Tonight the Music Seems So Loud: The Meaning of George Michael

There is no shortage of earnest books about the cultural significance of musicians like David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon. But George Michael does not attract such attention. The music he produced is not generally deemed worthy of serious analysis, yet such dismissals overlook how Michael's life and work broke extraordinary boundaries.

A second generation immigrant and child of a Greek-Cypriot restaurateur, Michael could barely read music, and was not trained on any instrument, yet would compose hit songs in a single afternoon and play nearly every instrument on recordings. He had the rare ability to master both rock and R&B; and was, following Freddie Mercury's death, considered as a replacement frontman for Queen. For many he became a symbol of '80s excess, played benefit gigs, and was a prolific secret philanthropist. He had massive pop hits, even after launching one of the most aggressive court cases against a record company in pop history. He was a teen crush for millions of girls, and stayed in the closet due to homophobia from his father and the media, but then became an impassioned campaigner for gay rights. A large part of his audience was suburban, middle-aged, female, and white, yet some of his most famous tunes were essentially R&B pop songs about casual sex in the city. He was wildly popular, at times ridiculed in the press, and fêted by some of the toughest critics, often simultaneously.

A deeply personal engagement with the life and music of George Michael, Tonight the Music Seems So Loud offers a colorful story on immigration, homophobia, and fame; the glorious eras of the '80s and '90s; creative and musical genius; the tabloids; addiction; obsessive fans; and why the love for George Michael has only grown in the years since his untimely death.