There Is A Wham! Documentary Coming Out That I Am Rock Hard For And You Should Be Too

Evening Standard -- The world is currently awash with music documentaries. One week it’s the saintly David Bowie, the next it’s the troubled Ed Sheeran. Blink and you’ll miss the one about accordion players, an esoteric death metal band you almost certainly won’t have heard of, or – even more randomly – a Rolling Stone journalist from the early 1970s previously only remembered by pop-cultural obsessives like myself.

Which makes it even stranger that it took so long to make one about Wham!, one of the biggest British acts of the 1980s.

“It took so long to do because while Yog [his pet name for his childhood pal George] was pursuing his own career, there was no great desire to explore the Wham! legacy,” says Andrew Ridgeley, sitting in the plush but oddly empty upstairs dining room in The Groucho Club, where he had so much fun back in the prelapsarian 1980s.

“He wasn’t going to have Wham! overshadow the GM brand, but obviously that changed when he died. Initially the George Michael estate weren’t that receptive, but after the success of the Last Christmas film [in 2019] they realised there was a big fanbase out there. With the 40th anniversary looming, there was suddenly a focus for it. The fanbase was much bigger than anyone expected.”

Relish in the hotness that was "Wham!" because, my friends, these guys were hotter than a Miami summer in July.

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, the dynamic duo that comprised "Wham!", epitomized '80s heartthrob perfection. They had it all—feathery hair that could rival a shampoo commercial, impeccably styled outfits that screamed "I'm fabulous," and dance moves that could make even the straightest of men, rock hard. It's safe to say that the term "eye candy" was invented just for them.

George Michael, with his soulful voice and mesmerizing smile, was the embodiment of cool. He had the hair that could put a lion's mane to shame and a fashion sense that made Madonna's cone bra look tame. 

Michael Putland. Getty Images.

Andrew Ridgeley, the other half of this dreamy duo, was the quintessential boy-next-door with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with, sending teenage hearts into a frenzy and causing mass hysteria wherever they went.

Fox Photos. Getty Images.

But let's not forget the undeniable talent that accompanied their undeniable hotness. "Wham!" delivered hit after hit, capturing the essence of the '80s with anthems like "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" 

and "Careless Whisper." 

Their music was infectious, like a virus you actually wanted to catch. It's no wonder that their songs still grace our playlists today, reminding us of a time when shoulder pads were big, hair was even bigger, and dancing like nobody was watching was the ultimate goal.

Hard to find anybody even close to their unparalleled hotness. They were more than just a band; they were a cultural phenomenon. They made us believe that life could be a music video and that we, too, could rock a leather jacket like it was our birthright.

Advertisement

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were the poster boys of a generation, setting the bar impossibly high for anyone aspiring to be both musically talented and ridiculously attractive. 

I'm pumped for this doc.