On Saturday June 28, 1986, George Michael picked up his BSA Rockers Revenge leather jacket, walked out of London's Wembley Stadium and cheerfully tore up five years of glittering pop history. He'd just disposed of the band Wham! and now, at 23, he knew he was all grown up. He just needed to convince everyone else. Faith is what happens when you've outstripped your dreams, your friends and your audience and no one's caught up yet. It's about pouring that confusion, insecurity and sizzling ambition into a record - and then selling 20 million copies of it.

Track listing
Acknowledgements
1. Wham! wrapped
2. The public image
3. Freedom 87
4. Sex and the serious man
5. Politics (the pop remix)
6. I will be your adult contemporary
7. Bearing the crossover
8. Signing off
Notes
Selected bibliography

Matthew Horton sacrificed a promising future as a Classics scholar to become a music journalist and editor. His writing has been published extensively in NME and The Guardian, as well as on websites including The Quietus and BBC Music, and he has contributed to several books, principally recommending songs and albums to hear before you die. He lives in Kent, UK, and spends most of his time in a small brick office at the bottom of his garden.