Songoftheday 3/3/14 - They told me marriage was a give and take, well you showed me you can take you've got some giving to do...


Wham! - "Everything She Wants"
from the album Make It Big (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's Song of the Day is by the British pop duo Wham!, who "made it big" with their second album, scoring two #1 hits in America in 1984 with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Careless Whisper". For their third American single release the pair put out the sassy and funky "Everything She Wants", a mid-tempo rant against a high-maintenance lover sung with full campy gusto by writer/producer George Michael....


"Everything She Wants" became Wham!'s "hat trick" third #1 pop hit in the U.S. in May of 1985, while also reaching the top-10 on the American dance (#7) and adult contemporary (#4) charts. It crossed over big into R&B radio stations, landing the pair on that format chart at #12. In their native Britain, where it was released at Christmastime, peaked at #2 (behind the phenomenon of the Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?" single).

It remains probably the most acceptable Wham! single to be fond of today...

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's Wham! in concert in China back in 1984...


...and again this is George live from 2008...


He actually released a remix of the song in 1997 as a B-side...


In 1999, rapper Foxy Brown had a minor R&B hit with "I Can't" (#61), which sampled the song...


While Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams interpolated the rhythm section from the record for her album track "Sick Of It"...


In 2012, acappella group Naturally 7 reinterpreted "Everything She Wants" on their track "Life Goes On"...


Up tomorrow: A cry-happy duo are megalomaniacs.




Comments

John said…
Such a great song. This set of songs you're into now were the soundtrack for a trip to Philly I took with my Boy Scout trip in '85. At the moment, I'd say "Last Christmas" might be the most "acceptable" Wham! song, but I totally get what you're saying.