Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia - Hit Parade: The Imperial Elton and George Edition

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia

Slate Podcasts

Music, Music History,

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2017

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Elton John came out as bisexual in 1976, it was a really big deal. It was covered on the evening news. There were angry letters and a decline in sales. And for a generation of queer musicians, like George Michael, it was a lesson: Be careful what you reveal about your sex life to the public. On this episode, we look at the friendship, collaboration, and chart rivalry of the two British icons, who collided on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week in 1988—and later topped the chart together.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening Ad-Free on Amazon Music.
0:08.0	Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of Pop Chart History from Slate and Panoply, about the hits from coast to coast.
0:15.6	I'm Chris Melanthe, chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of Slate's Why Is This Song Number One series.
0:22.6	On today's show, six months ago, on Christmas Day 2016, the music world mourned the loss of a singing superstar and pop craftsman, George Michael.
0:33.4	Both with his duo Wham and in his solo career, George Michael scored a long list of hits, including such smashes as careless whisper, freedom, and one more try.
0:44.3	And also this up-tempo chart topper. Monkey is a
0:57.0	Monkey is perhaps less well remembered among George Michael's big hits, but it did top Billboard's Hot 100 in the summer of 1988.
1:08.9	Its success was a sign of just how popular he was around the world at the time.
1:14.5	So popular that the weak monkey topped the Hot 100, it prevented this other song in the runner-up
1:21.6	slot from reaching the top.
1:23.4	I don't want to go on to you like that.
1:27.4	Don't want to be a feather in your cap. That's another one of me like that.
1:45.3	That's another British pop legend with an even longer list of hits, Elton John.
1:51.7	And with this song, Elton was nearing the pinnacle of a hard-earned decade-long comeback.
1:58.0	In a bit of chart irony, however, the man who kept Elton out of the number one spot was a friend, an occasional duet partner, and arguably his spiritual
2:03.7	heir. George Michael was to the 80s what Elton John had been to the 70s, the premier male
2:11.4	pop vocalist of his generation. Elton served as a mentor to George, rhapsodizing about the young man's talent from his
2:20.2	earliest days in Wham. Each was a song stylist with Facility Inn and Appreciation for a range of
2:28.0	popular song forms, especially American black music. The two men appeared on stage together in celebrated performances.
2:37.3	Finally, and not incidentally, over the decades, both men would contend with homophobia and the music
2:45.1	business closet as they cautiously navigated their careers and weighed just how much of their personal lives
2:52.4	to share with the general public. Today on Hit Parade, as we close Pride Month in America,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.