“Tonight the music seems so loud / I wish that we could lose this crowd”
“Maybe it’s better this way / We’d hurt each other with the things we want to say”

Those lines alone are stronger than 75% of all ballad lyrics. They also have a ring of truth to anyone that’s been there. Even if it is well-executed calculation – it works.

10 for me: George, you’re going to be a big star. Even if everyone knocks you, they’re just proving they can’t hear very well. You’re in another league. Kiss Frankie and Duran goodbye. Say hello to MJ and Madonna.

ASPEL & COMPANY: with Peter Cook, George Michael, Jacqueline Bisset (1986)

PARKINSON: Parkinson Meets George Michael (1998)

PARKINSON: with George Michael, Alan Alda, Jamie Foxx (2006)

PARKINSON: with Scissor Sisters, Stephen Fry, George Michael, Joan Rivers (2007)

POP QUIZ: with Simon Kirke, Hazel O’Connor, George Michael, Jools Holland, Bill Bruford, Buster Bloodvessel (1983)

POP QUIZ: with Jon Moss, Tracie, Steve Harley, George Michael, Curt Smith, Chris Rea (1984)

THE SOUTH BANK SHOW: George Michael (1990)

THE SOUTH BANK SHOW: George Michael: I’m Your Man (2006)

STAR STORIES: George Michael: Watch Without Prejudice Vol 1 (2006)

I’m not particularly warm to ‘Careless Whisper’. Bought it like a Pavlov dog but it became one for the mums really, didn’t it? I found that alienating.

I found it really plodding and boring at the time, though.

No-one has yet commented on the obvious but rather wonderful binary complimenting of this and Last Christmas; Summer/ I done you wrong – Winter/ You done me wrong.

You may be intrigued by the fact that I’m 20 years older than you, but also consider myself a bit of an authority of No. 1 hit singles. Up to 1984, that is. i found that from ’85 onwards, I rapidly aged out of the pop music world, so from hereon in I will have few opinions about the second half of your brilliant and entertaining website…..I’ll still read it though.

P.S. I live too far from London for your upcoming Party, but if ever you’re in Manchester……

The ! of Wham! on WMUBYGG reminds me of the colour coding on “Power Corruption and Lies”. Just saying.

Can I just say how incredibly boring and trite P.Saville’s work looks these days — far more date-tied and trashily transient than everyone who wasn’t trying so VERY VERY HARD to zelig their way into Art History

So: first really obviously Peter Saville sleeve on Popular?

Always happy to have my unconscious and conscious biases exposed! Popular is a wholly subjective exercise and I’m the product of my time, place, gender, race, background etc.

(The embargo on discussing future #1s is partly to stop said discussion triggering my contrarian buttons)

It felt like there was a real glut of sex-sax 45s in ’78, with B Joel’s Just The Way You Are top of the heap.

(NB: I hate all Wham songs that I’ve heard, especially that awful “Go-Go” single that I didn’t have time to hate on when it came up.)

Actually, there is a kind of embargo on starting discussions of upcoming songs till they actually come up — it usually comes with warnings about bunnies, for reasons lost to the mists of mentalism.

In my opinion REAL men don’t need any stupid testosterone to be manly.

If Tom was a sexy woman, he’d give it maybe….8 ?
The male Tom can only give it…let’s see…I predict…3.

1) Two Tribes – a really beefy MASCULINE song if ever there was one – you can hear it literally oozing testosterone!!!
Tom is a man, he gives it 10.

C/F

2) Careless Whisper – Love song – oestrogen for miles around – FEMININE song.
Tom is a man, he gives it 7.

For me, both songs are each a masterpiece deserving 10, and yet if I was told I can only give 10 to one of them, it would be TT.(I’m a man, by the way)

Much as you may protest over this generalisation – I defy any of you say that no songs have a gender bias that would affect your judgement, no matter what you may think about the “quality” of the production etc.

That being said however I’ve always found this track quite cringeworthy and in particular have always found the middle eight about ‘lose this crowd’ etc particularly annoying – to me its not a culmination of a great track but more like a cynical (and quite predictable in its structure) attempt at wringing out very fake emotion.
The complete antithesis of the honesty of the majority of his tracks since ‘Prejudice’.