George Michael RIP (53)

He hadn't been part of the music pop-culture scene in a long time for a lot of reasons- some of which were his own fault (arguing with his label, the bathroom incident, etc) combined with changing tastes in music. It happens a lot.

 

Well, of course it's sad; I was just surprised knowing the quantity of GM's music sold in only 10 days...477.000 units is remarkable.

 

Andrew's role in Wham was the same as Mickey Finn's role in T.Rex, and they both fulfilled what was required of them beautifully.
As you say their lack of ego rightfully gave George and Marc Bolan full reign.
Of course George was extremely generous with Andrew, giving him a co-write on Careless Whisper ensured that Andrew has never needed to work in the 30 years since Wham split, and never will.

 

Yeah, I just mean that it's sad that it takes him dying to have such remarkable recent figures.

 

Valid points that apply to the younger crowd.
But folks my age who are on the bandwagon annoy me.
I was sitting in a little local novelty shop that also sales used cds and vinyl last week.
Some middle aged guy walks in looking for Faith.
Seriously?
This guy was around my age so he's had 30 years to purchase or repurchase this album.
He ended up buying both a cd and vinyl copy.
Who knows, maybe he's putting them on ebay for ridiculous prices.
That's just as disgusting.

 

Who cares what people do with what they buy? Why is it any of your concern? Don't worry about it... Maybe he wanted to listen to the albums in two formats. They aren't worth a lot of money so he isn't going to make a lot of money. He can ask for anything he wants.

 

You're obviously missing my point here.
When music artists die there is always a bandwagon affect and often times an attempt to sale the music at high prices to those bandwagoners.
I said it was annoying so I care.
Things annoy people in this world.
I'm sure you get annoyed with something, as you clearly are with my comment.
If it doesn't make you angry that many only like someone when they die, who has been available to them for several years, than fine.
But it frustrates me and I consider it disrespectful to the artist.

 

A lot of people hadn't thought of George Michael since the early 1990's at the latest. He's been almost a nothing in the U.S for years in terms of putting out new pop music that got radio airplay.

 

Which is why I was curious what the half million sales are. I hope people are buying one of his comps to discover some of his more recent work that was under the radar here in the US.

 

I imagine most are buying them for the Wham/Faith hits but will hear a lot of the later music for the first time (and hopefully like it).

 

I got what you mean, but it is only a good thing that his music got more appreciation. It is a pleasant surprise. it is almost half a million in the US alone since the number was reported by billboard.

 

Hey, the more people that buy and listen to Older, the better.

 

I thought Older was popular there in US? Nevertheless it's a real shame that this record still hasn't been reissued on vinyl.

 

George topped lyricfind-charts, which I am not familiar with.

George Michael Songs Storm LyricFind Charts »
After George Michael passed away at his home on Christmas Day, the pop legend posthumously tops the LyricFind U.S. and Global charts (dated Jan. 14, encompassing data in the week ending Jan. 1), while sweeping the entire top five of the Global list, both solo and as a member of Wham!.

 

So that applies to music mid 90s and forward.
Gen X and late Baby Boomers are who I'm referring to buying pre mid 90s material.

 

I still don't know what you're talking about. Why does it matter how old someone is or why someone is buying music?

 

It begs the question why they want his older music, that has been available to them for decades, only after he's dead.
I get that it's like this with all artists when they die but I just find it to be disrespectful to the artist.
Some say it's paying homage and ultimately if it creates genuine fans in the process then I guess that's good.
But I can't help if death making sales boom bothers me.

 

I agree, once an artist dies their music should no longer be sold. If you didn't get it while they were alive, you're being disrespectful to them. Not sure if we can carve out an exception if you weren't yet born when they died.

And please, don't go watching any films for the first time that have people in them who have died--show some respect!

 

That was very interesting indeed. A couple of thoughts came to me after watching this:
1- that appears to have been a happy period in GM life. There is a good vibe in the studio. I wonder how much his life would have change if his boyfriend at the time didnt die.
2-I was surprise at how much in control of the sessions he was. Its obvious that he has a clear vision on how the music should come out. It was nice to watch him play some bass and piano, i didnt know he played instruments. I guess he was somewhere inbtween Prince, (who wrote songs, record them and played all the instruments) and someone like Madonna, who i guess relies on her producers and musical collaborators. Michael Jackson could be similar in that regard.

 

You raise an excellent "what if" question. Even with his mom passing a few years later, he might have kept things together with his partner/love in his life. The double loss clearly knocked his life off the rails.

 

You probably missed most of the credits on his albums? George is like Prince, he writes, arranges, produces, sings and can play many instruments. He is credited for Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Percussion and "all instruments".

 

It's clear that I'm refering to the almost instant sales increase that occurs as a direct and immediate result of the death of the artist and not folks buying music over the years after someone has died.
Your sarcasm was pointless as I'm quite sure you knew what my comments refered to.
If not then you should consider reading them again more closely.

 

Im not a hardcore fan, i had a couple of cassettes way back then, but i always liked the guy.

 

Like it or not, when a famous person dies, it gets other people who may have half forgotten about them thinking about them again. And many will think, "I should get some of his records, I've never owned any" or "I used to have that album on LP, I should buy it again" or "I never got around to hearing that later album of his" or whatever. Nothing disrespectful about it, just the way things work in the real world. A lot of people don't spend all their time obsessing about music like we do and need something to spur them on to buy a record.

You can choose to chastise them: "Why didn't they care about his records when he was alive" -- or you could choose to be pleased that the music is still being heard, however belatedly. I didn't need a reminder of Wham or Faith but George's death got me to take another listen to Listen Without Prejudice and I'm glad I did.

 

I'll give you the point about others not obsessing about music as we do.