George Michael

The idea of pop stardom fundamentally changed in the 1980s, in part because of ...

“Within the period of recording Faith, I fell in love for the very first time,” Michael said in 2010. The Jam and Lewis reworking of “Monkey” isn’t exactly a remix; the duo built a whole new backing track and had Michael re-record his vocals. As if that weren’t enough, the LP’s other two singles, “I Want Your Sex” and “Kissing a Fool,” cracked the Top 5. While writing and recording Faith, Michael began thinking about himself as being in the same league as Michael Jackson and Prince. “I absolutely wanted to be in the same stratosphere as them, definitely,” Michael said in 2010. Michael said he was “massively unhappy and lonely” when he wrote Faith. He believed those feelings made their way into the songs and struck a chord with listeners—even if the material was extremely commercial. I know when something resonates, and one of my saving graces is that I can hear something when I stumble upon it.” Porter was going to reset the machines, but Michael liked the odd noise, and they wound up using it during the song’s intro. Michael began recording the album that would become Faith in the late summer of 1986 at SARM West Studios in London, but he was constantly hounded by fans. With Faith, Michael made history by becoming the first white male solo artist to reach No. 1 on what was then known as Billboard’s Top Black Albums chart (and has since been renamed the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums). That particular triumph meant a lot to Michael, who grew up loving soul music. Gone was the goofy guy in the short shorts and fingerless yellow gloves seen in the music video for 1984’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” Here was a stubbly dude in a biker jacket and aviators singing mature songs about sex and love. I wanted to be in that vein but, mostly, I wanted to make music as good as theirs.” With the advent of MTV, visually minded artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Prince suddenly had the opportunity to rule the culture as no artists had ever done before.