lock thread
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 15 August 2013 14:21 (ten years ago) link
NOT EVERYBODY DOES IT, BUT EVERYBODY SHOULD
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 15 August 2013 14:23 (ten years ago) link
it's fun to imagine george michael singing the songs on kick, and michael hutchence singing the songs on faith - i think they'd both ace pretty much everything, but hutchence doing "i want your sex" and michael doing "never tear us apart" is what i keep coming back to
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 15 August 2013 14:24 (ten years ago) link
"I Want Your Sex" rivals "Papa Don't Preach" in the pull-the-carpet sweepstakes (i.e. OH IT'S ABOUT SAFE MONOGAMOUS SEX).
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 15 August 2013 14:24 (ten years ago) link
That is so true. Fortunately, at the time, I didn't know that.
― no fomo (La Lechera), Thursday, 15 August 2013 14:27 (ten years ago) link
"i want your sex" was amazing, it was this giant dose of sex positivity at possibly the apex of AIDS fear, right when i was like 14 years old. i don't quite know how to put this but while it felt naughty and dangerous it also didn't feel cynical or exploitative, it was like a big affirmation that all those weird feelings were OKAY and actually FUN and sex wasn't something to be scared of. it was like this authority outside the school or the family that was giving you its blessing to, like, bone down and feel awesome about it
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 15 August 2013 14:29 (ten years ago) link
when I was ~11 I was getting a cavity filled and the dentist let me listen to his walkman and it had Faith in it. It felt really weird to be a kid with a drill in my mouth and I Want Your Sex playing on the headphones.
― ashcans (askance johnson), Thursday, 15 August 2013 14:40 (ten years ago) link
"weird" hehehe
― no fomo (La Lechera), Thursday, 15 August 2013 14:48 (ten years ago) link
Kick due to its remarkable consistency, though the first side of Faith is just as awesome.
― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Saturday, 24 August 2013 14:37 (ten years ago) link
have we polled Listen Like Thieves?
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 August 2013 14:38 (ten years ago) link
I think I'm right in saying the majority of the instrumentation on Faith was GM himself
― Master of Treacle, Saturday, 24 August 2013 14:46 (ten years ago) link
Has anything ever been written about the particular sexual dynamics at play on Faith, with partners constantly defined as "teachers" or "father figures?" Even "I Want Your Sex," with its "I'm not your [father/mother/brother/etc]" implies a similar power relationship.
― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Saturday, 24 August 2013 14:51 (ten years ago) link
If you add 1986's "A Different Corner," you get a series of songs in which Michael shows a guilt-suffused acceptance of his sexuality.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 August 2013 14:53 (ten years ago) link
Yep -- except for bass and gee-tar.
Nice fact about "One More Try":
It was a triple-chart #1, also topping the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts and becoming the last number-one single on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart by a white male artist until Robin Thicke's "Lost Without U" (2007).
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 August 2013 14:57 (ten years ago) link
How appropriate!
(though, seriously, when I was listening to Faith the other day for the first time in years, I was struck by how much it sounded like the album Timberlake would have made if he'd been 21 in 1987)
― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Saturday, 24 August 2013 14:58 (ten years ago) link
These are very evenly matched IMO, with Kick having only a slight edge over Faith.
― sup (billstevejim), Sunday, 25 August 2013 17:09 (ten years ago) link
how many albums in the 80s were over 60% singles? I know of Thriller and Faith...
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 25 August 2013 17:52 (ten years ago) link
Can't Slow DownHysteriaSuddenlyBorn in the USAControl
I can think of a few others
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 25 August 2013 17:54 (ten years ago) link
ahh yes, forgot about "Hysteria". that was impressive too given that it had 12 songs on it.
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 25 August 2013 17:57 (ten years ago) link
She's So Unusual?
― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Sunday, 25 August 2013 18:39 (ten years ago) link
Wait.... KICK by INXS is blue-eyed soul pop?
― Alex in NYC, Sunday, 25 August 2013 19:08 (ten years ago) link
I actually quite like both albums, but they're -- to my mind -- entirely different beasts. George never rocks. George never tries to rock. It's not his thing. INXS, meanwhile, are quite capable of rocking. Not much on KICK as on other albums, but they rock all the same. George doesn't. Thus, different ends are achieved.
― Alex in NYC, Sunday, 25 August 2013 19:10 (ten years ago) link
INXS' finest hour, I'd suggest, remains LISTEN LIKE THIEVES.
― Alex in NYC, Sunday, 25 August 2013 19:11 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 29 August 2013 00:01 (ten years ago) link
I love Faith so much that it honestly boggles my mind that this is even a question.
― Dan I., Thursday, 29 August 2013 06:58 (ten years ago) link
The opening drums on "Guns in the Sky" sounded about as huge as possible on my tinny little Walkman.
― Walter Galt, Thursday, 29 August 2013 08:52 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 30 August 2013 00:01 (ten years ago) link
huh
having listened to both a lot lately, i disagree!
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 30 August 2013 00:22 (ten years ago) link
wow
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 30 August 2013 00:25 (ten years ago) link
These results make perfect sense to me. All of Kick rules, whereas the second half of Faith has some drecky filler.
― the vineyards where the grapes of corporate rock are stored (cryptosicko), Friday, 30 August 2013 00:38 (ten years ago) link
how many albums in the 80s were over 60% singles? I know of Thriller and Faith...Forever Your GirlRhythm Nation 1814Bad"whitney houston" & "whitney"huey lewis "sports"purple raininvisible touchbryan adams "reckless"
― sup (billstevejim), Friday, 30 August 2013 06:05 (ten years ago) link
killer poll, mizzell.
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 30 August 2013 09:37 (ten years ago) link
i started it because i really couldn't decide which one i liked better. the discussion pushed me towards Faith, and then Kick won. I didn't vote.
― mizzell, Friday, 30 August 2013 13:43 (ten years ago) link
hutchence doing "i want your sex" and michael doing "never tear us apart" is what i keep coming back to
OK, after imagining these, I really want them to exist!
― Vinnie, Friday, 30 August 2013 14:12 (ten years ago) link
the Jam-Lewis remix of "Monkey" kills both albums dead though.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, August 8, 2013 7:40 PM (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
dang I hadn't heard this before but it is killer
― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 11 June 2018 16:07 (five years ago) link
Jam/Lewis giving it the full "Sign O' The Times" treatment there at the 1:25 mark.
― vmajestic, Monday, 11 June 2018 18:16 (five years ago) link
I've said this elsewhere, but in August 1988 I made a mixtape to play on my knock-off Alba 'Walkman' during a week's holiday in Norfolk with my parents, and 'Monkey' was definitely the highlight (vying for second and third place: Michael Jackson's 'Dirty Diana' and Lipsync's 'Funky Town').
― 2018 has to be better (snoball), Monday, 11 June 2018 18:47 (five years ago) link
(the Jam & Lewis 7" remix of 'Monkey' specifically)
― 2018 has to be better (snoball), Monday, 11 June 2018 19:13 (five years ago) link
"We make decisions...that's what we do...that's what we do"
These albums are so damn good that making a list of the Top 5 singles betwixt them is bound to lead to serious (and worthy) arguments. Among the singles, I feel "Father Figure", "Need You Tonight/Mediate" and "One More Try" are the most colossal, with "Never Tear Us Apart" barely securing the 4th spot. ("One More Try" and "Never Tear Us Apart" kinda occupied the same cultural space, at least in late-'80s So Cal). "Monkey" - Jam/Lewis or original - is a solid 5th.
"Kick" wins the battle for me because I love 3 of the album cuts even more than the singles - "Wild Life", "Kick", and "Calling All Nations" are just fucking awesome.
― Prefecture, Tuesday, 12 June 2018 03:24 (five years ago) link