Thirty-six years ago today, George Michael put out an album and then did everything he could to keep his own face off it.
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 landed in the U.K. on Sept. 3, 1990. It went in at No. 1 and then sat in the Top 10 for another 18 weeks. Columbia put it out in the U.S. four days later. That part did not go the same way.
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It Was Never Going to Be Another ‘Faith’
Faith had been a machine. Four different singles off it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Monkey”. So the follow-up could have been more of the same. It wasn’t. Ten tracks, mostly acoustic, and a lot quieter than anything on the record before it.
The songs still worked. Lead single “Praying for Time” went to No. 1 in the U.S., his seventh American chart-topper. It was also the last solo single of his career to get there.
He Left Himself Out of His Own Video
Then came “Freedom! ’90,” and Michael is not in it. He gave the whole video to five models at the height of the supermodel era: Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington, with David Fincher directing. They mouthed his words. He never showed up.
He was at the peak of his fame when he made that call, and already in a fight with his record company.
Then It Went to Court
American sales came in soft, and the argument stopped being about music. In October 1992, Michael sued Sony over an eight-album, 15-year contract he called “professional slavery,” saying it was an unlawful restraint of trade. Justice Jonathan Parker ruled for Sony on June 1, 1994.
He made a record to prove he was not a product. It took four years to find out the contract disagreed.