430 Hello Wham ! - Young Guns ( Go For It )

Chart  entered : 16  October  1982

Chart  peak : 3

Number  of  hits : 10

A  brief  but  highly  successful  hit  career  begins  here.

George  Michael  ( born  Giorgios  Panayiotou  in 1963 )  and  Andrew  Ridgeley ( born  1963 )  met  at  Bushey  Meads  School  in  Hertfordshire . George  did  some  busking  on  the  London  Underground  then  the  pair  formed  a  ska  band  called  The  Executive. When  that  broke  up  without  making  a  record  they  formed  the  duo  Wham !

The  division  of  labour  in  Wham!  was  not  exactly  equal. George  was  the  main  composer, lead  singer  and  soon  producer  while  Andrew  was  credited  with  some   input  to  a  handful  of  the  songs   and  some  of  the  guitar  parts.  They  quickly  moved  from  ska  to  Brit-funk  and  were  snapped  up  by  Innervision , a  ( very ) new  subsidiary  of  CBS.

George  engaged   Bob  Carter  to  produce  their  debut  single  "Wham  Rap" on  the  strength  of  his  work  with  Linx  and  Junior.  Wham  !  were  I  think  the  first  white  British  group  to  attempt  a  full  rap  single  since  Ian  Dury  and  the  Blockheads  although  unlike  Ian,  George  faked  an  American  accent. The  message  though  was  entirely  British,  that  being  on  the  dole  needn't  stop  you  having  a  good  time.  This  wrong-footed  many  left  wing  critics  at  the  time who  still  saw  the  unemployment  figures  as  the  best  weapon  for  bashing  the  Thatcher  government  and  George's  hedonistic  take  on  worklessneess  seemed  at  best,  naive  and   politically   irresponsible. The  line  "you  don't  need  this  crap" gave  the  BBC  an  easy  excuse  to  ignore  it  without  becoming  embroiled  in  the  controversy.  In  truth  it's  more  a  celebration  of  youthful  lack  of  responsibility  than  a  political  statement, the  dole  is  contemporary  context  rather  than  the  main  subject   of  the  song.

The  backing  track  is  closer  to  Heaven  17's  Penthouse  and  Pavement  than  Carter's  previous  clients. There's  some  good  bass  work  but  generally  George  was  dissatisfied  with  the  mix,  feeling  it  wasn't  urban  enough  and  engaged  Steve  Brown  for  the  next  single. "Wham  Rap"   was  re-mixed  with  the  more  in-your-face  lyrics  excised  and  became  their  second  hit  reaching  number  8  early  in  1983.

"Young  Guns ( Go  For  It )" takes  its  lyrical  cues  from  The  Specials'  Too  Much  Too  Young   although  this  time  its  addressed  to  the  man  on  the  cusp  of  settling  down  rather  than  the  girl  who's  already  shot  her  bolt. It's  still  predominantly  a  rap  record  but  has  a  much  higher  melodic  quotient  and  introduces  female   backing  singers  Dee  C  Lee  and  Shirley  Holliman  who  were  never  counted  as  full  members  but  always  had  a  role  on  subsequent  records. Producer  Steve  Brown  also  supplied  them  with  a  bass  player , the  giant  Deon  Estus  who'd  have  a  couple  of  minor  hits  himself  through  the  association. It's  his  steely  slap-bass  playing    that  dominates  the   musical  backdrop  in  which  the  screechy  synths  and  tinny  sounding  horns  do  irrevocably  date  it.

But  it's  a  cleverly  constructed  song  with  the  mini-soap  opera  in  the  middle  eight,   like  an  eighties  re-vamp  of   Whatever  Happened  To  The  Likely  Lads   with  Shirley  as  Thelma,  the  highlight. The  noisy  ending  is  a  bit  overwrought  but  there's  no  doubting  the  lads'  enthusiasm  and  commitment.

The  duo  were  already  beginning  to  have  doubts  about   Innervision's  competence  as  the  single  made  a  slow  crawl  through  the  bottom  reaches  of  the  chart. It  went  down  at  one  point  before  recovering   to  number  42 which  just  secured  them  a  Top  of  the  Pops  slot. The  guys  and  girls  acted  out  the  song  with   Andrew  miming  the  "Bob"  part  though  George  did  all  the  male  parts  on  the  record.  They  also  had  a  basic  dance  routine   worked  out. Once  they'd  appeared  on  the  programme , sales  went  through  the  roof  and  if  Innervision  had  had  an  effective   distribution  arm  the  record  might  have  become  their  first  number  one. As  it  was  they  settled  for  number  three  and  they  were  major  players  for  the  rest  of  their  time  together.