I felt as if this needed a separate post; this piece is just incredibly insightful music writing, with the kind of arguments that strike you as so true that they feel blindingly obvious in retrospect, so perfect in their critique that they automatically take the place of received wisdom. Read it here.

.... But the thing about Michael, especially in his adolescent and early adult years, was that he resonated so powerfully precisely because he upended and shimmered beyond gender convention.