George Michael doesn't look like this anymore

After the Lady of the House insisted that the man introduced as GM on the American Idol season finale Tuesday night was an impostor, I decided to do some investigating. It took only a few minutes of browsing the photos that popped up via Google Images to prove to her that she was sadly mistaken.

You see, the LOTH is stuck in 1983 and thinks GM couldn't possibly betray the days of Wham and, gasp, change his look. I mean, heck, Simon LeBon and that ghost-faced guy in Duran Duran still don't have a shellacked-hair out of place from the Reflex days, she whined.

Is it really so horrible to go from a crocheted Jacob's Coat-of-Many-Colors-esque sweater to a sharkskin suit? I wouldn't be caught dead on that 70s-era Sears pullover. (Max would love it though, if only to get his mincemeat-making claws in it. It's the only thing I know that would stop him from shredding the tulle skirt of the LOTH's wedding gown.)

Once she realized he has a new album and tour approaching, the LOTH did some googling of her own. (I mean, the song he performed on AI really wasn't that bad if you could forgive the over-emoting.) And she learned that Mr. Michael didn't really blend into oblivion after the 80s. In fact, Wikipedia claims that he is Britain's 10th richest musician. In between perennially falling asleep at the wheel in London traffic and seeking out more than toilet paper in public restrooms, he has produced a respectable amount of decent music (streaming-audio samples of which you can hear here).

The funniest part of this whole affair is that the MOTH was bewildered to learn that GM had this effect on the LOTH. I think it surprised even her. She said, I guess when you've danced to "Wake Me Up Before you Go Go" atop rickety tables in the study lounge at 3 a.m. when you should have been cramming for the all-important college exam, you don't forget easily the architect of that delirium. Could it be that the LOTH is not alone, and that GM is to other 40-something women what Rick Springfield is to grandmotherly generations and Tom Jones to great-grandmotherly generations? I guess we'll find out when the tour hits State-side.