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  6. Poor old George!
    The BBC News headline describes him as the ex-Wham singer!
    He certainly seemed to be a troubled soul over the past few years……

  8. I liked George Michael.

    I liked the fact that he, just The Beatles, wanted to be “the top-er-most of the pop-er-most.”
    What other pop music is there?

    And the free tickets for nurses was just, kinda, right.

    It’ll be nice to catch a bit of good news soon.

  10. I don’t have any of his records, but my daughter made a Spotify Xmas playlist yesterday and I always enjoy Last Christmas.

    He was a great personality and it was hard to dislike him. Difficult to believe we will never see his perma-stubble again.

  11. And let’s not forget although circumstances forced him to reveal he was gay, it was at a time when the tabloids crucified people for it with as much homophobia bile they could muster.

  12. I liked George a lot more than I liked his music. He made his mistakes – getting arrested for coming on to a policeman in a public loo, driving drunk into a Happy Snaps at 3am, falling asleep at the wheel stoned – and faced the consequences without taking them, or himself, too seriously. And he wrote a few amazing tunes along the way:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulhoKujT2G8

  17. I wonder whether 2016 is going to be the outlier or or the beginnning ofthe new reality. The music generation that soundtracked the youth of many of Afterworders is reaching or has reached “that age” . I’m predicting an increasing rate of expiry in coming years.

      • Correct. I think this applies to musicians and singers in particular – less so perhaps for actors, comics, sports stars etc for whom it’s harder to stay in the public eye and keep doing what they did 20, 30, 40+ years ago.
        Musicans have a much longer shelf life than probably any other entertainment stars which is why they stay with us, they don’t retire (and frankly who can blame them?). With a sizeable cache of hits they can keep on rocking and dye their hair mahogany so from the back of the Enormodome give the illusion they’re as youthful as ever (or go the Leonard Cohen route and just adapt to their age and ability and remain cool). They can keep on putting bums on seats (especially now when people have ‘bucket lists’ of legends they want to tick off). There’s a vast amount of online social and other media hungry for titbits to keep the ball in the air, retro radio stations giving them airplay and they can be readily re-issued, re-packaged for new generations. They grow in the public eye long past their career peak – and there’s a whole load of them who rose to fame between the early 60s to the late 80s who perhaps didn’t take the best care of their health (or have some other misfortune) who will be turning their toes up over the next few years – life eh?

  20. Genuinely saddened, even after a night’s sleep.

    The last passing of someone that I had never met that I felt so sad about was Christopher Martin-Jenkins. I haven’t got any George/Wham! records, so I’m left with Rick Parfitt b-sides from the late 60s……can we call it a day for 2016? Please.

  21. Ah George….

    At 12 years old the Wham version of Love Machine (on Fantastic) steered me down a Motown path…

    In that London where I grew up, the omnipresent Capital Radio used to run a charity radiothon type thing every year called ‘Help A London Child’ over the course of a week near Christmas. However much was raised, George doubled it. Usually six figures were involved.

    George, with his Diana flick haircut in the midst of yuppie culture, performed and donated to the striking miners.

    At age 18, writing and performing a rap song about living off the DHSS.

    For me, his last great work was ‘Older’ – with Fastlove and Spinning the Wheel.

    The middle finger given to the LAPD in the Outside video was, in its way, just as subversive as Fuck tha Police.

    Another great songwriter and all round good geezer departs.

    Fare thee well Yog. You will be missed

  22. The guy could really sing.
    At the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday tribute concert, I liked his choices of songs to sing- Stevie Wonder’s Village Ghetto Land and Marvin Gaye’so Sexual Healing. I also liked his performance of the songs.
    It’s very sad. Can we have a moratorium on top pop star deaths, at least for the next five days?

  23. Sarah Michelle Gellar tweeted…

    “Do you really want to hurt me? I guess you do 2016. #ripboygeorge
    I was truly one of your biggest fans.”

    Awkward.

  24. It turns out Crack Cocaine is bad for your health.

    Bob Stanley’s book described him as living life in reverse – chubby hairy teenager, legal hassles with ex-management, popular mid-period career, ending with sex & drugs experimentation and edgy indie singles.

    I remember the first time I heard Wham Rap. It started on the school bus home just as it arrived at my stop. I ran from the bus stop to my house to switch on the kitchen radio in order to hear the end. I didn’t do that very often.

  26. I always felt a bit of an affinity with George. Same age as me and from the same area.
    A middle class white boy into soul and funk just like me.
    His name never seemed to come up in the lists of best singers. Possibly not deemed cool enough.
    This is one of my favourite tracks.

  27. I would never profess to be a fan, but he had a sweet and pure voice, which worked on songs like Freedom and Faith.

    Being a pop star/ public figure seems to be a dangerous occupation and I can’t se why anyone would want to be famous is beyond me. Years of drug abuse must be a major factor in yet another untimely demise.

    I guess the grim reaper can strike on any old day, but to die on Christmas Day seems sadder somehow.

  28. He lived quite near me. Looked more like late John Martyn recently. Poor bugger. I remember having to buy the Somebody to Love single with him on, it was that good. A big step for a non-Wham fan like me!

  30. This is the big one for me in this year of the RIP. George Michael and in particular Wham! defined my early 20’s. Bad decision engagement to “Everything She Wants” when I was far too young, completely embracing “Club Tropicana” on a lads holiday, growing my hair into over dryed thick locks after “Careless Whisper”, the list goes on. And yet there was the mickey taking in the 90’s that I’m far from proud of, we continue to live and learn. Wham! were the finest pop band of a generation of great pop. George Michael was a triumph of talent over crippling self doubt which is where Andrew Ridgeley came in. I’m sad today but will cheer myself up with some of the greatest pop songs ever written and performed.

  36. I remember Wham! getting a glowing review from one Neil Tennant in Smash Hits but initially I didn’t like them one bit. They seemed to be show-off types – the kind of people I disliked at school. When they released Bad Boys I thought that was possibly the end of them – I still find it unlistenable.

    And then they came back with the unstoppable Wake Me Up…which is possibly the catchiest pop song ever written. I watched the video in awe, knowing that this was an instant classic. Wedding reception discos and office parties were never the same again and I hated it.

    I only started to thaw when Freedom came out. That was another effortless instant classic and it was no longer reasonable to resist Wham! And then the moody Everything She Wants came with its tension and superb groove – redeeming the bloody awful Last Christmas, which George seemingly wrote in his sleep (possibly while listening to Barry Manilow).

    It’s good to see that his kindness and generosity is being revealed now in the stories that people feel that they can now share without causing him embarrassment. He really did do a lot of work for charity and he really didn’t like to talk about it.

    I remember reading that a symptom of this was the co-writing credits he gave to his friend when there really wasn’t any musical contribution. I suppose it was an acknowledgment that show-off Andrew Ridgeley gave him the confidence to perform and go for it.

  37. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This is an absolute masterpiece. Completely captures the era it was from while also mercilessly sending it up (too subtly for many who took it face value)- wicked tune, splendid early 80s club culture sound, the ‘cool cool’ vocal harmonies are glorious – and love the slap bass intro too (who played that I wonder?) and ultimately just reminds me of sunshine, Smash Hits, Saturday Mornings, Radio 1 roadshows and the dayglo sock-wearing *fun* of being a young kid in the 80s.

  38. Given he had his demons and his complexities it’s surprising that the stories now coming out portray him as nothing but a really decent and lovely man. But in a way I guess we all knew that.

  39. My heart genuinely sank when I read about this just before going off to bed on Christmas Day (as it had the day before when the news about Rick Parfitt came in). I’ll just leave this here; cracking record, brilliantly sung, and I’ll always love the horns at the end. Step with me…

  41. This is one of my favourite live performances of any song . When he hit his peak he was amazing. I have to say I was a big fan of his in the 90’s. For all of the much loved people who departed in 2016, GM is the one I am most shocked about. RIP

    • Yes I am so sorry about that. It’s annoying the hell out of me too. I was in a bit of shock when I did it and it seems a blog post does not get the 15 mins edit time that the comments do, (or I’m too stupid to figure it out.) If anybody has the means to change it – please do.

        • No worries Johnny. I didn’t take it that way. I also made the same typo on a facebook comment for some reason. It really is bothering me. Anyway I have put in a request for the change to the admins.

          • See up in the right hand corner (on the “blog” page) where it says “edit posts” and “edit articles”? If you post a headline in haste or want to change something in your OP, you can do so by clicking on that. I think you still only have the fifteen minutes to spot it…

    • What a mean-spirited post. Kershaw, not JC.

      It’s always amazing to me that someone takes time to write stuff like that. You don’t like someone, fine. Keep it to yourself though, there’s a good chap.

      • I thought so too. It’s hard to argue with much of what Kershaw says, but he appears to be in an unseemly haste to say it.

        But Paphides also let himself down a little with his response, I thought.

        • I don’t agree that it’s hard to argue with what Kershaw says though. GM may not be a musician like Mitchell, Dylan, Williams etc, but as a songwriter he undeniably wrote some very, very good songs. Careless Whisper (which, thanks to its radio ubiquity, I’d rather never hear again) is a very, very good song by any standards. Ok, he wasn’t as influential or groundbreaking as the artists Kershaw names, but it’s silly and childish to belittle his talents. Most people eventually get to an age where their tastes are no longer influenced by what they judge to be ‘hip’ or ‘cool’. Judging from Kershaw’s comments, I don’t think he is there yet.

          • “he wasn’t as influential or groundbreaking as the artists Kershaw names”*

            There’s the rub, I feel. Millions loved George however and for now that’s all that matters.

            *meanwhile 99.9% of George’s fans look blankly and say “Who’s Robert Johnson”

            • Which is only natural. I would rather listen to George than Robert Johnson too. You can be as influential as you like but that doesn’t mean you are going to appeal to everyone. In fact it is extremely unlikey that anyone who breaks new ground becomes universally loved.

          • “may not be a musician”.

            On the contrary , he played many instruments including drums, keyboard and guitars. I think he stands up to scrutiny as a musician, exceptional singer, songwriter and producer”

            Kershwaws just got his head up his arse as per usual.

  45. It’s a relatively new thing, this, isn’t it? Group A wails over Diana’s death then pulls a pruny face at people mourning John Peel. Group B does the opposite. It’s kind of… boring. Somebody dies and a whole industry springs up about the ‘correct’ way of marking that death.

    • It’s all daft, really. The ceaseless perimeter patrol over the imagined pantheon of the greats makes about as much sense as getting properly misty over a dead pop star you never even met and whose output you haven’t bought for two decades. All of it is ultimately in your head, none of it has anything to do with real life.

      But then, people would say the same about pretty much all of the stuff I’m into, or want to talk about, wouldn’t they?

      So, if people want to have a cry over Wham Rap then why not? And if Kershaw wants to be grumpy because all the meeja attention means we’re not spending Xmas sat around thinking serious thoughts about old bluesmen then more power to his arm. I think Paphides is a bit of knob though, because he’s used this as an excuse to dredge up something that annoyed him a decade ago, and then labelled Kershaw and his life in a most unpleasant fashion, in the full knowledge that he has a Twitter army behind him that will cheer him to the rafters for doing so. But even then – fuck it, if I’d just spent three days locked in the house with Caitlin Moran I’d probably be spoiling for a ruck myself.

      My only real thought about George Michael this week is to wonder where all this love and support were when he was still alive. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone really enthuse about him as an artist, and you could probably count on one hand the number of appreciative mentions he’s had on this blog prior to this week.

      I’m not doubting that there’s genuinely huge affection for him and his work, or that he was very talented. It’s just interesting that it’s taken him actually dying for it to be safe to publicly express that love. It makes me wonder if there are other artists who are similarly beloved on the down-low, and who will only get their props once they take their final bow.

      • People I love but don’t mention much if at all on here because the response would be “meh” at best.

        Madge
        George Michael/Wham!
        Michael Jackson
        Guns n Roses (ho ho!)

        Probably many more, but I really must get dressed at some point today, bye.

        • I am not sure Mini. This is a very broad church and I am constantly surprised to discover that there is somebody else here who knows about and likes something I mention. In my case it is usually something like a fusion of big band jazz and Norwegian Lapland jojking.

          I think you should let it all hang out more and see what reaction you get.

          • I’ve seen it here over the years more than most KFD, my genuine affection for some of the 80’s acts so derided has lead to a few “meh’s” a few “are you jokings” but never much worse than that. George Michel meant a huge amount to a lot of people probably as Bingo says 2 decades ago but Kershaw has misjudged that love. People got married to a GM song, had children to a GM song, broke up to a GM song, his passing has brought all those memories back. It really is each to their own though, I’ve left the Bowie threads alone because he genuinely didn’t touch me at all but I won’t judge those who do.
            I did a Wham! thread at the old place (I Think) and it was well received generally, better than Tears For Fears or Howard Jones. Ultimately a very famous pop star has died whose songs meant a huge amount to a huge amount of people. Credible or worthy or influential is irrelevant to every one of them

        • Me me me me me Miss

          The favours I had to call in and trade to get floor tickets for Madonna’s show at the O2 last year still leave me embarrassed

          Can still recite Wham Rap (both versions!) verbatim and have done so for 34 years (fuuuuuuuck!!!) and have me GnR tickets for the summer in the knowledge they’ll probably let me down again – though hoping the presence of Duff may bring some sanity to bear. BTW -Right Next Door To Hell, best opener on the worlds most anticipated release?

          Didn’t care much for Jackson though – never seemed to be completely in love with the music

          And I like (shhhhh…..) U2

      • Kershaw describes mourning GM as “hysterical over-reaction” and “bogus sentimentality” towards a “frivolous, glib and fleeting” pop star. I’ve never been a fan of GM’s, and I rarely get offended by anything, but those comments are not only arguable, they’re disgustingly inappropriate. As is comparing him to perceived “greats” purely in order to undermine his value as an artist.
        Kershaw is the bigger knobhead here.

          • Well, Satchmo was the first truly world famous black entertainer, the most influential jazz musician ever and a profound influence on popular music in general.

            So I’d say he’s right up there with Dylan, Hank Williams and the Beatles. And Robert Johnson.

        • For what it’s worth, I don’t actually know who Kershaw is, so there may be some additional context here that I don’t know about.

          Absent that, it’s not disgustingly inappropriate though, is it? It would be disgustingly inappropriate if he said those things loudly at GM’s funeral, or in front of grieving family.

          He’s just being a bit of a knob on Twitter. Which is pretty much what everyone does on Twitter all the time. I don’t particularly agree with his opinion, but he’s entitled to it, in the same way I’m entitled to say he’s acting the knob.

          And if Kershaw (whoever he is) died tomorrow, I’d still be able to express that view without it becoming disgustingly inappropriate.

          Or look at it another way: do you think George Michael would give a shit? I strongly suspect he’d have wet himself laughing.

          • Kershaw is, to some small degree at least, a celeb. I don’t think it’s inconceivable that members of GM’s family or his friends will come across his comments.
            But even if they couldn’t, I’d find such comments disgustingly inappropriate in the immediate wake of anyone’s death

            Except, of course, someone I loathed. But I could never loathe someone just for being a pop star. There’s a nice moment in the recent Gary Numan documentary where he talks about how genuinely hurt he was by some insults in the press. “What did I do?” he asks “I wrote a song that was popular.”

            • The chances of GM’s family reading Kershaw’s comments are increased about a million percent by Paphides blogging about them – the former has 4,000 twitter followers, the latter 55,000.

              Why not just roll your eyes at the dumbness of it all and move on? Because then you’d miss the chance to sic your Twitter mob on someone who hurt your feelings back in the day.

              Ultimately, if you’re a household name for 30 years and the worst anyone says about you after you die is that you’re not as good as Robert Johnson and that your music is frivolous (no shit – dude named his band “Wham”, frivolity is part of the point) and glib, then I’d say you’ve done OK. I’m sure his family can console himself with the absolute tidal wave of public mourning in recent days. If someone called me frivolous and glib I’d be bloody delighted.

              I think if 2016 taught us anything it’s that we should ignore these nonsense manufactured social media outrages and save words like disgusting for when they’re really merited. Which I’m quite sure they will be over the next 12 months.

              But I love you too much to argue, so let’s agree to disagree, have a man hug and stick Frank Ocean back on…

              • I don’t think it’s George he was offending, I think it was his family, friends and fans, who have every right to mourn without being criticized for it. George, as you rightly say, woulda probably just laughed (“self-deprecating humour” is a term that’s been used a lot to describe him by those who knew him). It’s not on to describe someone’s grief, even for someone they didn’t know, as bogus and then run the chap down. I know how upset I’ll be when David Sylvian eventually goes, and woe betide any Kershaws telling me to get real. I’ll ‘ave ’em, so I will!

                But you’re right to draw our friendly conversation to a close with your declaration of love or we could be going on all day. (Even though at heart I know your love is based more on my looks than my personality, as is so often the case with me.)

  46. I enjoyed that Paphides piece. Kershaw really shot himself in the foot there. Mean-spirited to the max. If you are not very interested in a certain genre of music, in a situation like this it’s best to just keep mum simply out of respect for those who are.

    If he’s dared to say something equally idiotic about Carrie Fisher, this is war!

  47. I’d just like to say that I think Andy Kershaw is a proper cock and Pete Paphides is also a bit of one. His being less of a cock is enhanced by his “professional lovely lovely man with all the right opinions” shtick, however – which I’m not buying at all – so it turns out to be a photo finish.

    • Paphides was all over Sky News yesterday waxing lyrical about George. As if to drive home his impeccable credentials he was interviewed in front of his impressive record and CD collection, the sight of which distracted me so much I hardly took in a word he said.

      I’ve always found PP OK previously, mind you and we follow each other on Twitter.

    • I can’t agree on the Paphides article. Kershaw’s piece was that of a knob, and worthy of being called as mean spirited.

      I didn’t think it was hysterical, I thought it was quite a measured piece that struck the right note. If these things don’t get called out, we run the risk of them becoming normalized. In the same way that if anyone posts a lie, they should be called out for it, then that crap should be called out. You know what happens if you don’t do that? You end up with Breitbart becoming the norm.

      I was no great fan of George Michael, but I can recognize just how talented he was. And at the risk of starting a barney, I can name more GM tunes than I can Joni Mitchell, and I don’t think I’m particularly musically ill educated.

      • Is this much more than a bit of office politics between a couple of journalists? Paphides doesn’t really call out anything in his article. He spins out a story of his adolescence and then tells us that Andy Kershaw didn’t find it interesting. This still rankles ten years later. He finishes off with a dig at Kershaw’s very public and bitter divorce. George Michael isn’t mentioned at all.

        I don’t see what Kershaw did was so bad. He says he doesn’t agree with some other people’s opinions of George Michael, and the sincerity of some reactions. Even a friend of mine, a fan of George Michael from the early days, thought some of the coverage, particularly the Guardian’s was over the top. Kershaw’s blog post, which is pretty throwaway, reads more like a dig at the media than the fans.

  48. Kershaw is Peel disciple No.1 and like all blind followers he gets the central message wrong.

    Peel was not a snob, sure he disliked plenty of things but it was open season on his show. Whether it was Musical Youth, Altered Images, The Fall, Bastard Squad or Toads On Keratin – they got airtime because he liked them as pop music.

    He was also the first to play Wham on R1 (which Rhodri Marsden mentioned on Twitter ) and was recently spotted on BBC4 TOTP repeats introducing their debut on the show with visible excitement. I’m not a Peel acolyte either but he had the warmth and wit that Kershaw has always been lacking.

    Kershaw by saying ‘he wasn’t exactly Hank Williams was he?’ Is falling into that age old “if it isn’t authentic, important or mean something to me then it’s not worthy” trap.
    Music and musicians latches onto us for a myriad of reasons and very few of them because we see them as vital to the artwork.

    George is being mourned for many reasons but mainly because something he did touched the listener and made them think or smile or dance or cry or forget their problems for a while.

    Paphides may also be a bit of a knob but his obituary piece of George Michael was a great piece of writing. Kershaw’s little spleen venting comes from a nastier place that is probably the reason he’s residing in the “where are they now” file.

  50. Good points about the “warmth and wit” of the Venerable Peel. Kershaw is a mere Darth Maul to Peel’s Yoda. The Force does not seem to be with him too much these days which is sad.

    • IIRC, Kershaw was less than fulsome with the expected kind words when Peel died, and repeated the same mean-spirited analysis in his autobiography. To be honest, I think his world-view and possible kinder nature have been severely distorted by his personal problems, but then again some accounts of him in earlier student days indicate that he’s always been a bit chippy.

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