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George Michael on Dangerous Ground with New Song
The Sun, June 30, 2002
LONDON (Reuters) - British singer George Michael releases his latest single on Monday and admits the political satire is his most controversial career move to date. "Shoot the Dog," in which the singer presents his views on the state of world affairs, is openly critical of the "special" relationship between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "I know this is dangerous territory," he told the Mirror newspaper on the eve of the song's release. "But I really feel this is such a serious time for us all that being silent is not an option."
The song, which was originally written before the September 11 attacks on the United States but shelved until now, is an attempt by Michael to get people thinking about what is really happening in the world. He said his inspiration came from watching late-night news shows on television. "I noticed a lot of stuff about the growing fear of a war between the secular world and the fundamentalist world," he told the tabloid. "The more I learned, the more fearful I became. And I simple wanted to write a song that said to everybody, 'people lets be aware of this situation and understand that there are some very pissed off people out there'."
"Shoot the Dog" also takes a critical pop at Bush and Blair, labelling the British prime minister "a poodle." The cartoon video sees Bush on the White House lawn petting a smiling poodle-shaped Blair and also depicts the two leaders dancing the tango, Blair in a flowing dress. The song's release is bound to spark controversy and by the singer's own admission could "make my experience with a certain policeman in Los Angeles look like a tea party." It was in 1998 that Michael was arrested in an LA toilet after exposing himself to a police officer. That incident provided a much needed boost to his flagging pop career, but the singer is less than confident that his new song will have the same effect. "I've been advised that radio stations which rely on government licenses might ban it," he said. "It could get slated, it could land me right in the shit. But I hope it just gets people debating."
Bush and Blair Go Line Dancing in New Music Video
Yahoo, June 28, 2002
LONDON (Reuters) - Whether or not U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair see eye to eye on the Middle East, they are set to share the dance floor in a new pop music video. The latest video of platinum-selling artist George Michael has the caricatured leaders getting on just fine, even though a U.S. call for the removal of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat appeared to open a rare policy rift between them this week.
"The video shows George Michael and Bush doing some sort of body-popping type dance and a kind of electric boogaloo in the Oval Office," the video's creative director Giles Pilbrow of 2D TV told Reuters on Friday. "They also put on cowboy outfits and Blair joins in for a line dance." The video, which uses hand-drawn artwork in the style of a newspaper cartoon, also shows Michael riding a missile and getting the thumbs-up from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The video accompanies George Michael's new single "Shoot the Dog," which will debut on MTV and VH1 television on Tuesday.
Michael first made his name with 1980s pop band Wham! before going solo and has sold more than 67 million records worldwide.
Pop Star Picks MK Cartoonists
http://www.seriousaboutnews.com, June 24, 2002
POP superstar George Michael has asked city cartoonists to draw the promotional video for his new record. The music legend will be featured wearing 'vampish' women's clothing for his forthcoming single 'Shoot The Dog'. Animators behind television satire 2DTV now face a race against time to meet the record release date over the next month. Staff at its Stony Stratford office are working around the clock - with some staff having to leave or postpone their holidays in a bid to beat the deadline. Tim Searle, joint creator of 2DTV Limited, said: "It's dead exciting. We have dealt with many celebrities, but George is the biggest. "We thought it was a prankster pretending to be George's manager at first. But it wasn't. George is a big 2DTV fan. We met up with George himself in London on Monday to discuss the storyboard. He's very on the case and suggested 'you can dress me up as a woman'. And, momentarily, he will be - in very vampish clothes. We are now drawing the storyboard, then timing it out to the track to synchronise the cartoons with the music." George usually appears in 2DTV cartoon sketches involving his mates Geri Halliwell and Sir Elton John. Tim said: "George has a cracking sense of humour. We're lucky we don't have much of a dig at him in the show. George plays the straight man out of the three." Sir Elton and Geri are mercilessly pilloried on the show. Last November this newspaper revealed that Sir Elton had allegedly had trouble keeping his hair on about 2DTV poking fun at his wig.
His cartoon will not be appearing in George's new promo video. As for Geri, Tim said: "2DTV - apparently, it's humour is flying over her head." She appears on the promo cartoon along with President Bush and Tony Blair. Tim added: "The song is vaguely satirical, although I'm not allowed to go into much detail at this point, suffice to say, it's a dance song with a political message." Mr Searle wouldn't reveal how much the contract was worth, but said: "It's a darn sight more than our normal work. With George being an international star, we are hoping this will raise our profile in the United States." Tim said on Thursday: "It's going to kill us. But we've managed to push the original deadline back three days. I was going to go to France in a camper van next week. That's on hold. I have pulled a couple of workers back from Italy. They will get back tomorrow (June 14) . One girl was on honeymoon. I asked her, but she understandably refused."
The satirical comedy, hailed as the 21st century Spitting Image, scooped the press prize for arts and special programmes at May's prestigious Montreux TV festival. Record makers Polydor were unavailable for comment.
From the Human League website
Yogmael / www.league-online.com, June 23, 2002
It can now be revealed that the major UK artist who has used a heavy League sample for their next single is former Wham singer George Michael. His new single 'Shoot The Dog' relies heavily on arrangements from one of the most famous Human League singles 'Love Action' and it it also believed to contain Phil's original vocals. Technical has described 'Shoot The Dog' as 'very good' and the League were given the track for approval last month. The choice of 'Love Action' comes nine years after the fondly remembered Top 10 Utah Saints single 'I Believe' that also sampled some of Phil's vocals from the Dare song in 1993. George's effort is released to radio stations as a promo next week and is expected to hit record stores towards the end of July, so in the meantime, you may sadly have to put up with the banality of Radio One in order to hear it.
Dropped Docu
The Daily Mail, June 12, 2002
Despite months of research, the BBC has dropped a documentary it was making on George Michael. The makers concluded that Michael is worth in excess of L100 million but, unusually, after consultation with Michael, according to my insider, the project was dropped. My source says; 'George agreed to co-operate with another project if they left him alone on this one." Glad to see the independent spirit of the BBC shinning through.
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