George Michael cultural legacy, Digi Mart USA News: George Michael is not taken seriously as a cultural figure despite being one of the biggest artists in pop history, according to author and self-confessed super fan Sathnam Sanghera. He made the comments on the day The Faith Tour concert film was released.
Sanghera, who wrote Tonight the Music Seems So Loud: The Meaning of George Michael, paid tribute to his hero as the film hit cinemas on Friday. It features performances from the Careless Whisper singer during his 1988 tour promoting the number one album Faith.
Sanghera, from Wolverhampton, said the film captures a powerful era of live music with Michael’s talent on full display. He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One that the tour was one of the biggest of the 1980s and was significant because it was led by a British pop star.
“In the late 80s, George Michael was up there with Madonna, Prince and Whitney Houston,” he said. “This was a white guy from Finchley and Faith was the biggest selling single in America in 1988.”
Sanghera said Michael performed for about two million people during the tour, and its impact was one of the reasons he chose to write his book. “We don’t take George Michael seriously as a cultural figure,” he added, “but he was one of the biggest artists in the history of pop music.”
He said people often teased him for being a fan while Michael was alive, but that the teasing declined after the singer’s death in 2016. “No Friday night disco is complete without Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” he said.
“No wedding disco is complete without Careless Whisper. Last Christmas is Christmas.”
Sanghera said much of Michael’s music has become part of culture, adding that this was not something he was given credit for in his lifetime. He described Michael’s voice as “extraordinary” and said he could sing for two hours without hitting a wrong note.
Drawing on footage from 1988 shows at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Sanghera said he saw Michael grappling with his sexuality. “He was increasingly becoming this straight sex symbol, there was all the heterosexual posturing in the videos and also on stage, but inside he knew he was gay,” he said.
Sanghera said this came across in many of Michael’s songs, which were often about a man trying to connect. “He was a very torn-up, sad man in many ways,” he added.
“What that gave us is beautiful art. He suffered but, in a really poignant way, we benefited.”
