Think about the first time you heard the song Father Figure by George Michael.
Maybe you heard it on the radio in the eighties, maybe you heard it on the soundtrack of any number of movies that span subsequent the decades - including the Oscar-ignored film Babygirl starring Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson and Antonio Banderas, which came out earlier this year.
Father Figure has been, over the years, a lot of things to a lot of people.
To commemorate George Michael during the week of his 62nd birthday and for our fifth annual Pride episode, Matt takes a look at the enduring cultural impact of the song Father Figure, and the idea that, as eminent American producer, Dick Clark once put it “Music is the soundtrack of your life.”
And from there, Matt examines how George Michael’s music helped him as a small boy to re-discover the fun of pop music, and maybe even life, after the sudden death of his father. It’s an episode about a whole lot of things, it runs a slender and twink-ish 26 minutes, and it includes Liza Minnelli in a small but reassuring way.
Stay tuned for these episodes coming in July:
Matt talks with Aatish Taseer about his new book A Return to Self: Excursions in Exile
Erin talks with Caroline Calloway about her new book Elizabeth Wurtzel and Caroline Calloway’s Guide To Life
Listen to us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts.
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