George Michael R.I.P.

Per my earlier post about how "Father Figure" had been on my mind:

http://nedraggett.tumblr.com/post/155001636372/it-came-to-mind-the-other-week-i-have-no-idea

there was a Q mag interview with him in the wake of the 1998 Will Rogers park incident (my copy is in another state) in which he was not all contrite and hugely entertaining as such…it seems like he never really stopped cruising like that… good for him!

One thing I'm still curious about is how he and Ridgley might have been perceived by, say, the NME reading student cohort, like how he was dressed in that thing with Morrissey and Tony Blackburn. Like, would "naff" hit the spot? I'm sure this is perfectly obvious, but if someone could unpack the specific variety of corn/ cheese he bespoke '82-'87, I'd be interested. There can be no doubt that from the 90s on, he inhabited the most exquisite gay existence imaginable…

i once waited on him in a restaurant. he was at a table with two huge bears. they were all very nice.

:) :)

what'd they drink?

tea, iirc!

I remember reading a reprint of an NME interview with Michael from the mid-80s, iirc NME had been very positive about Wham Rap and Young Guns (Go For It), giving them single of the week etc, but had turned against them when they did Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go etc and became full on Smash Hits approved pop stars, the interview was basically a debate between GM and the NME journalist, with GM accusing them of being too-cool-for school snobs who rejected them for being too popular and the NME journalist accusing Wham of going middle of the road and bland.

I mean, this is all way before my time, but that's what I inferred from this reprinted interview. I guess that Wham hit their peak just at around the time that what the NME reading students were into and what was in the top 20 was being beginning to diverge with "indie" becoming a thing?

bob stanley touches on their perception at the time here https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/dec/26/george-michael-wham-most-misunderstood-group-1980s-thatcherism

I still have that 1998 Q issue - GM seemed relieved and happier for it (unlike, say the early 90s for example).

He said it was possibly not the easiest way to handle it, but the fact it was now 'over' was the point.

There was nothing wrong with Smash Hits at all. In fact, looking back through the archives has made me realise just how OTM they were a lot of the time.

Neil Tennant wrote that SH interview.

Was playing around with "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" at home and realized it's got a vocal range of two full octaves.

I spun Faith a couple of hours ago - 'Hand to Mouth' stood out to me this time around for some reason.

I've always loved that one.

I never think of "I Want Your Sex" as a great single, but listening to Faith again today, I gotta say I like it a lot better in its two-part 10-minute form.

Also, knowing now about GM's generosity and charity work has enhanced 'Praying For Time' for me, particularly the second verse. The song feels much more sincere to me than it did beforehand.

xpost:

The sudden transition from Part 1 to Part 2 on IWYS is one of the best moments on the album for me, at least musically.

The first ("I Want Your Sex") and last ("Kissing a Fool") Faith were the weakest.

*Faith singles

Mark Simpson in Rolling Stone:

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/george-michael-gay-link-between-david-bowie-david-beckham-w457892

"I don't want any children; I don't want responsibility," [George Michael] told Time Out matter-of-factly in 2007. "I am gay, I smoke weed and I do exactly what I want in my life because of my talent

George Michael and Wham were huge for me as a kid, I played my tape of Faith until it wore out. I love how many smooth jazz versions exist of Careless Whisper. Just sad that he pass so young.

https://insideplaya.org/2016/12/27/a-black-thing/

Carl Wilson:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2016/12/george_michael_dead_at_53_leaves_a_subversive_legacy.html

From a giggly teen viewpoint, “guilty feet” was a hilariously maladroit personification, too fleshy and too cerebral all at once. But now, as an image of a humiliated and stricken queer body, of a person too ashamed to dance in a culture of dance clubs, it doesn’t seem silly at all.

I like Carl but that obit is like the annoying guy at a Q&A who makes a rambling statement instead of a question

And the feet line is great whichever way you read it

I’ve also come to love that he was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in North London, emerging from an old-fashioned kind of immigrant background and name change for a pop singer, rather like a second closet. It explains both his long-term, for-all-ages vocal approach and why he was never a punk rocker. Subsequently, that’s why, given the era, he had so little cool cred. He was suburban, not abjectly working class, yet his parents didn’t even let him buy pop records. (He was hearing mainly Tom Jones and Henry Mancini at home but Queen and Elton John on the radio.) So his threshold for rebellion was much lower than for many of his London peers. Pop would do. Plus, the punk kids weren’t the beautiful people, and—at least after he met his more stylish adolescent bandmate—he wanted to be one of those

This is so snobby and wrong

Whatever, I know for a fact the cool kids of his generation (your clubbing-with-Leigh-Bowery types) utterly adored him and saw him as a peer.

Considering he literally wrote the book on it, he still has cloth ears for pop and pop audiences (especially female ones)

Well, he's honest -- he admits he's not a pop guy.

It explains both his long-term, for-all-ages vocal approach and why he was never a punk rocker.

Too young to be a punk rocker ffs

Unless he means listening to Discharge and Crass and hanging about the town centre with 2 litre plastic bottles of cider.

check out the iTunes top 100 videos right now

http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/charts/music-videos/

:)

Interesting to compare against the US list: http://www.apple.com/itunes/charts/music-videos/

xxp he shunned punk rock in favour of forming a two-tone inspired ska outfit called "The Executive"

http://george.michael.szm.com/Special/Tribute/Texecut.html

http://george.michael.szm.com/Special/Tribute/Texecut.html

Why is Careless Whisper twice on both lists? SD and HD versions of the video? If you combined the sales on both versions, would it top the list?

Maybe it's just the musical arrangements but 'Cowboys & Angels' gives me such a Bacharach vibe.

it's always this way with iTunes for some reason. versions of songs that may have slightly different edits/lengths on different albums and compilations get counted separately. sometimes it's just the difference between an album mix and a single mix (as with Wham!'s Freedom which has 2 different mixes) but also often it's the exact same track just classed as a different song because the edit is a few seconds longer or whatever. with videos I guess it's a smilar thing; slight variations between compiled versions. there are 2 different DVD/video compilations (Ladies And Gentlemen and Twenty Five) too, which have similar track lists but perhaps slightly different lengths on some songs. it's confusing man.

I’ve also come to love that he was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in North London, emerging from an old-fashioned kind of immigrant background and name change for a pop singer, rather like a second closet. It explains both his long-term, for-all-ages vocal approach and why he was never a punk rocker. Subsequently, that’s why, given the era, he had so little cool cred. He was suburban, not abjectly working class, yet his parents didn’t even let him buy pop records. (He was hearing mainly Tom Jones and Henry Mancini at home but Queen and Elton John on the radio.) So his threshold for rebellion was much lower than for many of his London peers. Pop would do. Plus, the punk kids weren’t the beautiful people, and—at least after he met his more stylish adolescent bandmate—he wanted to be one of those.

this feels right to me. and not snobby.

george was also just not rock-press cool cos he was working from more of a pop and soul set of influences. also, too smooth for rockists. i tuned out mostly from his music after the late 90s, but was a massive fan in the 80s. i also grew up in the burbs, son of immigrants, etc, though ofc, never knew that part of his background. he def became a bit more of a classicist (or at least thought of pop in historical terms more and more as he got older, which that quote in the slate piece hints at) IIRC and i think this maybe undid him. i should go back and relisten to his albums though. i hadnt really thought about him in a very long time.

at the peak of his charm and warmth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo4JAfGVDNE

Also, he looks great

the title track to "Older", which I just heard for the first time, is delightfully moody.

I watched the movie Keanu a few days before he died which was sort of a weird coincidence, it was as far as I remember the only time I'd heard a sincere-sounding tribute to George Michael. Listening to Faith now and yeah, this is like a good Prince album. Now I regret sleeping on the guy.

Now I regret sleeping on the guy.

sounds like a missed opportunity

xxp he shunned punk rock in favour of forming a two-tone inspired ska outfit called "The Executive"

http://george.michael.szm.com/Special/Tribute/Texecut.html

http://george.michael.szm.com/Special/Tribute/Texecut.html

― soref, Wednesday, December 28, 2016 9:07 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Small snippet here:

https://youtu.be/qCzjjLTTJS8?t=9m7s

I always did love the lyric "Sex is natural, sex is good, not everybody does it, but everybody should"

i dont know if he ever spoke much about prince (or vice versa) but sleep around (from prince's emancipation) has always seemed like prince paying tribute to GM (or just liking something like fast love and being inspired by it).

Fastlove is an incredible, incredible song.

So much vulnerability in something so hedonistic. So much honesty.