When George Michael presented his documentary “A Different Story” at the Berlinale 2004, he smiled wryly when the Wham! music videos faded in. The journalists laughed. They laughed at clips of young George and young Andrew Ridgeley striking karate poses in front of photo screens and shouting “Go for it!” Her hair and pants: so eighties! To this day, the videos are considered examples of exquisite tastelessness. Unfortunately, they also overshadow their excellent music. Had I’m Your Man been recorded by another British duo of the time: The Style Council, no one would have laughed. Wham too! mastered Sophisti-Pop, they just didn’t look sophisticated.
George Michael proved to be a rapidly learning composer
The most successful European pop acts of the early 80s were Duran Duran, Culture Club and Wham!. Unlike Duran Duran, who feigned wealth as a newcomer and sold hard-to-reach dreams (yachts, mansions, galactic travel) as a natural lifestyle, Culture Club and Wham! real role models. They offered rising stars: Boy George, because he was gay and cross-dressed, and George Michael, because he was an immigrant child (he didn’t come out until sixteen years into his career).
The eleven Wham! singles – five of which topped the UK charts and two topped the US charts, a sensational tally – chronicle the lives of two 19-year-olds who haven’t adapted over the years. George Michael, who wrote the saxophone melody to “Careless Whisper” when he was 17, proved to be a fast-paced composer. He started out in socially critical Brit-rap in 1982 – that reads awful, but nothing else was “Wham Rap!”, although like all white singers of the era, Michael seemed to rap in a more satirical manner. The superficially lively “Club Tropicana”, on the other hand, is a commentary on package tourism.
Hang up the singles, listen to the music – and don’t think about the bathing suit clowns from the videos
The end of Wham! saw George Michael come with his turn to R&B. ‘Last Christmas’ might be a rip-off of the Peaches & Herb ballad ‘Reunited’, but it’s unrivaled as the royalty machine, failing to even make it to #1 in the UK when it was first released (which Band Aid did with 1984’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, which Michael also contributed to). Wham! Late works such as “Everything She Wants” also document Michael’s fondness for complicated drum machine rhythms schooled on Prince. However, a strange song was re-recorded as the final single: “Where Did Your Heart Go?” by David and Don Was, the earliest of several soul covers that Michael would release. At 22, he and Ridgeley were still performing with Live Aid and were the first western musicians to perform in China, and at 23 they broke up Wham! up, then Michael sang a duet with Aretha Franklin.
A perfect career. At 23! Prince didn’t start until he was 24 (“1999”), just like Michael Jackson with “Thriller”. But George Michael wasn’t tired, he had a plan for his future. “The Singles: Echoes From The Edge Of Heaven” will be released as a box set with 7 inch replicas, an interview vinyl and an MC with bonus tracks. Wham! B-sides were – a feature of the era – populated with club mixes or instrumentals. But even if Wham! weren’t a B-side band, they released an original B-side with “Blue (Armed With Love)”, which alone is worth the purchase because it was out of print for a long time. Hang up the singles, listen to the music – and don’t think about the bathing suit clowns from the videos.
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