George Michael is dead...

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

...more to come later I'm sure

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38432862

[Himu]

I don't know who these guys like Leonard Cohen and George Michael even are but RIP. What were their black music equivalences?

[VomKriege]

Jeez man he wasn't that old.
Not a big fan but the following was decent, could have been a Viktor Dupleix track.

I don't know who these guys like Leonard Cohen and George Michael

Not to speak ill of the dead but Cohen was by far the most important of the two.

[Human Snorenado]

I don't know who these guys like Leonard Cohen and George Michael even are but RIP. What were their black music equivalences?

I can understand not knowing who Leonard Cohen is, but George Michael was pretty huge, one of the big video music stars of the 80's, really. Then again I forget that you're younger than me, so maybe that's it.

[PlayDat]

I don't know who these guys like Leonard Cohen and George Michael even are but RIP. What were their black music equivalences?

You never heard Faith?

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Michael sold more than 80 million records worldwide.[6] His 1987 debut solo album, Faith, sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.[7] Michael garnered seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked Michael the 40th most successful artist on the Billboard Hot 100 Top All Time Artists list.[8]

Yep, a totally obscure artist

[Joe Molotov]

[Himu]

Never said George Michael was niche.

I've probably heard a few of his songs but never put song to face. I've certainly heard of him before this.

[thisismyusername]

I've probably heard a few of his songs but never put song to face. I've certainly heard of him before this.

Don't worry, this is the only reason I know George Michael (because some shows referenced it)

[Human Snorenado]

Probably a coinflip between these two for my favorite GM songs.

[Mr Gilhaney]

Last christmas he gave us his heart, this one the rest of his organs. Rip

[Vertigo]

His had his demons for a while, but seriously sad about this. He was an amazing artist. R.I.P

[Rufus]

Last christmas he gave us his heart, this one the rest of his organs. Rip

I was wondering who would make the obvious Last Christmas joke.

[Great Rumbler]

2016, stop.

[ToxicAdam]

George Michael was interesting as he was one of the few white artists to top the r&b charts in the 80s. That never happened because the music was do segregated.

My favorite song of is was Freedom. I feel like it still stands up as a dance track.

[Mr Gilhaney]

Last christmas he gave us his heart, this one the rest of his organs. Rip

I was wondering who would make the obvious Last Christmas joke.

I am ashamed of my deeds and actions.

Surprised he wasn't older than this tbh. Thought he was at least in his 60's.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

George Michael was interesting as he was one of the few white artists to top the r&b charts in the 80s. That never happened because the music was do segregated.

Yup, he was in fact a bit of a trailblazer.



for real though, after watching Keanu this year I binged a bit on his stuff, he was a good pop singer.

[Stoney Mason]

Damn. Rip. I actually liked George Michael quite a bit. Even the wham teeney boper shit.



My favorites.

[Stoney Mason]

Never said George Michael was niche.

I've probably heard a few of his songs but never put song to face. I've certainly heard of him before this.

That's surprising. A few of his songs still receive play on the quiet storm style R&B stations.

[Himu]

Yeah, I've heard Faith and Careless Whisper. I think the Careless Whisper is the only one I've heard the most. Faith was reserved for commercials and I think some movies and bars.

Guess he was one of those artists where I wouldn't know who he is by face or name but if you play one of his songs I'd know.

The sax in Careless Whisper is classic.

RIP

[Take My Breh Away]

That video is one of the GOAT music videos. Made fun of himself after his arrest for indecency, but also deliberately fucking with the tabloids and mocking them for being obsessed over people's sex lives. Especially as certain tabloids really went venomous on him for being gay. Also, considering how taboo showing LGBT kisses (Never mind caressing and sex) on TV was at the time, made the video almost "Unplayable" on MTV till after 9pm and a "Censored" version played in the daytime. Still became the most requested video on MTV across the world at the time and played the media like a fiddle.

Now that's how you play the situation to your advantage  

[etiolate]

Careless Whisper is one of my jams. I love to pop it in randomly. I used to have people play it on comms as my intro when playing an online game. It was a bit of a joke, but seriously loved the song.

[Stoney Mason]

If people struggle to remember George Michael then I feel sorry for boy george who seems more niche to me.




I really quite liked him and culture club also.

Being openly gay was insanely tough for most of these guys.

[etiolate]

Somebody has to post it. Greatest Christmas Jam.

[CatsCatsCats]

Shitty, was a great pop talent

[jakefromstatefarm]

Last christmas is my personal WOAT christmas song, I wish we could scrub that track from human history.

[zomgee]

Everything She Wants is such an awesome song. George was a great talent.

[etiolate]

[Samson Manhug]

All great songs. I love George Michael and Wham! Rest in power

[Mupepe]

My favorite from him

[PlayDat]

If it weren't for the Silk Spectre/Nite Owl sex scene in Watchmen, I wouldn't know a single song by Leonard Cohen.  I didn't even know his name until after he died.  I knew of Bowie, but wasn't well acquainted with his work when he passed.  I have a lot of respect for Marvin Minsky, but couldn't develop an emotional attachment due to the nature of his work.  Christina Grimmie's death spooked me.  I wasn't a big fan, but her age and the way she was murdered was really sad.  Phife was the one that got to me the most. 

[Tasty]

[Himu]

If it weren't for the Silk Spectre/Nite Owl sex scene in Watchmen, I wouldn't know a single song by Leonard Cohen.  I didn't even know his name until after he died.  I knew of Bowie, but wasn't well acquainted with his work when he passed.  I have a lot of respect for Marvin Minsky, but couldn't develop an emotional attachment due to the nature of his work.  Christina Grimmie's death spooked me.  I wasn't a big fan, but her age and the way she was murdered was really sad.  Phife was the one that got to me the most.

David Bowie's death tore me apart. I cried multiple times that day and week. Bowie is my favorite musician so it hit really hard.

Prince's death was sad at first because he was so young, but I was unfamiliar with his music. He made his music much harder to access than other musicians. Didn't help that the only Prince songs they played on the radio growing up and still today were Little Red Corvette and 1999 with Purple Rain occasionally. No one I knew were big on Prince besides a few. After his death I went through his music, it didn't really click until I watched Purple Rain though, and I've been obsessed ever since. I started to mourn him when I watched his live shows because I would never get the opportunity to see him live.

Phife's death made me binge Tribe and really hit me like a bullet.

Never heard of Leonard Cohen. Christina's death was fucked up something awful.

[eleuin]

Last christmas is my personal WOAT christmas song, I wish we could scrub that track from human history.

mods help

[Klelk]

I don't know who these guys like Leonard Cohen and George Michael even are but RIP. What were their black music equivalences?

Wtf

[Coax]

That said this will always be my jam:

Puts me in the right mood for some tactical fultoning action.

[ToxicAdam]

Went through a George Michael binge last night and I forgot how much I loved 'Kissing a Fool'. One of those 'unrequited love' songs that tear a whole in you if you let it.

[nudemacusers]

Youtube had Seether's Careless Whisper as the autofill and I went into a seething fit of rage.

Fuck the internet and fuck millennials.

never heard of seether but browsing their tunes they sound like midlife crisis ed hardy dadrock, not stuff millennials would seek out for a listen.

[Positive Touch]

Eagerly awaiting the 3 threads Cindi will make here and on GAF about the greatness of George Michael and Leonard Cohen in about a week, where she tells everyone how stupid they are for not listening to these people she didn't even know about 2 weeks prior, yet most of the world is familiar with.

u mad

[PlayDat]

If it weren't for the Silk Spectre/Nite Owl sex scene in Watchmen, I wouldn't know a single song by Leonard Cohen.  I didn't even know his name until after he died.  I knew of Bowie, but wasn't well acquainted with his work when he passed.  I have a lot of respect for Marvin Minsky, but couldn't develop an emotional attachment due to the nature of his work.  Christina Grimmie's death spooked me.  I wasn't a big fan, but her age and the way she was murdered was really sad.  Phife was the one that got to me the most.

David Bowie's death tore me apart. I cried multiple times that day and week. Bowie is my favorite musician so it hit really hard.

Prince's death was sad at first because he was so young, but I was unfamiliar with his music. He made his music much harder to access than other musicians. Didn't help that the only Prince songs they played on the radio growing up and still today were Little Red Corvette and 1999 with Purple Rain occasionally. No one I knew were big on Prince besides a few. After his death I went through his music, it didn't really click until I watched Purple Rain though, and I've been obsessed ever since. I started to mourn him when I watched his live shows because I would never get the opportunity to see him live.

Phife's death made me binge Tribe and really hit me like a bullet.

Never heard of Leonard Cohen. Christina's death was fucked up something awful.

I felt similarly about Prince.  He had some legitimate beefs with how digital distribution platforms pay artists.

http://mashable.com/2010/07/06/prince-the-internet-is-over/#8XyOLhmz8aqS

I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it, and then they get angry when they can't get it.

That was from before Spotify came to US.  I wouldn't be surprised if the situation has worsened.



The full Arsenio Interview is on YouTube.

[Great Rumbler]

Seether is like a slightly less talented Nickleback.

[tiesto]

My favorite song from him, my roommate in college was obsessed with that song.

Also love this one:



RIP George.

[Himu]

Eagerly awaiting the 3 threads Cindi will make here and on GAF about the greatness of George Michael and Leonard Cohen in about a week, where she tells everyone how stupid they are for not listening to these people she didn't even know about 2 weeks prior, yet most of the world is familiar with.

They don't really interest me, don't worry about it.

Never heard of Leonard Cohen, one of the most respected artists in Canadian and American music history. What.

Did you know who Phife dawg was when he died? Honest question.

[Himu]

If it weren't for the Silk Spectre/Nite Owl sex scene in Watchmen, I wouldn't know a single song by Leonard Cohen.  I didn't even know his name until after he died.  I knew of Bowie, but wasn't well acquainted with his work when he passed.  I have a lot of respect for Marvin Minsky, but couldn't develop an emotional attachment due to the nature of his work.  Christina Grimmie's death spooked me.  I wasn't a big fan, but her age and the way she was murdered was really sad.  Phife was the one that got to me the most.

David Bowie's death tore me apart. I cried multiple times that day and week. Bowie is my favorite musician so it hit really hard.

Prince's death was sad at first because he was so young, but I was unfamiliar with his music. He made his music much harder to access than other musicians. Didn't help that the only Prince songs they played on the radio growing up and still today were Little Red Corvette and 1999 with Purple Rain occasionally. No one I knew were big on Prince besides a few. After his death I went through his music, it didn't really click until I watched Purple Rain though, and I've been obsessed ever since. I started to mourn him when I watched his live shows because I would never get the opportunity to see him live.

Phife's death made me binge Tribe and really hit me like a bullet.

Never heard of Leonard Cohen. Christina's death was fucked up something awful.

I felt similarly about Prince.  He had some legitimate beefs with how digital distribution platforms pay artists.

http://mashable.com/2010/07/06/prince-the-internet-is-over/#8XyOLhmz8aqS

I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it, and then they get angry when they can't get it.

That was from before Spotify came to US.  I wouldn't be surprised if the situation has worsened.



The full Arsenio Interview is on YouTube.

Yeah, the dude really didn't put his stuff on platforms. His music was largely inaccessible, and he would license out his music for large fees so radio didn't really seem to play his stuff either. The result: the only people who listened to Prince were people who already knew Prince. I can respect him as an artist, doing this though. I listened to Purple Rain on Spotify about two years ago. I didn't really think anything of it, but I liked the guitar solos. But watching Purple Rain changes the experience. I think the album is missing something when listened to solely by itself, but placed within the context of the film, I think it's a classic.

[Himu]

Somebody has to post it. Greatest Christmas Jam.

How can Jake hate this? I know this and it's good.

[Himu]

Okay. Listening to the Wham and George Michael songs on Apple Music, and yeah, I know them. Seems I'm more familiar with Wham. Never knew the name of the artists who made these songs, I guess.



Probably my favorite.

RIP.

[tiesto]

Prince gets a good amount of play on the Sirius XM 80's and 90's station (and probably the retro R&B/funk station too but I don't listen to that too much), even before his death. Plus of course there's a lot of crossover with dance music, remixes and such or DJs sneaking his stuff into their sets. Controversy closing a nu disco set =

I'll admit that aside from Hallelujah I didn't know anything about Leonard Cohen, but he's not normally the kind of music I listen to or would be exposed to.

George Michael, you couldn't have lived through the 80's or early 90's without seeing the Faith or Freedom music videos. Hell, even Kelly Kapowski wouldn't shut up about him.

[Himu]

Prince gets a good amount of play on the Sirius XM 80's and 90's station (and probably the retro R&B/funk station too but I don't listen to that too much), even before his death. Plus of course there's a lot of crossover with dance music, remixes and such or DJs sneaking his stuff into their sets. Controversy closing a nu disco set =

I'll admit that aside from Hallelujah I didn't know anything about Leonard Cohen, but he's not normally the kind of music I listen to or would be exposed to.

George Michael, you couldn't have lived through the 80's or early 90's without seeing the Faith or Freedom music videos. Hell, even Kelly Kapowski wouldn't shut up about him.

I don't listen to 80's on 8 or 90's on 9 on Sirius anymore. I found out a long time ago that the 80's station for example only ever played a special brand of pop and didn't represent the full spectrum of 80's music. That said, I listened to the rnb/soul stations and Prince never really popped up on those stations. I'm trying to remember a time they played Prince on the rnb/soul/funk stations and I'm drawing a massive blank. I grew up on listening to two different rnb stations, and the classic one that plays old hits and stuff never played Prince beyond Little Corvette, 1999, Kiss, and the occasional Purple Rain. Meanwhile, everyone played Michael from almost every era.

I never heard a single Leonard Cohen song before his death. Just not the type of music I'd listen to but he certainly seemed talented.

George Michael, I'm quite familiar with Faith and Freedom. Never saw the music videos growing up, but it was impossible not hearing Faith or Freedom once. Seems I'm familiar with his famous songs, but for me he was one of those artists where I'd know their song but not who did it.

[Samson Manhug]

Went to private room karaoke last night and sang all his hits twice

[Stoney Mason]

Prince was too expansive for the R&B stations of the 80's and 90's and he was too black for the rock stations of the same period, and outside of the big hits he was too edgy for the mainstream pop stations of the day. But anybody who was into cool music was into prince.

He kind of fell into a weird hole because of it although he was an mtv staple for a long time. But its also what makes him an amazing artist.

[Himu]

Prince was too expansive for the R&B stations of the 80's and 90's and he was too black for the rock stations of the same period, and outside of the big hits he was too edgy for the mainstream pop stations of the day. But anybody who was into cool music was into prince.

He kind of fell into a weird hole because of it although he was an mtv staple for a long time. But its also what makes him an amazing artist.

In the 90's all I knew about Prince was that he changed his name to The Artist. This could be because I was a kid at the time though, but I was obsessed with Michael Jackson during those same years I guess.

[VomKriege]

Prince was too expansive for the R&B stations of the 80's and 90's and he was too black for the rock stations of the same period, and outside of the big hits he was too edgy for the mainstream pop stations of the day. But anybody who was into cool music was into prince.

He kind of fell into a weird hole because of it although he was an mtv staple for a long time. But its also what makes him an amazing artist.

In the 90's all I knew about Prince was that he changed his name to The Artist. This could be because I was a kid at the time though, but I was obsessed with Michael Jackson during those same years I guess.

His war with his label shadowed his actual music quite a bit by the mid-90 and so did, as mentioned earlier, his crusade (maybe Quixotic, maybe justified or both) to control the broadcast and licensing of his music -I may be wrong but I remember my father mentioning this to me and he started even before Youtube & al. to buy back some of the video footage he appeared on-. He didn't really suffer from it but he probably forfeited some of the exposure of capital-S stardom in the process.

[Himu]

Prince was too expansive for the R&B stations of the 80's and 90's and he was too black for the rock stations of the same period, and outside of the big hits he was too edgy for the mainstream pop stations of the day. But anybody who was into cool music was into prince.

He kind of fell into a weird hole because of it although he was an mtv staple for a long time. But its also what makes him an amazing artist.

In the 90's all I knew about Prince was that he changed his name to The Artist. This could be because I was a kid at the time though, but I was obsessed with Michael Jackson during those same years I guess.

His war with his label shadowed his actual music quite a bit by the mid-90 and so did, as mentioned earlier, his crusade (maybe Quixotic, maybe justified or both) to control the broadcast and licensing of his music -I may be wrong but I remember my father mentioning this to me and he started even before Youtube & al. to buy back some of the video footage he appeared on-. He didn't really suffer from it but he probably forfeited some of the exposure of capital-S stardom in the process.

Seems to me the only way you could get into Prince was if you grew up in the 80's - and I was far too young for that - or if you had a parent who was into Prince, and my parents were not into Prince. The irony of going after his name so hard is that after a certain point, he was more known about that than his actual music.

What did your father say about Prince? That sentence was written oddly.

Hope Stro is triggering from this convo. Get off my tits. I've never claimed to be an expert about anything, this was your supposition and projection.

[VomKriege]

Yeah sorry that was a bit of a runaway sentence. My father mentioned to me a couple times that Prince was buying the rights to a lot of the video footage he appeared in to control it, and that was around or a little bit after the whole "Artist formerly known as..." time. I mention it because it's of note IMO that he started all this if not before the advent of everyday internet, at the very least certainly before easily accessible video platforms.

It maybe hurt his stature then, but I think his posterity will be enhanced for it.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_albums_discography

Prince has sold over 100 million records worldwide,[7] including 48.9 million certified units in the United States, and over 10 million records in the United Kingdom. Prince has been ranked as the 21st most successful act of all time,[8] the 26th most successful chart artist worldwide,[9] including 27 overall number-one entries,[10] and being the most successful chart act of the 1980s,[11] and tenth most successful chart act of the 1990s.[12]

LOL, what's with these people in this thread who claim artists who sell 80-100 million albums are obscure?  Seems like most people knew who they were if they were one of the best selling artists of their era.

[Himu]

It did, plus most of his 90's stuff was inconsistent IMO. Like, why go through the hoops to listen to Prince when a lot of his newer stuff was weaker is what a lot of people thought. I got into Prince mostly due to torrents, where I decided to check out any musician with a following to see if they were for me. George Michael on the other hand was a mainstream favorite for a while, I remember my cousins and uncle being big fans. It was hard not to be exposed to his songs.

Don't know a single family member into George Michael.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_albums_discography

Prince has sold over 100 million records worldwide,[7] including 48.9 million certified units in the United States, and over 10 million records in the United Kingdom. Prince has been ranked as the 21st most successful act of all time,[8] the 26th most successful chart artist worldwide,[9] including 27 overall number-one entries,[10] and being the most successful chart act of the 1980s,[11] and tenth most successful chart act of the 1990s.[12]

LOL, what's with these people in this thread who claim artists who sell 80-100 million albums are obscure?

Point me to a point in this thread where people called Prince obscure.

[CatsCatsCats]

Well I don't know a single family member into Nas, doesn't make him obscure

[Himu]

Well I don't know a single family member into Nas, doesn't make him obscure

When did anyone say George Michael was obscure?!

[CatsCatsCats]

I uh... came into this convo late and I think I'm just gonna leave early too

[Himu]

Admitting you don't know who an artist is != saying the artist is obscure. To my memory, you didn't know who is Sade is, but I don't think you would say she is obscure.