INXS "Kick" vs. George Michael "Faith

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

"I Want Your Sex" rivals "Papa Don't Preach" in the pull-the-carpet sweepstakes (i.e. OH IT'S ABOUT SAFE MONOGAMOUS SEX).

That is so true. Fortunately, at the time, I didn't know that.

"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

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.

"weird"
hehehe

Kick due to its remarkable consistency, though the first side of Faith is just as awesome.

have we polled Listen Like Thieves?

I think I'm right in saying the majority of the instrumentation on Faith was GM himself

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.

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.

I think I'm right in saying the majority of the instrumentation on Faith was GM himself

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).

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)

These are very evenly matched IMO, with Kick having only a slight edge over Faith.

how many albums in the 80s were over 60% singles? I know of Thriller and Faith...

Can't Slow Down
Hysteria
Suddenly
Born in the USA
Control

I can think of a few others

ahh yes, forgot about "Hysteria". that was impressive too given that it had 12 songs on it.

She's So Unusual?

Wait.... KICK by INXS is blue-eyed soul pop?

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.

INXS' finest hour, I'd suggest, remains LISTEN LIKE THIEVES.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I love Faith so much that it honestly boggles my mind that this is even a question.

The opening drums on "Guns in the Sky" sounded about as huge as possible on my tinny little Walkman.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

huh

having listened to both a lot lately, i disagree!

wow

These results make perfect sense to me. All of Kick rules, whereas the second half of Faith has some drecky filler.

how many albums in the 80s were over 60% singles? I know of Thriller and Faith...
Forever Your Girl
Rhythm Nation 1814
Bad
"whitney houston" & "whitney"
huey lewis "sports"
purple rain
invisible touch
bryan adams "reckless"

killer poll, mizzell.

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.

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!

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

Jam/Lewis giving it the full "Sign O' The Times" treatment there at the 1:25 mark.

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').

(the Jam & Lewis 7" remix of 'Monkey' specifically)

"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.