Wham! were a little before my time.
I was born in the 1980s, but by the time George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley had called it a day with their final gig at Wembley Stadium in 1986, I was still in nappies. The remnants of Wham! remained in my life for years to come, though; a hand-me-down jumper with a faded logo on it, and a toy Casio keyboard that I got for my 6th birthday that played a memorable demo tune. It wasn't until years later that I realised the song that I had spent years pretending to master, dancing my fingers over the keys with my eyes closed, was Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.
The older you get - or at least the older I get - the more you appreciate good pop songcraft. It's really not easy to write a pop song that endures for decades without sounding dated or just plain naff. The new Wham! documentary on Netflix, whether you were around at the time or not, is a reminder of just how good Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael were at crafting great pop songs - and also how gracious Ridgeley was at accepting his childhood friend 'Yog’’s innate talent for writing, and stepping aside to let him take the reins on Wham!
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Listen RTÉ Arena on the new Wham! documentary
What a pop star George was. How effortlessly it all came to him: one anecdote related by Ridgeley in the doc sees him recall how one Saturday afternoon they were sitting around watching the football, when suddenly, George ran upstairs with an idea - and emerged from his room a while later with Last Christmas. There were countless classics in the Wham! canon: Freedom, The Edge of Heaven, Club Tropicana, Careless Whisper, I’m Your Man. They all still sound bloody marvellous.
The older you get - or at least the older I get - the more you appreciate good pop songcraft.
George had it all as a solo artist, too: not only was he incredibly talented, but he was cool and gorgeous, too - always helpful qualities for a pop star. The first solo album of his I remember hearing (and loving) was his third album, 1996's Older and I would pilfer my sister’s cassette at every opportunity. Of course, I didn’t understand the significance or subtext of songs like Spinning the Wheel or Fastlove - to me, they were just great songs. I was lucky enough to see him live once, at the RDS in 2007; it wasn’t the most amazing gig I’ve ever seen, but he was a 'bucket list’ artist for me. I wish I’d gone to his Symphonica tour in Dublin 2011, but I assumed I’d have another chance to catch him live. A timely reminder to buy the damn ticket while you can.
If you've read Andrew Ridgeley’s (very good) memoir Wham! George Michael and Me, there’s probably nothing in the Netflix documentary that you didn’t already know. And its first-person narration style, with Ridgeley’s present-day observations and archive footage featuring George’s voice, is a little difficult to get used to. There’s also a feeling that there’s more of George’s story to be told - maybe another filmmaker will take on that task at some point; a gargantuan one, really, given the amount of living he packed into his 53 years. Its somewhat cursory nature does, however, remind you of just what an impact Wham! had on the global pop landscape - and how sometimes, bands end for all the right reasons, without a bust-up or implosion caused by greed or ego.
As it happens, I recently dug out that old Casio keyboard in my parents’ house; remarkably, thirty-odd years later, it still works perfectly. Now my own son has inherited it, and although he doesn’t recognise the song when I sing along with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, I have a feeling that like me, he’ll come to truly appreciate its brilliance some day.
Wham! is on Netflix now
