Happy Birthday Last Christmas! The Christmas hit turns 35
Like every year, punctual as a Swiss watch, here it comes to announce that Christmas is upon us (and also to put in a little anxiety for the gifts that, we already know, we will reduce ourselves to buying on December 24th). We are talking about “Last Christmas”, the Christmas smash written and produced by Wham !, the English duo made up of George Michael and guitarist Andrew Ridgeley, who turned 35 on December 15th.
Christmas in Switzerland: no, it's not a cinepanettone, but the "Last Christmas" video
It was the fabulous 80s, when a company of friends decided to celebrate Christmas in a chalet in what we discovered to be the ski resort of Saas-Fee in Switzerland, reminding us of a slightly more glossy cinepanettone. The common thread is the love story that ended badly between a boy (played by George Michael) and his ex-girlfriend (played by model Debbie Killingback) to whom he gave his heart the previous Christmas only to see him mistreated and betrayed. I Wham! they sing us about a song that serves as a lesson to all broken hearts to learn not to make the same mistake.
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The first missed place
The hit, which became one of the emblems of pop culture, was originally supposed to be an Easter song, but the record company pushed for it to be transformed into a Christmas jingle. The success was enormous and the duo went on to sell nearly 2 million copies, the proceeds of which were destined for the fight against the poverty that had devastated Ethiopia between 84 and 85.
Despite George Michael's Guinness Book of Records, reaching number one on the UK Charts 4 times, as a solo artist, as half of a duo and as a member of Bob Geldof and Midge Ure's group, Last Christmas never reached the first place in the English ranking, firmly occupied by "Do they know it's Christmas Time?" of the charity group Band Aid, which included George Michael himself along with Boy George, Bono, Simon Le Bon and Sting.
It is for this reason that a social campaign was born aimed at finally giving the first place to the Christmas song par excellence, especially during the festive period. A posthumous recognition to be dedicated to the singer who died in 2016, for a mocking joke of fate, on Christmas morning.
Good news for the nostalgic!
For the truly nostalgic, we have some great news: to celebrate the anniversary of this 80's masterpiece, the limited vinyl edition is online and you can already admire the cult video in 4k on YouTube. But that's not all, "Last Christmas" was released at the cinema, the film starring Emilia Clarke whose soundtrack is precisely the song of the same name, the perfect culmination of yet another Christmas fairy tale that, regardless of the plot, will always make us still dream.
And who hates Christmas for?
Alternatively, if you have the soul of a Grinch, you can take part in Whamageddon, a game born on social media in which the winner is the one who manages to get to December 24 without ever having listened to the catchphrase. In short, a challenge that lends itself very well to becoming the new Mission Impossible plot.
