George Michael R.I.P.

"In the absence of security" always makes me picture him dismissing his three Russian bodyguards for the night before walking over to the boardwalk.

Jukebox mega-post:
http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=22734#more-22734

You're welcome!

A British coroner says George Michael died of natural causes as the result of heart disease and a fatty liver. Darren Salter, senior coroner for Oxfordshire, says a post-mortem has found that the singer died of "dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver."

Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the heart's ability to pump blood is limited, while myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle.

Guy at work* today, who grew up in the same area, says he knows one of George Michael's cousins and that, according to the cousin, he'd put on an enormous amount of weight in the last year or so.

(*almost but not quite 'man in pub', I admit)

In which six of us commemorate the 30th anniversary of Faith.

this thread title is still such a heartsinker

yeah

yes

I spent late yesterday afternoon watching a bunch of clips and was in the hole again.

I said this on the Listen Without Prejudice thread, but I really wish he'd put out more music. I loved (still love) his voice, but he deserved more respect as a songwriter.

Still hurts. Am drunk, and about to watch the Ladies And Gentlmen DVD all the way through til collapse.

this is still the worst

otm ;_;

yes :(

One of my Xmas presents (thanks, sis!) was the LWP deluxe package. I spent last night watching The South Bank Show episode from 1990 included. Man, did he look hot in that period, at the peak of his musicianship.

This dude has become my big brother

you need to correct "Uet" in your subheading. This has made me want to listen to LWP again right now, so thanks!

Lovely top 5, Alfred. I haven’t gotten over his passing either.

My friend shared a very cute story today about her 3 year old.

“Important- G. asks us to play the “Save me some tears” song Friday night. We are perplexed. Saturday, we’re driving and Wham’s Last Christmas comes on. “Here it is Mom. My favorite song!” and proceeds to sing 80% correct lyrics at full volume. Also, telling me it’s her turn to sing-“not you Mom.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1kWLPGUKcs

Nailed it

https://c.files.bbci.co.uk/7314/production/_114406492_georgemic1.jpg

the hell

http://steemitimages.com/DQmW9bN7ck4wXs98aB1YdmHF1iu7f7RgcDKr5adwSR5v8EQ/parker_oliver1.jpg

What does that say on the bottom left, 'just abolishing'?

saw this the other day, and still cannot figure out the crashing helicopter thing.
was it really the only way to get 'WHAM' into the image ?!

it’s the police helicopter from the “Outside” video, innit? George was on his way to singlehandedly ‘just abolishing’ (as well as defunding) the police with the way he let that sting operation blew up in their faces.

(I think I just blew my own mind here)

never seen the video.
so ta for the insight.

don’t take it from me, I can’t even spell ‘blow’ right!

that's a brilliant interp

alternatively, it could simply be about Wham! ABSOLUTELY DESTROYING The Police and their Sting operation back in the 80s.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b7/Roy_Lichtenstein_Whaam.jpg/400px-Roy_Lichtenstein_Whaam.jpg

I'm reading the James Gavin biography. Currently up to the Faith tour and am kinda infuriated at how little he spends on, y'know, his craft. Like, Gavin spends *one sentence* on the recording of "Hard Day", never mentioning that the dude who he just a couple chapters earlier described as barely being able to play an instrument played ~everything~ on that song. Same with how he goes from having his voice go out during Wham! shows to doing the massive tour for Faith. Did that just somehow *snap* happen?

Doesn't it also sport typos?

The newe 33 1/3 on Faith is worth your time.

yeah, there have been some typos here and there, but nothing particularly egregious. cool, will check out the 33 1/3 book. thanks!

I've had enormous months-long GM 'phase' which I'm only just sort of coming out of now and in that time I didn't read one book on him. Time to change that.

Finished the biography and it mostly just struck me as a hit piece -- just going through gossip pages and looking for quotes to match up. Can't recommend it. Though I have to admit I didn't realize how badly thins went in the last few years of his life. 33 1/3 book will be up next.

Agreed. It has little or nothing to say about music creation.

You won't have this problem with the 33 1/3.

VectorVictoria @V3ct0rv1ct0r

@richardosman he gave a stranger in a cafe £25k as she was crying over debt. Told the waitress to give her the cheque after he left.

EMILYNE MONDO @EmilyneMondo

George Michael worked anonymously at a homeless shelter I was volunteering at. I've never told anyone, he asked we didn't. That's who he was
4:43 AM - 26 Dec 2016

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/26/506998666/after-george-michaels-death-stories-emerge-of-his-quiet-generosity

Ugh, that NPR article still rips my guts out.

I said this on the Listen Without Prejudice thread, but I really wish he'd put out more music. I loved (still love) his voice, but he deserved more respect as a songwriter.

I guess Elton John apparently said this on record and it infuriated him, though they patched things up. I think at that point though, it wasn't going to change anything as he was much older and had settled in on self-releasing the occasional song. But he did lose a lot of valuable time in the '90s when he scrapped an album and fought with Sony. Anyone know more about that? The idea that Sony would drop the ball on marketing Listen Without Prejudice seems bewildering to me - the market hadn't dramatically changed yet and he was still seen as the biggest-selling name on any of their labels. I'm sure he had other reasons to leave Sony, but it brings to mind Prince's fight with WB - he had good reason to leave the label, but he had a lot of grievances and they weren't all solid (i.e. WB curating his releases more carefully wasn't a bad idea in hindsight).

The new biography (execrably proofread, I must day) gets into it. I tend to stay neutral when artists fight against their labels, especially when they're as obsessed with productivity as Prince and George Michael. It is true, though, that Sony was not, uh, crazy about LWP; he even avoided playing many of its songs live on that tour, preferring a set list comprising R&B covers.

i presume his increasingly public sexuality played a big part in his lack of marketing support

Not giving a fuck about how he expressed it was a bigger part.

yeah, that's my meaning

It does seem strange seeing that Freedom '90 only managed number 28 in the UK charts, as at the time it felt somewhat bigger than that

It went top ten in the States but had a much, much larger afterlife, certainly more than the #1 "Praying for Time."

This is basically Britpop, cool that it finally made it to the Isle of Wight I guess (they can keep it)

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 February 2023 12:25 (forty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't think I've actually listened to any Wet Leg before seeing this video and I wasn't prepared for how much it looks and sounds like Bis

sorry, wrong thread

wet my leg before you go-go

Wetting For Time

I have no idea what was going on with George's UK singles sales in this era.