Wham! – Wham! Rap (Youtube)

After detailing what Innocent Pleasures was all about the other day, I figured it was time to put my Youtube clips where my mouth was. And for this first one I couldn’t have picked a better song don’t you even try and disagree with me I will fight you.

Maybe “amazing” isn’t the first word you think about when you hear the word Wham! but it should be. Firstly, that exclamation mark is there for a reason. George and Andrew could easily have called their band Wham and be done with it, but they didn’t. They took the initiative to add that exclamation mark and should be congratulated heartily for the impetus it gives their #1 jams.

Typographical wonders aside, let’s take a look at the song. The first lines proper are:

Hey everybody take a look at me
I’ve got street credibility

Well there’s no arguing with that.

Incidentally you can try this yourself (shopping centres and pedestrianised high streets are excellent spots) but unless, like George, you actually do have street credibility expect your efforts to be received with a cool welcome.

It’s a song that, to the best of my knowledge, appears to be about not bothering to get a job and just hanging out on the dole. In these austere economic times, that’s a message that’s more relevant than ever to our troubled nation. Never before or since has “DHSS” been sung to such a toe tappin’ melody.

That’s before we even get to the video. George Michael enters the apparently mute Andrew Ridgeley’s house without permission and takes him on a journey of London, for some reason. Fortunately, there is some excellent stock footage of hot window cleaning action. You don’t get a lot of windows cleaned in pop videos these days, something that we’ve all noticed and missed. Just imagine Jason Derulo with a chamois. Just imagine it.

It’s a brilliant pop song, even if you don’t you fall into it’s target markets as detailed in the song. For the record those target markets are:

Pub men
Club men
Jet black guys with hip hi-fis
White cool cats with trilby hats
Those for whom leather and studs is “where they’re at”

Hmm. Perhaps we should have anticipated how George Michael’s life was going to turn out somewhat sooner.

I love it earnestly – the melody is perfect, the horns are a wonderful touch and it stands up today. INNOCENT PLEASURE DONE.