In the states, back in 1980-something, they were originally branded as Wham! UK. As if somehow they were competing with a Wham! Albania, Wham! Burkina Fasso or Wham! USA.
They indeed, were not.
I've blogged eons ago (not searching and linking) of seeing the video for "Bad Boys" when I was out with my fraternity brothers. The video couldn't have been more homoerotic if it tried..........and I think it tried.
I went out and bought the album the next day. Totally worth it for their cover of "Love Machine".
Two (?) years later in 1984, I was stoked to see their new single in Tower Records with "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go"............until the needle hit vinyl.
OMG. Horrible.
For me, they could never recover, nor did they try. As George Michael would sing eventually, "When I knew which side my bread was buttered / I took the knife as well". Truer words might never have been sung by this man.
So Saturday night, we hung out and watched the Netflix documentary of Wham! , called Wham! I won't say clever is one of the adjectives I'd use to describe whomever made the film.
I'll be clear. It's about the group, not George Michael. They never go past the group's demise, which did go directly to / because of Michael's solo career.
Clearly, there are no current interviews with Michael.....well......because he dead. It's unclear the interviews with Andrew Ridgeley if they were current or from the past. There are tons of audio clips but nothing the filmmakers use to make it sound if Ridgeley is speaking in the past tense. He's never on film that wasn't from archive.
At least according to Michael, Ridgeley was the impetus for the band and the outgoing one. Save a few songs, he never wrote much of anything. He's sings - seemingly - very little, and I'd be surprised with any of the concert footage if his guitar was actually ever plugged in.
Neither here nor there Michael was deferential to Ridgeley in every way. ........until close to the end of the film.
Clearly it was Michael Michael Michael everything (though I though at least with their first disk, that Ridgeley was the looker (see above).
Ridgeley, in the audio clips (no matter when they were taped) was supportive of whatever Michael wanted to do - including solo work and breaking up the band. Michael, sounds that way too.......unless you truly listen to him. Then he's just kind of a dick.
It wasn't a horribly original 90 minutes, but it was something to check-off.........and we did.
2023 Movie Count / Goal: 09 of 15
Song by: Wham!
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