Wham! – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
#quotefromthe80s
My best friend told me what you did last night
You left me sleepin' in my bed
I was dreaming, but I should have been with you instead
Wake me up before you go-go
#Wham #WakeMeUpBeforeYouGoGo #GeorgeMichael
The release of this song was really a sign that the 80s were entering their most intense, most joyful and characteristic days. We were in mid-May 1984, and it was a time of beautiful songs, just take a look at the playlist from that period if you don’t believe it. However, this song had a disruptive effect.
First, on Wham! (always written with the exclamation mark). They were certainly already a successful group, after songs like “Wham! Rap” “Bad boys” and “Young guns (go for it)”, but until then they had a slightly more traditional, almost American image with jeans and leather jackets. And they talked about unemployment and rebellion. This video changed everything: white pants, t-shirts, steamy hair, pastel colors, carefree teenage look. The “Choose life” T-shirt is still on sale for almost forty years. And above all, fabulous songs in their simplicity and positivity.
Like so many other hits, “Wake me up before you go-go” has a sort of random history. Starting from the title! Legend says that Andrew and George, when they weren’t out on tour, lived at home with their parents. Andrew hung a message for his mother to the door one night: tomorrow morning wake me up up, before you go.
However, he realized that he had written “up” twice, and for joke’s sake he also wrote “go” twice. He told this story to George, who was amazed by the title, and decided that he should absolutely use this phrase. Moreover, the term go-go also referred to places where you would go to dance or spend the evening, and recalls retro atmospheres from which George was absolutely fascinated. It’s no coincidence that the song also mentions the jitterbug, a dance of the 30s, and Doris Day.
The song also had a disruptive effect on 80s music: the new look of Wham! really became an icon of the 80s, similar to Duran Duran’s look but less sophisticated, a bit like little brothers.
Actually after this song Wham! became absolute protagonists of the moment, and they became a backbone of that whole golden period that within six months led to the realization of “Do they know it’s Christmas“, probably the highest moment of 80s British pop, and within another six months led to the realization of Live Aid, which marked a real handover between the first half of the 80s, with Duran, Wham, and others letting the stage to Freddie Mercury who became the absolute protagonist not only of the concert, but of the entire second part of the decade
In any case, if you ask a Dinosaur like us to name three iconic songs from the 80s, you’ll see that everybody will include “Wake me up before you go-go”!
Wham! and George Michael on Wikipedia
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