1990: George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1

OK, bear with me on this, hear me out ... Vol.1. Where's Vol 2? This was a late replacement for 1990, I was going to write about the Charlatans' 'Some Friendly', but I realised that, though I like the Charlatans and have a few things to say about their place in the 90s pop firmament, I don't like the songs from 'Some Friendly' and actually, what I have to say about the Charlatans is not interesting, even to me. Here it is - they're good, they've done more good songs than more feted contemporaries ... right, on to G-Mic

I don't own this album. I think my sister had it so I think I'll have listened it to it back when it came out, and I've certainly listened to some of the songs from it ... a lot. Because George Michael was the sound of those dark capital fm days. If I listened to any radio from 1988 to 1993, it would have been "95.8!!! Capital Eff Emm" It would have been "Pat Sharp Woo Woo" "Doctor Doctor FOX!" the egregiously false "Here at Capital we don't break the rules ... cos we don't have any" etc and all those infinite jingles and ads and Fox's Juke Box, The Top 10 at 10, Help a London Child, The Hall of Fame. If you're wondering if I know my late 80s/early 90s AOR, I certainly do. And who was the King, the King in exile, to be precise?

It was George, of course.

Strange period for George, the early 90s, as he tried to get out of his contract with Sony and so wasn't releasing any new original music. His standing, certainly in the world of Capital, seemed to grow every day.

He was a London (well, Bushey) boy and he was, of course, phenomenally successful. To the extent that Listen Without Prejudice was seen as a relative failure for only selling 8 million copies ( more than most of the artists I like have sold, put together, thoughout their whole career).

They fuckin' idolised him on Capital. It was George this, George that. He'd suddenly turn up donating £50,000 to Help a London Child and then disappear back into the night. Then he'd say "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Elton John" and for the next two years, in our music GCSE class at school, the lession would rarely go past without someone saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Elton John"

On their Halls of Fame, there were as many George Michael songs as there are Bob Dylan songs on mine. You won't be surprised that I statistically analysed the Capital Halls of Fame of 1992 and 93, and George was the official master of all he surveyed, a-sides, Wham hits, album tracks, everything.

I was not, I suppose, a fan then and I'm not a fan now. But sometimes, then and now, I hear a George Michael song and think, "that's really pretty good" and I'd certainly rather listen to the extreme nonsense of Wham! than most of their 80s contemporaries.

There's a riff by Bill Hicks on how George Michael (he calls him George Michaels, which is annoying) is the bland corporate whore son of the devil, and it's one of those ones where you realise how wrong people who are meant to be the voice of truth get it.

People aligned George Michael's poppy, then smooth, music with his personality, where he turned out to be so much more kooky, more interesting, more intelligent and pointed than anyone imagined. Who was writing anti-Blair protest songs while all else were keeping silent? Unfortunately, Shoot the Dog is a pretty rubbish song, as most of the George Michael stuff I've heard in the last decade or so has tended to be.

But the songs on 'Faith' and 'Listen without Prejudice Vol 1', well, frankly, if i do his bidding, if i listen without prejudice, or rather, without memory of old emotions, there are some really good songs. Aren't there? Heal the Pain, Cowboys and Angels, even Praying for Time, I mean it's a bit like Jeff Buckley's Sky is a Landfill ... well, maybe that's my problem with George. Both those men are fantastically accomplished singers, but the risks, the heights, reached by a voice like Buckley compared to the smooth lack of edge which George's voice has never got away from, whatever the subject matter.

Another funny George Michael-related memory I have, a propos of pretty much nothing. There was a boy at my school called Sanveer Bakhshi, a pretty absurd character, an irritant, a fantasist, who would claim he was the fastest runner in the world, he was faster than a cheetah (he was quite fast). He would claim that his parents were the richest people in the world, that his pocket money was a million pounds a week. Anything you said, he would top it. "I'm good at football" Bakhshi: "I'm amazing at football" etc etc so, when I was learning the clarinet (terribly) and Bakhshi said "O, I'm brilliant at the clarinet", I knew he was lying. Like I say, I was hopeless, but nevertheless eventually it was the duty of every boy learning an instrument to play a little solo piece in assembly. When my time came, I was terrified, and it was pretty damn awful, as I recall. I messed up at least once, squawked away, and received at best sympathetic applause. Still, trial over. Anyway, next week, unheralded, who should appear at assembly by Sanveer cocking Bakshi playing a flawless, jazzy version of George Michael's 'Faith' on his clarinet. From that point, I never doubted that his parents, who lived in Heston, really were the richest people in the world. Anyway, back to the matter in hand.

He's had a funny old life, George Michael, and he'll never really be my cup of tea, not in my conscious, careful music taste which I have no desire to let go of. But if I find myself secretly enjoying anything from Young Guns to Edge of Heaven to Father Figure to Outside, well, don't judge me too harshly.

Here's a George Michael compilation

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
A Different Corner
Outside
Careless Whisper
Father Figure
Edge of Heaven
Wham Rap
Young Guns
Cowboys and Angels
Heal the Pain
Freedom
Praying for Time
Jesus to a Child
Club Tropicana
and, just for kicks
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me