Tonight the Music Seems So Loud

About the book

'A beautiful, frequently extraordinary book. Part biography, part social commentary and part love letter, it somehow does full justice to the magnificent man it examines' - JAMES O'BRIEN

'No ordinary pop biography, this is a very personal exploration of a very unusual artist' - DORIAN LYNSKEY

'Far more than a biography of a pop icon – it’s a sharp, insightful look at George Michael’s life and how he challenged society, from politics to identity, in ways that still resonate today' - SADIQ KHAN


He wrote one of the biggest hits of our age in ‘about an hour’ in his childhood bedroom.

He would go on to collaborate with some of the greatest musicians of all time, from Aretha Franklin to Stevie Wonder.

He was a pop star who bleached his hair blonde, wore tiny shorts and, at the same time, critiqued his own image mercilessly.

He lived through the AIDS crisis and one of the most homophobic periods of British history and yet when he finally came out, he did so boldly and unapologetically.

Wham! were the first Western pop group to play in Communist China and he repeatedly broke boundaries in music too.

Ten years after his death, George Michael is still everywhere: the annual success of ‘Last Christmas’, new covers of his songs, and endless memes on social media.

Tonight the Music Seems So Loud is at once a kaleidoscopic portrait of one of Britain’s most beloved musicians and an account of a strange and turbulent period of British history. In his unconventional and enthralling book, bestselling author Sathnam Sanghera explores the connection between music and politics, exposes what secrecy does to the soul, and reveals how fame rots the sense of self. Throughout, Sanghera captures, joyfully and poignantly, one of Britain’s greatest artists in all his musical glory.