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

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.

"Jesus to a Child," that is

"hand to mouth": i guess this is gonna place under "look at your hands" but i prefer it in terms of underrated faith side 2 jams, the climbing/descending synth throughout, etc.
"i want your sex": i LOVE this song but it was pushed off my ballot at the last minute. part 2 really enhances part one by accessing the stevie wonder jam buried within the v stiff (heh) electro funk song
"something to save": my least favorite song on lwp (it's just melodically very narrow) but beautifully sung, very beatles-y too with the sudden cello flourishes
"shoot the dog": what a fuckin weird song
"the strangest thing": the only song i regretted not voting for, it also got pushed off my ballot at the last minute. george's best "boring" song; the house-y remix he made for the single is very nice but doesn't really add anything essential, the original is so full of smoke

http://s19.postimg.org/lsaqrirfn/19_Guns.jpg

19. Young Guns (Go For It!)
150 points, six votes, one number one
from Fantastic, 1983

This always seemed like the weakest of the early singles, but I absolutely adored the Top Of The Pops performance posted on the voting thread and I love the track now. Bad Boys has taken its place as the runt for me now.

I've never heard Club Fantastic Megamix though

TOO LOW

when i was putting together my ballot i didn't listen to fantastic which is a shame bc i would've hella voted for "ray of sunshine," holy shit

I'm still trying to confirm that he's actually saying "This young gun says abortion pays" at the end of the second set of verses. That's how I've heard it all these years and no one believes me.

Either way, filthy pleasure.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, September 8, 2005 6:24 PM (eleven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So Hard Day could be the highest non single?

i was like "hard day was a single!!!! i bought a copy of it a few years ago!!!!" but turns out that was just a promo single for the shep pettibone mix

I finally get Andrew Ridgeley's function: besides being the crucial inspiration for starting Wham!, he and Michael's camaraderie looks unforced and I can believe they remain good friends.

he made George more human and -- crucially when it was needed -- hetero.

I'll give a quick shout-out to Pepsi and Shirley here - they had a small but important part to play too.

As a closeted kid in the 80's I always knew me he wasn't hetero, with or without Andrew.

http://s19.postimg.org/p0f84kdpf/18_Box.jpg

18. Precious Box
155 points, seven votes
from Patience, 2005

YEAH

Patience is the only album I wasn't that familiar with before voting so this poll is helping me discover it. Nice to see a lot of people are into it.

Thanks to Brad and this thread for leading me to this fantastic song that I've played all week.

jeez why didn't i put "amazing" higher, everything about it is...amazing

19. Young Guns (Go For It!)

Too high.

patience is one of the best sounding records i've ever heard

Of course it was Dee And Shirley until Make It Big.

patience is one of the best sounding records i've ever heard

It's true. Because it's in the middle of his prolonged standards phase, it took me a long time to realise that it's got barely any MOR to it at all.

I think he means the mix. It's true -- for an early dance '00s record it has surprising warmth and fullness; it reminds me of EBTG's Temperamental.

http://s19.postimg.org/n9w732w6b/17_Outside.jpg

17. Outside
157 points, seven votes
single, 1998

yes I've been bad

I found the redhead here very enchanting. I still do.

Lord, how I adore Outside. It was my no.3.

http://s19.postimg.org/6an8ntkyr/16_Pain.jpg

16. Heal the Pain
157 points, seven votes, one number one
from Listen Without Prejudice vol.1, 1990

That'll do for tonight. He's scuppered my screenshots plan for no.20 down, hence him and Macca up there (they redid Heal the Pain as a duet at some point) - I'd forgotten that the LWP tracks had no videos.

whoa that's pretty high for "heal the pain"!

It's a pretty song.

god "jesus to a child" is so beautiful. i didn't vote for it, and if i had voted for a pretty bossa nova-y george track it would've been "you have been loved," but wow

Hooray for Precious Box which was my number three. What a gorgeous song. The strings are everything.

I was hoping Outside would make the top 10. I love everything about that song. He handled that whole situation so perfectly.

I voted for "Heal the Pain."

i did too i think

oh wait nope, it got cut :\

I'm guessing "Mother's Pride" won't make it. An odd song for him to record in 1990, as if he was trying for respectability with a protest song, then it actually got airplay during the Gulf war.

i voted for "mother's pride" really high, it's sooooooooooooo beautiful

you are doing an excellent job Ismael Klata! don't know George Michael too well outside the singles, so this is an education. thanks for the Spotify as well.

I finally get Andrew Ridgeley's function: besides being the crucial inspiration for starting Wham!, he and Michael's camaraderie looks unforced and I can believe they remain good friends.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 21:29 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he made George more human and -- crucially when it was needed -- hetero.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 21:30 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'll give a quick shout-out to Pepsi and Shirley here - they had a small but important part to play too.

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 21 September 2016 21:32 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've been thinking about this non-exchange, and about the significance of Wham! being a band, rather than George starting off as a solo act. I think it's crucial - imagine the strain on him had he been this ultra-talented 22-year-old sole-centre of the nation's' attention, with a *dark secret*. It was evidently too much to bear when he did take it on, with five years' experience, and then he went off the rails often enough in later years anyway.

Also, I was only a kid at the time and too young to be really paying attention - but it did feel to me like Wham! were *an event*, rather than one-guy-plus-a-backdrop. It must have really helped.

Yeah, whether or not Ridgeley had much creative input, having two guys introduces a very different dynamic than a solo act

I #1'd Heal the Pain, a simple and beautiful song, quite an eye opener in the period a few years back when I got proper into GM

Has a good message imo

Are we getting more tracks today Ismael?