The story of how I became an MJ fan is pretty long and boring, but I'll post it anyway :lol:
My first memory of anything MJ was in 92. I saw a picture of him in the newspaper and I was studying it because I was sure he was a girl, despite mum telling me that he was a guy (don't shoot me :lol: When you're a young kid, you kind of associate long hair with girls, and short hair with boys and Michael had long hair). We didn't really have any MJ cd's in the house. I was living with my uncle at that time, and all his music collection consisted of was Elvis and the Beatles. I was a huge fan of Elvis, not because I liked his music, but because he was all I ever knew, as my uncle was a big fan of his and wouldn't stop listening to him. But I didn't really know who Michael Jackson was. I knew of his name, I knew he was famous, but I didn't really know why.
Ok now fast forward to 1996. Michael Jackson came to Australia for his history tour. I remember seeing news clips of his trip over here but I didn't really care. He was all over tv, on the news, in the newspapers, and I was just like "What's so great about him?". So anyway, when Michael did the concert here, they broadcasted it on television (I don't think it was live though, it was broadcasted like a year later to promote the Blood on the Dancefloor cd). One of my mum's friends was a big fan of Michael Jackson, and asked my mother to record the concert for him because he couldn't. So my mum recorded the concert. The next day everyone was talking about the concert and how cool Michael Jackson was. Out of curiosity, I just sat down and watched the tape, just to figure out what all the fuss was about... and I couldn't believe my eyes! It was like I was living under a rock :lol: I was like "OMG! OMG! this guy is amazing!!!" I just kept rewinding it over and over again, as soon as he started dancing, I would have my finger on the rewind button just in case I missed something the first time I watched it. Then my mother gave the tape to the guy and told him that I really liked the concert. He said he would make a copy of the tape and then give it back to me, but I never saw it again. I was devestated. So I started searching for the concert in all the music shops I could find. After I couldn't find it, I kinda gave up and just brought a VHS tape called "history - greatest hits." After watching the video hundreds of times, I quickly saved up my pocket money and bought History, Blood on the Dancefloor and Off the Wall. Michaelmania had begun, and no one in my family were prepared for it! It was like discovering a whole new world, one I didn't even know existed. I used to go in my room, put Michael's music up full blast, and try to imitate him. Because I couldn't find many MJ posters in the stores, I used to draw them and put them up on my walls. I was obsessed! I started collected things because they had a little connection to MJ... Fedora hats, gloves... I even bought Janet's album, not because I liked her music, but because she was Michael's sister! But my love for MJ didn't last long.
Once my friends lost interest in him, I did too, and I started getting into other singers like Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys :lol: And I'll admit, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I will. I did think he was weird and strange and freaky and all that stuff. When he dangled Blanket over a balcony, I thought "Why in the world was I a fan of this man! He's a freak!". But when I saw the Living with Michael Jackson documentary, even though everyone was saying he was a freak the next day, I thought he was really nice. I thought he was a nice person, he saved that boys life, you could tell he really cared for children, so I wondered what everyone's problem was. Even though, I still thought he was kind of freaky, at least I understood him a little better after seeing that documentary. And then I saw "Private home movies" and thought, "not only is this guy nice, he's so normal too." I remember talking to my friend the next day about it, and she said that he just looked like fun, like you would have a blast hanging out with him.
And then the charges came out... I wasn't really a fan at this point, but I knew it was all for money. So I decided to investigate further. I came across this fan site called MJHQ.com and I think that was the real turning point for me. Just talking to the other fans, and seeing how everyone was saying that Michael is so misunderstood and people portray him as being something he's not. That's when I realised that there was so much more to the story then what the news reports were showing. Like the mother of the accuser and the kids all having a history of lying in court and them going after money from other celebrities and hiring a lawyer before going to the police and all of that stuff. Then I kept coming back to get updates on the trial, and while I was there I would download concerts and performances, talked to other fans about Michael and his music, and I became a fan. It was inevitable. I bought all his albums and dvds and I've been a fan ever since. That was around 2004 and it's 2008 now, so I've been a fan for around 4 years, and that's excluding the time that I liked him in the 90's. So I've kind of gone in and out of liking him since around '97, so yeah, 11 years :lol: Before I was like "I can't believe I liked him!" and now it's like "I can't believe I hated him!" :lol:
So yeah, that's the story of how I became fan. I know it's so long and boring... I hope someone found it interesting :lol: