1.42 million followers over the next five years.

Death

On June 25th, 2009, Jackson was found dead at his mansion in Los Angeles, California. That day, Redditor wacrover submitted a link to the TMZ announcement of Jackson's death, which gained over 4,800 points and 2,300 comments prior to being archived.^[4] The search engine Google initially interpreted the wave of Google "Michael Jackson" queries as a DDoS attack, blocking search results for the keywords for 30 minutes. Both Wikipedia and Twitter reported crashes, the latter of which received around 5,000 tweets-per-minute mentioning the pop star. The Internet company Akamai reported that worldwide Internet traffic was 11% higher than normal that day.^[5]

Notable Dances

On May 13th, 2008, YouTuber FierceDeityXeroX uploaded a Pokemon battle parody video in which Michael Jackson performs his signature dance moves against several Pokemon and molests and Pokemon trainer (shown below). In six years, the video gained more than 14.9 million views and 34,700 comments.

Reputation

Jackson earned the honorific nickname "King of Pop" as early 1984, following the worldwide success of Thriller, the best-selling album of all time as of June 2014. With hundreds of awards received, Jackson is the most-awarded recording artist in pop music history.^[7]

Eccentricity

In the media, Jackson was often portrayed as an eccentric with rumors regarding his bizarre spending and lifestyle habits. After he was accused of sexually abusing children, Jackson became the subject of jokes and ridicule regarding his sexual orientation and alleged perversion.

Post-Humous Fandom

In July 2007, a video was uploaded to YouTube featuring inmates from the Cebu Provinicial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Cebu Province, Philippines performing Jackson's "Thriller" dance. On June 25th, 2009, the /r/michaeljackson subreddit was launched for discussions related to the deceased pop star. On July 8th, YouTuber pierrewikberg uploaded footage of a flash mob performing the dance for Jackson's song "Beat It" at Sergels Torg in Stockholm, Sweden (shown below, right).

On June 23rd, 2011, the JPomichael YouTube channel uploaded an animated tribute to Jackson featuring a cartoon likeness of the deceased pop star (shown below, left). On August 27th, 2012, YouTuber Marquese Scott released a tribute video to Jackson in which he performs a choreographed dance to a dubstep remix of the song "Dirty Diana" (shown below, right).

Evolution of Michael Jackson

On June 22nd, 2015, American acapella group Pentatonix released a medley tribute to Michael Jackson's most memorable hits in a video titled "Evolution of Michael Jackson." The video gained more than 3.3 million views within the first 72 hours of upload.

Related Memes

Michael Jackson Sprite

The Michael Jackson Sprite is the 16-bit 2D character modeled after the late entertainer Michael Jackson from the three unrelated videogames that were based on his 1988 film Moonwalker. On YouTube, the sprite is often found in animated dance videos or remixes featuring fight scenes from other 8-bit games.

     

             

Popcorn GIFs

Popcorn GIFs are reaction images of people and animals eating popcorn typically used to indicate a feeling of amusement while witnessing a drama or argument unfold. The earliest known instance in the series features a GIF of Michael Jackson eating popcorn from the "Thriller" music video set to the 1983 R&B song "Popcorn Love" by New Edition playing in the background, uploaded by YTMND user Chiyoumen on September 2nd, 2007.

Personal Life

Michael Jackson was born on August 29th, 1958 in Gary, Indiana as the eight of ten children. He has stated that he had a troubled relationship with his father, who he claims physically and verbally abused him. In May 1994, Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley. The pair divorced less than two years later.

Child Sexual Abuse Accusations

Jackson was accused of sexually molesting children on two separate occasions. In 1993, then 13-year-old Jordan Chandler accused Jackson of sexually abusing him. Jackson denied the allegations but reached a financial settlement with the Chandler family to resolve the matter in January 1994. In 2005, Jackson stood trial for the alleged sexual abuse of 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo and was found not guilty on all counts. In 1997, Jackson married his longtime friend Deborah Jeanne Rowe with whom he had two children before the pair divorced in 1999.

Search Interest

External References