In 83 when I turned 11 my mom bought me a walkman and Thriller on cassette, and ended up loving most of it. Up until then all I had was MTV (which was great back then), radio, and my parents records (Beatles, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, etc). Those were awesome times because that's when I started getting into a lot of different types of music and buying my own tapes and records.... my brother and cousin got me into Maiden, Dio, Sabbath and other hard rock/metal bands. Then I branched out into other genres of the time like new wave/pop rock. Then I got heavily into hip hop around 85/86. Then my dad got me into a lot of stuff I hadn't heard yet like 60's and 70's pop and psychedelic stuff. By the time I turned 18 I was into all kinds of weird shit like ambient meditation music, electronic/tribal/trance, world music, and going to Dead shows. Crazy times!!!
But yeah I've always liked MJ.... never became a huge fan, but his music is an essential part of my life, that's for sure.