George Michael hit #1 with “Faith”

Faith George Michael

Writer(s): George Michael (see lyrics here) Released: October 12, 1987 First Charted: October 23, 1987 Peak: 14 US, 15 CB, 15 GR, 13 RR, 5 AC, 2 UK, 14 CN, 11 AU, 8 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.6 UK, 1.79 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 28.17 video, 396.95 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: George Michael started his transition from half of the bubblegum-pop duo Wham! to a more serious artist in 1987. First, he dueted with Aretha Franklin on the #1 song “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me.” He followed that with the controversial “I Want Your Sex,” a #2 solo hit with a decidedly more adult message. The title cut from his first solo album, Faith, could arguably be viewed as Michael finally planting his flag in the “now I’m a serious artist” land for good. “Faith” topped the charts at the end of 1987 and was followed to the #1 spot by “Father Figure,” “One More Try,” and “Monkey,” giving the album four chart-topping hits. This one, however, spent the longest time on top and was named the song of the year by Billboard magazine. The album went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. The “rockabilly-tinged title track” AMG was supposedly written as a rock and roll pastiche, which is demonstrated by the incorporation of Bo Diddley’s classic rock and roll beat WK which is also present on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” and U2’s “Desire.” SF While the video depicted Michael playing guitar, he didn’t know how to play. SF Thank Scottish session player Hugh Burns for the guitar lick which harkened back to the ‘50s Sun Records-era and Bo Diddley. SF Michael worked with Burns for hours to synch the guitar sound to his vocals. SF However, the song definitely had a modern touch as well. It was one of the first digital recordings, meaning he could write and record lyrics line-by-line and even word-by-word. Whie the process was tedious, it let Michael scrutinize every syllable to create the polished track he wanted. SF Resources: AMG All Music Guide FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 685. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/26/2020; last updated 2/3/2023.

Wham! “Last Christmas” released

Last Christmas Wham!

Writer(s): George Michael (see lyrics here) Released: December 3, 1984 First Charted: December 15, 1984 Peak: 4 US, 2 AC, 40 A40, 1 MR, 13 UK, 3 CN, 3 AU, 9 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 3.0 UK, 9.52 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 890.0 video, 1158.09 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley formed Wham! in 1981 in England. Their debut album, Fantastic, was released in 1983 and topped the UK charts, thanks to four top-ten hits. In the United States, Wham! didn’t really take off until their sophomore album, 1984’s Make It Big. That album gave the duo #1 hits in the UK and United States with “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and Michael’s solo turn on “Careless Whisper.” In the UK, the third single from Make It Big was “Everything She Wants.” It was released in December 1984 and would top the Billboard Hot 100. The single was technically a double A-side paired with “Last Christmas” and peaked at #2 in the UK behind the Band Aid charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas” which featured Wham! and other UK acts. “Last Christmas” was a non-album seasonal song which became a perennial favorite charting in nineteen different years in the UK from 1984 to 2022. It eventually reached #1– thirty six years later on January 7, 2021. That set the record for the longest time in the UK between a single’s release and reaching #1. WK It became the second most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK after “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl. The song wasn’t released commercially as a single on its own in the United States until 2014. It got its official debut on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017 and has regularly recharted at Christmastime since, finally reaching its #4 peak in January 2023. The song originated in 1983 when Michael and Ridgely were visiting Michael’s parents. Ridgely said, “We'd had a bite to eat and were sitting together relaxing with the television on in the background when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs for an hour or so. When he came back down, such was his excitement, it was as if he had discovered gold which, in a sense, he had.” SF It was recorded in August 1984 with Michael performing, producing, and playing all the instruments. The song isn’t really about Christmas; it simply uses the phrase “last Christmas” to refer to a failed relationship. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Wham! SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/23/2023.

Wham! hit #1 with “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Wham!

Writer(s): George Michael (see lyrics here) Released: May 14, 1984 First Charted: May 26, 1984 Peak: 13 US, 12 CB, 12 RR, 4 AC, 12 UK, 14 CN, 17 AU, 8 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 1.7 UK, 4.16 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 436.62 video, 692.92 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The British pop duo Wham! was comprised of George Michael and Andrew Ridgely who met in 1975 in school when they were 12 years old. They first made music together in a ska-band called the Executives before forming Wham! in 1981. They achieved three top-10 hits in the UK from their debut album, Fantastic, but couldn’t crack the top 40 in the UK. However, their second album, Make It Big!, proved to be a prohetic title. The album’s lead single, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” went to #1 in the U.K. in June 1984. It ended up being the crossover hit the group needed in America; five months later it topped the Billboard Hot 100. It also went on to reach the pinnacle in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. The idea for the song came about when George and Andrew were teenagers and enjoyed going to the discos to party. One night when George came by Andrew’s house, he noticed a sign over the bed which he guessed Andrew put on the door for his mom to see before she left for work. It said “wake me up-up before you go-go.” George said it would make a great line in a song, or even as a title. Andrew explained he’d accidentally written “up” twice and the purposely compounded the error with “go-go. “ FB When George developed it into a song, he was aiming for “a really energetic pop record that had all the best elements of Fifties and Sixties records.” WK The song tells the story of a guy who’s upset when his girlfriend goes out dancing while he’s asleep. In the future, he asks that she wake him up before she goes. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Wham! FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 598. KL Jon Kutner/Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 296. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/28/2020; last updated 11/6/2022.

Wham! hit #1 in UK with Make It Big

First posted 5/30/2008; updated 11/29/2020.

Make It Big Wham!

Released: November 5, 1984 Peak: 13 US, 12 UK, 1 CN, 12 AU Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 1.2 UK, 13.8 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (5/26/84, 13 US, 12 CB, 12 RR, 4 AC, 12 UK, 14 CN, 17 AU, sales: 2.84 million) Everything She Wants (12/15/84, 1 US, 4 AC, 12 RB, sales: ½ million) Heartbeat Like a Baby Freedom (10/13/84, 3 US, 1 UK, 4 AC) If You Were There Credit Card Baby Careless Whisper (8/4/84, 13 US, 14 CB, 12 RR, 15 AC, 8 RB, 13 UK, 12 CN, 14 AU, sales: 6 million) Total Running Time: 38:02 The Players: George Michael (vocals, keyboards) Andrew Ridgeley (guitar, backing vocals)

Rating: 3.952 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “The title was a promise to themselves, Wham!’s assurance that they would make it big after struggling out of the gates the first time out. They succeeded on a grander scale than they ever could have imagined, conquering the world and elsewhere with this effervescent set of giddy new wave pop-soul, thereby making George Michael a superstar and consigning Andrew Ridgeley to the confines of Trivial Pursuit.” AMG “It was so big and the singles were so strong that it’s easy to overlook its patchwork qualities. It’s no longer than eight tracks, short even for the pre-CD era, and while the four singles are strong, the rest is filler, including an Isley Brothers cover. Thankfully, it’s the kind of filler that’s so tied to its time that it’s fascinating in its stilted post-disco dance-pop rhythms and Thatcher/Reagan materialism – an era that encouraged songs called Credit Card Baby.” AMG “If this dichotomy between the A-sides and B-sides is far too great to make this essential, the way Faith later would be, those A-sides range from good to terrific. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go is absolute silliness whose very stupidity is its strength, and if Everything She Wants is merely agreeable bubblegum, Freedom is astounding, a sparkling Motown rip-off rippling with spirit and a timeless melody later ripped off by Noel Gallagher.” AMG “Then, there’s the concluding Careless Whisper, a soulful slow one where Michael regrets a one-night stand over a richly seductive background and a yearning saxophone. It was an instant classic, and it was the first indication of George Michael’s strengths as a pop craftsman – which means it points the way to Faith, not the halfhearted Edge of Heaven.” AMG The album reached #1 in the UK in November 1984. Three months later, it topped the charts in the United States as well.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Wham! DMDB encyclopedia entry for George Michael AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine