Hot damn! Everybody let's play the GEORGE MICHAEL TRACKS POLL results thread

Anyway I'm falling asleep here, and running out of battery to boot. I'll stop at 25 for now, and pick it back up tomorrow.

Sounds good. Great rundown so far. I've had so much fun listening to all his stuff again over the last couple of weeks because of this poll.

Yeah seconded.

It's fabulous. Whenever it comes on my headphones, I just can't keep from strutting.

Were you the number one?

Somehow I never knew "Killer..." was from a live EP and I had always thought the crowd noises were added for effect. I was out of the country in 93 and wasn't really following pop culture, but I heard it on the radio a lot. I voted for it.

Let us pause to remember Michael Buble's version of "Kissing a Fool."

A Ray Of Sunshine was my no.4 I think. The only thing that lets down the earlier Wham stuff is a certain thinness to the production. It doesn't have the craft that kicked in a year or so later, but it makes up for it by being full of life.

here's a choice youtube comment for "Killer..."

Anthony Lucasfor 2 months ago
I loved him in ER and Oceans Eleven. What an actor! And now I see he sings too.

enjoying the rollout so far, good work

thoughts:

Flawless is such a jam

Something to Save reminds me of the Smiths

Vocals on Shoot the Dog are genius

They really are. It almost feels pointless to say the vocals on x or y are brilliant, because I can't think of any track where he doesn't absolutely nail it. True Faith, maybe.

True that

does everyone who has voted for Flawless know the original?

I do not. Checking it out now. It's ... fairly similar.

As in: it's that track ft George Michael. He brings a hell of a lot to it in fairness - there's many a decent house track could turn into something spectacular with that degree of care & attention.

/It's fabulous. Whenever it comes on my headphones, I just can't keep from strutting./

Were you the number one?

No that was me. Played the first album to death when it came out. Only went back to it because of the poll and found the singles less likable than the other tracks. Hence no wham rap or bad boys on my list. Young guns placed as I love the ending. The beginning of NLTSITL is great too. Turrrn the music up...

I was a huge fan of The Ones' original version of Flawless before GM came out with his rendition. I didn't vote for it here because it's always felt more like theirs than his to me since I first fell in love with the original.

Same here.

at the time I thought it was a bit weird that GM did a cover of a house song, these days I just think his version is great in its own right

he's a good cover artist, look forward to seeing how high ICMYLM will place

I also appreciate it now, but it did feel weird at the time especially since The Ones' track had only been out for a year or two. He basically just put vocals over it, but then again why not. I'm sure there's other examples. Beyoncé's "Run The World" comes to mind.

http://s19.postimg.org/9l709ylib/25_Man.jpg

25. I'm Your Man
106 points, five votes
single, 1985

not anymore

http://s19.postimg.org/ujd681lcz/24_Hard.jpg

24. Hard Day
109 points, five votes
from Faith, 1987

This ended up being the only Faith cut to make my ballot

TOO LOW:

39. Star People
35. I Want Your Sex
29. The Edge of Heaven
25. I'm Your Man

TOO HIGH:

31. Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)
26. Killer/Papa Was A Rollin' Stone

Not a massive fan of I'm Your Man. It's probably my least favourite Wham single.

Hard Day is a good one. Always thought it was his attempt to do something similar to Scritti Politti's Cupid & Psyche.

"hard day" is wayyyyyyyyyyyy too low

if you're gonna do it do it right

http://s19.postimg.org/qpjpyw40z/23_Amazing.jpg

23. Amazing
116 points, seven votes
from Patience, 2005

i think it's amazing!

wasn't able to post during the rundown yesterday so:

"i knew you were waiting (for me)": i didn't vote for this but i think i should've? i mean it's the emptiest glossiest waiting room narada michael walden production holding together a grooveless faux-gospel song and it's somehow totally thrilling regardless, prob, i'm guessing, bc of aretha and george
"older": didn't vote for this either and, like most of the singles from older, i'm stunned that it was a single and was successful in a ton of markets. to its credit i can't ever decide what the chorus is, there are like five. beautiful muted trumpet playing too
"star people": the original is still kind of inaccessible to me and feels weirdly mean, though it grooves; the single version is a rave up
"flawless": yesssss. love the original, was surprised when i listened to patience for the first time last week that it was that "flawless." tbh i was worried that no patience tracks beyond "amazing" would place.

i get how it maybe felt weirdly pointless at the time that george would sing over a year-old house song but he just stacks incredible melodies and harmonies on top of it

http://s19.postimg.org/d67h6xffn/21_Tropicana.jpg

21=. Club Tropicana
122 points, seven votes
from Fantastic, 1983

where's 22

21 is a tie. I didn't put the = sign on the pic for fear of diluting the purity of the image.

Club Tropicana is so classic. Those harmonies! That video!

Starting to worry that Precious Box missed out. Can't see it being higher than some of the songs that have already placed.

They got absolutely pilloried for it didn't they? In my mind it couldn't be as vacuous as was believed, so it had to be a critique of Sun City or somewhere like that (if there was anywhere 'like that'). Wikipedia elevates it to a satire on Club 18-30, which'll do I suppose.

The video does a great job of capturing how joyful the song is. I love it.

ahh ok :)

http://s19.postimg.org/s3fy7xso3/21_Monkey.jpg

21=. Monkey
122 points, six votes
from Faith, 1987

what kind of club serves drinks for free?

AYAYAYAYAYAYA

All that's missing is the sea,
But don't worry, you can suntan!

Always thought suntanning was a very poor replacement for the sea...

nonsense lyrics, great song

the Jan & Lewis remix of "Monkey" is one of the pinnacle of Western civ.

pinnacles too

I haven't managed to get all the images done, so I'll do another few and leave the top fifteen or so for tomorrow. Right now we move into the top twenty, with what might be George's finest vocal performance...

http://s19.postimg.org/twiuw9dur/20_Child.jpg

20. Jesus to a Child
146 points, seven votes
from Older, 1996

I loved "I'm Your Man" when it came out, I thought the chorus was really exciting. Now it kind of feels like he was trying to make "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" part 2. Does anybody remember the extended mix that had that weird high pitch spoken part in the middle?

I had no idea "Monkey" was more liked than "I Want Your Sex". I don't hate it, but it's not my favorite.

Half the time I remember to play it I think it's pretty and boring.