George Michael RIP (53)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Vaughan, Dec 25, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    That definitely seems to be the case.

    Really? Because I just finally heard Make It Big in its entirety, and I'm surprised at how well it holds together as an album. A couple of the tracks maybe should have been hits/bigger hits than they were ("Heartbeat", a fine if somewhat by-the-numbers '80s ballad that bears more than a little resemblance to Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" and the upbeat "Credit Card Baby" which could have crawled off a Dusty Springfield album circa '66 although it's probably overlong), while "If You Were There" is a nice callout to lighter, '60s tinged pop a la Everything But The Girl, and the perhaps Sade-influenced "Like A Baby" is a necessary comedown from the album's somewhat more frazzled highs.

    Well, he clearly wanted to distance himself from that sound on subsequent releases, and by the time he might have been in a mood to embrace it again, perhaps felt he was too old to credibly warble teenybopper tunes like that onstage.
     
    Thom, alan967tiger and Ryan Lux like this.
  2. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    Did you realize that George was labeled as lightweight songwriter mostly because of this song and the video? He always says that he was proud of this song but was embarrassed by the video. To me, the song is a perfect and fun pop song, nothing more and nothing less.
     
    krock2009 likes this.
  3. motionmover

    motionmover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    [​IMG]

    There will never be another talent quite like George Michael...at least not in our life time. R.I.P.
     
    keyXVII, Jayseph and qJulia like this.
  4. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    I agree with this assessment. I think that the album has a common theme: love and relationship. there seemed to have interconnection of the songs. Everything She Wants and Credit Card Baby (I actually love the tune of this song) are complaining about materialism and its conflict with love. Heartbeat and Like A Baby were talking about frustration of love. Freedom was to plead for the lover to be devoted to him, whereas Careless Whisper expressed regret. It is pretty amazing that this album generated 3 No.1s in the US (and UK?) out of only 8 songs. George of course outdid it again with Faith.
     
  5. Troystar

    Troystar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Victoria BC Canada
  6. Ryan Lux

    Ryan Lux Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, ON, CA
    I think it has more to do with his perfectionistic tendency to dismiss most things he's done before. That's a theme in his life, especially his biggest years. Regardless, you know you're huge when you can tour, not play numerous #1 hits and no one is too disappointed!
     
  7. Jayseph

    Jayseph Somewhere Between Penny Lane & Alphabet St.

    Location:
    Philadelphia
    Thank you very much for sharing so much of you in that one post.

    Freedom '90 really was an empowering anthem when I was coming out in '97. I didn't follow George the way that I followed other favorite artists, but I always picked up his new album when they came out (as few as they were).

    And I really can relate on losing a very close friend. Peace to you.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2017
  8. footprintsinthesand

    footprintsinthesand Reasons to be cheerful part 1

    Location:
    Dutch mountains
    The Unplugged Rehearsals

     
    MikaelaArsenault and qJulia like this.
  9. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I always liked his duet with Aretha Franklin.

     
    MikaelaArsenault and Troystar like this.
  10. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    Last Christmas reached No. 41 on Billboard Hot 100 after George passed away. Before this, this song was only charted on the Billboard Holiday chart.
     
  11. Troystar

    Troystar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Victoria BC Canada
    Thanks for reading, I realize it was a long blog, most probably won't read it all but I wanted to pay tribute to George and my best friend at the time.
     
    Sammy Banderas, keyXVII, Thom and 4 others like this.
  12. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    It was a well written and contemplative piece. Thanks for sharing.
     
  13. Cloudbuster

    Cloudbuster Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    UK Top 100 Albums

    Ladies & Gentleman - The Best Of #11
    The Final #31
    Twenty Five #45
    Faith #71

    I've noticed that shops have now restocked his albums, so there may well be some impressive sales increases reflected on this coming Friday's chart.
     
  14. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    It was a heart-felt tribute. Thanks for sharing it. You mentioned that LWP means a lot to you. How about Older? Just curious.
     
    Troystar and keyXVII like this.
  15. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    so you think that the fact that L&G did not chart higher last week was due to its out of stock?
     
  16. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Guess the video is now gone.
     
  17. Cloudbuster

    Cloudbuster Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Quite possibly. It was doing well on the UK iTunes store but I didn't see it in any of the shops I went into between Christmas and New Year.
    I guess that must have been a tough week to get new stock in. There were a few copies of Twenty Five and Symphonica but nothing else.
     
    Matthew Tate and qJulia like this.
  18. Cloudbuster

    Cloudbuster Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Nice tribute, thanks for sharing.
     
    Troystar and keyXVII like this.
  19. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

  20. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    here is one of the poems from 11 year old George

    SOUNDS IN THE NIGHT

    Beyond the world of sight, there is a sixth dimension of sound, and in many cases, sound beats sight, and the reason?
    Sight is blacked out by the night, and that is where sounds comes in.
    It stands to reason that what you can't see.... you can hear!
    And the same applies for daytime, only in reverse.
    In other words, what you can't hear, you can see
    And that is why I am turning the subject to night.

    Now what I've forgotten to tell you, I'm sure something slipped my tongue.
    Ah! Now I remember, you'll never guess what I have to say to you...... I am blind!!!

    Professor Whatsisname
    (Alias G.Panayiotou)

    Poems written by an 11-year-old George Michael uncovered by his classmate | Daily Mail Online »
     
  21. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    '
    Well, I'm glad he got better at writing as he matured...
     
  22. Anne Elk (Miss)

    Anne Elk (Miss) Well-Known Member

    Location:
    U.K.
    Yeah. Everyone has to start somewhere and, fortunately, being published in the school magazine encouraged him to keep going.
     
  23. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    It occurs to me that L&G is almost 20 years old now, and I never felt this album got its proper due acclaim due to the scandal fallout.

    On a disturbing note, fans should avoid looking at the tabloid covers in the supermarket this week. How is National Enquirer still in business after all the lies/libel suits?
     
    MikaelaArsenault likes this.
  24. Cloudbuster

    Cloudbuster Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    He was certainly out of favour in the US by the time L&G was released. It was huge here in the UK, however. Eight weeks at #1 and shifting over 2 million in sales.

    Regarding your second point... I haven't touched a "news"paper in years. Filth, lies and propaganda aren't really my thing. :)
     
  25. Cloudbuster

    Cloudbuster Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    UK Top 100 Albums

    Ladies & Gentlemen #4
    Twenty Five #19
    The Final #29
    Symphonica #46
    Faith #48
    Older #63
     
    qJulia and JeffMo like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine