On December 10, 1999, George Michael was the guest of the morning show at 98.8 Capital FM Radio. This is a 6-part interview by Neil Fox, and the transcript was posted on the Capital FM radio website. Below is Part 4 of the interview:
The charming Mr. Michael joined our inimitable Dr. Fox for a good old chin wag to chat about life, the universe, vicars and big hair…
It was breakfast time, and most of us were just coming to terms with a new day, but these two had been up since the crack of dawn, chatting away like old mates catching up on all the goss…
Part 1
First they had a chat about George’s latest album, ‘Songs From the Last Century,’ and how he came to make the very difficult choices of what to put on the album, what to leave out and why he made those decisions.
Part 2
Then it was time to talk about their mutual mate, Robbie, and the pressure that George reckons he’s under to keep rolling out the hits – and he’s been there!
Part 3
There was a quick prediction for Record Of The Year 1999 and then Foxy tried to pin George down on a ticklish subject – when, oh when are the fans going to be able to see him perform live again!!???
Part 4
George talks about his fans and how he seems to get one of two very extreme reactions from them when they meet face to face…
Part 5
Then it was time to talk about the contenders for the Christmas Number One spot… and that’s when George made those comments about Cliff Richard…
Part 6
Almost time to bid their fond farewells, but before he nipped off for a hearty breakfast, George let Foxy and the listeners in on a his plans for New Millenium Eve and a naughty secret he’s been keeping hidden from us all. Bad boy George!
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Part 4:
George and Foxy continue their morning chat together and next on the agenda is the fans and their strange behaviour…
Foxy: Are you alright George?
George: Well I wanna know why you are louder in my headphones than I am. I feel like you’re in a position of strength and I don’t like this.
Foxy: Would you like me to turn you up?
George: Actually, I think I just need to get a bit closer…
Foxy: That’s it, just snuggle into the microphone.
George: There we are we more on a level now.
Foxy: Did you know that Alan Freeman used to do that. Fluff used to do that to put off the next DJ. I used to have to follow him when he used to work here. And if you did a link with him, he’d turn your microphone down really low in comparison with him to make you feel really insignificant.
George: He’s obviously a very insecure man…
Foxy: He’s a lovely man actually… Now then, we put a thing up on the website saying got any questions you want to ask George, or got any great stories about him, well just e-mail us. So let me just precis this one down for you. Now this must happen so many times to you, because you are famous…
George: That’s true. I am famous.
Foxy: Right, so when people meet you or bump into you, even the most normal and mundane thing, like you buying a newspaper becomes a big deal… anyway, you’ll probably have no memory of this at all, but a lady called Barbara, 13 years ago was travelling with her family to Portugal, ‘George was on the flight with his girlfriend of the time, Pat Fernandez. Needless to say my cousins and I were very excited but opted for restraint in an effort to appear cool. My gran was flying first class, sitting next to George. They really wanted to speak to you, so they kept coming to talk to their granny at every possible excuse, leaning across you. Barbara, really wanted to talk to you, so when she did she thought she’d sound cooler if she spoke to you in an American accent. How cheesy is that?! She imagines it’s probably the longest three minutes in George’s life and he probably doesn’t remember anything about it, but Barbara will remember it for the rest of her life. Things like that must happen all the time . . .
George: Well, the funny thing about being a celebrity is that you see the extremes. You see the nicest people on earth. Most people are so nice to me that I feel completely blessed, and then at the other end of the scale, you get to meet these people that are complete tossers that you wouldn’t meet otherwise, that come up to you and try and make some kind of point, and they’re deliberately being rude and stuff. And you get all kinds of weird reactions. You get from complete lunatics to the nicest people on earth.
Foxy: But that is the strange thing about human nature – someone will be really rude ‘cos they’re trying to appear cool, you know like, ok so it’s George Michael – I’m not impressed.
George: Yeah, and I think part of it is that they want to leave an impression – and they think they will if they’re rude to you.
Foxy: Ok, here’s another question. ‘I’ve been a big fan from the early days of Wham! and really admire how you’ve changed direction after ‘Faith’ and while I really enjoy your choice of ballads and more chilled out stuff, I really like it when you get funky. Do you have any plans to release any dance tunes in the New year?’ and that’s from John Smith.
George: That’s a good question actually because the album that’s out currently, in reality is more like a diversion. I actually want to make a really storming pop album.
Foxy: Yeah, ‘cos records like ‘Fastlove’ and ‘Outside’ have really done so well . . .
George: Yeah, I really want to do a dance based album while I can still move my legs fast!
It’s big hair time next and that part of the interview when George said those things about Sir Cliff – all in Part 5…In the next issue of PG!
Similar Posts:
- George Michael Interview with Capital FM Radio with Dr. Fox (Dec 1998)
- An Audience with George Michael: Interview with Chris Evans (1996)
- Capital FM Radio Interview with George Michael (2002)
- Capital Radio Interview with George Michael (December 1999) | Part 2
- Capital Radio Interview with George Michael (December 1999) | Part 1
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