We Never Got Vol. 2 …

In October 1987, George Michael released his first solo album, Faith, which would become a massive blockbuster success, spending 12 weeks atop Billboard‘s album chart, winning a Grammy in 1989 for Album of the Year, and spawning four number 1 singles and two other Top 5 hits.  Twenty years ago today, Michael’s follow-up record, Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, hit record stores.  While certainly meeting the kind of success many artists would dream of, this record reached nothing near the heights of Faith.  Still, it produced a number 1 single in “Praying for Time” and another Top 10 single in “Freedom,” the video for which appears above.  The album also reflected significant changes in the style and public persona of Michael.  Among other things, Michael refused to do music videos for the hit songs from the album.  (Notice that the closest thing we see to Michael in the video above is the burning of the jacket he wore in the video for the song “Faith” from the previous album.)  While Michael would release more music over the ensuing years, he never offered us the kind of follow-up that the name of the record implies.