The record George Michael released at the peak of his powers: “Even if we were wankers”
Sometimes a band or artist might not seem as though they’ve got the legs in them to make it beyond their first album, and that they’re lacking in the talent to be able to get over the struggles that come with figuring things out.
For George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, Wham! were perhaps thrust into the spotlight a little too early, and while they undoubtedly had talent as a duo, sometimes a band needs a little more time to develop its sound before it’s put under immense pressure to perform consistently at the highest level.
Their 1983 debut album, Fantastic, produced a couple of hits in ‘Bad Boys’, ‘Club Tropicana’ and ‘Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)’, but it’s hardly the most shining example of what the duo were capable of producing, with the rest of the album not being of the highest standard or impressing the critics as much as it did the record-buying public.
They needed to really up their game if they were to be able to compete with all of the other new wave and new romantic artists who had already proved that they had longevity in them, and who were receiving critical acclaim for their albums in addition to achieving chart success, and so Wham! needed to ensure that their next step would keep people interested.
What happened was they ran away to the south of France for six weeks to record the next album in complete solitude, and it gave them the impetus to really improve on all of the aspects of the first album that had been underwhelming and that had failed to match the high benchmark set by their competitors.
What came of this European break was Make It Big, which ended up being a smash hit of a record. All of the singles from the album all perform well in the charts, with ‘Freedom’, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ and ‘Careless Whisper’ all reaching number one in the UK, and the final double A-side of ‘Everything She Wants’ and non-album single ‘Last Christmas’ got to number two in what marked a stellar leap into a greater level of stardom.
Not only was the jump significant in terms of the singles, but the fact that the rest of the album held up was a shock to their peers. However, it wasn’t such a surprise to Michael, who had already foreseen that the album would be a success, and whose drive to prove everyone wrong led them to make a pop masterpiece.
“Duran Duran and Culture Club were so sneery, and they were shocked when we went past them,” Michael later reflected in a 1998 interview with Q Magazine. “I can’t think of another band who got it together so much between first and second albums. On Fantastic, you can tell I don’t think I’m a singer, but some vocals on Make It Big are the best I’ve done. Even if we were wankers, you still had to listen.”
It’s a truly incredible gulf in quality, although it did quickly become clear that Michael was the one with real star power, and that he’d have to eventually carve his own path as a solo artist in order to keep the momentum going. He’d elevated himself to the next level, but it came at a cost for Wham!, who would only survive as a duo for one more North America and Japan-exclusive album despite proving that they had the ability to keep up with their rivals.
