Information About the Album
Make It Big is the second studio album from British pop duo Wham!, released on October 23, 1984.
The album was a critical and commercial success, hitting number one in both the UK and the US and spawning four singles, all topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
George Michael on ‘Make It Big’ Album
Interviewer: Your new album is ‘Make it Big,’ and folks who remember the first album ‘Fantastic,’ which had “Young Guns” and “Bad Boys,” how is this one different?
George Michael: Well, I think this album is very different from the first album. The first album was more of a – it was a little more modern in terms of what the song were based on. It was us, trying to find our market, really. Whereas, this album is just – I decided to relax, in songwriting terms, and to make sure that everything I wrote was the type of thing that I would naturally want to write, you know? And I think, because it’s more relaxed, it flows more, the songs are better, and it’s more mature in a way. Although, it’s still a very simple album.
Charts:
Official Charts (United Kingdom):
- Number of weeks in chart: 72 weeks
- Peak Position: #1 (for 2 weeks)
Billboard 100 (United States):
- Number of weeks in chart: 87
- Peak Position: 1
What the Critics Said:
“The arrangements on ‘Make It Big (Columbia) are in a tightly wound chamber-rock mode, not processed from the bubble-gum factory. Mainly, there’s a glidng, expressive strength to the singing and winningly lovelorn, hook-borne material such as the up-tempo Freedom and the closing mood ballad Careless Whisper.”
Leonard Feather, “Duo Reaches Beyond Teeny-bopping,” Los Angeles Times News Service published in The Indianapolis Star on December 9, 1984
“Wham! has a lot going for them. Michael wrote the music and co-produced the tracks, the best of which feature richly textured horn and harmony arrangements over rockabilly tempos.”
Tom Matthews, “Make It Big temporarily cute,” Kingsport Times-News (Kingsport, Tennessee), January 4, 1985
Track List:
The songs on the album ‘Wham! Make It Big’ are as follows:
