Ex-Wham! singer George Michael dies

BBC ^ | December 25, 2016

[plain talk]

No further comment = AIDS related death. In any event he is lucky to have lived as long as he did given his life style.

[beaversmom]

Sorry for your friend’s loss. I just never hear about it any longer, but it seems people are still suffering and dying. It’s just not in the news like it once was. In the 80s and 90s, it was very much talked about.

It was probably in the early 2000s, but my mom and I went to an estate sale of two men that I presumed to be “partners”. One of the fellows was obviously VERY sick even though he was up and about. He had that very gaunt, frail look of which you speak. Didn’t know the man, but it was hard not to feel for him.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Tell me about it. After 5 years stationed on Guam I got to Hollywood/LA right just after the 80s rock scene died.

[steve86]

“Very sad.”

In what sense?

[struggle]

Yeah, I think the reason why no one talks about it is because no one wants to associate homosexuality with AIDS.

[combat_boots]

A close relative died of AIDS. Saw him the night he died, after having not seen him for some years. He knew me, even though he was drugged up the wah.

His ex-wife never married after he came out & they divorced. He caught AIDS some time thereafter and was one of the first in this general area to contract it.

Boy, could he make me laugh.

I am STILL mad at him.

[Cecily]

George had a lot of good songs. I always liked Freedom 90 (Cowboys and Angels was another good one).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYAc7gB-0A

[Leep]

I would confess to crimes I didn’t commit if they would stop playing over and over!

My version:
Feed the Squirrels ..don’t they know it’s Christmas time.

[Rebelbase]

“The 80s were an exciting time for me as far as music.”

Musically the 80’s were the worst decade of my life.

[xp38]

Leonard Cohen...quite a few this year.

[dsrtsage]

Anal Intrusion Death Sentence?

[unread]

I have honestly never heard of the gay....er...guy.

[mad_as_he$$]

Wiki:

Beginning in 1983 and peaking in success in 1986-1991, the decade saw the resurgence of hard rock music and the emergence of its glam metal subgenre. Bands such as AC/DC, Queen, Def Leppard, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Quiet Riot, Scorpions, Europe, Ratt, Twisted Sister, Poison, Dokken, Whitesnake, and Cinderella were among the most popular acts of the decade. The 1980s saw the emergence of wildly popular hard rock band Guns N’ Roses and the successful comebacks of Aerosmith and Alice Cooper in the late 1980s. The success of hard rock act Van Halen spanned throughout the entire decade, first with singer David Lee Roth and later with Sammy Hagar. Queen, which had expanded its music to experimental and crossover genres in the early 1980s, returned to guitar-driven hard rock with The Miracle in 1989. Additionally, a few women managed to achieve stardom in the 1980s hard rock scene: Pat Benatar, who had been around since the late 1970s, is a prime example of female success in hard rock, and so are both ex-Runaways Joan Jett and Lita Ford.

Sums it up very well..I think.

[ez]

My band played all the WHAM stuff back in the day since I played sax (Careless Whisper) and sang a little like him. Can’t wish any bad on anyone no matter their proclivities so Go with God Georgios...He blessed you with a lot of talent.

[Patriot Babe]

My condolences to George Michael family. Whether we approve or not his gay lifestyle. No need to be crude. As for me, my prayers up to his family and I truly pray that George accept the Lord before his last breath. It is never to late even in one’s death bed. Just remember the thief on the cross.

RIP George, thank you for sharing your talent.

[mellow velo]

Keith Emerson & Greg Lake, too

[Rebelbase]

The creativity was muted. Pop music transformed into electronic keyboard crescendos in every verse and Rock devolved into crap like : Def Leppard, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Quiet Riot, Scorpions, Europe, Ratt, Twisted Sister, Poison, Dokken, Whitesnake, and Cinderella.

AC/DC isn’t symbolic of 80’s music, IMO. Same with Kiss but they were musical posers anyway. Guns-n-Roses were a hard rocking band but there are only a few of their songs that are worth listening to.

Then there’s Van Halen even though they morphed into Van Hagar in the 80’s they were a bright spot on the radio in comparison to the mainstream air play.

[curth]

Not a big fan, but liked some of his tunes. This is one is a duet with Paul McCartney called Heal The Pain : RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0afIwq6QSg

[farming pharmer]

“Well...he’s a packer....ain’t he?”

Careful. Not of the Green Bay variety!

No, he was the 'old dirt road' variety.

[fr_freak]

Apart from the STDS, the other behaviors are because being gay is often ostracized and stigmatized in practically all societies.

You're making a big assumption here. It is possible that stigmatization is a contributing factor, but if it were, we would expect a marked decrease in such pathologies among homosexuals in the West in the last twenty years due to the relaxation of any such stigmas, and even the promotion of homosexuality as normal. As far as I know, there is no such decrease, even in the age of "gay marriage". Homosexuality is a disorder of not only sexual behavior, but primary identity as well, and this, by itself, can cause enough distress for a person to self-medicate. The greater the reckless abandon into the disorder, the greater the distress, requiring the greater amount of self-medication and distraction (in the form of more sex and drugs).