Wham!

I was born in 1976 and grew up with Wham! Being a staple of the music on the radio as a kid. It was 'dare you to not dance and sing' amazing. I remember being 8 and belting out careless whisper so much that my mom begged me to stop and I did once my voice ran out. One day during a bath, I got my big toe stuck in the bathtub faucet. I was not paying attention as I was too focused on nailing the chorus down. The Wham!bulance and fire department had to come and free me from a very naked embarrassing situation. My mom did drain the tub and throw me a towel to cover up in. True story.

We all know how George Michael advanced after his 4 short years in Wham! We know his trials and tribulations and the heartbreaking end of his story.

But who really knows the story of how it all began?

This is a brilliant documentary as you hear this wonderful story of 2 best friends since pre-puberty follow their dreams and create something truly magical. It's a fun ride, with lots of opportunities to sing along, and yet the entire time I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

We ALL KNOW how hard that shoe drops when George is on his own.

Baby spoiler- it never happens.

These documentarians stayed laser focused on their formative years all the way up to the final tour. Then fin. It was so cool to see a documentary in todays times in which we crave off the negative, just spoon feed us the positive, even when we can still read between the lines.

I recommend this doc if you are a fan of their music. Even if you just LIKE it, this flick will remind you that you've been lying to yourself all these years, and you love them as much as the rest of us. Assimilate.

There isn't anything particularly revelatory about this 2023 documentary about the definitive '80's pop duo, but it's a mostly effective retelling of their successful albeit brief track record on the top of the charts. What appears reassuring was the genuine friendship depicted between George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. And how George's mercurial talent as a songwriter and performer quickly broke the pair apart professionally. If there were ugly moments between them, you won't find evidence of them here. Director Chris Smith took a more vanilla approach and used audio-only interviews with George and Andrew to narrate most of the story. Since George died tragically in 2016, Smith apparently didn't want to lean too much on a present-day Ridgeley to have the final word on their story. The still-catchy music speaks for itself.

Thank you to the creators of this documentary and Netflix. In a nutshell, it was so well put together, with George and Andrew telling their story in its raw form - no pretence, no fluff, just the facts. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and then laugh again. It made this fifty-five year old woman re-live her youth. I cried at Careless whisper and Last Christmas, I laughed and danced around the lounge room to Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, trying to re-do the moves of a teenager, with creaking knees and hip joints, until it hurt. It was so worth it. I LOVED IT. For those of you who there back in the 80s and fell in love with the boys from Wham as I did, you will not be disappointed.

There are hardly any talking heads in this documentary. Even the old Andrew Ridgeley can only be heard, but is never seen. The story is basically told with archive footage. And what a great story this is, a bit like the Mozart fantasy in Amadeus (1984), but this time in real.

Two teenagers, who behave like stupid teenagers and are considered to be idiots by many experts from the music press, turn out a string of catchy songs that are still - 40 years later - well known and liked. They authentically embodied the youthful energy, genius and lust for life that's at the heart of pop music. When they ended the Wham!-project in 1986 with their final concert, nearly exactly 4 years after the release of their first - and unsuccessful - single in June 1982, the best reason given was that they considered themselves no longer to be adolescents. A rare realization.

Andrew Ridgeley was the moving spirit of Wham!, the energy. George Michael - nicknamed "Yog" by Andrew - was the genius. He became more and more obsessed with writing and producing songs, obsessed with the number 1 spot in the charts. He created most of the music, but turned a bit into a megalomaniac. During his solo career he wrote immortal songs like ... I don't know, actually. Aside from from the first post-Wham! Album, Faith (1987), he only released four more, from 1990 to 2004, with fine, but unremarkable music.

The Wham!-Story is unique, fabulous, magical. Does this documentary reveal the whole truth about this seemingly impossible success? Probably not. But it does a good enough job offering plausible explanations. It should satisfy most of its viewers.

There's a decade that began with lots of style, if you were there I'd guarantee you had a smile, as New Romantics left a mark, Punk and Disco had a spark, but it was Wham that got you dancing in the aisle. Two bad boys who generated so much fun, they were the epitome of everyone's young gun, a ray of sunshine, panorama, cocktails abound at Tropicana, as they opened doors to everyone's freedom.

A more than enjoyable reflection of a time two young lads came together to create some pop perfection, to wake up a generation and give those tuned in, everything they wanted, getting closer to a heaven, than they'd ever been before.