I’ve been writing a series of blogs on the songs that make up my most recent release, a covers project entitled “Through Songs I Was First Undone.” The moments I’ve had with the artists whose music makes up this album have been sacred moments. These artists and their songs have been central to the necessary undoing of the expectations and limitations I habitually place on God and humanity.
Here is part of why George Michael’s “Freedom” is on the album:
Among all the songs on the covers album, this is the song I get the most flack for. I’m not talking about the “What a brave decision” kind of flack; I’m talking about the “How can you possibly listen to George Michael?” kind of flack. But, how can you not love George Michael? I didn’t cover Huey Lewis, though I’m a huge fan. Nor did I delve into my love for bands like Tesla and/or Def Leppard (which my wife would have preferred). I gave to my listeners what I think is a really fun look at one of the best pop songs ever written, “Freedom 90.”
Maybe you remember the video; a troupe of impossibly beautiful models in an unfurnished, dilapidated mansion, lip-syncing to George Michael’s newest single. The video had many MTV viewers asking questions like “What on earth was that about?” and “Is there another room available in that house?” MTV kept the “Freedom” video in heavy rotation for a long while and the song stuck around the Billboard top ten for a several weeks. In some ways, it’s pop success makes all the sense in the world; It was/is an incredibly well-written pop song with about as memorable a melody as any I can think of from that era. Yet, there is another element of the song that resonated with me.
At a time when video was still king of the music marketplace, George Michael did not appear in the “Freedom 90″ video at all. Now, It doesn’t hurt to be replaced in your video by the likes of Naomi Campbell but, nonetheless.. MTV rotation at the time directly correlated to record sales. His previous hit “Faith” was seriously bolstered in its success by the video, which featured both George Michael and George Michael’s buttocks. It was arguably the biggest song of 1988 and one can hardly think of the song without the image of GM’s glutes shifting to and fro. It clearly worked to have GM in the video. He was, after all, a sex symbol as well as a musician. So… go with what works.. do what sells. But he refused to appear in the video at all.
George Michael’s sexual identity was directly tied to his marketability as an artist. Being a hunky dude was part of what made him sellable as a member of Wham! and as a solo artist. Being a hunky, gay dude was not quite as marketable to pop-culture’s army of bubble-gum chewing 13-17 year old girls. ”Freedom 90″ was, in many ways, an announcement that the artist was no longer willing to compromise his identity for the sake of marketability. Or, as the song’s most revealing lyrics have it: “I don’t belong to you and you don’t belong to me”
The interplay between identity and possession in any system of relationships can be treacherous. Even in personal settings, a perverted sense of ownership/possession can destroy a relationship and bring great damage to one or both parties involved. Nobody wants to be “owned.” In fact, it is this very idea that one person possess/own another person like a product that is of the horror of human trafficking; possession of a person strips that person of their “personhood.” Obviously (or at least I would hope) the nature of this interplay becomes even more delicate in the circus that is the entertainment world. An artist or performer can very easily become less of a person and more of a product sold by the marketplace; whose tastes, personality, language, behavior etc… are more a reflective of what the market finds valuable than what “true” to that person’s soul.
I know this is an old storyline; one that regular folks like you and I don’t have much sympathy for. We don’t have much room left for Lindsay Lohan or the like.. I get it. But the truth is that something of the same possessive spirit that sets the stage for the sex-slave trade also sets the stage for celebrity culture; a culture in which we celebrate, support, judge and condemn people from a distance so far as they serve our purposes and our ideals. We want our sports figures to be role models and are shocked when they act foolishly. We want our celebrities to honor their commitments and lament their decisions to live otherwise. We need our public religious figures to uphold our moral ideals at a higher level than we even expect of ourselves and are crushed to learn of their very human failures.
These men and women cease to be men and women.. they become projections of our “ideal selves”… of they way we wish we lived, the power we wish we had, the body we wish we were in and on and on. We don’t want them to be complicated, fragile, unfinished, human… because if they are only human, then we must be “only human” too. And it often disappoints us that we are complicated, fragile and unfinished; their relational, financial and moral failures temporarily justifies and then highlights our own…
George Michael’s sexuality, like the sexuality of most any celebrity, was/is subject to approval of the masses who claimed some sort of ownership or possession of him (*This takes a very interesting twist in the case of christian-culture celebs who are more often presented as nearly a-sexual). He wanted freedom from that, which he sought by way of publicly announcement; this song was part of that process.
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I seem to recall that the single that came out before this also did not feature Michael’s visage anywhere. It showed the lyrics, and if I recall correctly, it was called “Praying for Time”.
You may be right.. I’ll have to double Czech the time-line. It’s good to hear from such a stalwart fan of George Michael’s.
I remember being in 6th grade and having to ask my mom if I could purchase the “Faith” cassette because it had “Don’t Want Your Sex” on it. I listened to that tape over and over…great stuff.
But Justin I see you are boiling this song down to an announcement about his sexuality…so what does that mean you are trying to convey to us? Also, how close are we (by we, I mean you. And by you I mean Amy) to delivery????
And of course by the song “Don’t Want Your Sex” I really mean “I Want Your Sex”…only the biggest fans get the titles wrong.
Joe: “Don’t Want Your Sex” is, i believe a christian-market book on dating…
Thanks for the background- good stuff.
Absolutely love this cut on the album. My kids, who love a lot of the music I grew up on, had not heard this song. It was great to introduce it to them on your CD.
I was thrilled to see this song ‘covered’. You will get no flack from me!
I appreciate George Michael’s music, even though I generally no longer listen to secular music, I still listen to a handful of his songs. Praying For Time is one of my favorites, and I like your cover of Freedom better than Mr. Michael’s. Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us. Brilliant writer, wonderful musician… and a Compassion Advocate. Hmmm, what’s not to love!