It was possible, even during George Michael’s heyday, to take the man for granted, to imagine him as some lightweight pop star who’d be gone in a couple of weeks. He had, after all, gotten his start in a knowingly goofy teenpop duo. His hair was immaculately feathered, and his stubble was immaculately maintained. His most famous video included multiple worshipful close-ups on his ass. And Michael himself seemed to spend much of his career attempting to live down the various images he’d presented to the world, to portray himself as a serious musician rather than a joke.

But George Michael was never a joke. He was, instead, an all-time pop music great. In his early days with Wham!, he showed himself to be a British soul prodigy, asinger capable of showing intense vulnerability and empathy even as he brought the fireworks. He wrote, produced, played multiple instruments, and thought deeply and seriously about the things that pop music can do for the world. He was one of our most famous gay men at a time when that wasn’t an easy thing to be. He stood behind various noble causes, raising AIDS awareness and quietly raising money for any cause that moved him. And he left behind so many great songs that it fairly boggles the mind to look back on the catalog that he left us.

In recent years, we at Stereogum have marked the deaths of towering musical figures by celebrating some of the great little moments of their public lives. These lists don’t necessary