WHAM – A Band That Captured Hearts

Growing up was great in the eighties and nineties. The world was fairer, the surroundings greener and the air cleaner. This reflected in the music we listened to and danced. The music of that generation was very unlike the music of the present generation, where the emphasis is more on loud music and incoherent lyrics. Today’s music seems to be more suited for people who don’t have the time to sit back, relax and enjoy the music and would rather jump up and down recklessly, shoot or rape people. The modern rap and hip hop music has polluted and further depressed our mind. Undoubtedly, most of the present generation would oppose tooth and nail the views expressed here. But seriously compared to the music that was given to us by great bands or singers in the eighties and nineties the present bunch seems to be just that. One such great band was the British boy band of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley who together were called WHAM!

Formed in nineteen eighty-one, the group released their first album Wham Rap which went to become a super hit. Wham initially projected an image of rebelliousness with a mixture of anti social and social expressions. The visual image of these boys was that of leather clad hedonistic teenagers going with the mood prevailing then with the younger generation. The crazy song Bad Boys came during this time. The band grew in popularity and its impact on the younger generation was seen to be believed. The teenage girls would go crazy every time the word wham was mentioned. The band slowly changed its image from that of bad boys to a more sophisticated and sensitive lover boy’s image to target a wider audience. That move paid off as well because wham became the favorite band for members of all generations. The image of being a boy band for teenagers disappeared. The George and Andrew team went on to make albums like ‘Music from the edge of heaven’, ‘The final’, ‘Make it big’, ‘Fantastic’ which were all toppers. Their singles like ‘Careless whispers’, ‘Last Christmas, ‘Club Tropicana’, ’Everything she wants’ and the all time super hit ‘wake me up before you go go’ were all made during this time. The group made hit records and hit singles like no other group before. The duo became the favorite poster boys of every single girl from the USA to Japan. People swooned in the live concerts staged by the group. There was wham hysteria everywhere. There was Wham T-shirts, Wham mugs, Wham key chains and the Wham logo was everywhere.

The wham fantasy ended in nineteen eighty-six when George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley decided to part ways. The music industry was stunned .The fans were in total disbelief as they wondered as how can two terribly good looking individuals who wrote terrific music and played them wonderfully and who appeared to be life and soul mates split at the peak of their careers? Sadly it happened and it happened for good. The pair never made up again though George Michael continued to have a flourishing solo career. But the music was never the same again, the bang in the Wham! Was lost forever.

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