Set your wayback machines once again to the UK charts as they looked 25 years ago, with The Story of Pop: 1998. This week: how one superstar of music elevated to even greater heights after an infamous public incident…
- Artist: George Michael
- Song: Outside
- Released: 19/10/1998
- Writers / Producers: George Michael / Johnny Douglas
- Highest UK Chart Position: #2
- Weeks on Chart: 20
Since first rising to fame in the 80s as one half of the hugely successful pop duo Wham, formed with his best friend from school, Andrew Ridgeley, George Michael launched into his solo career in 1987.
With his debut multimillion selling album Faith, he instantly became a huge success in his own right, not just here in the UK, but across the world – in particular, in America – and setting the template for launching a successful solo career from the ashes of a huge pop band.
However, said success, as has been very well documented, did come with a price. Owing a lot to where he’d originated from, and more so towards the end of Wham’s tenure in 1986, George found that fame was making him unhappy, and he was increasingly preoccupied with trying to attain a level of respect from both critics and peers.
He was also tiring of being touted as a sex symbol, largely because Wham’s predominantly young teenage girl fanbase had initially followed him to his solo career. It was this which of course led to the complete readjustment of who he was as a solo artist, on 1990’s Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 and 1996’s Older, which marked his progression to a maturer, credible sound, all against the backdrop of a lengthy legal battle with his record label, Sony Music, that was ultimately rejected in the High Court.
Tying into all of this was his own personal battles with his sexuality. He had told Andrew and Shirlie Kemp, one of their backing singers in Wham, that he was bisexual. It had subsequently been rumoured – although unconfirmed – for several years that he was gay.
Given the media and social climate at the time, and in the wake of the HIV / AIDs epidemic in the 80s, it was understandable why George was reluctant to speak out about it. It was only until April 1998 when he was publicly outed following his arrest by an undercover police officer for lewd behaviour in a public toilet in Beverley Hills. For most other people in the public eye, this might have been the point where they retreated.
But George wasn’t most other people. And with the release of his first best of album as a solo artist, the amusingly titled Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael, he took ownership of the incident in a hilarious stance with one of his most memorable tracks.
Co-written and produced with Johnny Douglas, who he had worked with extensively on the Older album, “Outside” was a mischievous slice of disco funk, sung with tongue firmly in cheek as George sung about his boredom with having sex indoors and exploring alfresco relations: “Let’s go outside / In the sunshine, I know you want to but you can’t say yes / Let’s go outside / In the moonshine, and take me to the places that I love best”.
His sense of humour was prevalent throughout, even going so far as to sample radio reports of his arrest, and having a witty dig at his sentencing to 80 hours unpaid community service: “I’d service the community / But I already have, you see”. Topping it all was an accompanying promo video directed by Vaughan Arnell which saw him dressed as a cop in a public loo that’s transformed into a discotheque.
And it’s commercial performance proved that, far from the controversy alienating his audience, it grew even more. Upon release in late October 1998, “Outside” was a huge hit for George, entering and peaking at #2 – just missing out on number one to Cher who we discussed last week.
A candid interview on Michael Parkinson’s BBC chat show on the release of the single also helped to win him over to more fans, and when the Ladies & Gentlemen greatest hits was released a few weeks later, it promptly went straight to number one in the album chart, where it stayed for eight weeks, eventually being certified 9 x Platinum for sales of over 2.7 million copies.
Since he passed away on Christmas Day in 2016, the album subsequently returned to the chart, and the 25th anniversary of the release of “Outside” has been commemorated this week with a 4K restoration of the video on YouTube. Perhaps the song’s biggest legacy though, is what it ultimately did for artists from an LGBTQ+ background: George broke down the gates so that others could publicly embrace their true selves in their music and artistry.
Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 1998. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments, Tweet us or message us on Instagram, using the hashtag #StoryofPop1998.
The Niche Reference 