Aug. 17, 2026
George Michael's Top 5 Songs + a Discussion about his Passing
George Michael's catalog spans solo albums, Wham!'s full run, and a long list of one-off duets, so narrowing it down to five songs apiece is no easy task. On this episode of 50 for 50, hosts Garrett Gonzales and Mike Joseph each bring their Top 5 George Michael songs to the table and defend their picks — a mix that spans "One More Try," "I Want Your Sex," "They Won't Go When I Go," "Careless Whisper," "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," "Freedom! '90," and more.
From there, the guys run a "Rock With It, Stop With It" round pulling deep cuts from both George Michael's solo catalog and Wham!'s discography — the songs that hold up versus the ones that haven't aged as well. The episode closes with a real conversation about George Michael's death: the coroner's finding of dilated cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, and a fatty liver, and just how much his health had actually deteriorated in the years before, from a near-fatal bout of pneumonia in 2011 through a string of hospital stays that followed.
This episode pairs with our full Faith deep dive, where Garrett and Mike cover George Michael's entire career: the Wham! years, the making of Faith, the Grammy history, and a full track-by-track dive on the album itself.
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[SPEAKER_01]: they're back with the top five talking about George Michael now there's a pretty hefty rock with it or stop with it and this doesn't mean that these songs may not also be on your top five but there are just a lot of songs because of his popularity that got and in some cases still do get a decent amount of airplay but we're
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think some people could say they were overplayed quite a bit, but I'm actually interested in what you think as far as some of these.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I only put this here because it is so funny and hindsight to listen to, but WAM RAP.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Rock with it or stop with it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean,
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to actively listen to it, but I had a many year period of actively listening.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I know I could recite that song top to bottom, it's funny, but it's not a great piece of music.
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[SPEAKER_01]: No.
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[SPEAKER_01]: No.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I imagine it was probably pretty goofy to see them perform that song.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, Google, you can Google those performances, it is pretty goofy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we talked about this a lot on the episode covering faith, but where are you in 2026 with I want your sex?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Rock with it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's on my list.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, careless whisper on my list.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I
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[SPEAKER_01]: was like, I was thinking about this and going like, you know, careless whisper, kind.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And some of it might just be the title that people don't like in the sacks, but if that's all not like the sacks.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If that song comes on the radio, I'm not changing the channel.
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[SPEAKER_00]: No, not at all.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not at all.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's one of those songs that I feel like I could hear once a day for the rest of my life and not get sick of it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What about wake me up before you go go?
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[SPEAKER_00]: rock with it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There was definitely a period of time when I did not like that song, but I've grown into appreciating it for it's from a craft craftsmanship perspective.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good song, even if it's goofy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What about now we don't hear this song throughout the entire year, like some of these other ones.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But what about last Christmas?
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[SPEAKER_01]: I still love it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I like that song too.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I don't take that one.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Father figure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, rock with it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That missed my list and I'm sad about it.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The title track from the album we just talked about, faith, that's it like wake me up before you go go that was a song that I disliked for a long time I think over like it just got super super overplayed and there was a period of years where I was like I will start the album at father figure I don't even want to hear faith But I listen to it now Club trope a canna Silly song I don't go out of my way to listen to it
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[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, yeah, it's pretty silly.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Um, all right.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Let's get to our top five.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was only after I put this thing together.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, I mean, I think WAM songs are on the table.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even realize that there's only one song from faith on my top five.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, well.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: When I put it together, I was like, interesting.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I didn't even think about it as I was, as that was happening.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But, all right, let's kick it off number five.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What is your number five?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, number five?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, number five?
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[SPEAKER_00]: My number five is Freedom 90.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, again, like it's in Anthem, it's such a powerful song, particularly in retrospect, when you kind of realize it, the type of freedom that he was singing about, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, you know, it's really autobiographical.
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[SPEAKER_00]: There is, uh, if you go into YouTube, there is a performance from the MTV 10th anniversary special, um, in 1991, which is crazy, because MTV just celebrates 45th anniversary, uh, at the beginning of this month, um,
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[SPEAKER_00]: And it's him.
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[SPEAKER_00]: and like a choir like a gospel choir singing freedom and it is like it will make the hair on your arm stand up.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's insanely good.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So check that out.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's my number one, by the way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, right on.
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[SPEAKER_00]: My number one.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, sorry to spoil your list.
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[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm glad that we have something on the on the same list.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so my number five is one more
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[SPEAKER_01]: one more try or sorry one more try that's my that's my only song faith yeah well so hilariously one more try is my number one oh so we flip left that's awesome yeah so what what makes that song number one it's
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[SPEAKER_00]: I was a very emotional 12 year old.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm an emotional 50 year old.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess that should be no surprise.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That song just hit me in the fields real, real hard.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't understand the lyrics back when the song was popular.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But like there was something about it hit me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And now that I understand it, the lyrics are kind of about somebody who talks you how to fall in love and then they leave.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, man.
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[SPEAKER_00]: That's all again.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It hits me in the fields.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I earlier this maybe is last year.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I went to karaoke with a bunch of friends and my friend Jason Green who some of you listening to might know he is an editor at pitchfork well known author saying one more try and like not that shit out the park like I was because that's a very very difficult song to sing you have to have chops in order to sing a song like that but yeah I mean for so many reasons
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[SPEAKER_00]: eating emotional song.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Has he ever said, is that about a singular person?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Is it just about a bunch of different people?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Is it about the idea of it?
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if he's ever, I don't remember reading or seeing anything where he's like spoken specifically about that song.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I can't imagine singing a song with those lyrics that way and not have it be about something very personal that is happening to you.
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[SPEAKER_00]: uh... what about your number four are my number four is from the older album uh... it's fast love uh... which it's a good song it's a great song uh... shout out to patrice rush in like he he doesn't sample forget me not but he interpolates it yes uh... and
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[SPEAKER_00]: for all the people who didn't know George Michael was gay at the time that this song came out it is very obvious upon listening to the lyrics that this song is about cruising and guys don't go cruising for women, guys go cruising for other guys yeah um so it is you know in retrospect
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of people were like, oh, that's what that song is about.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, when that song came out, I was 19, I was, you know, this is pre-apps pre-internet, the way that you met other men was either go to bars or you cruise in public.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And so that song as someone who's really just kind of
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[SPEAKER_01]: My number four is my favorite wham song, which is everything she wants.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Great song.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's kind of, haul a notesy a little bit.
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[SPEAKER_00]: A little bit, it's a little funkier.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, not funkier, but it's got a little bit more like, I don't know.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I can't say exactly what the thing that it has, it makes it different from hauling notes, but I, you know, I get what you're picking up, but it is still a little different.
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[SPEAKER_01]: What is your number three?
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm number three is careless whisper.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's I mean, you can't that sex is just like it's the most legendary saxophone part in a record like in history.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He he like tried out a bunch of people for that part too.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and again, just I think
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[SPEAKER_00]: One thing people don't talk about a lot when they're talking about George Michael is how hard his songs are to sing, and I've tried to sing Carol whisper at karaoke a couple of times, and, you know, and get through about two thirds of the song before it's like, all right, yeah, this is, this is, this is meant for somebody with a bit more of a constitution than I am.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Number three for me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: This is a little cheesy, but I knew you were waiting with a Ritha.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's just an iconic like pairing to me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like a Ritha.
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[SPEAKER_01]: near the end of her moments, right?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like she's the late 80s.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, she does have that come back album with Lauren which is pretty good, but still not the peak of her powers, but still pretty iconic performance, I thought.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_01]: All right, what about number two?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Number two for me was I want you sex?
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a fun record.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's funky.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It is very much like, you know, it's, I think it's widely documented that George was kind of a horn dog.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, this, this is sort of evidence of that, you know, he would have, him and Prince would have made a great record together.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They would have both been wearing their ass out of their pants.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, exactly.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If they could have been that free.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
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[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
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[SPEAKER_01]: My number two is they won't go when I go, which is his humor of the Stevie Wonder song.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And when I first listen to this, not not when I first but like when I re-listen to that album, I was like, man, he just, like, since it almost exactly the same, like it doesn't change anything.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then in
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[SPEAKER_01]: I went, oh, okay, I get it now.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he's singing from like a certain place within him.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, it's a great, like it's, you know, it's very similar to Steven.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When you, if you can sing very similar to Steven, like that in and itself in and of itself, I think is like pretty insane.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like to sound even vaguely like Stevie Wonder.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And he like, you could make a whole George Michael album of Stevie Covers.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, he did, they won't go.
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[SPEAKER_00]: When I go, he did loves and need of love today.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He did as he did, you and I, I think he did pass on paradise.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like he's done a whole bunch of Stevie Covers.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Did you ever see the documentary that he was making before he passed away, which they eventually did put out and I think it was like 2022.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Stevie's on that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, like, I'm not going to say that Stevie was this giant official noddle.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He was very generic in kind of his statements about George, but he's on it because George did that song.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I just found it so cool because
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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, on artists at the level of George Michael and we talked about him like standing toe to toe with MJ, but then just being like, you know what, I love all of these guys.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then covering their songs because it's like, why wouldn't I cover this like this great Stevie Wonder like that aspect of, you know, using your your gift and not being
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[SPEAKER_01]: working with people who are at your level or above your level or whatever.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's the part of Georgia's story that I think I really, really enjoyed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He, he loved to collaborate and, you know, I think, you know, Stevie to me is the greatest songwriter that ever lived.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And Stevie's worst song is better than like 80% of people's best song.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm going to be basic and be, say, I just called to say that that's what you're getting.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, that song came on the other day and I sang every lyric, I know that a whole song, front to back.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So if Stevie like praises you, like that's like, that's like being blessed, like you got the magic wand, like that, like touch you on the head.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, and I think it says something about who you are, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, George Michael was incredibly special and honored Stevie Wonder and Stevie Wonder honored him back, which I think makes him even more special, but yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, I wish that they would have gotten the chance to collaborate.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And who knows, the way Stevie is, there might even be something sitting around somewhere,
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[SPEAKER_00]: where they might have done a song together at some point who the hell knows.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so we got to your number one already.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So, I did want to talk a little bit about that documentary.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It is crazy because
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[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's his voice, he's narrating, he's telling the story.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then as they're finishing the production as when he passes away, we didn't really cover his death all that much, almost at all, on the faith episode, but I kind of wanted to talk about it here, the drug abuse being drug analca hall, I think.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Being really the reason why he passes at the age of 53,
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[SPEAKER_00]: So sad man like it's sad and I mean, I think there's a little bit more to it, you know, there had been suggestions that he took his own life, you know, he passed away either on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, I think his mother passed away also on Christmas Eve and a couple of years later his sister passed away on either Christmas Eve or Christmas day.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, which is like really horrible coincidence, um, but, you know, George, you know, the sad thing is that
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I've been thinking about this a lot lately, like what leads people to addiction, right?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And you start using substances to kind of fix a hole, to cover up a hole, to make up for something that you're not getting, whether you're not getting love or not getting support or like the world is heavy and you need something to cope.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like people don't necessarily use drugs because like it's fun and I want to do this.
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[SPEAKER_00]: They're
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[SPEAKER_00]: It's self-medication, you know what I'm saying?
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[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that there was a lot that he needed to self-medicate for, and I'm sure he went to therapy.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I know Rebecca, he went to rehab a whole bunch of times, but I just think it got to a point where like the pain was too much, and he was, you know, again, like,
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[SPEAKER_00]: He got so bad.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He was crashing his car into things and, you know, he went to jail and, you know, all this stuff.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was just like them and, like, I hope that you get out of your own way.
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[SPEAKER_00]: But I also understand why you have not gotten out of your own way.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I just, just the research that I have for, for kind of the end of his, of his life.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So 20, or 2006 to 2008 face the string of drug related arrest and cautions, part of his well documented drug with addiction, November, December 2011, hospitalized for nearly a month.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The pneumonia thing, I forgot about that.
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[SPEAKER_01]: With pneumonia.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He later said, Dr.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Spent three weeks keeping him alive.
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[SPEAKER_01]: and reports describe him needing a tracheotomy and time in a coma in intensive care, discharge around Christmas looking gaunt and shorter breath, and later joked about wanting to write a song called perhaps about the near-death experience.
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[SPEAKER_01]: 2013 hospitalized for two weeks after falling from a moving car on the M1 and suffering ahead injury.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And you don't fall out of moving cars too.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You throw yourself.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, cars.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like maybe unless it's an action movie or something.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
17:40.380 --> 17:42.342
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't bad boy's five.
17:42.482 --> 17:42.823
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
17:43.904 --> 17:48.167
[SPEAKER_01]: May 2014 take into a London hospital by ambulance for several days.
17:48.207 --> 17:50.629
[SPEAKER_01]: His team never confirmed the reason.
17:51.750 --> 17:57.695
[SPEAKER_01]: 2014, 2015 persistent and denied reports, placed him at a Swiss rehab clinic.
17:58.236 --> 18:06.562
[SPEAKER_01]: And described repeated struggles with drug use in the spirit, alongside growing public concern over his reclusiveness and weight.
18:07.415 --> 18:12.337
[SPEAKER_01]: And then like you said, December 25th, 2016, found dead in his home.
18:13.037 --> 18:27.303
[SPEAKER_01]: He died in his sleep, and the research, at least, says the coroner ruled the cause was natural, dilated cardio, myopathy.
18:27.363 --> 18:32.485
[SPEAKER_01]: So the weakened heart, the enlarged heart inflammation.
18:34.193 --> 18:35.233
[SPEAKER_01]: and a fatty liver.
18:35.894 --> 18:43.276
[SPEAKER_01]: So his heart had been failing for some time, a slow deterioration, consistent with an pneumonia thing that you would mention.
18:43.517 --> 18:43.757
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
18:44.537 --> 18:46.838
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it wasn't really a sudden thing.
18:46.858 --> 18:49.959
[SPEAKER_01]: It was more like a long gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual
18:50.339 --> 18:50.539
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
18:50.599 --> 18:53.901
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it just makes me wonder about so many things like that documentary.
18:53.921 --> 18:57.023
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like the George Michael know that he was dying.
18:57.243 --> 19:01.105
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, at the time he made that or did he have plans, you know, to die.
19:01.185 --> 19:08.069
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also the rumor, which I think is partner at the time posted on social saying that George had HIV.
19:08.530 --> 19:10.471
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm.
19:11.011 --> 19:11.752
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know.
19:11.812 --> 19:17.135
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of speculation and obviously when you're famous and you have the resources.
19:18.974 --> 19:21.297
[SPEAKER_00]: your manner of death can be covered up.
19:21.537 --> 19:21.757
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
19:22.418 --> 19:28.824
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so I don't think we'll ever really know why or how he passed away.
19:28.864 --> 19:29.325
[SPEAKER_00]: But I, um,
19:31.038 --> 19:35.221
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel somewhat confident that the version that we were given is actually not what happens.
19:35.662 --> 19:49.232
[SPEAKER_01]: So to your point, his personal physician reportedly saw him three weeks before his death and described an unsettling conversation in which Michael somehow knew he was going to die.
19:51.681 --> 19:59.063
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, not to end it on the sad note, but I didn't want to get to the to the whole thing of the end that we didn't cover in the same thing.
19:59.103 --> 20:06.524
[SPEAKER_01]: So all right, we have some 2,000 and 2,000 intends albums to cover coming up.
20:06.644 --> 20:07.685
[SPEAKER_01]: I looked at our list.
20:08.305 --> 20:11.245
[SPEAKER_01]: We covered the 80s fairly well in the 90s fairly well.
20:11.305 --> 20:18.127
[SPEAKER_01]: We sell a couple of albums left in the 70s, but the 2,000 and the 2,000 intends is where we really got to pick it up a little bit.
20:18.147 --> 20:19.047
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll do more.
20:19.847 --> 20:22.470
[SPEAKER_01]: of those in the upcoming episodes.
20:22.530 --> 20:27.795
[SPEAKER_01]: So just check out, check us out on 50 for 50.net and you'll be caught up with everything.
20:27.875 --> 20:31.198
[SPEAKER_01]: So for my GIMWG, we will see you when we see you peace.
00:10.409 --> 00:32.892
[SPEAKER_01]: they're back with the top five talking about George Michael now there's a pretty hefty rock with it or stop with it and this doesn't mean that these songs may not also be on your top five but there are just a lot of songs because of his popularity that got and in some cases still do get a decent amount of airplay but we're
00:33.722 --> 00:41.684
[SPEAKER_01]: I think some people could say they were overplayed quite a bit, but I'm actually interested in what you think as far as some of these.
00:41.724 --> 00:50.847
[SPEAKER_01]: So I only put this here because it is so funny and hindsight to listen to, but WAM RAP.
00:52.067 --> 00:53.428
[SPEAKER_01]: Rock with it or stop with it.
00:54.148 --> 00:54.448
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean,
00:55.650 --> 01:01.814
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to actively listen to it, but I had a many year period of actively listening.
01:01.894 --> 01:10.139
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I could recite that song top to bottom, it's funny, but it's not a great piece of music.
01:10.399 --> 01:10.600
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
01:11.040 --> 01:11.740
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
01:11.840 --> 01:18.805
[SPEAKER_01]: And I imagine it was probably pretty goofy to see them perform that song.
01:18.985 --> 01:23.248
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, Google, you can Google those performances, it is pretty goofy.
01:24.645 --> 01:25.145
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
01:25.646 --> 01:34.429
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we talked about this a lot on the episode covering faith, but where are you in 2026 with I want your sex?
01:34.489 --> 01:34.970
[SPEAKER_00]: Rock with it.
01:35.050 --> 01:35.670
[SPEAKER_00]: It's on my list.
01:36.050 --> 01:39.091
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, careless whisper on my list.
01:40.172 --> 01:40.192
[SPEAKER_00]: I
01:41.884 --> 01:47.005
[SPEAKER_01]: was like, I was thinking about this and going like, you know, careless whisper, kind.
01:47.606 --> 01:53.387
[SPEAKER_01]: And some of it might just be the title that people don't like in the sacks, but if that's all not like the sacks.
01:53.447 --> 01:56.448
[SPEAKER_01]: If that song comes on the radio, I'm not changing the channel.
01:56.808 --> 01:57.609
[SPEAKER_00]: No, not at all.
01:58.149 --> 01:58.969
[SPEAKER_00]: Not at all.
01:59.129 --> 02:07.471
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one of those songs that I feel like I could hear once a day for the rest of my life and not get sick of it.
02:07.531 --> 02:09.532
[SPEAKER_01]: What about wake me up before you go go?
02:10.521 --> 02:11.061
[SPEAKER_00]: rock with it.
02:11.121 --> 02:21.964
[SPEAKER_00]: There was definitely a period of time when I did not like that song, but I've grown into appreciating it for it's from a craft craftsmanship perspective.
02:22.004 --> 02:23.805
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good song, even if it's goofy.
02:25.726 --> 02:30.227
[SPEAKER_01]: What about now we don't hear this song throughout the entire year, like some of these other ones.
02:30.247 --> 02:31.567
[SPEAKER_01]: But what about last Christmas?
02:31.607 --> 02:32.728
[SPEAKER_01]: I still love it.
02:32.968 --> 02:33.328
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
02:33.408 --> 02:34.108
[SPEAKER_01]: I like that song too.
02:34.128 --> 02:34.928
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't take that one.
02:35.389 --> 02:36.009
[SPEAKER_01]: Father figure.
02:36.709 --> 02:37.589
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, rock with it.
02:37.629 --> 02:40.090
[SPEAKER_00]: That missed my list and I'm sad about it.
02:41.270 --> 03:09.747
[SPEAKER_00]: The title track from the album we just talked about, faith, that's it like wake me up before you go go that was a song that I disliked for a long time I think over like it just got super super overplayed and there was a period of years where I was like I will start the album at father figure I don't even want to hear faith But I listen to it now Club trope a canna Silly song I don't go out of my way to listen to it
03:11.192 --> 03:12.053
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, yeah, it's pretty silly.
03:12.454 --> 03:12.935
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
03:13.035 --> 03:14.276
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, all right.
03:14.957 --> 03:16.920
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's get to our top five.
03:16.960 --> 03:21.626
[SPEAKER_01]: So it was only after I put this thing together.
03:22.459 --> 03:25.941
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, I mean, I think WAM songs are on the table.
03:26.482 --> 03:26.822
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
03:27.442 --> 03:31.765
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't even realize that there's only one song from faith on my top five.
03:32.366 --> 03:32.646
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, well.
03:32.886 --> 03:33.166
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
03:33.386 --> 03:33.587
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
03:33.787 --> 03:35.728
[SPEAKER_01]: When I put it together, I was like, interesting.
03:35.868 --> 03:38.630
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I didn't even think about it as I was, as that was happening.
03:38.670 --> 03:41.072
[SPEAKER_01]: But, all right, let's kick it off number five.
03:41.092 --> 03:42.232
[SPEAKER_01]: What is your number five?
03:42.252 --> 03:42.953
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, number five?
03:43.013 --> 03:43.693
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, number five?
03:44.134 --> 03:45.134
[SPEAKER_00]: My number five is Freedom 90.
03:46.433 --> 03:56.320
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, again, like it's in Anthem, it's such a powerful song, particularly in retrospect, when you kind of realize it, the type of freedom that he was singing about, right?
03:56.901 --> 03:59.403
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, you know, it's really autobiographical.
03:59.463 --> 04:14.234
[SPEAKER_00]: There is, uh, if you go into YouTube, there is a performance from the MTV 10th anniversary special, um, in 1991, which is crazy, because MTV just celebrates 45th anniversary, uh, at the beginning of this month, um,
04:15.471 --> 04:16.257
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's him.
04:19.471 --> 04:28.673
[SPEAKER_00]: and like a choir like a gospel choir singing freedom and it is like it will make the hair on your arm stand up.
04:28.773 --> 04:31.494
[SPEAKER_00]: It's insanely good.
04:31.774 --> 04:32.514
[SPEAKER_00]: So check that out.
04:32.934 --> 04:34.114
[SPEAKER_00]: That's my number one, by the way.
04:34.555 --> 04:35.315
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, right on.
04:35.655 --> 04:36.215
[SPEAKER_00]: My number one.
04:37.075 --> 04:39.476
[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, sorry to spoil your list.
04:39.636 --> 04:44.837
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm glad that we have something on the on the same list.
04:45.637 --> 04:48.598
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so my number five is one more
04:49.859 --> 05:08.458
[SPEAKER_01]: one more try or sorry one more try that's my that's my only song faith yeah well so hilariously one more try is my number one oh so we flip left that's awesome yeah so what what makes that song number one it's
05:09.689 --> 05:11.370
[SPEAKER_00]: I was a very emotional 12 year old.
05:11.490 --> 05:13.052
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm an emotional 50 year old.
05:13.112 --> 05:14.993
[SPEAKER_00]: So I guess that should be no surprise.
05:15.033 --> 05:17.555
[SPEAKER_00]: That song just hit me in the fields real, real hard.
05:18.355 --> 05:23.559
[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't understand the lyrics back when the song was popular.
05:24.360 --> 05:26.742
[SPEAKER_00]: But like there was something about it hit me.
05:26.762 --> 05:34.767
[SPEAKER_00]: And now that I understand it, the lyrics are kind of about somebody who talks you how to fall in love and then they leave.
05:39.711 --> 05:40.172
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, man.
05:40.192 --> 05:40.814
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all again.
05:40.854 --> 05:42.439
[SPEAKER_00]: It hits me in the fields.
05:42.459 --> 05:44.705
[SPEAKER_00]: I earlier this maybe is last year.
05:46.387 --> 06:11.144
[SPEAKER_00]: I went to karaoke with a bunch of friends and my friend Jason Green who some of you listening to might know he is an editor at pitchfork well known author saying one more try and like not that shit out the park like I was because that's a very very difficult song to sing you have to have chops in order to sing a song like that but yeah I mean for so many reasons
06:15.776 --> 06:16.957
[SPEAKER_00]: eating emotional song.
06:17.617 --> 06:22.159
[SPEAKER_01]: Has he ever said, is that about a singular person?
06:22.219 --> 06:24.280
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it just about a bunch of different people?
06:25.040 --> 06:27.241
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it about the idea of it?
06:27.942 --> 06:28.542
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure.
06:28.562 --> 06:35.905
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if he's ever, I don't remember reading or seeing anything where he's like spoken specifically about that song.
06:36.326 --> 06:44.670
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't imagine singing a song with those lyrics that way and not have it be about something very personal that is happening to you.
06:46.618 --> 07:05.406
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... what about your number four are my number four is from the older album uh... it's fast love uh... which it's a good song it's a great song uh... shout out to patrice rush in like he he doesn't sample forget me not but he interpolates it yes uh... and
07:07.756 --> 07:27.817
[SPEAKER_00]: for all the people who didn't know George Michael was gay at the time that this song came out it is very obvious upon listening to the lyrics that this song is about cruising and guys don't go cruising for women, guys go cruising for other guys yeah um so it is you know in retrospect
07:28.738 --> 07:31.299
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of people were like, oh, that's what that song is about.
07:31.820 --> 07:50.769
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, when that song came out, I was 19, I was, you know, this is pre-apps pre-internet, the way that you met other men was either go to bars or you cruise in public.
07:50.789 --> 07:53.650
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that song as someone who's really just kind of
07:59.478 --> 08:04.399
[SPEAKER_01]: My number four is my favorite wham song, which is everything she wants.
08:04.679 --> 08:05.199
[SPEAKER_01]: Great song.
08:05.980 --> 08:09.260
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's kind of, haul a notesy a little bit.
08:10.021 --> 08:11.881
[SPEAKER_00]: A little bit, it's a little funkier.
08:12.341 --> 08:17.222
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, not funkier, but it's got a little bit more like, I don't know.
08:18.583 --> 08:28.245
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't say exactly what the thing that it has, it makes it different from hauling notes, but I, you know, I get what you're picking up, but it is still a little different.
08:29.423 --> 08:30.624
[SPEAKER_01]: What is your number three?
08:31.545 --> 08:32.806
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm number three is careless whisper.
08:33.207 --> 08:33.867
[SPEAKER_01]: There you go.
08:34.288 --> 08:44.097
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's I mean, you can't that sex is just like it's the most legendary saxophone part in a record like in history.
08:44.277 --> 08:47.680
[SPEAKER_01]: He he like tried out a bunch of people for that part too.
08:47.820 --> 08:48.000
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
08:48.521 --> 08:52.845
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and again, just I think
08:54.322 --> 09:15.541
[SPEAKER_00]: One thing people don't talk about a lot when they're talking about George Michael is how hard his songs are to sing, and I've tried to sing Carol whisper at karaoke a couple of times, and, you know, and get through about two thirds of the song before it's like, all right, yeah, this is, this is, this is meant for somebody with a bit more of a constitution than I am.
09:18.483 --> 09:19.804
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so.
09:21.205 --> 09:22.326
[SPEAKER_01]: Number three for me.
09:22.346 --> 09:26.108
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a little cheesy, but I knew you were waiting with a Ritha.
09:27.708 --> 09:32.951
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just an iconic like pairing to me.
09:33.471 --> 09:33.671
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
09:34.271 --> 09:35.192
[SPEAKER_01]: Like a Ritha.
09:36.434 --> 09:39.236
[SPEAKER_01]: near the end of her moments, right?
09:39.276 --> 09:41.417
[SPEAKER_01]: Like she's the late 80s.
09:41.437 --> 09:51.304
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, she does have that come back album with Lauren which is pretty good, but still not the peak of her powers, but still pretty iconic performance, I thought.
09:51.404 --> 09:51.984
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
09:52.605 --> 09:53.525
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, what about number two?
09:54.526 --> 09:56.047
[SPEAKER_00]: Number two for me was I want you sex?
09:58.829 --> 09:59.789
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a fun record.
10:02.391 --> 10:03.212
[SPEAKER_00]: It's funky.
10:04.953 --> 10:14.999
[SPEAKER_00]: It is very much like, you know, it's, I think it's widely documented that George was kind of a horn dog.
10:17.741 --> 10:24.806
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, this, this is sort of evidence of that, you know, he would have, him and Prince would have made a great record together.
10:27.982 --> 10:30.724
[SPEAKER_01]: They would have both been wearing their ass out of their pants.
10:30.764 --> 10:30.944
[SPEAKER_01]: I think.
10:30.964 --> 10:31.705
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, exactly.
10:31.725 --> 10:33.406
[SPEAKER_01]: If they could have been that free.
10:33.906 --> 10:34.466
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
10:35.527 --> 10:35.907
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
10:36.328 --> 10:42.312
[SPEAKER_01]: My number two is they won't go when I go, which is his humor of the Stevie Wonder song.
10:42.832 --> 10:54.039
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I first listen to this, not not when I first but like when I re-listen to that album, I was like, man, he just, like, since it almost exactly the same, like it doesn't change anything.
10:54.640 --> 10:55.060
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in
10:57.573 --> 11:00.316
[SPEAKER_01]: I went, oh, okay, I get it now.
11:00.656 --> 11:06.161
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he's singing from like a certain place within him.
11:06.882 --> 11:11.827
[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, it's a great, like it's, you know, it's very similar to Steven.
11:11.847 --> 11:20.936
[SPEAKER_00]: When you, if you can sing very similar to Steven, like that in and itself in and of itself, I think is like pretty insane.
11:21.618 --> 11:22.419
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
11:22.459 --> 11:24.981
[SPEAKER_00]: Like to sound even vaguely like Stevie Wonder.
11:25.281 --> 11:28.624
[SPEAKER_00]: And he like, you could make a whole George Michael album of Stevie Covers.
11:28.664 --> 11:30.505
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, he did, they won't go.
11:30.525 --> 11:32.487
[SPEAKER_00]: When I go, he did loves and need of love today.
11:33.007 --> 11:38.672
[SPEAKER_00]: He did as he did, you and I, I think he did pass on paradise.
11:39.092 --> 11:41.855
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he's done a whole bunch of Stevie Covers.
11:42.275 --> 11:49.201
[SPEAKER_01]: Did you ever see the documentary that he was making before he passed away, which they eventually did put out and I think it was like 2022.
11:51.398 --> 11:52.278
[SPEAKER_01]: Stevie's on that.
11:53.638 --> 12:01.140
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, like, I'm not going to say that Stevie was this giant official noddle.
12:01.160 --> 12:09.242
[SPEAKER_01]: He was very generic in kind of his statements about George, but he's on it because George did that song.
12:10.302 --> 12:15.483
[SPEAKER_01]: And I just found it so cool because
12:16.948 --> 12:28.594
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, on artists at the level of George Michael and we talked about him like standing toe to toe with MJ, but then just being like, you know what, I love all of these guys.
12:29.514 --> 12:43.301
[SPEAKER_01]: And then covering their songs because it's like, why wouldn't I cover this like this great Stevie Wonder like that aspect of, you know, using your your gift and not being
12:46.342 --> 12:50.324
[SPEAKER_01]: working with people who are at your level or above your level or whatever.
12:50.604 --> 12:53.965
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the part of Georgia's story that I think I really, really enjoyed.
12:54.365 --> 13:02.349
[SPEAKER_00]: He, he loved to collaborate and, you know, I think, you know, Stevie to me is the greatest songwriter that ever lived.
13:02.369 --> 13:09.732
[SPEAKER_00]: And Stevie's worst song is better than like 80% of people's best song.
13:16.115 --> 13:20.416
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm going to be basic and be, say, I just called to say that that's what you're getting.
13:20.516 --> 13:26.698
[SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, that song came on the other day and I sang every lyric, I know that a whole song, front to back.
13:27.418 --> 13:36.940
[SPEAKER_00]: So if Stevie like praises you, like that's like, that's like being blessed, like you got the magic wand, like that, like touch you on the head.
13:37.481 --> 13:38.161
[SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm.
13:39.081 --> 13:44.124
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, and I think it says something about who you are, right?
13:44.584 --> 13:59.332
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, George Michael was incredibly special and honored Stevie Wonder and Stevie Wonder honored him back, which I think makes him even more special, but yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, I wish that they would have gotten the chance to collaborate.
13:59.672 --> 14:03.654
[SPEAKER_00]: And who knows, the way Stevie is, there might even be something sitting around somewhere,
14:05.090 --> 14:08.113
[SPEAKER_00]: where they might have done a song together at some point who the hell knows.
14:08.394 --> 14:12.038
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so we got to your number one already.
14:12.118 --> 14:15.462
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I did want to talk a little bit about that documentary.
14:15.482 --> 14:16.843
[SPEAKER_01]: It is crazy because
14:22.144 --> 14:26.246
[SPEAKER_01]: Like it's his voice, he's narrating, he's telling the story.
14:27.086 --> 14:44.493
[SPEAKER_01]: And then as they're finishing the production as when he passes away, we didn't really cover his death all that much, almost at all, on the faith episode, but I kind of wanted to talk about it here, the drug abuse being drug analca hall, I think.
14:44.573 --> 14:47.014
[SPEAKER_01]: Being really the reason why he passes at the age of 53,
14:48.633 --> 15:14.339
[SPEAKER_00]: So sad man like it's sad and I mean, I think there's a little bit more to it, you know, there had been suggestions that he took his own life, you know, he passed away either on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, I think his mother passed away also on Christmas Eve and a couple of years later his sister passed away on either Christmas Eve or Christmas day.
15:15.698 --> 15:23.384
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, which is like really horrible coincidence, um, but, you know, George, you know, the sad thing is that
15:26.568 --> 15:29.970
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've been thinking about this a lot lately, like what leads people to addiction, right?
15:30.110 --> 15:31.030
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
15:31.050 --> 15:44.077
[SPEAKER_00]: And you start using substances to kind of fix a hole, to cover up a hole, to make up for something that you're not getting, whether you're not getting love or not getting support or like the world is heavy and you need something to cope.
15:44.177 --> 15:48.859
[SPEAKER_00]: Like people don't necessarily use drugs because like it's fun and I want to do this.
15:48.920 --> 15:49.140
[SPEAKER_00]: They're
15:50.106 --> 15:52.427
[SPEAKER_00]: It's self-medication, you know what I'm saying?
15:53.167 --> 16:02.010
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that there was a lot that he needed to self-medicate for, and I'm sure he went to therapy.
16:02.230 --> 16:16.135
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I know Rebecca, he went to rehab a whole bunch of times, but I just think it got to a point where like the pain was too much, and he was, you know, again, like,
16:17.790 --> 16:18.752
[SPEAKER_00]: He got so bad.
16:18.812 --> 16:24.519
[SPEAKER_00]: He was crashing his car into things and, you know, he went to jail and, you know, all this stuff.
16:24.920 --> 16:30.287
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just like them and, like, I hope that you get out of your own way.
16:31.088 --> 16:34.613
[SPEAKER_00]: But I also understand why you have not gotten out of your own way.
16:35.922 --> 16:40.705
[SPEAKER_01]: So I just, just the research that I have for, for kind of the end of his, of his life.
16:41.546 --> 16:55.435
[SPEAKER_01]: So 20, or 2006 to 2008 face the string of drug related arrest and cautions, part of his well documented drug with addiction, November, December 2011, hospitalized for nearly a month.
16:56.075 --> 16:56.315
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
16:56.335 --> 16:58.376
[SPEAKER_00]: The pneumonia thing, I forgot about that.
16:58.516 --> 16:59.397
[SPEAKER_01]: With pneumonia.
16:59.417 --> 16:59.497
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
16:59.737 --> 17:01.198
[SPEAKER_01]: He later said, Dr.
17:01.278 --> 17:03.380
[SPEAKER_01]: Spent three weeks keeping him alive.
17:04.360 --> 17:21.501
[SPEAKER_01]: and reports describe him needing a tracheotomy and time in a coma in intensive care, discharge around Christmas looking gaunt and shorter breath, and later joked about wanting to write a song called perhaps about the near-death experience.
17:22.582 --> 17:30.310
[SPEAKER_01]: 2013 hospitalized for two weeks after falling from a moving car on the M1 and suffering ahead injury.
17:30.330 --> 17:33.433
[SPEAKER_01]: And you don't fall out of moving cars too.
17:33.493 --> 17:34.594
[SPEAKER_01]: You throw yourself.
17:34.734 --> 17:35.595
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, cars.
17:35.635 --> 17:39.399
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like maybe unless it's an action movie or something.
17:39.659 --> 17:39.880
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
17:40.120 --> 17:40.320
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
17:40.380 --> 17:42.342
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't bad boy's five.
17:42.482 --> 17:42.823
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
17:43.904 --> 17:48.167
[SPEAKER_01]: May 2014 take into a London hospital by ambulance for several days.
17:48.207 --> 17:50.629
[SPEAKER_01]: His team never confirmed the reason.
17:51.750 --> 17:57.695
[SPEAKER_01]: 2014, 2015 persistent and denied reports, placed him at a Swiss rehab clinic.
17:58.236 --> 18:06.562
[SPEAKER_01]: And described repeated struggles with drug use in the spirit, alongside growing public concern over his reclusiveness and weight.
18:07.415 --> 18:12.337
[SPEAKER_01]: And then like you said, December 25th, 2016, found dead in his home.
18:13.037 --> 18:27.303
[SPEAKER_01]: He died in his sleep, and the research, at least, says the coroner ruled the cause was natural, dilated cardio, myopathy.
18:27.363 --> 18:32.485
[SPEAKER_01]: So the weakened heart, the enlarged heart inflammation.
18:34.193 --> 18:35.233
[SPEAKER_01]: and a fatty liver.
18:35.894 --> 18:43.276
[SPEAKER_01]: So his heart had been failing for some time, a slow deterioration, consistent with an pneumonia thing that you would mention.
18:43.517 --> 18:43.757
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
18:44.537 --> 18:46.838
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it wasn't really a sudden thing.
18:46.858 --> 18:49.959
[SPEAKER_01]: It was more like a long gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual gradual
18:50.339 --> 18:50.539
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
18:50.599 --> 18:53.901
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it just makes me wonder about so many things like that documentary.
18:53.921 --> 18:57.023
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like the George Michael know that he was dying.
18:57.243 --> 19:01.105
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, at the time he made that or did he have plans, you know, to die.
19:01.185 --> 19:08.069
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also the rumor, which I think is partner at the time posted on social saying that George had HIV.
19:08.530 --> 19:10.471
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm.
19:11.011 --> 19:11.752
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know.
19:11.812 --> 19:17.135
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of speculation and obviously when you're famous and you have the resources.
19:18.974 --> 19:21.297
[SPEAKER_00]: your manner of death can be covered up.
19:21.537 --> 19:21.757
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
19:22.418 --> 19:28.824
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so I don't think we'll ever really know why or how he passed away.
19:28.864 --> 19:29.325
[SPEAKER_00]: But I, um,
19:31.038 --> 19:35.221
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel somewhat confident that the version that we were given is actually not what happens.
19:35.662 --> 19:49.232
[SPEAKER_01]: So to your point, his personal physician reportedly saw him three weeks before his death and described an unsettling conversation in which Michael somehow knew he was going to die.
19:51.681 --> 19:59.063
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, not to end it on the sad note, but I didn't want to get to the to the whole thing of the end that we didn't cover in the same thing.
19:59.103 --> 20:06.524
[SPEAKER_01]: So all right, we have some 2,000 and 2,000 intends albums to cover coming up.
20:06.644 --> 20:07.685
[SPEAKER_01]: I looked at our list.
20:08.305 --> 20:11.245
[SPEAKER_01]: We covered the 80s fairly well in the 90s fairly well.
20:11.305 --> 20:18.127
[SPEAKER_01]: We sell a couple of albums left in the 70s, but the 2,000 and the 2,000 intends is where we really got to pick it up a little bit.
20:18.147 --> 20:19.047
[SPEAKER_01]: So we'll do more.
20:19.847 --> 20:22.470
[SPEAKER_01]: of those in the upcoming episodes.
20:22.530 --> 20:27.795
[SPEAKER_01]: So just check out, check us out on 50 for 50.net and you'll be caught up with everything.
20:27.875 --> 20:31.198
[SPEAKER_01]: So for my GIMWG, we will see you when we see you peace.