R.I.P. George Michael (1963 - 2016)
The world “outside” sometimes seemed “immortal”. The realm of escape into non-reality are filled with larger than life-sized films and music that transported you to another dimension other than your own, field with dreams of a colourful life, a better life, a happier life, a life immortal!
Put on a pair of headphones and you shut off the rest of the world, while the music surrounds you, and the songs cradle you in sadness, in anger, in joy, in ways unknown to you to verbalize but to mouth the lyrics to, and brings you on a journey into the good old days worth remembering, or of a day when you tinkle the ivories on a smoke filled stage in a darkened club, or arms stretched out to embrace the love of 30,000 fans, on a stadium stage, a dream to be a STAR, personalised and fulfilled, in your own head, between your earphones.
Music is immortal, but the singers aren’t. The films you enjoy are encased in a DVD, but the actor and filmmakers may one day be encased in a coffin of pop culture.
The year 2016 has seen it’s fair share of lost artists and performers, and a few meant more to me than others, apologetically so … David Bowie, Prince, and since this morning, George Michael.
Born “Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou” in June 25th 1963, “George Michael” passed at home, at the age of 53, on Christmas Day 25th December, 2016. (Wiki)
All three gentlemen had been instrumental in making my teen years moe bearable than they should. I reminisce tons about the 80s, especially on flashback80s - but the reality was, it had been mostly about the toys, the comics and yes, the MUSIC, which played a part of nostalgia worth remembering, while the “real life” about “growing up wasn’t as cracked up to be as worth remembering LOL.
The 80s has since long gone, 3 decades back, but the 80s still lived on, in my music heroes and heroines, but hey too are leaving us … and one day, all i’ll have left, are CD albums and unplayable cassette tapes, and a blog filled with recorded memories, twice over.
The music videos featured here a mix of my favs thru the years - while you can hear 80s’ WHAM tracks HERE on #flashback80s, and some repeats on HERE on #tunestalk
In an age of “New Romantics”, WHAM! presented themselves as clean cut boys, in oversized tees with large text like “CHOOSE LIFE” - rage alongside Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “RELAX” and other simple life-affirming affirmations and seemingly “choices” manifest on their chests and bellies. “Bubbleum Pop” had a face, and they belonged to George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley).
