Legend Was ABSOLUTELY SURE This 1984 Song Would Be a #1 Hit...IT TOOK 37 YEARS! | Professor of Rock

Coming up, This group was on a tear to start the decade. Wham! starring legend George Michael and his pal Andrew Ridgely were on top of the world. but George in particular was obsessed with dominating the charts. His goal in 1984 was to score four #1 singles. And you know what, by November he and his partner had three… With time running out, he pulled out a surefire hit he wrote in the middle of watching a football game on TV. He was certain it would hit #1… and it was a holiday song called Last Christmas... However, in December he was invited to sing on a massive charity single. Band-Aid Do They Know It’s Christmas ...when he heard it, he knew it was sure to go #1. Wrestling with guilt, he secretly hoped his song would outperform this charity track. It’s the story of one of the most popular songs of the 80s with almost 3 billion streams yet the song was only a promotional single in the US. Find our if it ever got to #1 NEXT on the Professor of Rock.

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Today, we’re getting into the holiday spirit, with one of the most essential December pop tracks ever recorded. Written and produced by the late great George Michael, and favorite of every 80s kids around the holidays… it’s Last Christmas from his days with Andrew Ridgeley and Wham!. So over in the United Kingdom, 1984 belonged to two English musical acts more than any other… The first was the edgy synth-pop outfit Frankie Goes to Hollywood and, the other was the young pop sensation Wham!. These two groups would achieve massive chart success in 84, trading blows throughout the year. Frankie would amass an astounding 15 weeks at #1 on the strength of three singles: Relax, Two Tribes, and The Power of Love. Wham! For their part would score 8 weeks at #1, also with three singles: Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, Careless Whisper, and Freedom.

Other top-of-the-chart contenders like Duran Duran, Lionel Ritchie, and Stevie Wonder also made their mark. But for George Michael, none of what anyone else was doing mattered. He was driven by an insatiable appetite to be the best of the best. According to Andrew, George’s entire identity was tied to success. He said, “For George, chart position was the ultimate validation of his talent. To get to #1 really mattered to him. George needed success as a songwriter for personal affirmation.”

Frankie Goes To Hollywood would prove to be Wham!’s biggest obstacle and rival for the pinnacle. They made a big splash in early 1984 when their controversial song ‘Relax’ reached the top on January 28. It stayed there until March. And actually just covered Frankie’s incredible run last month. Wham! got things going with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. That entered the UK charts at #4 on May 26th and reached #1 a week later.