1987: monogamy in lipstick, daytime ban, leather Faith
In summer 1987 George Michael put I Want Your Sex in front of the world before Faith had a full street date. The track first rode out with the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack, then settled onto the solo album he wrote, arranged and produced between Denmark’s Puk Studios and London’s Sarm. Parts 1 and 2 form a long, elastic funk: dry drums, clipped guitar, a bass line that refuses to blush, and a vocal that states the title like a contract clause.
Daytime radio flinched. The BBC kept it off daytime playlists; some US stations followed. Michael answered in the video by writing EXPLORE MONOGAMY across a partner’s back, insisting the song was about commitment, not conquest. Andy Morahan co-directed with Michael. The leather jacket, the stubble, the cross earring: the Faith costume arrives fully formed, and the groove makes the argument dance instead of lecture.
What still works is the tension between the blunt title and the meticulous playing. Nothing in the rhythm section is sloppy; the scandal was linguistic, not musical. You hear a pop star seizing solo control and daring the gatekeepers to blink first.
It’s not about casual sex at all. It’s about trying to have sex with someone you’ve already got.
(George Michael, contemporaneous interviews on I Want Your Sex, 1987)
As a Faith opener in spirit if not always in sequence, I Want Your Sex fixed Michael’s post-Wham image: adult, rhythmic, unafraid of a banned chorus. Charts still carried it; clubs kept the long mix. Put it on for the bass pocket first, then notice how little the production apologizes for the title.
The monogamy defence in the video did not calm every censor, and it did not need to. The record already had the proof: a funk arrangement tight enough to outlast the scandal cycle.
