The animated series Blank on Blank, which has brought to life more than 80 obscure interviews with musicians, authors, and other famous figures over the years, has just released its last PBS-supported episode.* The newest installment in the animated series takes on a previously unreleased interview with pop superstar George Michael, who died at age 53 last year on Christmas Day. His 1986 conversation with Off the Record author Joe Smith sees Michael, who had recently embarked on his solo career, discuss the decision to leave Wham!, his burgeoning sexuality, and performing in Communist China with the band the previous year.
“We could have just kind of kept on being Wham! and me gradually making George Michael records but that would have been a real sham,” Michael told Smith, expressing a desire to move past the pop-ballad persona that made him famous. “Everyone is right now expecting me to move into the kind of artist that they have been comparing me to for the last couple years, i.e., another Elton [John].”
But Michael had other plans. He was still almost a year away from releasing Faith, but even at the very start of his career as a solo performer, he had a vision of his own success. “In 10 years’ time I think I could be a very, very big star as opposed to just a star.” He had mixed feelings about that prospect. “Although there is that half of me that wants it, there’s another half of me that’s very frightened of it, as well, because I don’t think it has a good effect on people’s lives. I don’t want to be dragged into the kind of downsides of this business that are so easy to fall into.”
Though it will no longer be a co-production of PBS Digital studios, Blank on Blank will continue both as an animated series and in its podcast form under Brooklyn nonprofit Quoted Studios, which sets out to preserve and reimagine the American interview. You can look through the entire archives of the project here.
Or read more in Slate:
- Nina Simone Talks Black Pride in This Rare, Beautifully Animated Interview From 1968
- Leonard Cohen Reads a Strange, Striking Poem in This Animated Interview From 1974
- Bob Dylan Talks Carnival Life and Performing for Cheeseburgers in This Animated Interview From 1962
*Correction, March 22: This post originally misstated that the George Michael episode would be the last episode in the Blank on Blank animated series. Though PBS will no longer be supporting the series, new episodes will continue to be released. The post has been updated throughout to reflect this correction.
