UK release date: June 29th 1983
UK chart peak: 1
Buy Wham!'s Fantastic here (Amazon UK)
Read all my Wham! anniversary posts here
The journey to Wham!'s debut album started a long time before its May 1983 release (and subsequent success in the UK charts). George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley formed as a duo to bring something new and exciting to a world of pop that was still trying to find its footing after the death of disco. Their debut album, Fantastic, is a story of innovation, dedication, perseverance and chart domination. It was also a display of trust and understanding from their record label that sometimes good things take time to happen - a sharp contrast to the one and done approach of many acts that followed whose first singles failed to meet expectations. Ultimately, Fantastic launched a band who, across just two albums and a compilation, became one of the most beloved pop acts in UK history. Their music has left a lasting legacy which continues to delight and inspire to this day. 30 years later, the singles and album tracks are still as fresh and invigorating as the day they were released...
- Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do) ~ Before the Pet Shop Boys cornered the market on parenthesis in pop, Wham were there first with their intriguing debut single. It was definitely a bold song which bought attention to the duo. The lyrics about making the most of your unemployment benefit (the "enjoy what you do" refrain of the title) was a firm, two fingered salute to the establishment. It also, arguably, bought rap into the mainstream pop arena (again, somewhat ahead of Pet Shop Boys deadpan approach to the genre). Up until Wham Rap eventually made it big (no pun intended), rap had been an almost exclusively American phenomenon. Introducing it with such a thrilling pop riff behind it made for an exhilarating experience. However, when released in June 1982, it had very little impact on the chart - it was only after their second single that it stomped its way all the way to number eight in the UK (the second of four top ten hits from Fantastic). I remember being rather delighted with the b-side version where George sings "Hey, everybody, now listen to me/Cut the radio bullshit, this is side B". I'd sing along, quietly, thinking I was such a rebel using such salty language at age 8...
- Young Guns (Go For It) ~ The power of Top Of The Pops was somewhat responsible for making Wham! a household name (that, and the fact this is a jolly magnificent tune). The single was released in October 1982 and yo-yo'd around the charts before climbing to number 42. Due to a last minute cancellation, the lads were invited to perform it on Top Of The Pops as the highest placed, climbing single outside the top forty. They did (with Andrew as the teenage bridegroom!) and it vaulted to number 24 the following week (before peaking at 3 a few weeks later). The song continued the theme from Wham Rap of enjoying life (choose life!) with George telling his buddy that he was too young to settle down with his girlfriend. What worked great about the song was having the duelling quasi-rap element in the middle 8 where the girlfriend puts in her two cents. Kudos also to the creative genius who labelled the instrumental b-side Going For It. This was my first exposure to Wham! and I was enthralled. This song spoke to me, even at age 8 - growing up in a Mormon household meant your whole childhood was mapped out, building up to the inevitable Mormon mission. I knew even then I didn't want to be a missionary; I was totally Young Gun.
- Bad Boys ~ After Wham Rap was re-released, it was straight onto single 3 as a precursor to the Fantastic album being released. Now, allegedly George hated this song which really saddens me as it is one of my favourites. Much like Young Guns, it continued the theme of embracing being a teenager before all the responsibilities of adulthood kick in. And again, there is the rather splendid middle 8 which tells the parents side of the story. All surrounded by an ebullient instrumental and ridiculously catchy hook which is instantly memorable. It wasn't until years after the track was released that my "bad boy" phase kicked in, but the song remained an anthem of mine, celebrating the allure of letting yourself go. It was their biggest hit to date, sashaying all the way up to number two (and, notably, their first appearance on the Billboard 100). George may not have been impressed but soul boy-dole boy is a refrain which we just can't get out of our heads...
- Club Tropicana ~ whilst the first three singles from Fantastic all represented a melange of hip hop, rap and pop music, Club Tropicana was pure, unashamed pop music - the first big hint as to what Make It Big might contain. While it was a bit of a swipe at the hedonistic nature of Club 18-30 holidays which were popular at the time, most people take this as a classic holiday song, something to listen to as they dream of sun drenched beaches in their future. It is just pop perfection - sumptuous score, evocative lyrics and a chorus as big as the ocean. It encapsulates everything about the summer in a sunny, breezy singalong fashion. Note - the b-side, Blue (Armed With Love) was equally as deserving of a place on the parent album. Sadly, it has never been released on CD but if you do a YouTube search you are bound to find it ;) This track hit number four in the summer of 1983 and has lingered in the public consciousness ever since. All that's missing is the sea...
I originally wrote the above post back in May 2013. Since that time George sadly passed away, giving even more importance to the legacy of his music and the impact it has on people across the globe. There are many other fine songs on Fantastic which were and are deserving of attention (particularly by folks who maybe only know the singles from greatest hits compilations). Love Machine, for example, is the rare example of Wham covering another artist's song (with some great bass and a deliriously addictive falsetto). Meanwhile, Ray of Sunshine is a five minute (almost) gem which was absolutely deserving of being the fifth single from the album. It sort of was, thanks to the lets-not-mention-Fantastic-megamix single, but it is a lovely, shimmering track which invites you to turn the music up. And turn it up you should for this is what timeless, classic pop music sounds like.
Come On was a fabulous low-key disco song, as if George and Andrew were thinking, how can we get away with a disco song in 1983! While all of their singles had various remixes attached, this is the song which I most wanted to have a series of decadent remixes - it, perhaps, may have opened up the club market in the US. It is still a great song to put on when getting ready to go out on a Saturday night. Finally, Nothing Looks The Same In The Light sowed the seeds of what a great balladeer George Michael would go on to become. This is gorgeous, seductive, enchanting mid-tempo music at its absolute finest. Every nuanced second washes over the listener, like sea lapping onto the scorching shore on a balmy August afternoon. At a taut eight tracks long, Fantastic was proof that you don't need to fill out an album with 15-16 tracks to leave people feeling satisfied.
(NOTE: There is a new musical opening in 2019, called Club Tropicana. There are some Wham songs in the soundtrack, as well as other eighties classics. Find out more about it by visiting their twitter page here).
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