ARTIST STORY
WHAM!.
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley made pop with WHAM! that sounded light and was precisely constructed. Behind the bright colors lie two studio albums with a surprising amount of musical depth.
IMAGE CREDIT: Louise Palanker / Wikimedia Commons · George Michael, Louise Palanker and Andrew Ridgeley, circa 1984–1985 · CC BY-SA 2.0. The image may have been cropped by the theme.
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Open in Spotify ↗It often seems as if WHAM! is always one step ahead of you. The rhythms are light, the choruses arrive quickly, and George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley look like they are simply having fun. Listen a little longer and you will hear just how much attention went into that apparent ease.
TWO FRIENDS FIND A SOUND.
Michael and Ridgeley met at school. As WHAM!, they found a form for their shared energy in the early eighties: British pop with soul and dance rhythms. Ridgeley was the other half of the duo on stage, while Michael’s voice and songwriting became an increasingly clear focal point.
On 1983’s Fantastic, you can hear them searching and racing ahead at the same time. Young Guns (Go for It!) has the pace of a conversation between friends. Club Tropicana opens up a sunnier world. The songs are playful, but the production and timing reveal that the effect was carefully chosen.
MORE THAN SUNSHINE.
1984’s Make It Big sharpens the sound. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go is pop in bright colors. Everything She Wants maintains the groove while the lyrics address pressure and expectations in a relationship. Anyone who only knows the duo’s cheerful exterior will hear a different side there.
Careless Whisper then demonstrates what Michael’s voice was capable of growing into. The song received different artist billings in various countries, but the regret in the vocals and the space in the arrangement already point toward his solo work. In 1986, Michael and Ridgeley said goodbye to WHAM!. The two studio albums remained as a compact, recognizable catalog.
ONE THING YOU DIDN’T KNOW.
LAST CHRISTMAS IS NOT INCLUDED.
Last Christmas was released as a single in 1984 and is not on the original tracklist of Fantastic or Make It Big. Anyone playing the two studio albums will therefore also hear how large the story became outside of those records.
THE FACTS
ESSENTIAL DISCOGRAPHY
The two studio albums, chronologically. Later compilation albums and the single Last Christmas are separate from these.
- 1983Fantastic
- 1984Make It Big
FAQ
Who made up WHAM!?
WHAM! consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. The two already knew each other from school.
How many studio albums did WHAM! release?
Two: 1983’s Fantastic and 1984’s Make It Big. Later compilation albums do not count as new studio albums.
Where did George Michael’s solo career begin?
His voice and songwriting could already be heard with WHAM!. After the duo parted ways, he built a solo career; 1987’s Faith was his first solo album.
Discover the musical context in POP..
THE FINAL WORD.
THE LIGHTNESS REMAINS.
Listen to the distance between Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Everything She Wants. The same duo can make a room dance while simultaneously telling an uncomfortable story.
You can find the records via the WHAM! artist page. Follow George Michael solo afterwards, or discover why one single returns every year via THE CHRISTMAS.
Listen further via SOUL., Wham! – Fantastic (1LP, Coloured Vinyl), Wham! – Make It Big (1LP, Coloured Vinyl), Wham! – The Singles: Echoes From the Edge of Heaven (2LP Vinyl).
Explore Wham! – Fantastic (1LP Vinyl) and Wham! – Make It Big (1LP Vinyl) at SJELF. The product pages show the vinyl releases and LP format.
