WHAM! In the 80s George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley Make it BIG | Pop Fix | Professor of Rock

Childhood friends George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley created one of the most iconic pop bands of the 80s. They named the group Wham!- a word they felt represented the energy, ambition, and spirit of their friendship. Wham was only a unit for 3 studio albums over 4 short years, but at their zenith in '84 and '85, they were one of the world's most popular British based acts- in the same echelon as Duran Duran and Culture Club- selling more than 30 million albums. As George Michael would later sing in Freedom 90 reminiscing, they had every big shot good time band on the run boy. With hits like Wake Me Up, Before You Go Go, Careless Whisper, Last Christmas, Freedom, I'm Your Man, and Everything She Wants, Wham! took over the world.

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#5 "Last Christmas"
Released as a single in December of '84 as a 'double-A side' with "Everything She Wants." The song was #1 in Denmark, Sweden, and Slovenia It went to #11 in the U.S. and #2 in the UK- where it was denied the top spot by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas," the song created to generate donations to help starving children in Ethiopia

#4-"I'm Your Man" It was the 3rd #1 single for Wham in the UK. The tune also ascended to the top of the pop chart in Denmark, Ireland, and New Zealand, and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Essentially released as an isolated single, though the song did make an appearance the album the Final, called music from the edge of heaven in the US. It was the last song that George Michael performed & recorded with Andrew Ridgeley. Wham would break up 6 months after its release in late '85.
As usual, George wrote and produced the track. It's another 'feel good' Wham song. Something interesting about I"m Your Man, it may have inspired the classic Smiths song Panic which in turn may have inspired Brendon Urie to name his band Panic at the Disco.

#3- "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
This song has attracted many haters over the years, who are probably too cool to admit that this song not only makes them smile, but makes them want to do a little jig.

At worst, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" is a guilty pleasure, but as I've grown older, I don't believe in guilty pleasures. You like what you like. If a song moves you, it moves you, and "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" is such a happy ditty that it could be a cure for a pandemic. It certainly would make you look forward to when you can kick up your heels and really enjoy life. I've always believed that music is the best medicine. "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" is one of the big Wham hits that Andrew Ridgeley was instrumental in originating.

#2- I don't want your "Freedom" I don't want to play around
FREEDOM the 60s Motown throwback is the definition of Feel Good. What a song. Wham's pledge for undying love & devotion- even if the relationship is sometimes one-sided. It doesn't matter- "just as long as we're together."

It's another exceptional pop song that George Michael composed when he was just 19 years old. "Freedom" is my favorite arrangement of a Wham song- because there are so many parts to it, and the musicianship is brilliant.
And, of course, the ecstasy of George Michael's lead vocal performance makes listening to "Freedom" a thrilling experience. Especially the outro where George reaches the level of his heroes Freddy Mercury and Elton John and may even go an inch above.

#1- "Careless Whisper"
The follow up to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" from the Make It Big LP, released in 1984. "Careless Whisper" is one of the most seductive love songs ever recorded. It shot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in the UK- selling over 6 million copies around the world. It seem the album title was a harbinger for what George Michael would do in the years following

On Billboard Magazine's year ending chart for '85- "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" was the 3rd biggest song of the year, and "Careless Whisper" was the #1 song of 1985. That's beatles type stuff.Although the song was credited as being co-written by Michael & Ridgeley, there was some obvious foreshadowing with the promotion of "Careless Whisper." The Sax line was so brilliant that it has inspired many great musicians but by far the greatest:

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