In 1985, the pop duo WHAM! made history by performing two concerts in China. The purpose of the 10-day tour was to help George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley break into America and become the biggest pop stars in the world.
The tour was documented by the late gay filmmaker Lindsay Anderson, but the film was never completed or released. “WHAM! 10 Days in China,” directed by Mike Christie, recounts the tour, combining the unseen Anderson footage (some featured in the band’s video for “Freedom”) along with contemporary interviews with Andrew Ridgeley and others who participated in the event.
It is a fascinating documentary that shows the pressures the band were under. They had to do press conferences and act as cultural ambassadors as well as navigate the cultural differences they faced. (Chinese audiences in Beijing were told not to move in their seats during the concert, which the band took as disinterest.)
Ridgeley spoke with Gay City News about his memories from the tour and making “WHAM! 10 Days in China.”
I get the sense from the documentary that you and George were not fully prepared for the trip to China. What do you recall about preparing for this trip and these concerts, which was a bit of a whirlwind?
The preparation was we were preparing for a show. We were as well prepared as we could have been. We didn’t really do any pre-planning or interviews or meetings with politicians. We knew we had formal meetings with our hosts. It wasn’t so different in that respect from having to go to events where we were officially representing the band. The tour was arranged in short notice. The go-ahead from China was received perhaps six weeks prior. A lot was prepared in haste, especially from the logistical side of things. We were told what we might expect from the audience. We knew we would not receive the reaction we would ordinarily receive in the West. That didn’t reduce the oddness of performing to a near silent audience. George felt it a little more keenly than I did. As a frontman you work on the audience reaction. When you make a good show, the audience has to do its part. He felt that. Maybe George put a lot into trying to get the reaction he was after and didn’t get it, and that contributed to his perspective on it.
You state in the documentary that you were skeptical of the tour. Did you feel like you were making history, or did you feel like you were forced to put on a show?
You’re right. For my part at the time, I was skeptical of the value of it and its chances of success. I didn’t really want to be there. It was nice to go to China. It was an amazing opportunity and a unique experience. However, I would have rather been on tour in the States. George didn’t want [to go to the U.S.] because he had problems with undiagnosed polyps at that time. He was wary of his voice breaking down, so he wasn’t going to risk a 3-month [American] tour. China appealed to him far more than it did to me. It was being used as global PR in order to elevate the WHAM! brand. It did work, much against my expectations.
What do you think about the impact the tour had at the time, or now, all these years later?
As I say in the film, the impact was very much on a personal level. It transformed the lives of several people who went to see WHAM! perform. You can’t ask for more than that. It also achieved the objective, which was to go into the living rooms of ordinary Americans and make WHAM! a household name.
What is the legacy in China? It exists within the handful of people who changed the course of their lives by watching WHAM! perform. They went on to great success in their chosen careers. They had their eyes opened by our performance. The film ties up a loose end of the story and illustrates and reveals to us and to me personally that cultural exchange. Once we left China in April 1985, we never heard another thing. It was remarkable. The curtain came down and we never heard a peep. Until I went back last year with the film crew, I understood nothing of the impact of WHAM!, such as it is, in China. It was odd in that way. Going back was a kind of unfinished business — to be able to discover the legacy as it exists in China. Because prior to that, we had absolutely no idea. It was rewarding to learn the experience and testaments of those people whose lives were changed by it.
Can you talk about Lindsay Anderson shooting the documentary footage of your tour? It is interesting that you didn’t get along with him.
You really wouldn’t like Lindsay if you had been there. He didn’t want to be there. He was doing it for the money. He said so in his letters. Had no real idea what he was doing filming WHAM! — what it was for? And what it was supposed to be? He says it as much in the film: “If anyone can tell me what I’m doing here, I’d be delighted to know,” I’m paraphrasing him.
I was right about that decision. It was destined for disaster.
George gives that really revealing interview during a massage that is in “WHAM! 10 Days in China.” It is interesting that Anderson’s footage is repurposed here.
This is the third iteration, if you like. There was “If You Were There,” which wasn’t seen, then “Foreign Skies” which Andy Morahan edited, which was exactly what we wanted — a long form pop video, and very much the account of WHAM! in China. “WHAM! 10 Days in China” is a retrospective with the benefit of being able to incorporate the voices of those who were there. It has an overview and is far more candid. This is an authentic account of the tour.
You are seen in the film feeling tremendous — and unwanted — pressure from the press. Looking back, what do you think about how you were treated and how you handled it? I get the sense you couldn’t really appreciate visiting The Great Wall because of the press interviewing you. George even leaves you hanging in one scene.
I had a great deal of sympathy for George because he disliked the artificial nature of contrived circumstances which is the scene in the film in the shop. [He leaves]. He really had enough. I wasn’t about to tell the film crew why he left. George thought the whole thing was a complete farrago. I tried to obfuscate as well as I could. He didn’t leave me hanging; he had it up to his eyeballs. Going to the ambassador’s residence, or banquets, made him really uncomfortable. I didn’t much care for it, but we had to do something outside of the shows and the film crew needed footage. I say in the film, “We were there to do a show, but a show had to be made of WHAM! being in China as well.” It was a quid pro quo.
My relationship with the press was an antagonistic one. I brought a lot of that upon myself. But, on the other hand, I grew up in an environment and a family where celebrity didn’t exist. None of us were interested in celebrity, so when celebrity attached itself to our success, I resented that deeply. I resented the intrusion into my personal life. That’s not the way the press see things. I was unprepared for that, and I wasn’t about to play ball — and I didn’t have to. WHAM! was in a fortunate position that was slightly contradictory because we invited the press corps along.
The film emphasizes the power of music to shape lives. What has been the most surprising response you had from the impact of your music?
It’s enduring nature and the fact that the actual essence of it seems to be more appreciated now than when we were successful in the ’80s. I’ve come to realize, subsequently, that I didn’t fully understand the attraction of us back in the ’80s. You look at the videos and this film and the [2023] Netflix film, “WHAM!,” and you can see the relationship we had was something familiar to people’s own experiences. It was aspirational. Everyone wants or has had a best friend. I think that was the central part of the attraction of us. Then you have the music. It’s vitality and vibrancy have been sustained over the course of time. It doesn’t diminish. I see it when kids hear WHAM! for the first time. They are lit up by it. That’s remarkable. That is something you can’t foresee. One hopes one makes music for the ages, and it has a particular character, but I didn’t understand it fully back then that it would endure this long. It’s a fabulous thing.
“WHAM! 10 Days in China” | Directed by Michael Christie | Running at the Regal Essex Crossing, The Nitehawk Cinemas, AMC Kips Bay, AMC Empire 25, Regal UA Kaufman Astoria, and other theaters | Distributed by Sony Music Vision in partnership with Trafalgar Releasing
