... if only he would have marketed himself better. Let's not discuss WHY he decided to step back from the limelight. Let's discuss how great it could have been. Imo LWP Vol.1 was his best work so far. True, it had not as many commercial single songs like Faith, but it was great.
The first single should have been Freedom 90. It would have been optimal, another #1, a HUGE hit.
Other singles should have been praying For Time, Waiting For That Day, Heal The Pain, Mother's Pride and Soul Free.

Then he should have toured with his own songs. In fact, half of the songs he did on C2C ver original compositions. It could have been soo great.He was at his peak vocally, but the performances should have been cooler.

Anyway, after that Vol.2 should have been out in 1992 or eraly 1993. We know he intended Too Funky and Killer for this. Two singles, great dance tracks - again, would have been great hits.

The other known songs (Crazyman Dance, Do You Really Wanna Know and Happy) are no singles imo. But I'm sure he had some fantastic songs...

what do you mean??? I really WISH he would have done that, because teenagers barely know him and especially the US has missed so many great songs...

woulda shoulda coulda.


he threw a hissy fit and then got lazy.

2 full studio albums in the 15 years he separated (and reconnected) himself to the label he was waging war with is pathetic.

love his voice, love his songs, but really... he's made himself a punchline for reasons that have to do with everything BUT his music, because he hardly puts any out.

errant said:

sad... well, I like This Is Not Real Love and December Song. Not as much as anything he did pre 1998 but still... Patience has some good songs, but one could say his faster songs are awful these days.

I think his music became worse since he's out.

WHAT?????

George Michael could've been much bigger than WHAT????

The guy made it to the top of the game--the VERY TOP!!!

At some point, you need to pass the baton and hang up your mic. I think that's all that happened to him. You can't stay on top forever.

George was my childhood crush.

George WAS big, what you mean "could've been"?

he a whiny baby

graecophilos said:

I don't think one really has anything to do with the other. "Older" is one of his best albums and I think it'd be hard to classify him as "in" at that point - he just hadn't become a public "threat" yet.

graecophilos said:

The actual first single, "Praying for Time," was a #1 hit, so I don't see your point.

He chose the moment when he stepped back from the way people marketed their music. That was actually really cool.
Then he got into a hissy fight with Sony and after that his talent for songwriting sunk into a deep pool of weed. That's the real sad part of it all; he was an amazing songwriter but then started to come up with stuff like Freeek. Wtf?

AlexdeParis said:

But it's not a song that last. I bet most people don't know it.

Karen71 said:

GM was big in 1988. But imo he SHOULD have been bigger or at least as big as Madonna or Michael Jackson and Prince. I'm not sure bout Prince, but GM doesn't play in the same league as M and MJ.

AlexdeParis said:

It was #1 but only he had the Faith bonus. The song had a bad video and didn't have a lasting chart performance. Freedom 90 would have been a much bigger lead single and better promotion for LWP.

graecophilos said:

what? GM was as big as he should have been i think its great he didn't release loads of crap stuff like Madonna, he knows he could never match Prince or MJ so you could say he gave Madonna a longer career because he ducked out for a while..

When you shake your ass they notice fast....

LondonStyle said:

so you think he released enough music? Listen, what concerns me is the fact that, like Prince, many teens don't know much about him or his music. That's a fact. How many kids of AI do you think knew GM or Praying For Time. I mean, really KNOW him, as in being conscious he was a big star?

In terms of Prince and MJ... in 2004 he said he always thought that they had more talent than him but he also said they have lost their conncection to the audience and that in his opinion he GM) and Madonna would be the only ones out of the Big Four that would have careers til the 00s...
which I found extremely pretentious, considering Prince's huge comeback in 2004. (I became a fan because of the Musicology prmotion and album!!).
Oh but he also said that he was dissapointed with Prince's music since the early 90s and that stuff like Kiss was such an inspiration. (Especially for songs like Hard Day and I Want Your Sex, I'd say)

LondonStyle said:

also, so you don't think he missed the opportunity of making his beautiful sense more known? Meaning LWP I? Now he'll be remebrerd as an 80s icon, a heartthrob. He def should have released more music. As said before, LWP Vol II is still a huge gap in his discography.

graecophilos said:

just didn't think he had the juices in him...so artist can just write and write i.e. prince , GM has seen that he only needs to produce good CD's as he's not broke so has no need to rush out pop crap like say..madonna

LondonStyle said:

I'd agree with you if his 00s output would have been as good as the 80s and 90s stuff. I mean, Freeek? Shoot The Dog? Precious Box?

Did you know that after he realised he hasn't something to write about his own feelings, GM decided to write social uptempo songs. The three songs above are examples, and belong to the eralier songs for Patience.

Thank god his inspiration came back in 2003...

Oh, and actually 4 new songs since 2004 is not that bad for him.

graecophilos said:

That's their loss. I love "Freedom 90," but "Praying for Time" is a better song in just about every way.

GM's only two really big mistakes were the way he handled the Sony issue and the fact that he became a pothead. I think his long term use of weed has really taken a toll on his song-writing. Everything after "Older", except perhaps for Outside, has been generally sub-par in my opinion.

AlexdeParis said:

I agree.

Let's not forget George is from across the pond.

If my memory serves me correctly, he was as big as Madonna and the others over in his country as they were in theirs. Today he's still as popular over there as they are here.

Reporters are STILL tracking and doing stories on Andrew Ridgeley over there. No one over here cares about what Prince protegees are up to. Goes to show how big Wham! was.
[Edited 12/15/08 14:38pm]

jtfolden said:

okay, but Older was written on a weed diet. You can hear GM inhale after Spinning The Wheel

graecophilos said:

Note I said "long term" use... I recall statements from him admitting that it may have effected his writing and output level and, also, that he would get so high while recording that he'd have to lay on the studio floor to sing.

Funny as both albums came out the same year, that "bad" easily outsold "faith" in the UK, but it was "faith" that outsold "bad" in the states. Not that "faith" did badly in the UK, and ditto for "bad" in the US (both were huge sellers LOL), but quite interesting (to me) nonetheless.

Not sure why George gave Sony such a hard time though. Probably had more ground to sue them then prince did for fucking over Warner Bros though. At least, I hope he did.
[Edited 12/15/08 16:19pm]

jtfolden said:

well about that he said that smoking weed would release him in the studio and open the little boxes in his head. You can see how diffuse some of his lyrics are nowadays. They used to be straight to the point, nowadays it's more like a stream of concious.

thesexofit said:

another that in terms of chart success, Bad and Faith did equally as good on the Hot 100 but in the UK, Bad did alot better than Faith did. While all of Faith's albums were in the Top 5 in the states, only 2 of the 6 singles made it into the UK Top 10, whereas 7 of 9 Bad's singles were in the Top 10

bboy87 said:

I think Faith did not as well in the Uk as Wham! or his later work (especially Older) did because GM didn't seem to care too much about the UK in 1988. He lived on tax exile spent most of his time in the US or was touring. I just find the Brits found no connection to Faith.

Bad was the overall much more succesfull album. In a song to song battle Faith wins anyway

i love george!
hes so stellar
i can care less how big he is.
but yes,i think if he was more careful with his drama being so public and just focusing on bringing it back 2 his music,he couldve been bigger.
huge even.

zoetruluv said:

that's what I'm talking about. This is not about dissin GM! I ADORE him. I attended his concert it was the best night of my life.
But when I see how forgotten his talent IS, I feel really sad.
Btw, he's 1,83 m I believe.

graecophilos said:

i know.
usually when i hear mention if his name,its some kind of gay joke.
his music is not the main focus anymore.
very sad.
oh,and im jealous about u attending his concert!
any footage youd like 2 share?