|
WHAM!
Take the first letter off of Wham's name, and you pretty much sum up the band's music.
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley smiled their prettiest smiles and hammed it up to
the top of the charts, pushing the buttons of teen girls around the world.
Michael and Ridgeley got their start in a ska band called the Executive before taking
on the Wham! moniker.
Wham! made their first mark in 1982 with "Wham! Rap," a piece of white pretty-boy pop
crap that no doubt inspired the likes of Vanilla Ice.
Legal problems with their record label and the American rights to the name Wham!
(they would release music as Wham! UK in the States) proved only minor setbacks to a
duo with hair and teeth too perfect to be put down.
In 1984 they scored international hits with the inanely titled dance-pop tune "Wake Me
Up Before You Go Go," and "Careless Whisper," the guilty feet song.
They ended 1984 with an appropriately timed Christmas song, with a portion of the song's
royalties being donated by these two humanitarians to the African famine relief.
To their credit, Wham! did produce some pretty good pop/dance music, including "Wham!
Rap" and their 1985 hit "I'm Your Man." They were also capable of putting together a
decent ballad, such as "A Different Corner" from their 1986 "Music From the Edge of
Heaven" LP.
After the duo's break-up, celebrated by a crowd of over 70,000 at their much-hyped
farewell show, both went on to solo careers.
George Michael's solo creations, which have proved more sincere and introspective than
those of his Wham! days, have kept him living large for the past ten years, while
Ridgeley has proved that he is musically hopeless without his former partner.
Wham! song lyrics...
Careless Whisper
|
