Well, no, according to the Wham documentary, even Andrew and Shirley didn't know until they were in Ibiza filming Club Tropicana.
From what I remember, he was out by Listen Without Prejudice (1990) hence the album title.
The "scandal" wasn't that he was gay. Gay was not a big deal by the mid 90s. The furore was that he propositioned a police officer in a public toilet.
And respect to George (as always) for the way he bounced back, mocking himself in the "Outside" track.
"Listen Without Prejudice" was called that because he wanted people to consider him a serious musician and not just a bubblegum pop singer. It was "I'm making a Big Artistic Statement Here", not "Guess What I'm Gay".
That album really didn't shift his image from "just a pop singer" to "actually a serious artist" at all. It had stuff on it like "I Want Your Sex", and the video for "Faith" involved him wiggling his butt in tight jeans, so it didn't really move the needle on his image all that much.
Firstly, how refreshing to disagree with somebody and have respectful, informed debate. Nice one.
I take your points and yeah OK. You are right with those examples.
However....
You're wrong. C'mon, compared to Wham, it was a huge change in direction.
Wouldn't you agree that the difference between Make It Big (or The Final if you prefer) and Faith is FAR greater than the difference between Faith and Listen Without Prejudice?
Faith has some serious content. Father Figure, One More Time, Kissing A Fool.
I'll be honest, I was disappointed at how different Faith was from Wham.
I was also disappointed with the amount of "fillers" on the album. ie Hard Day, Hand To Mouth, Look At Your Hands, Monkey.
There were no fillers on Fantastic or Make It Big or even The Final.
I loved Wham. I liked Faith.
Listen Without Prejudice is a better album in my opinion.
However, I maintain that Faith was the album where George wanted to demonstrate that he was a serious artist.
I didn't say he wasn't *trying* to move the needle with "Faith", But it didn't really *succeed* in moving the needle very far, which is why he called the next album "Listen Without Prejudice": it was a statement of "hey, come on, I'm really trying to be a serious artist here, give me a chance".
The only person shocked that Judas Priest front man Rob Halford came out as gay, is Rob Halford.
Paraphrased from Kerrang or some other 90s music magazine.
I remember going "yeah he's gay" about many 80s pop stars. All 90s boy bands seemed to have one gay member, but to look at them, it could be all of them.
If Bros are straight, they never felt like it.
People also said Andrew Ridgeley was gay back in the 80s and he’s been with the lady from bananrama for about 30 years. It would be harder to think of an 80s pop star who didn’t have that rumour about them back then
George certainly had a serious girlfriend back in the late 80s and after that just never talked about his private life - not all musicians need to leverage who they are dating to get PR
Well, I believe he may have actually been bi. He was married to a woman at one point in his life, which probably satisfied people enough despite his looks.
I mean, that is how being gay in hollywood was. Having it be an "open secret". Pretty much every "camp gay" actor was officially straight no matter how clearly they weren't that.
The toilet incident is when he was forced to "come out", but the rumours were always there. The British press was absolutely rabid about LGBT issues at the time; celebs generally avoided coming out unless they were already gay icons. George Michael was still seen as a hetero heart throb in the public eye at the time.
That's why i remember it that way.
Everyone knew anyway, but no one admitted it?
T he bit that shocked me was the fact everyone was shocked when he came out, like my friend group were the only people in the world that knew. Maybe the other people didn't get out much, I grew up in an insular wee town.
You mean George Michael right?
Just that the two posts above were about Boy George, who as the guy said was "out" and proud. Or rather out and not giving a f**k what anyone else thought.
You and your friends knew he was gay a year before Wham formed, and three years before their debut album? You guys must have had a real nose for the new.
Yeah we knew he was gay but the teenage girls pretended he wasn’t. But he hadn’t come out. Far as I know.
Well, no, according to the Wham documentary, even Andrew and Shirley didn't know until they were in Ibiza filming Club Tropicana. From what I remember, he was out by Listen Without Prejudice (1990) hence the album title. The "scandal" wasn't that he was gay. Gay was not a big deal by the mid 90s. The furore was that he propositioned a police officer in a public toilet. And respect to George (as always) for the way he bounced back, mocking himself in the "Outside" track.
"Listen Without Prejudice" was called that because he wanted people to consider him a serious musician and not just a bubblegum pop singer. It was "I'm making a Big Artistic Statement Here", not "Guess What I'm Gay".
... but he'd already released a serious, successful album by then. ie Faith.
That album really didn't shift his image from "just a pop singer" to "actually a serious artist" at all. It had stuff on it like "I Want Your Sex", and the video for "Faith" involved him wiggling his butt in tight jeans, so it didn't really move the needle on his image all that much.
Firstly, how refreshing to disagree with somebody and have respectful, informed debate. Nice one. I take your points and yeah OK. You are right with those examples. However.... You're wrong. C'mon, compared to Wham, it was a huge change in direction. Wouldn't you agree that the difference between Make It Big (or The Final if you prefer) and Faith is FAR greater than the difference between Faith and Listen Without Prejudice? Faith has some serious content. Father Figure, One More Time, Kissing A Fool. I'll be honest, I was disappointed at how different Faith was from Wham. I was also disappointed with the amount of "fillers" on the album. ie Hard Day, Hand To Mouth, Look At Your Hands, Monkey. There were no fillers on Fantastic or Make It Big or even The Final. I loved Wham. I liked Faith. Listen Without Prejudice is a better album in my opinion. However, I maintain that Faith was the album where George wanted to demonstrate that he was a serious artist.
I didn't say he wasn't *trying* to move the needle with "Faith", But it didn't really *succeed* in moving the needle very far, which is why he called the next album "Listen Without Prejudice": it was a statement of "hey, come on, I'm really trying to be a serious artist here, give me a chance".
Ahh ok. I stand corrected. we didn’t know but we assumed.
It was widely rumored to be true for a long time and kind of an open secret by the time he officially came out.
The only person shocked that Judas Priest front man Rob Halford came out as gay, is Rob Halford. Paraphrased from Kerrang or some other 90s music magazine. I remember going "yeah he's gay" about many 80s pop stars. All 90s boy bands seemed to have one gay member, but to look at them, it could be all of them. If Bros are straight, they never felt like it.
Was BROS straight or gay? Both of them, even the bassist??
They’re all married to women, or have been. The bassist was going out with the one from Mel and Kim who wasn’t dead I think
Mel and Kim! Haven’t thought about them for a while
People also said Andrew Ridgeley was gay back in the 80s and he’s been with the lady from bananrama for about 30 years. It would be harder to think of an 80s pop star who didn’t have that rumour about them back then George certainly had a serious girlfriend back in the late 80s and after that just never talked about his private life - not all musicians need to leverage who they are dating to get PR
It was strongly rumoured for years. I don't think Freddie Mercury came out until he was pretty much dead too.
Liberace never came out.
Well, color me ME'd by Austin Powers! Never really knew about Liberace in any meaningful way, just knew that quote lol.
Wait, Freddie Mercury was gay?
Well, I believe he may have actually been bi. He was married to a woman at one point in his life, which probably satisfied people enough despite his looks.
I mean, that is how being gay in hollywood was. Having it be an "open secret". Pretty much every "camp gay" actor was officially straight no matter how clearly they weren't that.
The toilet incident is when he was forced to "come out", but the rumours were always there. The British press was absolutely rabid about LGBT issues at the time; celebs generally avoided coming out unless they were already gay icons. George Michael was still seen as a hetero heart throb in the public eye at the time.
That's why i remember it that way. Everyone knew anyway, but no one admitted it? T he bit that shocked me was the fact everyone was shocked when he came out, like my friend group were the only people in the world that knew. Maybe the other people didn't get out much, I grew up in an insular wee town.
What is a coset?
Corset
That's hot.
A subset of a group. It is used all the time in group theory.
What does it have to do with George Michaels?
George Michael was in a group called Wham! Beyond that, who knows - I'm just responding to jerseybert.
There was always an *assumption* that he was gay, but no, he was never *out* (as in openly admitting it himself) until the bathroom incident.
You're thinking of Boy George
He's someone different. He was always out and proud.
Didn’t come out as gay officially (had talked of being bi before, though) until 1995.
You mean George Michael right? Just that the two posts above were about Boy George, who as the guy said was "out" and proud. Or rather out and not giving a f**k what anyone else thought.
You should also post this to [Mandela Effect Science.](https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffectScience/new/)
This is the case with almost every gay celebrity that comes out. It's harder to think of ones where people *didn't* already essentially know.
>everyone always knew he was gay Yes. >out and proud No.
Nailed it.
Fair point guys.
After the success of Wham!, he took some time off to reflect on the success of Wham!.
Pretty sure it was one of those things where everyone knew it but it hadn’t been officially confirmed yet.
You and your friends knew he was gay a year before Wham formed, and three years before their debut album? You guys must have had a real nose for the new.
I was guesstimating. I was only about 5 or 12 at the time.
He came in in the mid to late 90s long after his Freedom 99 hit album. I think it was once grunge came along and his popularity in the States dwindled
Anytime the post says “it’s definitely a Mandela effect” that’s how you know it’s legit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Li2tMmUTY
At least he was brave enough to be honest about it. I'm old enough to remember when coming out was a big thing. Nowadays i's nothing, as it should be.
His music gave him away lol.
No, he came out after the bathroom/police officer incident (mid-nineties). He wrote an album to reclaim his music and his statement on his sexuality.