Forty years. Say it out loud and it still doesn’t sound right.

On June 28, 1986, Wham! walked onto the stage at Wembley Stadium in front of 72,000 people and said goodbye. They called the show “The Final,” which was about as subtle as anything else in 1986 — meaning not at all, and we loved it that way. Elton John showed up. Simon Le Bon showed up. George and Andrew went out on top, at the absolute peak, in the sunshine.

And here’s the part that still gets us: while all that was happening across the ocean, we were keeping the party going on our side of it. That same summer, “The Edge of Heaven” was in heavy rotation on the Dance Party USA floor — and yes, there is tape of us performing it, and no, we will never stop bringing it up.

Wham! breaking up made zero sense to us at sixteen. Nobody walks away at the top! But that was always the George Michael move — he knew exactly where he was going, and where he went turned out to be one of the great solo runs in pop history. Looking back at it now, “The Final” wasn’t an ending. It was a handoff.

What we remember about that summer:

The singles just kept coming. “Everything She Wants.” “I’m Your Man.” “The Edge of Heaven.” You couldn’t turn on a radio in Philadelphia — or anywhere else — without George’s voice falling out of it. The greatest hits album (also called The Final, because again, subtlety) landed right before the show, and it was basically the soundtrack of our entire year.

If you were anywhere near a teenager in 1986, Wham! wasn’t a band. Wham! was the weather.

We said our real goodbye back in 2016, and we still mean every word of it. But an anniversary like this one isn’t sad. Forty years later the songs do exactly what they did the first time — three notes in and you’re back, mixtape spinning, whole summer ahead of you.

Play something from The Final today. Loud. That’s an order from two guys who owe that band more than we can ever say.

— Bobby and Jason

FAQ

When was Wham!’s final concert?
Wham! played their farewell concert, “The Final,” at Wembley Stadium in London on June 28, 1986, in front of about 72,000 fans.

Who appeared at Wham!’s farewell show?
Along with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, the show featured guests including Elton John and Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon.

Why did Wham! break up in 1986?
The duo chose to end at their peak, with George Michael moving into the solo career that produced Faith the following year. They went out on top — on purpose.