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Are dedicated MJ fans a Minority today?

ForeverKOP

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As someone who loves MJ very much and keeps him in my thoughts every day, I have been wondering if people like us - MJ fans, are a minority…

I hope nobody finds the following offensive at all because I certainly am not one to define a “fan”, this is just how I see it.

The are many types of fans...but when I say “MJ fans”, I’m not talking about the people who know two of his hits off the top of their heads but know nothing else about the man and his music. I’m not talking about the people who jumped on the bandwagon after his death and considered themselves to be loyal fans only to forget him a few months later. I’m not talking about the people listen or watch him occasionally when they’re bored. I'm not talking about the people who haven't listened to anything past the Thriller album. I'm not talking about the people who consider themselves great fans, but don't even know the names of his kids..

As cheesy as it may sound, I’m talking about the people who are real dedicated fans. The people who remember and keep him in their thoughts at least once every day. The people who take time to send flowers and cards and even visit his grave. The people who come on forums like this to remember him and keep his legacy alive. The people who still keep up with news regarding him up to this very day. The people who will rip anyone to shreds if they say something bad about him. The people who stand outside those courtrooms screaming and shouting for that murderer to be convicted and justice to be served.

Are the people who I have just defined a minority nowadays? I feel a little ashamed for saying this, but I really am not aware of how many people there are today like me who love him so much. I am constantly badgered by friends and family to move on and let him go just like everyone else has…but surely I am not the only one who is facing this as well…?

Yes, the attention he received absolutely skyrocketed on the day he passed and the following months, but just as everything else in this world, the hype about him has gone down since the 25th of last year. I hate this feeling of emptiness now because it seems like not many are on the MJ train anymore. We are the ones who are still here after the rest of the world has moved on. I’m just wondering who “we” are…and how many of us are there? Has his (dedicated) fan base decreased if we look at it today? Or do most people not even care enough or choose not to divulge into celebrity lives at all? Compared to other celebrities, is his fan base considered the strongest today? Are you also one of those people who are hoping his album coming in November will skyrocket him again and bring him back to headlines in a positive light? Some may call loving him this much an obsession…but I’m not sure what to call it. Need some thoughts on this... :mello:
 
I don't know where you are getting this whole "minority" thing. :scratch:

1. Michael has the most fans for a musical artist worldwide right now and it's been that way for a long time.

2. Michael has the most dedicated and loyal fans EVER. Yes, just like other artists, some are more intense fans some are more casual, but all of his fans are HIGHLY dedicated.

3. Before his death he was still the most popular and well known music artist ever worldwide.(And Still selling tons of albums).

4. NO other artist can compare for the amount of popularity he has.

5. He is the most successful artist of all time

I Hope this explains some things to you.. :)

Oh and as for your friends and family saying you should "let go because everyone else has", umm it's a normal thing to be a fan of an artist, maybe they should become a fan too because everyone else has :)
 
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yes you are correct, fans like us are a minority.

Its been like this since History era. As the years have gone by, fans like us, the active fans have become less and less. In 1998, I attended a fanclub party for Michaels 40th birthday. There were over 1000 people there and it was mentioned in the media. In 2008, there was another fanparty for Michaels birthday, attended by around 200 people. During the peak of Michaels career up to History era, whenever Michael came to London, there would be hundreds of people at the hotel. In March 2009, there was less than 100 fans each day and only 15 to 20 to say goodbye to him, the day he left London. Its the same online. Forums like MJJC got used to low active members. Over the last few years the amount of active members became smaller and smaller. Those that hung in there during the quiet times got used to seeing the same few active posters and actually fan sites and forums florished despite the low numbers.

During the last number of years, the fan community just went sidways, disapearing from the general public and became kinda an underground society. Sites like MJJC formed closeknit groups, and we continued to support Michael, just not in the mainstream or public eye. For us Michael never "disappeared" as with the help of google newsalerts, we kept up to date on news and happening from all over the world.

I suppose we kinda just got used to being the minorty, got used to the general public not caring about Michael. Why should we care?? We still saw him, we still knew what was happening in his life, we still knew where in the world he was living at any particular moment, we still showed him our support and he knew about the online fan communites.

There have been online fan communities since the internet begain. Over the years they have come and gone, places like MJIFC, PLANET JACKSON, MJNI, MJNO to name a few. All that happens when one closes is that the members move to another forum. Thats what happened here on MJJC, MJNO was the biggest most active MJ forum, but in January 2008, it closed. The majority of the members just came to MJJC, which at that time was a very samll, very quite forum. Now look at it.

Dont worry about being the minorty, cos thats whats its been like for the last number of years.

~~~~~~~~~~~edit~~~~~~~
with all respect Tsukiji, what you are describing are the casual general public fans, the ones who might download a song or buy a concert ticket, but otherwise, Michael would not be part of their daily exsistance. These type of people wouldnt be bothered going to see Michael at a hotel, wouldnt be members of a forum like MJJC, wouldnt send Michaels children birthday cards etc etc...

These a huge difference to these types of fans and the active fans. Its the ACTIVE fans that foreverKOP is talking about and yes the ACTIVE fans are and have been for the last number of years in the minorty.

~~~~~~~~EDIT~~~~~
@ForeverKOP what you are seeing now is the fan communities going back to "normal", and the dissapearance of the "fake fans" the "bandwagon fans" the fans who suddenly loved Michael cos of all the hype of June 25. Yes the forums and sites will get less actice, its ok, its just the dust setteling, and even though it may become quiete to you, its just going back to how it was. Dont worry, the forums and fan communities wont disapear, we have gone though alot quieter times than this. Many of us have been part of forums for over 10 years, so we wont be going anywhere :)
 
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ForeverKOP said:
As someone who loves MJ very much and keeps him in my thoughts every day, I have been wondering if people like us - MJ fans, are a minority…

I hope nobody finds the following offensive at all because I certainly am not one to define a “fan”, this is just how I see it.

The are many types of fans...but when I say “MJ fans”, I’m not talking about the people who know two of his hits off the top of their heads but know nothing else about the man and his music. I’m not talking about the people who jumped on the bandwagon after his death and considered themselves to be loyal fans only to forget him a few months later. I’m not talking about the people listen or watch him occasionally when they’re bored. I'm not talking about the people who haven't listened to anything past the Thriller album. I'm not talking about the people who consider themselves great fans, but don't even know the names of his kids..

As cheesy as it may sound, I’m talking about the people who are real dedicated fans. The people who remember and keep him in their thoughts at least once every day. The people who take time to send flowers and cards and even visit his grave. The people who come on forums like this to remember him and keep his legacy alive. The people who still keep up with news regarding him up to this very day. The people who will rip anyone to shreds if they say something bad about him. The people who stand outside those courtrooms screaming and shouting for that murderer to be convicted and justice to be served.

Are the people who I have just defined a minority nowadays? I feel a little ashamed for saying this, but I really am not aware of how many people there are today like me who love him so much. I am constantly badgered by friends and family to move on and let him go just like everyone else has…but surely I am not the only one who is facing this as well…?

Yes, the attention he received absolutely skyrocketed on the day he passed and the following months, but just as everything else in this world, the hype about him has gone down since the 25th of last year. I hate this feeling of emptiness now because it seems like not many are on the MJ train anymore. We are the ones who are still here after the rest of the world has moved on. I’m just wondering who “we” are…and how many of us are there? Has his (dedicated) fan base decreased if we look at it today? Or do most people not even care enough or choose not to divulge into celebrity lives at all? Compared to other celebrities, is his fan base considered the strongest today? Are you also one of those people who are hoping his album coming in November will skyrocket him again and bring him back to headlines in a positive light? Some may call loving him this much an obsession…but I’m not sure what to call it. Need some thoughts on this... :mello:
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Someone here is obsessed with the topic.
 
Yeah, it's sad. Look to the new album as an indicator though, he has many people who are crazy about him that don't have internet access of whatever. If the new album sells a lot it will indicate his relevance. But in terms of dedicated fans, yeah we are, but we more than make up for our number in the fact we are fantastic intelligent people who can do great things.
 
As you mentioned there are many types of fans, but Michael always had (and I believe he will always have) very strong, dedicated and loyal fan base and I don´t think these people are minority. There is a lot of them all over the world. And I hope they will last forever, ´cos I cannot imagine not to share my love (or obsession if you want to call it this way :) ) with people who absolutely understand my feeling, ´cos they feel exactly same as I do.

Well, of course, after 6/25 all forums were overcrowded by newbies. Many of them were just bandwagon fans with a bit strange opinions and posting threads called RARE PHOTOS, NEVER BEFORE SEEN VIDEO, which were full of common, many times before seen stuff. But some of them were also "real" new fans, who just became obsessed with everything related to Michael the same quick way as we did many years ago, who tried to search as much info about everything as they could. I must say I enjoy their sparkling eyes when they saw Moonwalker for the first time, their excitement after reading Dancing the Dream for the first time, etc. It is so nice to see them to discover all wonderful MJ stuff :) I hope these kind of fans will become part of dedicated fan base.
 
As much as this topic gets on my tits I do agree with you to the majority of what you said.
 
The are many types of fans...but when I say “MJ fans”, I’m not talking about the people who know two of his hits off the top of their heads but know nothing else about the man and his music. I’m not talking about the people who jumped on the bandwagon after his death and considered themselves to be loyal fans only to forget him a few months later. I’m not talking about the people listen or watch him occasionally when they’re bored. I'm not talking about the people who haven't listened to anything past the Thriller album. I'm not talking about the people who consider themselves great fans, but don't even know the names of his kids..
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They can be dedicated fans but don't have to know everything about MJ. I'm a massive Alice Cooper fan but even I don't remember most of the lyrics, his personal life at all or any of that stuff. I do know the music and the videos and he puts on one hell of a show so I figure that's good enough for me. That's the same with MJ - he puts out great music, great videos and questionable shows, but that's as far as it goes.


As cheesy as it may sound, I’m talking about the people who are real dedicated fans. The people who remember and keep him in their thoughts at least once every day. The people who take time to send flowers and cards and even visit his grave. The people who come on forums like this to remember him and keep his legacy alive. The people who still keep up with news regarding him up to this very day. The people who will rip anyone to shreds if they say something bad about him. The people who stand outside those courtrooms screaming and shouting for that murderer to be convicted and justice to be served.
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I think there's an awful lot of people out there (fans and the bandwagon media likely) to be visiting his grave and send flowers and cards (the fans, not the media) and if anyone says anything stupid you can ask them why they feel that way but they won't change so it's kinda not worth it sometimes. For me I haven't had a need to do that (visit and send) because I don't feel I was that close.

What does annoy me is that fans are demanding justice be done for MJ but go for Dr. Murray and saying he should lose his license - we don't know the facts and what we are taking is what the media says. Now that's a bit hypocritical, don't you think? Not yourself but others.


Are the people who I have just defined a minority nowadays? I feel a little ashamed for saying this, but I really am not aware of how many people there are today like me who love him so much. I am constantly badgered by friends and family to move on and let him go just like everyone else has…but surely I am not the only one who is facing this as well…?
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I'm sure you're not the only one. Plenty of people feel anger, sadness, helplessness etc at this whole thing but time may or may not heal.


Yes, the attention he received absolutely skyrocketed on the day he passed and the following months, but just as everything else in this world, the hype about him has gone down since the 25th of last year. I hate this feeling of emptiness now because it seems like not many are on the MJ train anymore. We are the ones who are still here after the rest of the world has moved on. I’m just wondering who “we” are…and how many of us are there? Has his (dedicated) fan base decreased if we look at it today? Or do most people not even care enough or choose not to divulge into celebrity lives at all? Compared to other celebrities, is his fan base considered the strongest today? Are you also one of those people who are hoping his album coming in November will skyrocket him again and bring him back to headlines in a positive light? Some may call loving him this much an obsession…but I’m not sure what to call it. Need some thoughts on this...
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I'm glad the hype has gone but not quick enough from the media. Not because I'd never prefer to hear about him again (I wouldn't be here right now!!!) but it felt fake and forced and just hillarious at times. I'll be on that train of caring long after it's left the station as will many others I'm sure - five years from now, let's see who is still on MJ boards after he died - that's June 25, 2014. The dedicated fan base can't logically never decrease - I mean, it can, but if dedication has been there, for some since 1969, some since the decades have gone on and on, it should remain.

I'd prefer not to divulge into celebrity crap - I'd prefer to appreciate the visible talent and care about the person who made it but not obsessively. The music, the videos, the shows, the whole eccentricity about him - that's what I care about, nothing else. So what if he's gone and spent $20m on a few ugly statues, I don't care. What if he's recorded 800 hours of new releasable music and videos then I'm still interested.
 
Just because people don't speak about him everyday does not mean he is forgotten.

Ive got him in my thoughts constantly everyday and I'm what you call a "dedicated true fan" but that doesn't mean I have to speak about him everyday randomly to people when there is no news regarding him. That's just weird. People would think your a little crazy if all you would bring up in convo was MJ. Unless relevant to a topic of conversation.

In other words, you would never know how much I love him if you had meet me personally so to try and make this judgment is pointless in my humble opinion. June 25th and the aftermath showed how much Michael is loved and adored. Just because these people aren't screaming how much they love him everyday just for the random sake of it doesn't mean they don't and certainly doesn't mean they've "moved on".

When its relevant, Michael's loyal fan base who love him "just as much as you do", even if you wouldn't be able to pick them out on a street (and I guarantee you, you wouldn't) will be there in force to celebrate his birthday anniversaries and gather to pay their respect and remember him on June 25th yearly for many decades to come.
 
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There are varying levels of "being a fan" but instead of focusing on how people do or don't act, maybe take some time to enjoy the things that you can still enjoy while you are still here. (Not saying that you don't, just a reminder for anyone)

Enjoy the day and bask in the life that you are living right now.

~ With Love
 
I have not once stood outside a Hotel screaming, simply because that's not my style. Don't have a problem with those that did.

I also don't scream "murderer" in public, although I might write a song or two that contains the word murder but I don't flip left and right.
I don't write mass emails by some pre-made template. If I write something it's specific and because the issue really bothers me. I don't copy and paste everything that I find in all MJ forums.

I'm sick and tired of these "who's a real fan" games. I've been a fan since 1992 and had my own way of expressing support back in the day.
And I'm not in the least bothered by "new fans", 'cause I was new once too. I'm thrilled there are some really "obsessed new" fans out there because it means that MJ is RELEVANT. If he wouldn't gain new followers and just keep the oldies, than that would be sad- if new people can discover and love him just as the oldies do, than that's excellent.

I'm almost 30 and just never hung around fan clubs and his birthday parties, it doesn't mean I'm not a serious fan. Heck, I even got myself the first tattoo of my life because he means so d*mn much to me- but I don't fall into the OP's category of "dedicated" fan.
I also love Chopin and Schubert- they have been dead for a long time, but I can tell you I love their music more than I can express, there's a lot of music that I love- and there are barely any "activities" relating to them to "prove" my "fandom".

People don't have anything to prove. And they don't have any obligations either. They either love MJ like many people to, or they don't. And I'm a fairly obsessed person myself, but I don't consider anybody who's not some serious activist a "less dedicated" fan.

I don't have to be a member of 50000 different facebook groups to prove my loyalty.

MJ has no lack of true followers and I use the word followers for a reason. He is relevant, there's no denying it. But the relevance of an artist is not always proven by some mainstream popularity contest, nor should people feel obligated to do anything. Those that feel like do something, WILL do something. Guilting people into any form of activism will backfire.

This man has forums upon forums will people grieving- what more can you want? These people are literally heartbroken, grieve and worry about being able to go to his resting place. They already partake in those campaigns that appeal to them. And people have the right to chose what they want to do. I don't join every group invite I get, I'm picky because I only partake where it really matters to me. I don't do "just because."

Some people are artist commemorating his memory, other people feel inspired by him- and others might volunteer in their local community just because they understood the value of kindness- without any MJ banners involved at all.
Some people stopped gossiping because they learned how defamation hurt MJ. The small things can be the biggest things.
 
*MissChanel* said:
Just because people don't speak about him everyday does not mean he is forgotten.

Ive got him in my thoughts constantly everyday and I'm what you call a "dedicated true fan" but that doesn't mean I have to speak about him everyday randomly to people when there is no news regarding him. That's just weird. People would think your a little crazy if all you would bring up in convo was MJ. Unless relevant to a topic of conversation.

In other words, you would never know how much I love him if you had meet me personally so to try and make this judgment is pointless in my humble opinion. June 25th and the aftermath showed how much Michael is loved and adored. Just because these people aren't screaming how much they love him everyday just for the random sake of it doesn't mean they don't and certainly doesn't mean they've "moved on".

When its relevant, Michael's loyal fan base who love him "just as much as you do", even if you wouldn't be able to pick them out on a street (and I guarantee you, you wouldn't) will be there in force to celebrate his birthday anniversaries and gather to pay their respect and remember him on June 25th yearly for many decades to come.
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Wasn't saying that at all, but I see your point. I don't go around speaking randomly about MJ...Heck, I keep everything related to him to myself. As I said earlier, I am definitely not one to define a "loyal" fan, when I myself don't even part take in most of the things that I've listed. I'm a pretty quiet fan...meaning I don't go to rally's or anything or participate in fan meetups. The most I ever do related to him is go on forums like this and catch up on what's going on. If you saw me on the street, (like you said) I can guarantee you wouldn't be able to tell if I was a fan of his or not. All my love for him is kept within myself :wub:. I don't show it much, but it's still there. I mean when it's relevant and someone brings him up, then I definitely add some input to the conversation...but other than that I'm pretty quiet about him.

What I was wondering, (and I know it isn't apparent in the original post, actually it just seems to contradict it now..), was if there's still a large amount of people that share such a large amount of "love" for him, whether they show it or not... (things such as keeping him in their thoughts often, keeping up with news related to him, coming on forums dedicated to him)
 
Diehard fans are a minority in any artist's fanbase. He's always going to have more casual fans than diehard fans, and that's good because that's where most of his universal popularity comes from. That being said, he has more diehard fans than probably any other artist in the world.

I consider myself a dedicated fan but I've never sent anything/visited/went to the trial or any of that stuff. I also barely keep up with the "news" anymore because most of it just inspires bitching that amounts to nothing. I do keep him in my thoughts, support him with my words and opinions, listen to his music regularly, respect him as a person and often draw inspiration from him. I also do wanna see Neverland and his childhood home some day as a fun field trip. But I've never treated any fandom like a job. That's just me though.
 
You forget that loads of "Die-Hard" fans have real commitments..........

Like: Work, Family and Education........(Bills, Mortages, Children, Full-Time Carers.......this list is endless)

Many fans live thousands of miles away from forest lawn and cannot afford to travel to LA.

Other fans from poorer places cannot even afford most of the Memerobilia and Merchandise that is freely available.

MJ Die-Hard fans are a minority when you think about 6,828,100,000 people that live in the World today but almost everyone underestimates just exactly how many MJ Die-Hard's there really is in the World.

Most of the fans who do public protests are generally young adults but there are plenty of older people (40+) and younger people (1:cool: who are also die-hard fans. Older people have commitments and younger people are usually too young for public protests.

Hope that puts things into perspective!!!!
 
Grand Master S said:
Diehard fans are a minority in any artist's fanbase. He's always going to have more casual fans than diehard fans, and that's good because that's where most of his universal popularity comes from. That being said, he has more diehard fans than probably any other artist in the world.

I consider myself a dedicated fan but I've never sent anything/visited/went to the trial or any of that stuff. I also barely keep up with the "news" anymore because most of it just inspires bitching that amounts to nothing. I do keep him in my thoughts, support him with my words and opinions, listen to his music regularly, respect him as a person and often draw inspiration from him. I also do wanna see Neverland and his childhood home some day as a fun field trip. But I've never treated any fandom like a job. That's just me though.
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I'm pretty much the same.............the media will never in-a-million-years print anything positive about Michael
 
I usually don't reply to this type of posts, because being a fan of someone is something very individual to a person's character and personality.

I grew up in Israel and been a fan of Michael Jackson since I was 5 years old. One of my earliest memories is watching the premier of Thriller on Israel one Music TV show. (I though I"ll mention just for laughs, that I ran out of the room screaming the first time I saw his yellow eyes and it took me 5! years to be able to watch the whole thing without fast forwarding the werewolf part).

I have all his albums (the original CDs I got in the 80s back home went with me everywhere I moved), was lucky enough to attend his Dangerous Tour back in Israel. Learned English by sitting with a dictionary for 2 months reading Moonwalk when it came out.

I moved to NYC in Sep 2000. For the first time in my life I didn't buy a Michael Jackson album (Invincible), not because I wasn't a fan anymore, but because I couldn't afford it. When life allowed it, I would go on some sites and check how he is doing and what the buzz is.

2003-2005 were very hard years for me personally and all of a sudden I found myself angry at Michael Jackson. The best friend I never met. All I could think of is how could he be so reckless and put himself in that situation again. I watched this happen in 1993 and now this. I am a big believer that a person should learn from his own mistakes.

The weird thing is that even in my anger I still checked the sites and the different TV channels (the ones I could stand to watch). I took a sigh of relief when he was found not guilty. Then he left the country and I was back into dealing with the shit life was throwing my way.

I never stopped being a Michael Jackson fan. He just became part of me. Like a distant relative you check up on to see that he is alright.

My best friends didn't understand my reaction on June 25th. After all, I never mentioned I was such a big fan of him in the 10 years they knew me. If he happened to be mentioned I'll defend him, if his song was playing I'll know all the words, but that was about it. About a week before he died my best friend had a Karaoke B-day party. For the first time in my life I was about to sing in front of people. Was it surprising I chose "Rock With You"? When he died I felt like some part of me was taken away.

I still check if there are any new Michael Jackson news every day. I lurk on the some MJ related boards and sites. If I feel I need to express an opinion or join a cause I do that. My problem with the MJ fan community is that for lots of them he was perfect and could do no wrong. Well he wasn't perfect and he made some bad decisions. But I don't judge, I just accept him the way he was imperfect like the rest of us.

I think that Michael had a message of love and respect. For me, trying to live my life according to that is the most important part of being a fan. If someone became a fan after he died and wants more information, I'll give me as much as he can take. If someone just likes his music, I'll try to introduce him to some unknowns songs (Monkey Business and Cheater are my favorites at the moment). Everything else is individual to each person. I know a lot of fans are angry about all these "new" fans that came out now that it is cool to be a Michael Jackson fan. Personally I think a lot of them were always fans, but like many they were closet fans. I don't think it really matters how much they knew about Michael and his personal life. He wanted his privacy. I personally think that even the biggest fan will never really know who Michael Jackson was as a person. He showed us what he thought we wanted to see and him to be.
I have a good friend who is a Hoax believer. When she expressed her feeling I told her that I don't agree with that idea, but if it was true, then I hope he never comes back. That for me he would live on through his music and that I hope he will go on to live his life and just be at peace and happy. He gave us enough.

I hope I managed to explain what I was trying to say.
 
ForeverKOP said:
What I was wondering, (and I know it isn't apparent in the original post, actually it just seems to contradict it now..), was if there's still a large amount of people that share such a large amount of "love" for him, whether they show it or not... (things such as keeping him in their thoughts often, keeping up with news related to him, coming on forums dedicated to him)
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I was gonna make this huge post until I realized that MissChanel was saying the same exact thing, but to answer your question in short - there is a large amount of people who love Michael. No, we might not make pilgrimages to Forest Lawn, and speaking from experience - though Michael's music has been a HUGE part of my life and has kept me happy in some of the worst times of my young life, I still have a life, responsibilities, and a family that I do think about a lot more than Michael. Doesn't mean I don't think about him, love him less than a forum user with 25 million posts, or even miss him from time to time - and it's like that for a lot of people. Maybe (of course) there's a minority of hardcore fans who have the time and money to visit his grave and the several places he visited whilst alive, but I do believe that there are many dedicated fans out there just by the fact that they continue to keep his memory alive.
 
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