JayCrawford said:

I'd say no, he was good but he wasn't anything special, good voice and can play instruments but nothing special really.

I agree. I think personal opinion is clearly very influential in this. I will say there are many people I would put over him. He is great but not one of the greats if that makes sense. I feel like he is second tier. I would put him along Janet Jackson or the Foo Fighters, People you could make a case for but you ineveitably pass on.

For my view I can concede he comes close. Had a successful career with a boy band in Wham (with Careless Whisper Last Christmas, wake me up before you go go, edge of heaven being some hits, for me Last Christmas is a good song, Careless Whisper is the best song he did and may be a career highlight) but despite some highs this was the minor part of his career.

I felt as a pop star he had a looks of a definite pop idol but was quite a boring interview as he was too mannered and thoughtful. He did not age well in my opinion and lost his looks pretty much after outside). I had female friends that really liked him from an aesthetic sense.

Faith is the album he was known most for and feel for his big statement album (Faith, Father Figure and one more try are the key tracks here for me) it is relatively light on huge moments. It is a consistent album that people bought for Faith and never regretted due to a few decent but not outstanding tracks.

As a live performer he never really carried that quality of being a must see. Interestingly I give him credit for his duet with Elton John (don't let the sun go down on me) and Queen (somebody to be love) as being outstanding and the best memories I have of ever seeing him sing (at least from a tv screen).

Has a few albums that after Faith were listenable and had some good tracks, but never quite hit the highs. I would mention tracks like too funky, Fast Love, Jesus to a child, amazing among a few others as showing his talent. I have glossed over all of the other albums but feel that overall you would have to argue hard to say he had two or three over major albums.

Finally he did a covers album, and despite good selections, I found the performance and arrangement slow and they did not move me.

So that is a dissection of why I could not put him as a Great.

PS Aside from being a pants movie, the lack of success for his Last Christmas film with his music showed him not to have maintained the longevity of a true great.

[Edited 1/16/21 19:44pm]

Robert George gave a perfect introspective replay.i will add my 2 cents.

George was a really good singer,a decent servicable instrumentalist(yeah thats all him on Everything She Wants) but he was not a standout.

Live he was not convincing at all and he lost a lot of my simpaties when he start to cry over how his life was hard and he couldn't bare.You know according to Gerge being gay is a much more difficult than beaing homless or working 3 jobs to feed the family.he was such an annoying queen.

No. He was fanastic but compared to Al Green or Marvin Gaye? Not even close.

Yes.

Body of work? No. Voice? Absolutely.

hardwork said:

George Michael has an amazing voice

I like the George Michael/Elton John duet during George's show.

JayCrawford said:

I'd say no, he was good but he wasn't anything special, good voice and can play instruments but nothing special really. He also had some of the most boring ballads ever incredibly slow as shit. [Edited 1/16/21 20:32pm]

Ballads are usually slow

nextedition said:

JayCrawford said:

Throughout the 70s they weren't ridiculously slow. But songs like Jesus To A Child was insanely slow.

Aren't songs like Feelings, Torn Between Two Lovers, She's Out Of My Life, You Light Up My Life, With You I'm Born Again, & Still (Commodores) pretty slow?

MickyDolenz said:

JayCrawford said:

Not that slow. Most ballads throughout the 70s still had a bit of mid tempo. Now throughout the 90s. That shit was dead.

There's no way that She's Out Of My Life by Michael Jackson is a faster tempo than Jesus To A Child

MickyDolenz said:

Maybe not an all time great but a top notch artist none the less. I think the dispute with Sony really hurt him because those early nineties years should really have been his creative prime with the age he was then. By the time Older came out he was, well, older and that creative sweet spot most artists hit in their late twenites to early thirties had passed.