Artist Spotlight: Wham (U.K.)! featuring George Michael

Okay, is this picture supposed to sell music or...something else?

On a recent post I received a request from Frontrow to write a little about Wham!/George Michael following Carrie Underwood's performance of "Praying For Time" from the Idol Gives Back show. I thought that was a terrific idea for a post, as I enjoyed George Michael's music in the later half of the 80's until it seemed his ego got the best of him. Then public exposure in Men's rest rooms got the best of him. Then public intoxication on a Keifer Sutherland scale got the best of him. But before all that, there was Wham!

Now I've got to admit, growing up with friends that were into either Hard Rock or Rap I had to take a lot of crap for liking George Michael's music. And initially, I was not a fan of Wham! because I thought their music was too lightweight even by pop standards. But as Wham!'s career continued, Michael asserted more control over the music which brought a little substance to their sound. By the time George Michael released his first solo album Faith, I was a fan.

Oh yeah, Andrew Ridgley was the other half of Wham! He mainly served as inspiration to George for having an outgoing personality.

I usually write about the albums I had and I think I had most of Wham!'s output on cassette back then, but even with cassettes I mainly associate them with their singles so I will be charting their career through the songs that were key to my first hating them and then liking them.

Bad Boys (1983)

Back in the day a new radio station had debuted in the Bay Area called KITS Hottest Hits, a station in the then burgening Chart Hits Radio format. KITS (now modern rock station Live 105) aired in a countdown format 24 hours a day, repeating the same 15 songs in the same order until it got to number 1. Then the countdown would start over again, which along with the DJ less broadcast led to the running joke "Look, someone flipped over the tape". And if the station hit dead air, "Hey, someone needs to fix the tape."

On this station "Bad Boys" debuted Wham! U.K. to the Bay with relentless airings, usually sandwiched somewhere between Total Coelo's "I Eat Cannibals" and Duran Duran's "Is There Something I Should Know?". I really, really hated this song with its fake string synths, disco beats and British blokes dressing like The Fonz while coming off as tough as Richie Cunningham. It's not so bad now, but back then if I could have erased KITS's tape of that song I would have.

"Wham Rap" and "Young Guns (Go For It)" followed as singles but were ignored here in the States.

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (1984)

Wham! U.K. disappeared after "Bad Boys" which was a relief to me until they returned with a bigger and more annoying song, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". The song was a monster hit and flooded all media with "beach blond hair" and "Choose Life" oversized sweatshirts. Although I don't enjoy the song, even I can't deny it's catchiness as decades later a sentence that ends with the word "Go" follows with another "Go" in my mind. There was a noticeable change in image as well, gone were the black leather jackets and blue jeans and in were short shorts and blue blazers stolen from the yacht club. "Go-Go" placed Wham! (the "U.K." was part was dropped) in the same boy band league as Duran Duran and soon the mugs of George Michael and his air guitaring cohort were everywhere.

Careless Whisper (1984)

...and then they flipped the script and came up with a great song. "Careless Whisper" billed as Wham! FEATURING GEORGE MICHAEL or something like that was another monster hit with a difference-it was a really great song. A moody ballad with a melody so strong it can pull off lyrics like "I'm never gonna dance again /guilty feeling / got no rhythm" this song turned me from hater to tolerator in a week. As much as I wanted to hate them for the musical wrongs they had committed in the past, this was one of the best songs of the decade. The video tried hard to push George Michael as a straight sex symbol by having him get all hot and bothered with a blonde on a boat but my favorite part was seeing the shot of the guitar having one string plucked and thinking "I can't believe Andrew Ridgely makes all that money for that." The long version of the song with the airy synths in the prelude was killer.

Everything She Wants (1985)

The third single from the Make It Big (1984) album gave Wham! a trifecta of indelible pop hits with this mid tempo joint known for the A-ha-a (a-ha-a) O-ho-O (O-ho-O) doo doo doo La De Da De Da hook. One of the little things that used to irritate me about buying albums or cassettes in the 80's was that songs were often remixed to perfection for the single release. Because of this, every time I played "Everything She Wants" on cassette I would have to pretend the good parts from the radio single was there because I was too cheap to buy the 45. I've never owned the version I've wanted of this song, I think it's time to change that. Take that Columbia Records! Oh, sorry, you're Sony now.

Freedom (1985)

I used to really like this song a lot but it hasn't aged well. It was sort of Motownish and upbeat. Then it was overtaken by a different song George Michael did for his solo career ("Freedom 90") that completely supplanted this tune.

I'm Your Man (1985)

"If you're gonna do it do it right" ...any reservations I had about Wham! or George Michael faded away with this masterpiece of fake Motown. "I'm Your Man" had the beat, the hook, the vocal, it had it all. "I'll make you rich, I'll make you poor" with a great sax solo and George Michael's most soulful vocal to that point. The peak of Wham! for me and it sounded great on the radio next to Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love". The first sign to me that George Michael had talent that could go beyond catchy pop tunes. "I'll be your first, I'll be your last, I'll be anyone you ask!".

Last Christmas (1985)

Wham! continued their winning ways with this Holiday classic, one of the few modern Christmas songs to really endure past it's inital run. The cheap synthesizers and EQ'd drum sound hightens the feeling of teen anguish (dumped the day after Christmas! That had to hurt). Wham! seemed unstoppable at this point...except they were releasing a string of singles instead of an album. What was going on? Had George Michael figured out he was giving half his money away to Andrew Ridgley for racing cars and showing up to photo shoots? Like Anakin Skywalker to Ridgley's Obi-Wan, George Michael was ready to leave Wham! and start a solo career. "Once I was but the learner but now I am the Master".

A Different Corner (1986)

Which took surprisingly little time, billed exclusively to George Michael this ballad with the slowed down Chariots Of Fire groove proved his viability as a solo artist. A beautiful, wistful song about what might have been-it could have easily been directed toward Ridgley himself. Though Ridgley's solo career would crash and burn with his solo album Son of...something...it's hard to feel bad for him because he made all that money for pretending to play music and then married one of the hotties from Bananarama. Every time Andrew Ridgley turns a different corner, he stumbles on gold! Unbelievable.

The Edge Of Heaven (1986)

The last hit for Wham! (the final single "Where Did Your Heart Go?" did not make the Top 40) was their edgiest song with a dark groove and lyrics that hinted at S&M. Not my favorite Wham! song, it nonetheless gave the duo a nice close to their career and hinted at the sexual themes of George's solo career.

Wham Rap ('86)

The remixed version of the hit from their first album was what I listened too after the demise of Wham! It's a ridiculous curio now, just thinking that George Michael would rap (the benefit gang-the benefit gang-the ben-ben-benefit gang is gonna pay!) is funny enough but the fact he did it in reality is even funnier. Big "Rapper's Delight" influence, Wham! vyed for street cred busting rhymes about British unemployment. Wham! takin' down the man. Cold bust it George!

Bonus Track - Battlestations (1986)

One of my favorite Wham! songs wasn't a hit, it was "Battlestations" from the Music from the Edge of Heaven album. The jam rode a nagging soulful chorus over a bass heavy beat about a relationship gone wrong. When played in my friends' cars who had the huge subwoofers meant for rap music (you know, the kind where it shakes your spine to the point you get a massive headache and can't hear a lick of conversation. I used to joke that it reset my heartbeat every time I sat in one of those cars. No, it's not arrythmia it's LL Cool J's "I'm Bad" or Ice-T's "Four in the Morning".) it would get grudging respect. Respect my beats! Word.

After Wham! ended George Michael would perfect the bearded stubble look and would continue to make great music for a few more years as a solo artist. For better or worse, Wham! launched his career and simultaneously gave him a complex that no one would take his music seriously (But what doesn't seem to give him a complex is getting sloppy drunk and whipping it out in public?). I'll feature his solo career separately as George Michael often acts ashamed of his pinup boy past.

One last Wham! memory, I went to a singing show put on by my high school back then and saw two girls sing "Credit Card Baby" in harmony. It was a surreal moment, I wondered if they understood the song was a slam on gold diggers. Weird.