Hot damn! Everybody let's play the GEORGE MICHAEL TRACKS POLL results thread

FULL RESULTS

425 Freedom ’90
403 Everything She Wants

338 Father Figure
333 Careless Whisper
313 One More Try
312 Fastlove

246 A Different Corner
235 Faith
232 Too Funky
231 Last Christmas
228 Waiting For That Day

189 Praying For Time
185 Cowboys And Angels

164 Freedom
163 Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
157 Heal The Pain
157 Outside
155 Precious Box
150 Young Guns
146 Jesus To A Child

122 Club Tropicana
122 Monkey
116 Amazing
109 Hard Day
106 I’m Your Man
104 Killer/Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone
102 Kissing A Fool
101 A Ray Of Sunshine
99 The Edge of Heaven
99 Cars And Trains

97 Wham Rap!
89 The Strangest Thing
88 Shoot The Dog
85 Something To Save
77 I Want Your Sex
73 Hand To Mouth
68 Flawless
61 Older
61 Star People
61 I Knew You Were Waiting

58 As
52 December Song
48 Mother’s Pride
46 Freeek! 04
44 Bad Boys
42 I Can’t Make You Love Me
42 Jive Talkin’
40 Waiting (Reprise)
38 Do You Really Want To Know
37 Somebody To Love

36 You Have Been Loved
34 Heartbeat
30 Blue (Armed With Love)
29 Nothing Looks The Same In The Light
29 Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me
26 Come On!
26 Look At Your Hands
26 To Be Forgiven
24 My Mother Had A Brother
22 Like A Baby

21 They Won’t Go When I Go
20 White light
20 Battlestations
20 Soul Free
19 It Doesn’t Really Matter
19 Patience
18 If You Were There
18 Spinning The Wheel
18 Heaven Help Me
15 An Easier Affair
15 Happy
15 A Last Request
14 Where Did Your Heart Go?

Thank you and goodnight!

Thanks for the great poll Ismael! I hadn't listened to Wham in a long time and had a lot of fun revisiting those records especially.

Such a great poll for one of my greatest musical influences. Thank you so much Ismael!

xpost I believe you mean "Wham!"

Yes!

my mom used to sing Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go to me. fond memories

granted this was just a week ago

Great poll Ismael. Thanks a lot for running it. I didn't vote for Freedom 90 but it's still a worthy winner.

A marvelous poll. I discovered how much I've loved this man.

Inspired by it, I wrote this essay about growing up and ignoring and re-learning him.

this was so much fun. thank you ismael!! can we make a playlist of all the songs in order? (i guess i can when i get home)

also i honorable mentioned his covers of "what a fool believes" and "sign your name" because omg

i hope george is happy and resting and i hope he knows how much his music touched people

Great poll, thanks IK.

"Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" was my #1. A bit shocked it didn't make the top 10 even. And a bit surprised I seem to have been the only voter for "Spinning the Wheel".

There's a few songs here I clearly need to get to know better. Have followed the playlist.

excellent poll, great piece up there too Alfred. he's brought out the best in ILX has old George.

very good poll indeed, congratulations !
this makes me want to revisit GM's oeuvre.
I started by listening to "Freedom" earlier today.
I had forgotten how massive and unstoppable the melody is. The whole thing is like a storm (until the brilliant final with the "Penny Lane" trumpet).
a pure rush of joy !

my favourite part of the melody being the pre-chorus. this is what takes the song to another level, to me.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT "WAITING FOR THAT DAY," THOUGH????

My memory serves me far too well.

Thanks for a great poll IK. Lovely essay Alfred. It's been so refreshing to go back to old favourites and find new gems.

it's hard to love
there's so much to hate
hanging on to hope
when there is no hope to speak of

Just caught up with this. If I had voted, "Spinning The Wheel" and "Nothing Looks The Same In The Light" could well have charted.

thanks ismael. father figure was my number one. those woozy synths are an instant trip back to childhood.

I would have also voted for 'Spinning That Wheel'

One thing this poll has made me realise is just how many classics this man has written. That he has a superb voice goes without saying, but as a songwriter I feel he should be held in higher regard than he is. I'm disappointed, in a way, that he hasn't written more of them over such a long career.

"Father Figure" was my #1 too & if I could have given it all my points I would have. I mishear it systematically as "to be walking naked / in your sight" & even now that I know it's otherwise I continue to mishear it this way intentionally. I don't know what to make of my experience of a song by a gay man as the most sexually profound song I know, something of my own queerness within heterosexuality I suppose. and that I listened to it so much when age 13, coming into my sexuality. but I...identify with this song.

What do you think about George's political engagement? I was a little bit surprised, running through the catalogue, at how big-themey he is. Religion appears a lot, there's economic stuff, they did miners' benefits ... even Young Guns or Wham Rap do kids' politics in their way. It seems a bit unfair that they had the reputation as being the epitome of vacuity.

For some reason I think Andrew Ridgely wrote 'Wham Rap'. I can't remember why - presumably I read this in an interview 30 years ago.

So surprised to see Everything She Wants at #2, didn't realize it was such a hit! Think it's the only song in the countdown that didn't have my vote. Great song though.

I Can't Make You Love Me wuz robbed...

Thanks for running a great poll Ismael Klata!

Missed the poll but will have fun listening, thanks!

I honor my big brother.

Happy birthday, bro.

Happy 59th Birthday. In terms of his non-Faith tracks, "Jesus To A Child" is one of his best ballads, you can feel the loss and heartbreak in his voice, along with "Praying For Time" which is more relevant today. "Fastlove" is his best uptempo track, very addictive. "Outside" is great as well.

Damn we did this poll just before he died? Jeez i was sure it was after.