| "Outside" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by George Michael | ||||
| from the album Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael | ||||
| Released | 19 October 1998 | |||
| Format | CD single | |||
| Recorded | 1998 | |||
| Genre | Nu-disco, dance-pop, funk | |||
| Length | 4:45 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Writer(s) | George Michael | |||
| Producer | George Michael | |||
| George Michael singles chronology | ||||
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"Outside" is a song by George Michael, released on Epic Records in 1998.
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The song was seen as a fine self-deprecating public relations exercise by Michael, as it was the first single since he was arrested for engaging in a lewd act six months earlier by an undercover police officer in a Beverly Hills public lavatory; an incident which prompted him to declare his homosexuality which had been rumoured for some years but never confirmed.
Michael took a swipe at the incident in the lyrics, claiming he wanted an alfresco sex life because he was bored with lovemaking behind closed doors. Reference to the Beverly Hills affair came with the line "I'd service the community, but I already have, you see" (he was sentenced to 80 hours of community service for the offense) and direct samples of radio reports of his arrest.
The song was recorded at Sarm West in London with a string section and arrangement by Andrew Skeet.
The video, directed by Vaughan Arnell, was especially satirical. It features a variety of people, gay and straight (including two male policemen), kissing, having sex or foreplay, interspersed with George Michael in a police uniform and holding a police baton dancing in a men's bathroom with the urinals becoming disco balls. The video finishes with a number of the couples being arrested.
The beginning of the video, before the song begins, is a parody of 1970s German pornography films, with on-screen test reading: "eine fulm bi Hüu Jarss", "mit Klaus Hoöd", "ünde Heidi Kóchenblauer", "ars 'Cindy'", "direktum bi Marchelo Üffenvanken", which is an introduction to the 'movie' consisting mainly of made-up names and words, most likely meant to resemble Swedish or German, but with deliberate misspellings (ie "Hüu Jarss": Huge Arse etc.). "Cindy" is played by SI swimsuit model Melissa Keller.
There is also the following narration, in Swedish: "Vem var hon? Vart kom hon ifrån? Hade hon ätit? Då plötslig kom jag ihåg, det var ingen dröm: jag var... i Hollywood!", which roughly translates to "Who was she? Where did she come from? Had she eaten? Then suddenly I recalled, it was no dream: I was... in Hollywood!"
In 1998, Marcelo Rodriguez, the undercover officer who arrested Michael, brought a $10 million court case in California against the singer who has amassed an estimated personal fortune of £70 million ($140 million). The court dismissed the case, but an appeals court reinstated the case on 3 December 2002.[1] The court then ruled Rodriguez, as a public official, could not legally recover damages for emotional distress.[2]
"Outside" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart; one of many songs to be held off by a seven-week run at the top by Cher with "Believe". It was not featured on a studio album, but was included on his solo hits collection Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael - the title of which was also a sly dig at his activity in the lavatory.
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