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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
I liked this quite a bit. There's a self-awareness about Ridgeley I found very appealing, especially as he was reading the audiobook edition. It's also a memoir that covers a specific moment in time - becoming BFF's with George in school, struggling to get a pop band off the ground, and then suddenly thrust into the spotlight as the biggest pop stars of that early-to-mid-1980s era. It's not a tell-all style memoir where Ridgeley dishes dirt (so if you're looking for it here you're going to be disappointed) - it's more coming of age memoir, a story of friendship and ultimately love. A lovely tribute to that moment in time and to a best friend gone too soon.
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I was eleven years old when I first heard Wham! and fell for them completely. I thought they were going to be the next Beatles. And then, just like that, they were gone. But while they were around, their music was a big part of my life. So reading about Andrew and George's childhood relationship that turned in to one of pop's biggest phenomenons of the mid-1980's was a treat.
This book is not great literature, but a mostly fun read about pop stardom. Ridgeley repeatedly acknowledges George Michael's immense talent as a singer and a songwriter. This whole book reads like a love letter to a friend.
As for the negatives of the book, there's a lot of shallowness of the detailed descriptions of who wore what and when, and spending too much time talking about Michael's hair, but after all, this was the 1980's and the decade of excess and superficiality, so it works.
The only thing I wished for was more knowledge of how the relationship between these two school chums weathered in light of Michael's immense success and Ridgeley's several failed attempts at careers.
I was eleven years old when I first heard Wham! and fell for them completely. I thought they were going to be the next Beatles. And then, just like that, they were gone. But while they were around, their music was a big part of my life. So reading about Andrew and George's childhood relationship that turned in to one of pop's biggest phenomenons of the mid-1980's was a treat.
This book is not great literature, but a mostly fun read about pop stardom. Ridgeley repeatedly acknowledges George Michael's immense talent as a singer and a songwriter. This whole book reads like a love letter to a friend.
As for the negatives of the book, there's a lot of shallowness of the detailed descriptions of who wore what and when, and spending too much time talking about Michael's hair, but after all, this was the 1980's and the decade of excess and superficiality, so it works.
The only thing I wished for was more knowledge of how the relationship between these two school chums weathered in light of Michael's immense success and Ridgeley's several failed attempts at careers.
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I loved Wham! and George Michael right from the start (who doesn't??) and was excited to listem this book written by one of the people who knew him well.
This isn't really the story of George Michael; it's the story of how George and Andrew met and how their friendship lead to the formation of Wham! There is very little about what happened to either George or Andrew after the band split. It is the story of two young men having the time of their life in the 1980s. I loved the fact that it isn't sensationalist and Andrew comes across as very dignified when talking about the fact that although he (Andrew) made a contribution to the ban's success, it was undoubtedly George who was the star. I loved it from beginning to end.
Andrew isn't a professional narrator but did a good job narrating his own book, though I would have preferred a bit more emotion in his reading. Nevertheless I'm glad he narrated it himself.
This isn't really the story of George Michael; it's the story of how George and Andrew met and how their friendship lead to the formation of Wham! There is very little about what happened to either George or Andrew after the band split. It is the story of two young men having the time of their life in the 1980s. I loved the fact that it isn't sensationalist and Andrew comes across as very dignified when talking about the fact that although he (Andrew) made a contribution to the ban's success, it was undoubtedly George who was the star. I loved it from beginning to end.
Andrew isn't a professional narrator but did a good job narrating his own book, though I would have preferred a bit more emotion in his reading. Nevertheless I'm glad he narrated it himself.
Being an 80s child with a love of Wham! and George Michael I chose this title in Audible because I knew very little about Andrew. I enjoyed learning about his friendship with GM, and how they started Wham! I thought Andrew was honest when it came to stories about behaviors and incidents. Of course now I need to read GM’s memoir Bare! And Pepsi and Shirley’s book!
A sweet and touching memoir that is honestly more of a tribute to Ridgely’s friendship and partnership with his best friend George Michael in their group, Wham! George Michael was one of my idols as a teenager and reading this took me way too long to get to and I’m glad I finally sat down to read it. The only flaw I can say I find with this book is that it’s too short and skips over George’s whole solo career (similar critique I had to the documentary about Wham! that released this year) and Andrew’s feelings about it. Otherwise, a lovely, fun, and fast read.
3.5/5 stars!
3.5/5 stars!
The most mentions of Bushey in any rock memoir. Andrew is a fine tour guide for the Wham! era, which ended at Wembley Stadium mere miles from where Andrew met Yog (George). Very good on the suburban boredom of the 1970s.
This was a really great tribute to his friend. I can't believe they were only 17 when they wrote one of my favorite songs of all time, Careless Whisper.
It's fair to ask what George's version of this story would have been (and I haven't read his memoir, so I don't know), and you'll roll your eyes occasionally, but this is at heart a very sweet story about two best friends who got everything they wanted in a short period of time. At the end, all I felt was grief for Andrew Ridgeley, because his best friend had died. And I think that's what he wanted me to know.