Off the back of that I'd gone on his website to read the latest about the forthcoming special edition/re-issue of Listen Without Prejudice. I'd also listened to a few of his songs earlier on Christmas Day including December Song.

Given how he fought back from the scare a few years ago I thought he'd be around for decades yet.

Rick Parfitt and George Michael in a matter of days, two of the memorable faces on the 1984 Band Aid track, and both coming out of the blue... as others have said, all the sadder after we finally saw their Young Guns debut on TOTP just the other day...

My heart is extremely heavy with this news, but I can't imagine the sorrow you must be feeling.

George Michael always came across as personable, friendly, generous and kind.

We think we know our heroes, of which George Michael was mine when trying to find an identity as a 13-Year old, but very few of us are lucky enough to meet them, and I'm sure you have your own special memories of being in the company of such a warm hearted and genuine gent, as I do through the legacy of his music.

A very sad day indeed & I can't wait for 2016 to end.

I spotted that too. The kids in the front would have got a proper eyeful.

Also spotted Sinitta in the background again, on one of Friday's episodes.

Great thread for an avid viewer of these old episodes of TOTP.

I spotted Sinitta as well.

According to Sinitta herself she is only 47 years old which would have made her 13 years old in 1982

I think she forgets that there are clips of her out there from 1982 and another provocative clip with her dirty dancing with Leee John on The Tube in 1983 when she would have been (according to her dodgy maths) 13/14 (her birthday is in October).

Her actual real age is 53 so would have been 19 in 1982 which makes way more sense

I can recall also Sinitta's birthday being reported as 1966, so it is very confusing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lrVSV5QJcA

The Grim Reaper is no respecter of the calendar so I don't see the passing of one year being an impediment to more being cut down before their time in 2017.

I suppose what's striking is the magnitude of the celebrities passing this Year (Bowie, Prince, Rick Parfitt and now George Michael) & like you say Straker the grim reaper's no respecter of the calendar.

I do wonder at the mental state of some though who contribute to various 'Death Lists' in anticipation of celebrities passing away, as some kind of sick trophy cabinet.

After all, they're someones parent or sibling but there seems to be an almost feverish appetite in some circles for celebrity deaths to happen.

On Twitter, death jokes are coming thick & fast for George Michael, but it strikes me as being in exceptionally poor taste, disrespectful and ignorant, but some seem to revel in it.

Very true, andyd1302.

George Michael had been well publicized in the press as suffering from various problems in his private life, including his health, so i'd imagine, although an initial shock, perhaps his death may not have been such a big surprise to those with a morbid fascination. George's career had not been so high profile in more recent years, and often he was making the headlines for his various non musical more personal problems. However, for me, who hasn't particularly had George at the forefront of my thoughts, it did very much seem quite a shock.

I agree with your previous post that George possessed a great freshness and clarity to his vocals, which seemed to remain undimmed with the passage of time. He was a truly classy singer and songwriter. I was never a great fan of Wham, i must say, but on hearing George's first solo single, ''Careless Whisper'', i had no doubt that George had the talent to transcend just appearing as more of a teenybop artist for the younger market - he could actually appeal to a more mature audience, and over a much longer period. ''Careless Whisper'' was a great single release (and already a pretty old self written song), and he was right (and brave) to actually ditch his original recording of the track, where he was using the legendary Jerry Wexler as producer. A good track originally, no doubt, but George's own re recording was considerably better still.

I thought the Make it Big album was good.

Live performance from the mid 80s China tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL8fpUs5lq4

Yes starry, 'Make It Big' was perhaps Wham's best album, and many of those songs show a considerable maturity. "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go", suffers a little like Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" in appearing rather too irritatingly catchy, but the rest of the album displays a rather surprising soulful maturity. The late 1984 period seems like a highpoint for George and Wham with "Careless Whisper", "Freedom", and "Last Christmas"/ "Everything She Wants" being released as singles. I didn't think Wham were as good before, or after, but late 1984 was certainly, for me, as far as the singles and album release, their highpoint.

BIB - the space they allowed Christine & The Queens to perform in, plus the lighting, was pretty rubbish, and the BBC should know better, considering how well they were staged on The Graham Norton Show.

That's the single of the year from the album of the year, for me - a genuine new talent who isn't interested in compromise. Exactly what music needs. Especially in the face of Simon Cowell tripe, overwhelmingly bad grime and the endless conveyor belt of pointless EDM.

And that's before we even get to the growing list of talented individuals being taken from us …

i assume 1983 starts in ernest in jan with story of 83 starting next week?

i assume 1983 starts in ernest in jan with story of 83 starting next week?

Well there's only two to choose from Jedikiah! (Excluding Greatest Hits.)

I wouldn't agree that Wham! didn't have just as good stuff before and after though - Young Guns, Battlestations and Where Did Your Heart Go all as good.

However, I do think that Make It Big (apart from Wake Me Up) was, alongside Older, George's best album and far better than Faith.

I see Ladies & Gentlemen - The Best Of, the 1997 compilation, is No.1 on Amazon's sales chart but the cd is sold out as are all of his cd's at the moment. I actually prefer the later 25 collection which has a few Wham tracks too.

eh? What's wrong with it? It's got way more energy than Karma Chameleon which it was compared to. I'm certainly not going to take it for granted as being weak.

It's OK, but not very good by George Michael and Wham! standards. Along with Club Tropicana easily the worst Wham! single by far. These are the only two Wham! singles that if they came up on shuffle I would skip to next track.

You would, but many wouldn't. So saying something is bad based on taste without any words on the music doesn't count much for me.

Wow, you are being unnecessarily antagonistic just because I don't like a particular song! (Which I never described as bad.) Jeez, I even agreed with you that overall I like the album. Chill out.

Finally getting round to commenting on the second of Friday's editions. Although as not as good as the first one, it was pretty decent so I'm scoring it an eight out of ten.

Let's get this straight from the start - I can't stand this Dexy's song! Such a comedown after the excellent Jackie Wilson said. Definite fast forward material for me I'm afraid.

Ooh Gary Davies - far more interesting! He is practically hosting the show every week in 1987 so glad he hasn't vetoed his repeats.
.
Had I watched The Human League's Mirror Man performance twice in the space of an hour I probably would've been fed up with it but, as I didn't I enjoyed seeing it again.

Great to see Janice Long's TOTP debut, if not her TV debut which was on 3-2-1. I just love watching her shows with John Peel as they had real sexual chemistry, though weren't she and PP a couple at one point.

Good studio performance of Here I Go Again from Whitesnake, though I'm more familiar with, and prefer, the "drifer" version from 1987. When I first heard this version I found it a bit slow and wondered why they'd changed the word "hobo".

Pat Sharp - whoo whoo! Don't recall him doing too many TOTPs and he is far more famous for Fun House - and his mullet, of course!

I've made no secret of the fact I love it when Bucks Fizz are on and If You Can't Stand The Heat is another strong song from them. Good to see Jay and Cheryl getting their chance to do lead vocal.

Madness well and truly back to form with Our House. Great story in the lyrics and its probably because of this I don't mind the video too much.

Yay, Modern Romance - and a new performance of Best Years Of Our Lives too with the trumpeter more suitably dressed. Oh oh oh oh, it makes me want to dance alright!

Would've preferred to see the studio performance of Duran Duran's Rio again rather than the overplayed video. I have to remind myself that probably the first time it was aired on TV and people had seen it. Still can't believe it didn't get to no. 1.

I don't mind The Jam's Beat Surrender but I doubt it would've got to no. 1 if they hadn't been splitting up. The best thing about this is Weller subsituting "bulls***" with "bullfrogs", especially after Blancmanges "bloody/cuckoo", although it get played uncensored on the BBC now.

It's sad hearing Wham's Young Guns in the light of George's Michael's passing though seeing his career develop through these TOTP repeats. If I had to pick a least favourite of their hits it would be Bad Boys and George obviously agreed by leaving it off The Best Of album.

Yes, If You Can't Stand The Heat seems a good song to me, I like the change of pace from the quieter verse to the lively chorus. Whether the arrangement is influenced by Dollar/Abba or whoever doesn't matter to me. I'd take it above Making Your Mind Up any day. It just feels more sophisticated.

And Our House doesn't at all feel like jokey Madness to me, the harmonies and the arrangement suggest something different. I find it a song with some feeling.

The Rolling Stones clip billed as a previously unseen TOTP performance from 1967 looked like a grainy, black and white copy of the official promo video which I first saw on a programme commemorating the 20th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper in 1987 and has been available on YouTube for several years.


I lost interest at the start of The Shamen performance (from 1993) and thereon it was downhill all the way, as far as I was concerned.


It's a long time since I heard Bruce Springsteen's version of 'Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town' which was a Top Ten hit at Xmas 1985 - I don't know if it still gets played on the radio.


If they wanted to include a Pete Sinfield composition 'I Believe In Father Christmas' would have been a more apt choice in the circumstances than Bucks Fizz's 'The Land Of Make Believe' which he also wrote.


According to Popscene a performance of 'Breakfast in Bed' by Shirley Bassey was included on the 29th April 1971 edition of TOTP so I suspect the caption claiming it was never shown could be an error on the part of the BBC researchers.

29-4-71: Presenter: Tony Blackburn

(NEW) McGUINNESS FLINT – Malt And Barley Blues WATCH
(20) R. DEAN TAYLOR – Indiana Wants Me (video) WATCH
(NEW) THE MIXTURES – Henry Ford WATCH
(28) THE JACKSON 5 – Mama’s Pearl (danced to by Pan’s People) WATCH
(ALBUM TRACK) SHIRLEY BASSEY – Breakfast In Bed WATCH
(ALBUM TRACK) SHIRLEY BASSEY – Excuse Me
(7) RINGO STARR – It Don’t Come Easy (video) WATCH
(NEW) LULU – Everybody Clap WATCH
(26) SAKKARIN – Sugar Sugar (crowd dancing) (and charts) WATCH
(ALBUM TRACK) THE FACES – Richmond WATCH
(ALBUM TRACK) THE FACES – Bad And Ruin WATCH
(1) DAVE & ANSIL COLLINS – Double Barrel WATCH
(22) EAST OF EDEN – Jig A Jig (crowd dancing) (and credits)


The Sandie Shaw rehearsal of 'Long Live Love' from 1965 and the Pan's People rehearsal of the 'Green River' routine from 1970 spring to mind.


Only 20 of the 25 shows hosted by Gary Davies in 1987 will be shown (assuming we get that far) as Mike Smith co-hosted the other five.


I like the humorous, tongue-in-cheek lyrics of the first three Wham! singles and enjoy having a laugh at George Michael's antics whenever the TOTP studio performance of 'Bad Boys' is repeated.

I don't mind "Club Tropicana" and it was the first single release by Wham to mark a change of direction from their early white rap/clubby style. The songs i was most disappointed with outside the rather simplistically catchy (and rather lame) "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" were the later "I'm Your Man" and "The Edge Of Heaven" single releases, because they sounded like songs simply written to order, after the group had already indicated real musical progression with their late 1984 releases. Those two songs just sounded too stereotypically geared to appeal to their more typical audience, when with 'Make It Big' they had proved they could be so much more. I just get the feeling George was simply seeing the Wham project through, but in his head he was really somewhere very different. His solo albums 'Faith' and 'Listen Without Prejudice' both seemed like a further manifestation of the seeds he had laid down with 'Make It Big', but he had decided to go it alone with his further endeavour of that type of sound.