Revisiting George Michael’s Attitude cover story nine years after his death on Christmas Day
We take a look back at Michael’s 2004 Attitude cover story, in which the HIV advocate and music sensation spoke candidly about his career
By Aaron Sugg & Adam Mattera
It is coming up to nine years since George Michael’s passing on Christmas Day 2016, and not a day goes by without a glimpse into the trailblazing English pop icon’s advocacy, music and legacy.
At this time of year, the Wham! band member is constantly on the radio, with ‘Last Christmas’ topping the charts just two weeks into the festive season, reminding us of the loss of a queer icon.
As fans, the community, and we at Attitude remember him nine years on, we take a look back at Michael’s 2004 Attitude cover story, in which the HIV advocate and music sensation spoke candidly about his career.
George Michael: Days Of The Open Hand
After years of creative statement, personal tragedy and media derision, George Michael has returned with the most intensely personal and emotionally complex album of his career. Attitude meets the superstar who has no time for anything but the truth.
If you want to know something about George Michael, pop into his local gents. The one in his management offices, tucked away in a quiet side street of an understated, posh suburb of north London.
Hanging above the loo is a silver-framed plaque commemorating the two million copies he shifted of his double-decade-spanning career retrospective Ladies & Gentlemen (the title of which, given his sexual history, was always something of a masterstroke of iconic cheek).
On the opposite wall is a discreetly framed plaque casing a brightly coloured packet of instant soup from a continental supermarket. A laughing chicken is emblazoned on it bearing the legend ‘Le Coq’.
It’s a playground double entendre, but for all the brow-beating seriousness that’s been projected on Michael, by others and himself, it’s been easy to forget recently that he is in possession of one of the sharpest wits in the business.
It’s a quality – along with his renewed, almost evangelical sense of honesty – that has stood him in good stead in the years following that visit to another lavatory – the one in LA in 1998 – and his subsequent, very public coming out in the media around the globe.
Both his Parkinson confessional and the Outside video were genius displays of ‘hands-up, gov’ candour, tempered with some good old-fashioned cheek. Both kept the hearts of the British public through his most public strays from the dull, stage-managed celebrity norm that has come to mark our times. They’ve every reason to stay with him.
Growing up with the fresh, youthful motifs of shuttlecocks and poolside margaritas in his Wham! heyday, he may not have been prolific in his output since, but he’s never been less than sparkling – a diamond in the drudge of our current pop malaise.
That other George, the Boy, may have once said, “I think George Michael’s lost his sense of humour” – a quip that Michael himself laughingly reminds me of at one point during our conversation – but the truth is, even in his darkest hours, it never really went away.
“As you know, I wanted to do this interview a couple of years ago when I really thought the album was going to come out,” says Michael as Attitude settles on the lush couch in his office suite, surrounded by ephemera from his lengthy career.
“So, sorry for the delay – I kinda got sidetracked,” he grins, aware of the understatement. A stultifying period of writer’s block and the media savaging of his anti–Iraqi invasion stance is now well and truly over.
Amazing was his most unashamedly joyous single in years. And the album, Patience – an emotional tour de force – broke his own personal record for first-week sales. So he has every reason to be buoyant and compellingly good-humoured. He got his last laugh.
It’s great that you’re back, talking to the media again. There’s always been this weird contradiction about you…
“I quite like that. Basically, I just do whatever I want to do. I don’t like being on telly, but I always wanted to be on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. I thought it would be fun…”
Is it part of your new freedom?
“I can’t be bothered with being aloof anymore. I think being aloof served me very well… Not anymore.”
You’re still very removed from today’s celebrity culture though.
“I always wanted to be famous for being good at something. I wanted to be so good at something that I would be untouchable…”
Your singing’s really strong on Patience.
“There’s an energy level to this record that I haven’t had since before all the shit started… I think it’s come with the relief of feeling good again.”
This is the first album of all-new songs you’ve released since you came out. Was that a pressure?
“No, it didn’t feel any different, really… If Sony has a problem with that, well fuck it then.”
I thought Older was about grief, and Patience is about redemption.
“It’s very light and very dark at the same time… trying to get closer to the truth.”
‘My Mother Had a Brother’ is one of the best things you’ve written. How fictional is it?
“It’s not fictional at all… It’s a tragic story about how much more difficult it must have been as a gay man in the 1950s.”
Do you think that affected your mother’s relationship with your sexuality?
“It must have done… When you put your family tree together you understand so much more about who you are.”
You came out to your mum relatively late.
“I came out to my mum and dad when Anselmo died… I was afraid it would be explosive in my family. And it was – but not because of my sexuality.”
“My childhood was oppressive… children who don’t feel heard always want to sing or perform or do something that makes them look as if they have a right to exist.”
“I’m just so sick of all that ‘keep your mouth shut’ stuff. Having a big mouth might make things hard, but it doesn’t make things any harder than being closeted.”
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