What Wham! Did 41 Years Ago Is Now A Movie
Today marks an important milestone for the pop duo Wham!
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley released their debut album, Fantastic, on this date in 1983 – that’s 43 years ago!
They would become one of the most successful groups of the 1980s, with hits like “Careless Whisper” and “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.”
During that time, the two made a trip to do something no pop act had ever done before. In 1985, they traveled to China, acting as Western ambassadors of pop. They were the first pop act to perform in communist China. The 10 days they spent there were viewed as a landmark cultural exchange that helped thaw relations between the two countries, and introduced modern pop and rock music into the country.
That trip is now the subject of a new documentary, “WHAM! 10 Days in China.” It’s hitting theaters on July 28.
WHAM!’s former manager, Simon Napier-Bell, told Billboard in 2017 that authorities were “terrified of youth culture. Any repressive society knows when it takes ahold, it takes over and you can never go back. They’re frightened to death of it.”
The new doc features restored, digitized, and never-before-seen footage from the trip.
Michael and Ridgeley split in 1986, and Michael would go on to have a successful solo career before he passed away in 2016.
Check out the film’s trailer below!