For some, the Wham! Hit "Last Christmas", which has been looping on radio stations, Christmas markets and department stores for weeks, is a horror. For others, it is a loyal Christmas companion. In the collective memory, however, the song is always - and also the so blurry music video for the hit from 1984, which George Michael shows in a merry Christmas round in the snowy Saas-Fee. Sony Music Entertainment has now reissued it in 4K image quality.
For more than four and a half minutes and razor-sharp, you can now see George Michael arriving in the snow-covered Swiss Alps with his off-road vehicle, boarding the gondola and settling down with friends in the mountain hut. Where there is a milky film about the winter scene in the original, details such as a brooch of the past (portrayed by model Kathy Hill) and Michael's flawless skin, teeth and hairstyle are now to be admired, as are the 80s clothes. Despite the best available picture quality at the moment, the scenes look like they were taken from a medium-sized evening series - the coarse-grained charm of the original is gone.
However, some media praised the revision. Now you can finally see what the people look like who show so much happiness in Winter Wonderland, writes the "Rolling Stone". And on "The Verge" you can read that the eighties have never been so real to experience as in the revised video.
George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley released the Wham! Song just before Christmas 1984. In flashbacks it tells of a past love. In the video clip, alongside Michael, Ridgeley and Hill, the background singers Helen "Pepsi" DeMacque and Shirlie Holliman, as well as the bass player from Spandau Ballet (and later husband of Holliman), Martin Kemp, also play. In the first year alone, the song sold more than 1.4 million copies. The band broke up in 1986 after five years. George Michael died of heart disease in December 2016 at the age of 53.
Inspired by the Christmas hit, the romantic comedy "Last Christmas" with Renée Zellweger and Emilia Clarke was released last November (read a review here).