rdz@ccice5.UUCP (Robert D. Zarcone) (10/22/84)
I have lately been over-exposed to WHAM's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and can not help but notice the "CHOOSE LIFE" shirts worn by the band members. Is there some meaning here that I am missing? I have tried to listen to the lyrics, but I've had about as much luck as when I tried to find the "hidden meanings" in "Dance Hall Dance". Any spec- ulation will be appreciated. *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
lo@harvard.ARPA (Bert Lo) (10/23/84)
> I have lately been over-exposed to WHAM's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" > and can not help but notice the "CHOOSE LIFE" shirts worn by the band > members. Is there some meaning here that I am missing? I have tried > to listen to the lyrics, but I've had about as much luck as when I > tried to find the "hidden meanings" in "Dance Hall Dance". Any spec- > ulation will be appreciated. I'm not really sure what it means. It has absolutely nothing to do with the song though. They were playing a Miner's Benefit Concert somewhere in UK & this just happened to be what they were wearing. Don't look into it too hard. Like I said in a previous posting, Wham is just in it for the money (taken from an interview with MM). They have no known political or other convictions. ___________________________Bert Lo (lo@harvard.ARPA)___________________________
dsmith@uiucuxc.UUCP (10/26/84)
"Message" t-shirts are a new fashion craze in England. "Choose Life" would seem to have nothing to do with the song.
mike@smu.UUCP (10/27/84)
I was in Europe this summer and noticed an incredible number of people wearing t-shirts emblazoned with strange messages in big letters. Things like "WAR", "HATE", "SEX", "EXCELLENT", etc. Some seemed connected to the group Frankie Goes to Hollywood. I don't know what it means. Mike McNally ...convex!smu!mike
mike@smu.UUCP (10/30/84)
Late breaking news about big word t-shirts: My brother heard on MTV (imagine someone believing a second-hand story whose original source is MTV) that Wham! actually originated the whole thing with the ``Choose Life'' shirts. The group's producers had ``Choose Wham!'' shirts printed as a promo. The shirt printers decided to take the idea and run with it. Soon everybody had a big word to put on a shirt. Birth of a fashion craze. What are videos doing to the collective mind of western folks? Mike McNally ...convex!smu!mike
bub@ames.UUCP (Bubbette McLeod) (10/30/84)
> I have lately been over-exposed to WHAM's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" > and can not help but notice the "CHOOSE LIFE" shirts worn by the band > members. Is there some meaning here that I am missing? I was in London a couple of months ago and the CHOOSE LIFE shirts big over there (they are just startint to appear in the trendier punky stores here, along with the "FRANKIE SAY %s" shirts). The kids in England are even MORE upset about nuclear war then we are, since they have all those missles, etc., parked in their back yard. So the shirts are both a political statement and a reflection of current fashion. Bubbette {dual,hao,ihnp4,philabs}!ames!bub
boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian) (11/01/84)
Someone (I forgot who) the other week asked if there was any significance to the
"Choose Life" t-shirts that the group WHAM sports in their video "Wake Me Up
Before You Go-Go". Well, that video was in MTV's Top 20 Video Countdown last
weekend, and Mark Goodman answered that very question in a roundabout way.
It seems that one of the members of the group (the lead singer, I believe) was
in Florida early last year, and while there, picked up some oversized white
t-shirts with "Choose Life" on them at an anti-nuke rally. When he brought them
back to England, the group decided to wear them in the video. This started a
"fashion craze" in England that summer --- oversized t-shirts with sayings on
them. The group Frankie Goes to Hollywood jumped on the bandwagon, and had
made up some that said "Frankie Says <foo>".
As a matter of fact, if you watch the extended mini-movie version of
David Bowie's "Blue Jean" (called "Jazzin' for Blue Jean"), you'll see a brief
bit with Bowie dressing in one of the Frankie tees with "RELAX!" on it, and
making a curious reference to not wanting to publicize Frankie. This reference
didn't make any sense to me until I heard about the t-shirt craze.
--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA)
UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPAdave@rocksvax.UUCP (11/05/84)
Those are the tour tee shirts, just saw those being sold at the Toronto concert. Frankie has many politically and sexually oriented songs, these are basically from some of the songs lyrics of "Relax" and "Two Tribes (annihilation)". Dave
gnome@olivee.UUCP (Gary Traveis) (11/06/84)
Talk about an uninspired song and video! It makes POP sound like musak. WHAM has a more exciting name than sound! Ugh!
ag4@pucc-h (Uncle Jeffer) (11/11/84)
That's it! I vote we rename the band 'Wham(mo)!' as it gives a clearer
idea of what they are all about!
Actually, I suppose their current name isn't too far off if you just
picture a large wet fish hitting your face: WHAM!
--
"Will you stand by me against the cold night,
or are you afraid of the Ice?"
Jeff Lewis vvvvvvvvvvvv
{decvax|ucbvax|allegra|seismo|harpo|teklabs|ihnp4}!pur-ee!lewie
^^^^^^^^^^^^merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (11/20/84)
> That's it! I vote we rename the band 'Wham(mo)!' as it gives a clearer > idea of what they are all about! > Jeff Lewis vvvvvvvvvvvv > {decvax|ucbvax|allegra|seismo|harpo|teklabs|ihnp4}!pur-ee!lewie > ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Personally, I think I prefer "Sham!" Actually, I hate to say it, but I kind of like the song. Yes, it's pop shit, but it's WELL-DONE pop shit. Not like some of their other stuff which is rather badly done. -- "It goes bang bang bang Peter Merchant 'til my feet do the same."
kcd@drutx.UUCP (DeCockKC) (11/22/84)
The only thing thats worse than the WHAM video
is the WHAM SONG or songs if you had a little
brother or sister who happened to buy the WHOLE
album!!
go see BRUCE if you get the chance
Keenan (ihp4!drutx!kcd)giw@allegra.UUCP (Jerry Weil) (11/27/84)
This is really getting annoying - who's to say what good music and bad music is, anyway. If Wham was as bad as everyone keeps saying they are, they wouldn't be so popular. They are just plain fun, just like a 'stupid' movie might be entertaining. I have to say that the first time I heard "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," I liked it - that happens with very few songs for me. The rest of their album has songs which are even more retarded than that one, and I like some of them too. I'll bet I could point out some ridiculous qualities of just about any group or singer (especially Bruce, or Puke Barfsteen as some of us call him).