08/12/2014 On Failure and Success in the Game of Fame | The Book of Life

What is The Book of Life?

CHAPTER 1: CAPITALISM: MEDIA

On Failure and Success in the Game of Fame

Andrew Ridgeley recently turned # ' y. In the mid-1980s, he was one half of the world’s

most successful pop duo, Wham! Alongside his friend George Michael, he topped the

charts in the UK and the US.

A ' er the band split, he tried acting, car racing and a solo performance career. But

nothing came to much. He now lives in an old farmhouse in a remote part of

Cornwall, with his partner of many years, Keren Woodward, who used to be in the girl

group Bananarama. He plays golf, goes to the pub and worries about sewage being

pumped into the sea. He looks like an accountant or someone whose cement mixing

business has done rather well.

So, it is natural to think of Andrew as a bit of a failure. He fell o  the stage of stardom.

He’s the guy who used to be famous. He’s been forgotten. He has given in to ageing.

George Michael has gone on to have a stellar solo career, has made enormous

amounts of money and kept himself at the centre of public attention. He’s still wooing

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the public and putting a lot of thought into getting his eyebrows right.

Michael: Still looking for love from ever yone

In fact it is Andrew who has been successful. And this triumph shouldn’t just be a

matter for him. The kind of success he now has is deeply important for the modern

world to understand.

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It’s all so opposed to what he used to stand for. Andrew was at the heart of a hugely

infectious view of life. He was a high priest of an ideolog y, if you like, which was

preached through music.

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′
80 s pop had immensely seductive ideas about sex, relationships, family life, work and

personal style. It told us that nothing should stand in the way of having a good time. If

anyone tells you to knuckle down, to work hard, to put others # rst, to feel sorr y or

ashamed, to think of the future – ignore them. They are conformist oppressors who

don’t know what life is really about.

It is an addictive outlook. It picks up accurately on what, at moments of high

excitement, feels like the truth. It lashes out at anything that causes resentment,

boredom or disappointment.

It’s hugely successful. But it’s also a disaster. The trouble is that it only works for short

manic bursts. Life can’t be properly lived this way. This is what Andrew has

discovered. That’s why he’s so important. He’s not someone coming from the outside

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discovered. That’s why he’s so important. He’s not someone coming from the outside

pouring scorn on what a lot of other people like. He’s the guy who was there. He

knows exactly how big the allure is. So we can trust him when he turns his back on it.

We don’t generally think of resignation as a virtue; it sounds like failure. What it

means, though, is recognising that big things in life – an OK relationship, a secure

sense of self-worth – require giving up some excitement.

The pop idea of life was so unhelpful because it pretended that excitement was the

way to a good life. So it made casual sex seem wonderful, it made the a ' er-party look

like the high point of social life. It was the continuation of a Romantic philosophy: the

ecstasy of the moment is what counts. On the other hand, resignation means seeing

that the ecstasy of the moment is o ' en (sadly) the enemy of what we really want.

Quite a lot really is enough: Wham and Bananarama discover the meaning of life.

Andrew’s long-passed successes as a performer and song-writer have le ' him well o 

by ordinar y standards. However, he could have made a great deal more money if he

had really set his sights on continuing in the world of fame and glamour. This may

seem like a minor issue, but a huge part of how the world works is driven by people’s

relentless ambition to have ever more status and money. One thing that Andrew

therefore does is to de # ne for us a conception of being satis #ed, of having enough –

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therefore does is to de # ne for us a conception of being satis #ed, of having enough –

even when more would have been an option, but at the cost to relationships, health

and family.

It’s tempting to think that it doesn’t matter much what kind of music is popular. So

long as people like it, don’t worr y, it’s just a bit of fun. But music is one of the biggest

in & uences that shapes a culture. It encourages an attitude to life. The songs get inside

our heads and the ideas they carr y with them stay there – in & uencing how we value

ourselves and our goals.

The life of Andrew Ridgeley belongs in the public realm. It’s one of the great moral

fables of our time. It’s the stor y of one man’s redemption – from manic, narcissistic

pleasure seeking to maturity. But it’s not just his stor y. He shows us what we need to

do collectively, as a nation. We live in a Wham! society – and yet we need (as it were) to

move to Cornwall.

There’s just one thing Andrew might still do. And that’s write compelling songs about

his ordinar y down to earth life now, with its ordinar y pains and longings, its

reconciliation with reality mixed with the odd idealistic dream. Or perhaps he could

just suggest that we listen to London Grammar, who are on to that already.

She knew early on, what Andrew learned late

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