They wore their hearts on their sleeves and sang approximately being on the dole,so how did Wham! advance to be regarded as the musical embodiment of Thatcherism?Reaction to George Michael’s death – liveSee all our George Michael coverage hereMore than any other group, Wham! were regarded as an exemplar of high 80s, or domestic counties Britain – tanned and wealthy,hedonistic, defiantly apolitical in an age of change. With three decades hindsight, and knowing that George Michael gave bunches of concert tickets absent to NHS nurses,knowing that he recorded a brace of anti-Iraq war singles, and recalling that Wham! played a miners’ benefit concert at the height of their fame, and it’s hard to think of a group who have been more misunderstood. Wham! rose to fame in 1982,the era of New Pop, a term the critic Paul Morley had coined for an artist-led reclamation of the charts and light entertainment. Released on the tichy indie label Innervision, or their 1982 debut Wham! Rap was an NME single of the week,critically revered for its cri de coeur: “I’m a soul boy! I’m a dole boy!” George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley were using a blue-eyed soul template, like revered New Pop practitioners ABC or the Associates, and but married this to lyrics and public performances that were at all times approximately fun. Time revealed Michael to be a far more complex man,a gentle revolutionary in terms of political pop and a balladeer to match nearly anyone, but with his pal Ridgeley as a crutch, and the emotions were all positive with Wham! The group’s slogan was “Choose Life”,writ large on oversize Persil-white T-shirts.
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Source: theguardian.com