Wham!: Netflix Pop doc Focuses on the Friendship that Made the Duo Go-Go
By Karen Gordon
Rating: A-minus
There is a spirit of real generosity in the Netflix Doc Wham! about the ‘80s superstar pop group.
It’s also - blessedly - unhyped, unhysterical and solidly factual. Director Chris Smith resists unnecessary embellishments to tell the story of the friendship and partnership of Andrew Ridgeley and the late George Michael two school friends who became international music superstars. The result is a satisfying documentary that resists hagiography and instead focuses on the human beings.
School pals Ridgley and Michael
The two met in school when 12 year old Andrew volunteered to be the school mentor for the new kid in school, the, in his own words, shy awkward 11-year-old Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (Ridgeley still calls him Yog). The two were instant friends, bonded by chemistry, attitude, and music, crazy for it to the point where Michael’s stern Greek father forbade them to play records in the house.
It barely deterred his son, and definitely didn’t tame Ridgeley, who was, according to the documentary, a bit of a wild kid, compared to the quiet, shy Michael who looked up to his friend.
The film traces the duo from their high school ska band called The Executive, to a more political and rap group, through to their transition into Wham! (a name inspired by a night at a dance club) and full-on pop.
In the early days, the duo struggled to get a record deal, (There are a number of record company A&R executives who turned the band down in spite of having an early version of Careless Whisper on it).
Ultimately the young musicians, still in their teens, got their first record deal, and began the long slow climb towards stardom, making records, releasing singles hoping for a major hit, touring relentlessly in the UK.
My first recollection of Wham! was the video for 1984’s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, a ridiculously upbeat video that was notable for two things: depending your point of view. First, there were the either puzzling or terrible fashion choices. They were wearing shorts, knee socks, and designer T-shirts that said Choose Life. (which would cause them to consider their image)
And secondly, the song itself: ridiculously catchy with a confident performance, the ultimate contageous pop song. It became their first number one international hit in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., shooting them into a whole new strata of success.
Wham! went on to have many more hits, and became pop stars, heart throbs, and all of the other things that come with being successful international pop stars. But behind the scenes things were changing,
Michael, who had wrestled with his sexual orientation, had come out to Ridgeley in 1983. Ridgeley, took the news in stride, but the two decided to keep that information secret.
Success brought pressure to reach higher, and also new opportunities of where to record and who wanted to collaborate with them.
Michael started to push himself, writing more, and moving into the producer’s chair to ensure what he heard in his head, was what ended up on the final record. Ridgeley noted the changes, and that George’s songwriting, had started to eclipse his own.
It must have been a painful realization, and Ridgeley talks about his initial discomfort. But ultimately his attitude was to get out of the way and let his friend soar. For his part, George wrestled with his growing fame. He’d been sure that Ridgeley was the star, the attractive one. It started to dawn on him that he was getting the attention.
Their story, was similar to many bands of the era: school friends, form a band and have pop hits before breaking up, has many more complexities than perhaps meets the eye. But rather than over-emphasize an aspect that could been seen as sensational, Smith keeps the story balanced on the relationship between the two friends.
Smith has chosen to build the documentary from archival footage and interviews of the duo, and some of their contemporaries, so that in effect, they narrate their story. The two were and are intelligent and thoughtful interview subjects. And as a result of Smith’s structure, we get insights and an almost intimate understanding of what the two men felt through their career.
Too many contemporary documentaries about music or entertainment figures attempt to elevate the importance of the artist in question. Smith, blessedly, avoids that. He doesn’t bring in talking heads to give the band context, to big up Wham!’s legacy. Instead he sticks to the story itself, of two friends who became very successful collaborators, who reached the goals they’d set for each other, refused to be pulled apart and moved on seemingly without acrimony.
In Wham! he manages to do this and yet avoid both dwelling in nostalgia and sentimentality. The result is a wonderful biography, of two people, of a pop band, with complications weathered well because of the unshakeable friendship at the center.
Wham! Directed by Chris Smith, starring George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley. Streaming on Netflix as of July 5.