Young Guns (Go for It!)

This was the second single released by Wham! The exclamation mark is optional, the brackets are not! Composed solely by George Michael, it was recorded with ABC producer Steve Brown. Michael's biographer Rob Jovanovic said the song is about "death by matrimony," which is in fact the last line of the chorus. It was written from experience, describing old school friends marrying and setting down roots while Michael and his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley were still having fun. This was rather presumptuous, as the two were not yet 20 years old when it was released. Michael spent much of the next few years struggling with his sexuality, and in April 1998, when he was 35 years old, he came out as gay.

"Young Guns (Go For It!)" backed by "Going For It" was released on the Innervision label in September 1982 in both 7-inch and 12-inch singles formats. It topped the charts in Sweden and reached #3 in Canada, #4 in Australia, and #20 in Germany.

The song was outside the UK Top 40 when the call came for an unexpected Top Of The Pops debut. The producer of the BBC music program, Michael Hurll, had seen Wham! on another show, Saturday Superstore. Michael and Ridgley's performance of "Young Guns" made an immediate impact and the following Monday the distribution center received some 30,000 orders. This sent the song to #24 before eventually peaking at #3.