In the fall of 1990 I began my senior year at Homestead Senior High. At that point I was already a huge music fan and always on the look out for amazing new discoveries. I was most interested in how the artists I loved as a child began to mature and grow. George Michael was a teen pop idol, George Michael was an MTV star, George Michael was an artist who I always believed was so much more that his sex appeal and fame. He showed that in 1990 with one of the great albums of the 90s. Listen Without Prejudice was an album that few critics saw coming. It featured iconic pop songs like Freedom 90′ and ballads like Waiting For Time.
The album was mature, personal, and showed his deep commitment to his songwriting. He was looking to move past his teen idol days and become an icon. And that he did. I believe that his album, along with I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got by Sinead O’Connor are the true harbingers of the shift from Hair Metal and Bubble Gum Pop of the late 80s to the real sound of Gen X that will be defined by NWA, Nirvana, and others. I must have listened to this album 100 times. I chose it because the album came out just as I was returning to school that year. It was the defining album of my senior year.
Considering Outloud 