Don't get me wrong I LOOOOVVVVE Michael Jackson, but the man wasn't what you would call 'normal'.

To be fair most geniuses are often called 'eccentric' or just plain 'out of this world'. So his eccentricity might've been a symptom of his genius.

I saw an interview of him in 1983 on Youtube and he had a llama, but he was so huge during this time that no really cared that he was a bit different.

But can anyone tell me when did he start becoming too eccentric for the public's taste? I was born in 1988 so I had no memories of the 80's or early 90's.

Don't get me wrong I LOOOOVVVVE Michael Jackson, but the man wasn't what you would call 'normal'.

To be fair most geniuses are often called 'eccentric' or just plain 'out of this world'. So his eccentricity might've been a symptom of his genius.

I saw an interview of him in 1983 on Youtube and he had a llama, but he was so huge during this time that no really cared that he was a bit different.

But can anyone tell me when did he start becoming too eccentric for the public's taste? I was born in 1988 so I had no memories of the 80's or early 90's.





oh we cared.... the llama, bubbles, the zoo, hanging out with Webster and brooke shields? yeah Mike started getting weird right after thriller came out...  don't get me wrong, at the time he was doing things no one had ever seen but we started watching with raised eyebrows.... things just spiraled out of control from there... probably around the time the rumors of the elephant's mans bones and sleeping in the oxygen chamber is when it really started to get away from him... by that time the outfits were more outrageous and the surgeries started....

crap... I just responded to this thread - now I'm gonna have to see all these posts and I hate talking about MJ.

... probably around the time the rumors of the elephant's mans bones and sleeping in the oxygen chamber is when it really started to get away from him...



What year was the rumor of the elephant man's bones and sleeping in the oxygen chamber?

oh we cared.... the llama, bubbles, the zoo, hanging out with Webster and brooke shields? yeah Mike started getting weird right after thriller came out...  don't get me wrong, at the time he was doing things no one had ever seen but we started watching with raised eyebrows.... things just spiraled out of control from there... probably around the time the rumors of the elephant's mans bones and sleeping in the oxygen chamber is when it really started to get away from him... by that time the outfits were more outrageous and the surgeries started....




Bubbles!  ;D

I would say 1991 when he started hanging around with Macauly Culkin.

I would say 1991 when he started hanging around with Macauly Culkin.


And by 1993; well, his reputation just was never the same.  :-[

oh we cared.... the llama, bubbles, the zoo, hanging out with Webster and brooke shields? yeah Mike started getting weird right after thriller came out...  don't get me wrong, at the time he was doing things no one had ever seen but we started watching with raised eyebrows.... things just spiraled out of control from there... probably around the time the rumors of the elephant's mans bones and sleeping in the oxygen chamber is when it really started to get away from him... by that time the outfits were more outrageous and the surgeries started....




That seems pretty correct!

When he started having inappropriate relationships with children.

Everything else was just eccentricity.  If he blew $100 million, it was his money to blow.  He could have helped a lot of needy people with that money rather than buying his own personal theme park, however this decision did not cause additional harm in the world as did his troubles with children. 

I have compassion for Michael, God rest his soul.  I think he had serious mental health issues that tormented him but were never addressed.
::)

When he started having inappropriate relationships with children.

Everything else was just eccentricity.  If he blew $100 million, it was his money to blow.  He could have helped a lot of needy people with that money rather than buying his own personal theme park, however this decision did not cause additional harm in the world as did his troubles with children. 

I have compassion for Michael, God rest his soul.  I think he had serious mental health issues that tormented him but were never addressed.
::)


Yeah, I think what Michael needed was a friend. 

But is this true? He was the celebrity that donated the most money out of all celebrities in Hollywood?

When the big hand touched the little hand.  :o :o :o

Yeah, I think what Michael needed was a friend. 

But is this true? He was the celebrity that donated the most money out of all celebrities in Hollywood?


He did do philanthropic work.  I don't mean to sound cynical, but when you're that flush with cash, it helps save a bundle on taxes.

When did Michael started getting too eccentric?  Its hard to pinpoint exactly when he started to show his eccentricities to the public.  I have to
say when he along with his manager planted that story that he was interested in purchasing the "elephant man's bones" and the infamous
picture of him lying in an oxygen chamber. He was private in his personal life but he wanted publicity as well.

His obsession with plastic surgery.

He had an affinity for children which is ok I know his heart was in the right place but it was unusual that he treated Emmanuel Lewis like a 5 year old when he was
in his mid-teens. and Maculey Culkin became his best friend.  When he purchased his ranch turned it to an amusement park you got the feeling Michael
didnt want to grow up.

What year was the rumor of the elephant man's bones and sleeping in the oxygen chamber?


honestly I don't remember it was all a blur--- late eighties early 90s 


a quick google search tells me the Elephant Man's bones rumors were floated in 86. The oxygen tank chamber stuff was not much later...

I want to say- for me- and I had MJ posters on my wall in 83.  that he started seeming weird/strange/different circa 1984/85 I just think that after the success of Thriller the fandom and attention probably scared him - he was bigger than the beatles in a lot of ways and MTV, us having wider access to television and faster turnabout in media (  ie - even tho we weren't surfing the net - well most of us weren't and cameras weren't digital we still had  faster access to news and media in the Mid 80s. Film could be developed quicker, people could get images faster and cameras were everywhere) so, in a way, there was more exposure of MJ than the Beatles... I think it freaked him out and that's when he started to retreat... the more he retreated the more curious the public became, the more eccentric he seemed and  then we became even more curious.... there's no way he would come out of that normal but he still went way off the deep end... 

Yeah, I think what Michael needed was a friend. 

But is this true? He was the celebrity that donated the most money out of all celebrities in Hollywood?


he gave a lot back...mostly to the children of the world.... shut up- I actually mean that--- it seems his charitable endorsements centered around children... (go figure)

but I wouldn't say he gave more than other celebs...lots of celebs give- we don't always know how much because some actually want to keep it secret---and others just don't have the following so people don't care... I don't know how much they personally gave but I would put Jerry Lewis' and Danny Thomas' efforts above MJ in terms of charitable endorsements...

he gave a lot back...mostly to the children of the world.... shut up- I actually mean that--- it seems his charitable endorsements centered around children... (go figure)

but I wouldn't say he gave more than other celebs...lots of celebs give- we don't always know how much because some actually want to keep it secret---and others just don't have the following so people don't care... I don't know how much they personally gave but I would put Jerry Lewis' and Danny Thomas' efforts above MJ in terms of charitable endorsements...


Jerry Lewis' cause was muscular dystrophy.  What did Danny Thomas do?  Marlo Thomas was a literacy advocate, but I don't know specifics on philanthropy. 

???

Jerry Lewis' cause was muscular dystrophy.  What did Danny Thomas do?  Marlo Thomas was a literacy advocate, but I don't know specifics on philanthropy. 

???


little thing called St. Jude's Hospitals....been giving treatment to terminally ill kids for like 30 yrs or so...

honestly I don't remember it was all a blur--- late eighties early 90s 


a quick google search tells me the Elephant Man's bones rumors were floated in 86. The oxygen tank chamber stuff was not much later...

I want to say- for me- and I had MJ posters on my wall in 83.  that he started seeming weird/strange/different circa 1984/85 I just think that after the success of Thriller the fandom and attention probably scared him - he was bigger than the beatles in a lot of ways and MTV, us having wider access to television and faster turnabout in media (  ie - even tho we weren't surfing the net - well most of us weren't and cameras weren't digital we still had  faster access to news and media in the Mid 80s. Film could be developed quicker, people could get images faster and cameras were everywhere) so, in a way, there was more exposure of MJ than the Beatles... I think it freaked him out and that's when he started to retreat... the more he retreated the more curious the public became, the more eccentric he seemed and  then we became even more curious.... there's no way he would come out of that normal but he still went way off the deep end... 




I honestly don't think anyone can be 100% sane with that kind of attention.  ::)

I honestly don't think anyone can be 100% sane with that kind of attention.  ::)


Hell, I know I wouldn't. That's just too much.

Somewhere 'twixt 'Thriller' and 'Bad', when his fame, bank balance and media profile (and his mind, possibly) went into the stratosphere...

Around 1987-1993.

87.

little thing called St. Jude's Hospitals....been giving treatment to terminally ill kids for like 30 yrs or so...


If the kids are terminally ill for like 30 years or so, they were misdiagnosed. 
:D

In response to the topic question: I would say when he started bleaching his skin? I mean, come on! Who (besides him) does that??

In response to the topic question: I would say when he started bleaching his skin? I mean, come on! Who (besides him) does that??


I have cousins who grew up in Greenwich, CT.  There was a young African-American gentleman attending the Cos-Snob County Day School (or wherever those toffs went) who regularly bleached his skin.  Residents of Greenwich are unaccustomed to seeing the, the, you know, Negroes outside of the kitchen or the delivery van!
::)

He had vitiligo.

He had vitiligo.


I know, but why do people not know this?

I know, but why do people not know this?


we knew it... we just never really believed it. All the plastic surgery he was doing at the same time did not help his case. To us it looked like he was trying to be white and the vitiligo seemed like something made up to deflect the media.

He had vitiligo.

I know, but why do people not know this?
I did not know he suffered from this.

I did not know he suffered from this.


To be honest sometimes I didn't believe he suffered from vitiligo. Sometimes I'm still unsure.  ::)

I did not know he suffered from this.


They spent a good deal of time mentioning it here in the US. But all the ensuing discussion seemed to be " do you buy that excuse"

Sothen people talked about how it seemed made up and unlikely.

I don't know that the name of the condition was mentioned. Mostly they just said things like he suffers from a skin discoloring. Or pigmentation disease. 

They spent a good deal of time mentioning it here in the US. But all the ensuing discussion seemed to be " do you buy that excuse"

Sothen people talked about how it seemed made up and unlikely.

I don't know that the name of the condition was mentioned. Mostly they just said things like he suffers from a skin discoloring. Or pigmentation disease. 



He really got hooked on the plastic surgery in the last 15 years of life.  They carved him up good.  Poor guy.  I always say, when Michael was Michael, every teenage girl in America had him on her walls! Then he really just went off the deep end.  He just became totally cartoonish Edward Scissorhands weird! 
:(

(I say this as a big fan of Edward Scissorhands)

Funny that you mention that since I've read somewhere that he was one of the people considered to play the part of Edward in the film. Of course, we all knew who ended up taking the part. 8)

And I've known for awhile that he had vitiligo, but I've never completely understood why it's so hard to believe. :-\\ There's other people around the world who have the same disease. I don't know if it was stated in his autopsy, but I remember his dermatologist saying on CNN that he did had vitiligo.

Funny that you mention that since I've read somewhere that he was one of the people considered to play the part of Edward in the film. Of course, we all knew who ended up taking the part. 8)

And I've known for awhile that he had vitiligo, but I've never completely understood why it's so hard to believe. :-\\ There's other people around the world who have the same disease. I don't know if it was stated in his autopsy, but I remember his dermatologist saying on CNN that he did had vitiligo.


When you started liking him it was all out and done... when we were exposed to it we'd spent a lot of time talking about skin bleaching and speculating he was trying to be white... so by the time they revealed the condition it was too late. We had already formed an opinion and the stuff they were saying seemed like a made up excuse to cover "the truth"

I saw a clip on BET from circa 87-88  and he did an interview with Ed Gordon and he was fine to me then. I would say maybe it was between 1989-1993 and  after the "Bad Tour" finished up in early 1989 I think  or 1992-1993. By 1994 he really wasn't  the big deal in the music scene that he was from 1979-1991/1992 at all really thanks to grunge and gangsta rap.

It just seems like everybody wants to remember the Michael from 1979-1992 but not the Michael from 1993+.

I saw a clip on BET from circa 87-88  and he did an interview with Ed Gordon and he was fine to me then. I would say maybe it was between 1989-1993 and  after the "Bad Tour" finished up in early 1989 I think  or 1992-1993. By 1994 he really wasn't  the big deal in the music scene that he was from 1979-1991/1992 at all really thanks to grunge and gangsta rap.

It just seems like everybody wants to remember the Michael from 1979-1992 but not the Michael from 1993+.




Yeah, 1993 was the year the 'allegations' started and after that, not only his music, but his life changed drastically after 1993 and not for the best.

I'd say 1993. That's when he went from being quirky/funny weird to creepy weird.

I never really thought he was strange because I kind of understood how people who grow up quickly and miss on childhoods are different. I was the same way. Sure I was jamming on stage in spangled outfit, but I really lost a great portion of my childhood caring for my mother when she was sick. Not that I would change it, I treasure my time with my mom, but you know I missed ALOT. Field trips dances, prom, birthdays...so I get it.

I'm not gonna go buy a chimp and name him Suds, but I get where Michael was comign from.

Besides, some people think I'm strange from liking him.  :)

In 1986 there was a picture/rumors of him sleeping in a gas chamber to preserve his youth or something.

And in 1987 there was circulation going around that he bought the elephant man's bones.

I think it was during this time that he started to get a bit on the 'eccentric' side.

Funny that you mention that since I've read somewhere that he was one of the people considered to play the part of Edward in the film. Of course, we all knew who ended up taking the part. 8)

And I've known for awhile that he had vitiligo, but I've never completely understood why it's so hard to believe. :-\\ There's other people around the world who have the same disease. I don't know if it was stated in his autopsy, but I remember his dermatologist saying on CNN that he did had vitiligo.
Fact of the matter is that most cases dont normally spread this fast..at least from what i've seen (i have a cousin who's had this for quite a few years, and it still hasnt spread that fast). Dont get me wrong..i believe he had it. It was most likely an extreme case. :-\\

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXhy7ZsiR50

Unforgettable baby.

I say who cares about his eccentricities and look at what he had to offer the world. Pure magic:.  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/drunken_smilie.gif

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXhy7ZsiR50

Unforgettable baby.

I say who cares about his eccentricities and look at what he had to offer the world. Pure magic:.  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/drunken_smilie.gif


Those were good old times.  :)