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Watch George Michael and Morrissey discuss early ’80s popular culture

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Travel back to a more innocent time and enjoy this superb slice of nostalgia as a fresh-faced George Michael and a young Morrissey discuss the merits of Joy Division, Everything But The Girl and the film Breakdance on short-lived BBC 2 arts programme Eight Days A Week. They are joined by ‘veteran’ DJ Tony Blackburn.

This programme was hosted by broadcaster and journalist Robin Denselow and produced by Trevor Dann, who in the mid-nineties became Head Of BBC Music Entertainment with overall responsibility for Radio One, Radio Two and Top Of The Pops.

This particular programme was broadcast on 25 May 1984 at the that time Wham! had the highest new entry on the UK singles charts with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and The Smiths had just released Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now. George and Morrissey agree on more than you might think. Enjoy!

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19 Comments

19 thoughts on “Watch George Michael and Morrissey discuss early ’80s popular culture”

  1. Tony’s comment reminded me of The Father Ted Lovely Girls contest:
    ‘She’s got a lovely bottom’.
    ‘You can’t say that Ted, the girls might get offended’.
    ‘Oh right….they all have lovely bottoms’.

  2. Interesting clip…George was smart and articulate and tasteful and in-the-know, culturally. Pretty neat that he was referring to the Jerry Wexler-produced original version of “Careless Whisper” talking about Atlantic Records, which was relegated to a B-side after GM’s preferred and self-produced one was chosen as the single and a stone-cold classic. Morrissey was hilariously stuffy and he seemed to try to come off non-condescending and failed, haha. Tony seemed very out of touch in regards to Joy Division, but loved “Breakdance”?? I don’t even remember that movie myself…the only breakdancing 80s movies I remember were “Breakin'”, “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo” and “Beat Street”. And “Krush Groove”, which was more about hiphop. Weird the Status Quo mention, being a member also passed this year…2016 sucked so bad.

    1. “Breakdance” and “Breakin'” are the same film – it had different names in different places. It’s also been known as “Break Street 84” in some places

      Same goes for “Breakin’ 2” and “Breakdance 2”.

  6. Thanks for posting this!! I’m surprised how articulate and smart GM was at such young age. He clearly was no shallow pretty boy, not even back then. What a joy to watch this Paul.

  7. Loved seeing this. I’m just angry that yet again people outside the UK are blocked from accessing current BBC shows like Pop Quiz The Comeback this week. It looked fun from the few clips they released! Same with Glastonbury footage. I wanted to see the full James set so bad…

  9. I found it fascinating. Being in the US, when a music act goes on a talk show it’s most definitely to push product. This was absolutely refreshing to see such icons in such a simple setting. George seems embarrassed in the beginning due to his introduction. He’s clearly uncomfortable with the praise. Morrissey doesn’t even want to be there at certain points. Absolutely priceless. I remember buying the first Wham! LP and telling friends how huge they would be. I received blank stares from most everyone. I discovered The Smiths through a DJ friend who lent me their first LP. Music was very exciting then. Everything seemed new, interesting and bold. I Thank you for taking me back to happier days!

  11. thanks for highlighting/sharing. Interesting comment on the young Paul Morley from George, intrigued in what the background to that is? Or is it just that he hadn’t been a Wham! fan in his NME pieces?
    As Russell says in previous comment, how refreshing to see honest answers from polite and articulate people.

    1. Weren’t Frankie already in the charts at this point? So Paul Marley was already doing his thing for ZTT.

      I find Morley great in small doses – especially his ZTT work, which is THE reference point for music marketing in the 80’s – but as his specialty is over florid descriptions of sometimes banal things, the more he goes on the more irritating he gets.

      The two worst things I’ve come across by him are the Kraftwerk doc for the BBC and the liner notes for a Max Richter box set. Give him lots of space and he doesn’t say more, he just stretches the meagre content to extraordinary lengths. I can imagine a whole book by him on a single band would become irritating and/or tedious very quickly.

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