Published by Swiss James on 23 Feb 2008 at 07:56 pm
Wham! in China (Foreign Skies)
Did you know that in 1985, Wham! were the first western pop group to go to China?
Yes they bloody were, and they made a film about it too:
My sister used to watch this film a lot when I was a kid, and for Christmas she gave me a VHS copy of it which my girl just had put onto DVD for me. It’s fascinating, I’ve watched it about 4 times in the last two days, called in sick for work and have had a catheter installed so that I don’t have to go toilet between viewings.
The basic thrust of the film is supposed to be
“Look how weird and old-fashioned these Chinese people, they are going to love our fantastic Wham! sounds and fashion!” But when you see it now, it’s George Michael and the other one who look like something from another planet.
Like they say, the past is a foreign country.
Andrew Ridgeley is, in fact, clearly expecting to see oceans of adoring asian fans, but even the people who actually went to the concerts (one in “Peking”, one in “Canton”) are mostly thinking
“Yes, very nice, (when is the Beijing opera coming back on?)”
with just a few occasional shots of:
“We love your sexy romantic western shoulder pads!! (What the hell are you singing about?)”
Good times, good times.
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Everyone knows Wham! from this concert. It used to be no matter what little backwards town you were in in the mid 90s, if you needed to sing an English song at karaoke, it was either Wham, John Denver or the Carpenters.
“Last christmas .. . “
They didn’t seem to make much of a splash at the time T! But I guess that’s the thing about ripples..
I picked up a Smash Hits from the 80’s book at christmas, it’s got a copy of the article they had about Wham’s visit. Very interesting, apparently people were beaten for getting up and dancing at the Beijing concert
Dingle – So what’s the penalty for taking off your knickers and throwing them at Mr Michael? I’m guessing public execution!
James – Actually Jean Michel Jarre was the first western artist to perform in post-revolution China in 1981. I have the live concert CD but sadly no video footage. I think the crowd were equally bemused by him at the time.
And that Andrew Ridgely – what a twat!
off topic here, but a tribut to e d’silva……apparently the chinese believe him to have been slain at the weekend..
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_ce00XMTkyNTg4NzY=.html
wow, and i wasnt even born yet
That is one fantastic plaid blazer and Colonel Sanders tie.
here’s what the British Embassy thought of it anyway…
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foi/images/0,9069,1480049,00.html
it also turns out that another film was made but never shown because George Michael hated it:
http://www.is.stir.ac.uk/libraries/collections/anderson/WhamFilm.php
Breeny – And he was only 24 years old, it’s a tragedy. He would have been 25 today!
James: Thank you for the link to the British Embassy letter – very interesting. And there was me thinking that metal knives were banned on planes because of 9/11, whereas it actually seems to be the fault of a Portugese trumpet player.
Co-incidentally enough I was watching Zammo & Rolands 100 schools hits at the weekend and found myself punching the air to the ‘Freedom’ video ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!1111111111