Article Official Charts Flashback 1984: Wham! – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

[George Michael]

Jitterbug! It’s three decades since George and Andrew had their very first chart-topper with the ultimate get-up-and-go-go song!

The word ‘iconic’ is an overused term pretty much everywhere, but when it comes to pop moments, Wham! scoring their very first Number 1 with joyous Sixties pastiche Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.

The Choose Life T-shirts! George’s luminous gloves! The tight shorts! The bit where it goes all UV light! Most of pop’s most stellar moments appear in those four short minutes.

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go marked a departure for childhood pals George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They’d signed to a new record label and had been out of the public eye since their last Top 10 hit Club Tropicana hit Number 4 the previous July (although a megamix of songs from first album Fantastic was a Top 20 hit over Christmas 1983).

Having racked up four Top 10s already, they were hungry for their first chart-topper. And thanks to that unforgettable video, not to mention a song with hooks a go-go (if you'll pardon the awful pun), they got it. After going straight in at Number 4, the track climbed to the top spot the following week and stayed there a fortnight. It's sold over 790,000 copies and ended up being the 11th bestselling single of 1984!

The band’s next single would be another departure. Despite appearing on the band’s second album Make It Big and being penned by both members of Wham!, Careless Whisper was released as a George Michael solo track, and was another Number 1. Careless Whisper is now one of the bestselling singles of all time – shifting over 1.4 million copies. Check out George's Official Top 20 most downloasded tracks for more stats.

There’d be two more Number 1s for George and Andrew as a twosome – 1985’s I’m Your Man and their farewell single from 1986, The Edge Of Heaven – before the band called it a day and George went on to launch that pretty successful solo career of his.

Wham!’s biggest selling hit is Last Christmas, which also gets a seat in the million sellers’ club with an impressive 1.7 million copies sold, despite never reaching Number 1. Since its first chart entry in 1984, peaking at Number 2, it has re-entered the Top 40 seven times – it even went Top 10 again in 1985!

But today in 1984, that future was barely a glint in George’s expertly blow-dried highlights – it was all about the denim shorts, gleaming white smiles and screaming, adoring fans.

Watch the video for Careless Whisper before we count down the rest of the Top 5 from today in 1984…

[안신홍]

잘읽었습니다~
영국기준의 챠트성적인 모양이네요~
i 'm your man 등등이 1위에 올랐다고 하는걸 보니까요...하여튼 그때 생각이 물씬 납니다...

음악세계 잡지를 보면서 한달에 한번씩 접했던 왬의 소식을 읽으며 열광했던 1985년 즈음요...^^

아하랑 듀란듀란이 아티스트 인기투표에서 자주 앞서서 속상하기도 했던...ㅋㅋㅋ