Tonight the Music Seems So Loud

He wrote one of the biggest hits of our age in ‘about an hour’ in his childhood bedroom and would go on to collaborate with some of the greatest musicians of all time, from Aretha Franklin to Stevie Wonder.

He was a pop star who bleached his hair blonde, wore tiny shorts and, at the same time, critiqued his own image mercilessly.

He lived through the AIDS crisis and one of the most homophobic periods of British history and yet when he finally came out, he did so boldly and unapologetically.

Wham! were the first Western pop group to play in Communist China and despite becoming a staple for easy-listening radio, he repeatedly broke boundaries in music too.

He was the poppiest of pop stars but would go on television to denounce the Iraq War.

Ten years after his death, and even leaving aside the accelerating success of ‘Last Christmas’, George Michael is still everywhere: from ‘Father Figure’ to ‘Freedom’ and ‘Careless Whisper’, there are fresh covers of his songs, endless memes on social media, and show-stopping appearances on soundtracks.

Tonight the Music Seems So Loud is at once a kaleidoscopic portrait of one of Britain’s most beloved musicians and an account of a strange and turbulent period of British history. In his unconventional and enthralling new book, bestselling author Sathnam Sanghera explores the connection between music and politics, exposes what secrecy does to the soul, and reveals how fame rots the sense of self. Throughout, Sanghera captures, joyfully and poignantly, one of Britain’s greatest artists in all his musical glory.