This guy's a lightening rod for all sorts of opinion, and his career is kind of all over the place. I think his prolific career may be pretty much over, and while several of his songs were catchy and memorable, I only really loved one. I think Freedom '90 is a masterpiece lyrically, musically, and as an authentic personal statement of an artist to his audience. Perhaps my favorite pop song. Too long for the radio at 6 1/2 minutes, I guess. YouTube version
I could not agree more with you, VY. Michael is one of the most underrated songwriters of the 80s/90s. If you've never heard the live version from MTV's 10 anniversary special, give it a listen. link Kissing a Fool, Father Figure, Heal the Pain, and Praying For Time are all outstanding songs.
I've always liked George Michael, and Freedom 90 is one of my favorites. There, I said it. You can pry my Man Card from my cold dead hands.
"Careless Whisper" and "One More Try." To me George Michael sounds a lot like the great vocal stylist Phil Collins, with a much better voice. And better hair.
He is very underrated. Careless Whisper, One More Try, Father Figure and even Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (Wham) are favorites of mine. I still remember listening to I Want Your Sex as an 11 year-old mowing the lawn, thinking I was such a rebel to be listening to something my parents would freak out about.
I'm with Fred on "Careless Whisper" and "One More Try", although I like all that have been mentioned. Some people are just born to open their mouth and sing. George Michael is one of those people. What a voice. I haven't seen him in quite some time, but I'm a straight male and I have to say that in addition to his amazing voice, he is a strikingly attractive man - at least he was. I found the comment on the video page about "imagine how much ***** he has turned down" to be funny, but probably quite true, since he stayed in the closet during his most successful period.
There was a George Michael concert on HDNET/Palladia channel a few weeks ago that looked to be fairly recent. He sounded great, of course, and still had some moves although maybe tempered just a bit with age. My wife and I really enjoyed it, for me mostly I think because the late 80s are when I was at UT and that was such a fun time for me as a young person—music, films, college, dating, partying, etc. I unabashedly love my 80s pop stars.
HIs duet of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with Elton John was brilliant as well. One of the great voices of our generation.
