I've been dying to watch it since it came out but DD (aged 18) promised to watch it with me and this is the first chance we've had to sit down and watch it together owing to her hectic social life. I loved every minute of it.
I only got into Wham! when 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' was released (I was 12) but I loved their youth and energy and thought George Michael was only gorgeous (still do, actually). My best friend preferred Andrew Ridgely. They played in Dublin in December '84 and I really regret never seeing them live, but I was a bit clueless about stuff like concerts and I didn't even know they were performing here until after the event. I got a bootleg tape of their concert for Christmas and played it over and over again until it literally fell apart.
Anyway, the documentary brought back so many happy memories and I actually got quite emotional at the end when they split - that could have been the wine though
. I was trying to explain to DD that there was no internet back then - no instagram, no Tik Tok etc. Music was such a big part of our youth.
Obviously George Michael went on to have a very successful career as a solo artist but I never liked his solo stuff as much - too serious and too raunchy.
A few reflections on the documentary:-
I loved the photos and video footage from their childhood and teens and very early Wham! days. A lot of it was new to me.
Their success all came down to chance really - the fact that they had a neighbour in the music industry and the fact that the band who was due to perform on TOTP cancelled that night. If their single hadn't broken into the Top 40 (and that was largely down to their performance on TOTP), the plug would probably have been pulled at that point.
I was amazed that they made so little money in the early days, even though they were so successful. They only started to make money when Simon Napier-Bell took over as their manager and they were signed to CBS.
As pps have said, Andrew was very gracious about being sidelined as a songwriter and performer. George's need to go his own way and move on from Wham! was very detrimental to Andrew, but he doesn't appear to hold any grudges and their friendship appears to have been rock solid.
It was interesting to hear the first incarnation of of Careless Whisper.
George seems to have been a total perfectionist.
George's Dad was very opposed to him pursuing a career in the music industry but finally admitted that he had done a u-turn on the whole thing and was so proud of his son - I thought that was very moving. It takes a big man to admit that you're wrong.
I knew George was an amazing singer and songwriter but I didn't appreciate that he was also a producer. What a supremely talented man and what a loss to the music industry!
I didn't know (or maybe I did but I'd forgotten) that they donated all the profits from Last Christmas to Band Aid.
I expected DD to know the big hits but I was surprised to discover that she also recognized some of the less well know songs like 'Everything She Wants' (although she didn't know it was a Wham! song).