Freedom! '90
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Freedom! '90" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by George Michael | ||
| from the album Listen without Prejudice, Vol. 1 | ||
| Released | 1990 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 6:29 | |
| Label | Epic Records | |
| Writer(s) | George Michael | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| George Michael singles chronology | ||
| Mother's Pride (1990) |
Freedom! '90 (1990) |
Heal The Pain (1991) |
"Freedom '90" is a song written and performed by George Michael and released on Epic records in 1990.
The song was a highly-praised confessional project from George, acknowledging his fortune and luck from his early days with Wham! - referring directly to Andrew Ridgeley as his "buddy" - but maintaining that he was a changed man, with a more cynical and grown-up attitude to the business he was in. It also acted as a catalyst to his effort to break free from his publishing contract with Sony Music.
As if to prove the song's sentiment, George refused to appear in the video, which was directed by David Fincher, and instead recruited a number of supermodels (including Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz and Cindy Crawford) to mouth the words. It also featured the destruction of various symbols of George's past, including the famous guitar, jukebox, and leather jacket of the Faith era.
Freedom! '90 was six and half minutes long. The addition of the year to the title was to distinguish the song from Freedom, a #1 hit for Wham! back in 1984. It was the third single to be released from the album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 and had contrasting fortunes on each side of the Atlantic - a #8 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA, but only #28 on the UK singles chart.
Notable cover versions include Robbie Williams' first solo single in 1996, which reached #2 in the UK. Williams had left Take That the previous year and therefore could identify himself with much of the sentiment in the song, although he did not use the line "we had every bigshot goodtime band on the run boy, we were living in a fantasy" in his version, which seemed odd as Take That's dominance of the previous three years seemed to make it a relevant line.
