Eight songs George Michael couldn’t live without
Most fairweather fans tend to see George Michael as the man behind some of the more glamorous pop music of the 20th century. Both in Wham! and his solo career, Michael’s propensity for hooks has been unrivalled, but there’s always been more to him than the slightly bluesy pop singer that sang about having faith and wanting your sex. Outside of his back catalogue of classics, Michael was an eclectic fan of all strands of music.
When appearing on BBC 4’s Desert Island Discs, Michael showed off a collection of songs that he loved, starting with ‘Love is a Losing Game’ by Amy Winehouse. Michael has always been known for a similar style as Michael with a bluesy foundation, leading to Michael calling her one of the best female voices he’s ever heard.
Then again, Michael didn’t stay in the modern world for very long, pointing out the song ‘Do the Strand’ by Roxy Music as one of his favourites. When talking about his love for the band, it always came back to the sexual tension of Bryan Ferry, as Michael explains: “At both ends of the spectrum, Bryan Ferry’s made some of the sexiest music of the last 30 years. It’s so original, so sexy, and so insistent.”
Of course, Michael never had any parameters around what constitutes a good song, as evidenced by his inclusion of ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley. After discussing his interest in art-rock, Michael still loved the power of a great pop song, continuing, “An amazing song is an amazing song. Occasionally something left of field comes through, and people see it for what it is, which is one of those old classics.”
That’s not to say Michael was one for leaving his old loves behind by any means. Across some of his other picks, he included some of the biggest names of electronic music, such as Pet Shop Boys and Goldfrapp, each of whom was pivotal in bringing the glossy sounds that Michael used to the mainstream in their respective decades.
As Michael was starting to fade away in the wake of his second solo record, Listen Without Prejudice, he noted being shell-shocked when he heard the rise of grunge for the first time. When describing the sound of Nirvana, Michael was floored by the sheer size of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, remarking, “This is the best-produced rock record in the history of rock. It changed everything in America overnight because it’s a phenomenal record.”
Instead of the glossy synthesisers and lavish choirs that Michael had on his records, the size of Andy Wallace’s mix of the grunge classic is still impacting the way most rock records are made today. As Michael entered the 21st century, though, he still found some phenomenal songs when listening to hip-hop.
Rounding out his picks was Kanye West’s ‘Gold Digger’, with Michael remembering, “There are some records that I can’t not move to, and this is one of them. The lyric also makes me laugh.” Despite the song suffering from some misogynistic lyrics and Kanye West smearing his ‘Kanye West’-ness over everything, it remains one of his more pop-friendly productions, complete with various horns, scratches, and Jamie Foxx reprising his role of Ray Charles on the hook.
Despite the traditional lens that most people tend to look at George Michael through, half of his selections point to the student of music that he always was. Even though it might not have been cool for him to be a fan of a handful of these artists, nothing could stop the power of a good song in Michael’s mind.
George Michael’s favourite songs:
- ‘Love is a Losing Game’ – Amy Winehouse
- ‘Do The Strand’ – Roxy Music
- ‘Crazy’ – Gnarls Barkley
- ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ – Nirvana
- ‘Being Boring’ – Pet Shop Boys
- ‘Paper Bag’ – Goldfrapp
- ‘Gold Digger’ – Kanye West
- ‘Going to a Town’ – Rufus Wainwright
