Columbia 39595
Producer: George Michael
Track listing: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go / Everything She Wants / Heartbeat / Like a Baby / Freedom / If You Were There / Credit Card Baby / Careless Whisper
March 2, 1985
3 weeks
Engineer Chris Porter initially shared the widely held view that Wham!, a duo featuring British school pals George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, was nothing more than a disposable pop group. Porter first worked with the pair on the single “Wham Rap” in 1981. “I didn’t see a huge future for them,” he says. “I thought they were just a teen band.” Yet his impression changed a few years later when working on a B-side of the “Club Tropicana” single, “Blue.” Says Porter, “I started to get the sense that there was more depth to George Michael than perhaps people had seen before.”
With its early singles, Wham! became a hit in the U.K., but were hardly noticed in America, where their first album, Fantastic, stalled at number 83 in 1983. When Wham! and Porter regrouped to record “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” the first song cut for the group’s second album, Make It Big, Porter once again noticed changes in Michael. “In that period between 1981 and 1984, he had definitely learned an awful lot about music and the music business,” he says.
“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” which was inspired by a note Ridgeley left on his door for his mother, was cut quickly at Sarm West Studios in London, signaling the beginning of an album that would live up to its title. “It was based on a Linn drum track and we had live musicians playing along with it,” recalls Porter. “We set up the drum pattern and had everyone rehearse it for an afternoon, and by about 7 p.m.. that night we made a few fixes and basically that was it.” The vocals were recorded in three days.
The single was released in the U.K. in the summer of 1984, where it went straight to Number One. “That was a good feeling, but to a certain extent it also put a lot of pressure on us to make a comparable album, and stylistically an album that was of that vein,” says Porter. “There were a lot of ’60s-sounding tracks on there.”
In an attempt to get an authentic ’60s feel, Michael originally cut the ballad “Careless Whisper” with legendary R&B producer Jerry Wexler at the Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama. “When I got a call saying we were going to do some work on ‘Careless Whisper,’ I couldn’t believe it,” says Porter, “because I knew that Jerry Wexler just worked on it. I thought, ‘There really can’t be much to do on it,'” Porter says. Surprisingly, Porter adds, Wexler’s version sounded “European” and didn’t have “quite as much of the soul I expected.”
By the time “Careless Whisper” was recorded, it was clear that Wham! had essentially become George Michael. “He was taking a really big role in every part of the production,” Porter says. “Andrew was still involved in being a pop star and thinking about other ways he wanted to enjoy himself, while George had his head down in the music.”
Following the release of Make It Big in the fall of 1984, Wham! finally found success in America. “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” the first U.S. single from the album, reached Number One on November 17, 1984. Wham!’s reign continued in 1985, when “Careless Whisper,” which was credited to “Wham! Featuring George Michael,” hit Number One on February 16. With “Careless Whisper” still in the top portion, Make It Big reached Number One three weeks later in its 17th week on the chart.
“Everything She Wants” became the third Number One single from Make It Big on May 25, 1985, making Wham! the first group to score three chart-toppers from an album since the Bee Gees had done it with Spirits Having Flown.
Wham! would soon be no more. The group’s last album, 1986’s Music from the Edge of Heaven, peaked at number 10. However, George Michael’s career was just beginning.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of March 2, 1985
1. Make It Big, Wham!
2. Like a Virgin, Madonna
3. Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen
4. Centerfield, John Fogerty
5. Agent Provocteur, Foreigner