The Boy Band TAKE THAT

I unashamedly love Take That. Some fantastic tunes.

I like their version of COULD IT BE MAGIC...the video is a real hoot.

it's 10 years old, but gary barlow was aging nicely here

I’m surprised at how handsome Gary Barlow is. Robbie had the star quality and it is hard to notice the others when they were onstage together. For me anyway.

Saw them perform on stage in a gay bar in Bournemouth, England before they got famous.

It blew my mind the twink dancing in a crop top ended up being straight.

They may be all straight, but they had no problem in their early days grovelling for gay men's money before they got the young female market.

They were meant to be the U.K. version of New Kids On The Block (and they were), but unlike NK’s who had worldwide success, Take That never took off in America and only had one hit (Back For Good).

And I still think Robbie is gay even if he is married to a woman (that looks like a man).

I played "Back for good" so much my husband threatened to throw the stereo in the street . That is the gayest goddamn video Ive ever seen R6 ! They ALL look like screaming queens ! I loved Robbie most,but Gary was a very close 2nd. So handsome. I neither knew nor cared about the other 2 .

This is one of the gayest videos of which I know.

I absolutely adore Take That. Only discovered them after they reformed in 2005. The Circus and Progress (for which Robbie returned) are their two best albums IMO.

I went to see them in concert once and got front row seats which was awesome in theory Until all the aging frau from the cheap seats swarmed up front. The crazy frau next to me was telling me how she stalks them and said she would tell me which hotel they were staying in if i wanted to know. I declined.

Superficial comment: Robbie Williams (b. 1974) used to mock Gary Barlow (b. 1971) for being the "old" one in the group, but Barlow looks much more youthful than Williams in middle age.

Robbie and Gary made a pretty sexy gaybait music video in 2010, very Brokeback-ish.

Gary is beautiful.

R13 Fucking lame. So sick of gay baiting shit. And idiots like you eat it up.

I know they're a 90s band, but looking back on them, they seem so very 80s. Even Robbie's solo efforts seem to harken to the 80s.

[quote] Were they considered a good group?

Were they a positive group?

The Circus is a genuinely great pop album. Not a single track on the entire thing is even slightly bad, all of them are good, and at least half of them are all-time classics which will be played for decades.

Great, great record.

Gary was always the fat one who wrote the songs. It honestly, he's aged the best out of all of them. Mark looks like an aging lesbian and Robbie is rough. The other two, Jason and Howie always seemed interchangeable to me.

Why didn’t they win over US audiences?

I remember seeing this on television when I would have been nine years old, and that it made me feel and think things that I had never done before. I had a distinct memory of thinking that I couldn't wait to be a grown-up, so I could also do things like this.

Take That made me gay.

R20, I love the sexy cheesiness of that! Euro men are not afraid of camp. Would N’Sync or 98 Degrees have done something like this?

[quote]Why didn’t they win over US audiences?

Because their music sucked and was dated. Between 1990-1995, new jack swing, rap and grunge was what was popular in the US and pop had faded out of popularity.

Plus they were ugly like most British people.

Has Jason found the right girl yet?

This is nice

Never mind r22. 🙄🙄

I can't think of another hugely successful boy band that bared as much onstage as Take That.

Howard again, writhing.

Gary Barlow is a tax-dodging Tory cunt.

[quote] it made me feel and think things that I had never done before

Have you ever been to you, R20?

Charlene is from Manchester, England England, is she not?

R30, she’s not from the Isle of Greece. I know that much.

I forget who it was, either Gary or Robbie, but one of the them said in an interview that during their heyday, the band spent 80% or more of their time learning choreographer and basically told "don't worry about the music".

They performed at lots of gay clubs when they were trying to make it, at a time when other mainstream acts would not have dared acknowledge that they had gay fans.They definitely played up to the gay press in a cheeky but friendly way. They maintained a gay fan base as a result. Their music was not to my taste, but even I recognise that Gary Barlow is a talented songwriter.

The band was made as a vehicle to Gary Barlow, before luch his solo career. He was the star of the group, at least on paper because Robbie stole his spotlight pretty soon.

The clothes was quite audatious.

And yes, they were the uk response to nkotb and even they only had once hit in the USA (in the 90's usa charts were tough for foreigners) globally they had more success an lasted longer

A still from their music video for "Do What You Like."

They didn’t really need US validation. They seemed to be loved everywhere else.

I liked solo Robbie Williams but was never a Take That fan

Barlow does seem a tad ballad heavy in his solo career. I liked the dance stuff better. The videos are so cheesy and fun.

"Rule the World" is probably my favourite.

R7, like Samantha in SATC said, first the gays, then the girls...

It's strange how Gary was okay looking but plain while Robbie was the hot one when they were young, but now that they're old Gary is the silver fox and Robbie looks like a taxi driver.

The Take That episode of Star Stories is a work of art

Robbie Williams had a lot of bad habits. Gary Barlow married a dancer. She probably helped him keep his weight (and eating habits) in check.

Nothing you can do for a lazy eye though

Gary B. & son Daniel

Robbie is adorable.

With all due apologies to the band as a whole, nothing they did even at the height of their popularity could ever equal Robbie at Knebworth

Here's the full Star Stories episode.

"I watched you tonight and I think you've got something."

"Really?"

"Yes. A fucking eating disorder."

Baby Barlow is hot...please tell me he’s above the legal age of consent.

He’s 20.

Fat Gary Barlow before the lap band.

Is that his mom at R51?

His music is rather ballad heavy.

R53, are you also R38?

Robbie is fun to watch in Rock DJ.

R55 as a gayling I made my neighbor (same age as me, around 11) dance to this and strip off for my amusement. I also touched his peepee.

Tell us more, R56.

r56's friend is Mark Perper.

I always preferred East 17 over Take That.

As a teenager when TT were in their prime Howard was always first up in the wank bank. Amazing body, pierced nipple and super flexible.

But 25 years on I can look back and marvel at how beautiful Jason Orange was, especially in the Pray video. Rumour has it stoked Lulu's fire and she got quite attached to him. Jason Orange was big leggy.

Top 5 Take Take Tracks are: Pray, Patience, Rule The World, Love Don't Love Here Anymore, Back For Good

Really not a fan of solo Robbie, absolutely loathe Angels with a passion and can't understand why it became the anthem it did. No Regrets is his finest moment, elevated by Neils Tennant and Hannon. Robbie's greatest contribution to music remains Kylie's Your Disco Needs You, now two decades old.

One of the music channels here keeps showing Gary's Love Won't Wait video, which was not his best, and you can see Madonna didn't bother recording the song. He gave up on of his songs for John Barrowman to record for one of his solo albums. What About Us isn't a Barlow classic but close your eyes and imagine Dionne Warwick recording it in the early 80s.

Oh and Mark's Clementine single was quite good.

[Quote] Rumour has it stoked Lulu's fire and she got quite attached to him.

That story instantly made me think that Jason was gay, and their gay manager (Nigel Martin Smith) put the rumor out as a smokescreen.

I love "Love Won't Wait" but I loathe Barlow's version. It should have been given to a Philly soul diva, like Loleatta Holloway.

Never Forget is also an amazing track. One of the few that puts Howard on lead vocals. It’s definitely a fan favourite for that reason.

I only learned in the past year that Howard sings "Never Forget." The music video is a montage. I thought for years that Barlow's voice was particularly nasal and "off" on that recording. Turns out it was the Donald.

"Never Forget" was their final single (before their second lease of life comeback). It capped off their "boy" era. Its status isn't entirely down to Howard.

Their sound is thin and flat. Production is off.

I like the fact that when they now sing Never Forget live on tour, they often get their support act to fill in for Robbie Williams.

Poor Gary - simply aching to be Dame Gary Barlow.

A bit leggy? What does that mean?

Not a bit leggy, but BIG LEGGY!

Yeah, that's not going to happen.

I remember Gary and Mark giving advice to Ruth Lorenzo on the X factor. They were so good at giving advice that her version was better than the original

if you were a gay euro in the 90's these guys were ALL you talked about

[Quote] if you were a gay euro in the 90's these guys were ALL you talked about

Hardly.

R73: It was so mainstream that there's a scene in How to build a girl where the protagonist and her gay brother go to a Take that concert after his coming out.

R74: Kylie had a tough time in the 90's, she had several hits (Confide in me was number 2) but no number one and the sales of her albums were no good. Spinning around rescue her with the change of decade

EuroGays aren't concerned with album sales.

[quote]Kylie had a tough time in the 90's, she had several hits (Confide in me was number 2) but no number one and the sales of her albums were no good. Spinning around rescue her with the change of decade

LIES

LIES

LIES

And on the subject of Kylie, it still fucks me off they STOLE her Give Me Just A Little More Time video when they did Everything Changes.

It's a DISGRACE.

R77: You are right, her only number one of the 90's was released on january of 1990. Everything went downhill after that.

Anyway, her problem weren't the singles, she had a good bunch of top 10 hits but the sales of the albums

Musically, Barlow was the true talent of the band with writing most of their songs. He sang a duet with Agnetha from Abba!

[quote]I remember Gary and Mark giving advice to Ruth Lorenzo on the X factor. They were so good at giving advice that her version was better than the original

Leona Lewis benefited from Gary Barlow's X Factor intervention too. Telling Cowell not to fuck up her career and to treat her as an artist.

And he came out of the Misha B racism scandal well. She was complimentary about him, said he was supportive and refused to join in the bullying of her.

Leona Lewis' career crashed and burned, did it not?

Bleeding Love and the Spirit album both made #1 in the UK and US.

Cowell would have had her doing Barry Manilow covers if he had the chance, rather than linking her up with Clive Davis and Ryan Tedder.

I had never heard of them until I watched the HBO series Lookng...........Kevin (Russell Tovey) was telling the character Patrick (Jonathan Groff) in Bed, post coital, that he had a huge thing for that boy band when he was growing up.

R83: Cowell simply wants to cash on the talent show contestants while they are popular (it's very usual in the talent show world). He doesn't see them as artists.

People like Olly Murs or Will Young survived because they knew what they wanted to do, but when the singer is very young or naive the posibilities of a long career are crushed.

And he is very manipulative, i remember the first pop idol and he made believe everyone Gareth Bates was the big favourite because he wanted him to win because he was just a teen and easy to manipulate and of course Young was gay (and he came out eight months before even release the first album). Then the numbers came and Young was the one with more votes most of the weeks. Anyway he made everything in his hand to make look like Bates was the one having more success (even when sales said otherwise).

The fact that Young's second album was a big success was a big fuck you to him

If Cowell could have sold Westlife to the US, he would have. The US was more receptive to Leona Lewis. It is as simple as that.

The problem with Leona was the fact that they didn't planned the whole thing well.

Yes, Bleeding love was a huge success but release ballad after ballad after ballad is never a good idea. Sam Smith survived but for Leona was the kiss of death when the first single of her second album flopped

[quote]And he is very manipulative, i remember the first pop idol and he made believe everyone Gareth Bates was the big favourite because he wanted him to win because he was just a teen and easy to manipulate and of course Young was gay (and he came out eight months before even release the first album). Then the numbers came and Young was the one with more votes most of the weeks. Anyway he made everything in his hand to make look like Bates was the one having more success (even when sales said otherwise).

GATES. Gareth GATES.

R88: Yes, i'm sorry. Gates, it's Gates

[quote]Yes, i'm sorry. Gates, it's Gates

It could happen to anyone of us

[quote]It could happen to anyone of us

A (very) stupid mistake

I never really heard Jason speak so I searched him up on YouTube and boy does he ping. Also watched a live performance of him singing Wooden Boat. He has a lovely voice so it’s a shame he was never given the chance to sing lead as often as the some of the others.

Robbie is said to have a big ego...what stories do y’all have? Didn’t he and Gary almost come to blows?

I haven’t thought about the band, or more specifically, Robbie Williams for decades. But when I read his name, I went back to my younger 90’s ideology that he was gay. I was very surprised and dismayed to see he’s straight.

It’s an interesting feeling to realize some time after the fact that you were a victim of gay baiting. Those bastards!

I wouldn't be surprised if he's lying.

I like Jason. He was clearly anxious about his level of talent; was the most reluctant of the four to reform the group; had obviously been given a hard time by Robbie, who apologised for this specifically; was uncomfortable with the short-lived Robbie return Barlow fixed up; was the only one not to get involved in the tax dodging business and has now returned to a quiet life again.

[quote]I wouldn't be surprised if he's lying.

What's more likely?

1. Robbie Williams is gay and has deliberately concocted a string of fake relationships to hide this, including Nicole Appleton from All Saints aborting her pregnancy and his current relationship with Ayda Field who has given birth to 4 of his children.

2. Robbie Williams is straight and likes fucking women, and especially enjoys fucking his wife who has given birth to 4 of his kids.

3. Robbie Williams is bisexual and mostly has relationships with women but likes some cock on the side.

I'm obsessed with Robbie Williams. Like, to the point that it's a bit detrimental to my life. But I never liked Take That.

But I have never heard anything about Robbie and a man. Gordon Ramsay, yes. More than once. So I can believe that Ramsay is bisexual...but other than his camp image...I don’t think that he is. He’s made comments about his sexuality in the press, but it was more like he was having a go with the reporters. He loves talking smack.

Wasnt there some scandal of a gay guy killing himself at Robbies mansion ? Too lazy to google ,but my memorys pretty good.

That was Michael Barrymore's downfall.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Wow...I’m gonna guess that Robbie was not involved...maybe his hairdresser asked him for a loan and Robbie refused?

Reading that hairdresser story I'd completely forgotten about Jonathan Wilkes.

He's like the male version of Lizzie Cundy he's so undeserving of any notoriety.

....

there are rumors of gordon ramsay with men???

They’ve been whispered about forever.

I knew about the one where he was arrested with two other guys naked in a public restroom, but the story was they were drunk and just having a laugh.? Oooh I bet Gordon is an aplha top.

Allegedly Gordon likes the occasional boy twink. Sort of the way that Gary Barlow looks in the Instagram photo upthread.

Jason is the only one that hasn't bred multiple times. And if he fucked Lulu, I'm Meghan Markle.

Reading the older threads about TT it sounds like Barlow has a bit of an ego too. I think that Robbie Williams would have pummeled him.

Of course he had an ego. He could write and sing. Some of his bandmates could do little more than shake it.

He’s very good. Why’d he struggle with a solo career while Williams seemed to flourish?

He's lacking in charisma.

I’ve been enjoying Gary’s Crooner sessions on YouTube and Instagram. His concerts are decent too. But one of the members, Orange, quit the group because he “realized” that he wasn’t all that talented and blamed the group’s manager, Nigel, for filling his head with ideas that he was.

[Quote] But one of the members, Orange, quit the group because he “realized” that he wasn’t all that talented and blamed the group’s manager, Nigel, for filling his head with ideas that he was.

What? Jason Orange only left in the last few years. His attempts at an acting career brought him down to reality - long before Take That regrouped.

Yes r116. You’re right. What acting did he do? He and Donald were the closest thing to models in that group.

Robbie Williams has done albums with standards/Great American Songbook-type stuff. Has Gary Barlow ever released anything like that, or does he mostly do his own stuff?

You can peruse some of Barlow's album credits here. It's funny how they US release cropped the cover image of his debut to lesser effect.

His second album isn't listed at the link above, though.

I’ll say this much after watching X Factor clips on YouTube and I will gladly take hits for it.

Gary Barlow PINGS! He does. His hand movements, the way he sits, the slightly femme way he talks. Maybe it’s a European/UK thing. There’s a lot of straight men who have effeminate mannerisms.

Gary Barlow, Tory lackey and would rim Boris Johnson if Boris told him to, tax dodger, wants a knighthood before Beckham receives one.

He could have been very successful in Hollywood with his backstabbing skills.

Too tubby for Tinsletown.

Has Barlow ever explained why he was involved in this tax dodging scheme? Has anyone ever read his autobiography?

You want to know why Gary Barlow wanted to keep more of his money? That's a head scratcher, alright.

Lol r125, I want to know his spin on it.

According to his autobiography, Barlow claimed to not checking up on his books and where is money was going, and when he found out, paid the back taxes. But he made no public apology and got dinged for it.

DIdn't they do a photo spread in some magazine/website that they were all sorta naked in a spa like environment?

Okay I found several pieces of dish on Barlow; though a married family man, he was rumored to have hooked up with gay indie rock singer Kele and diddled fellow TT member Mark Owen. But Pete Townsend and Gavin Rossdale were the other to alleged Kele hookups. And someone on the Bigbrothers.com forums claims he had an affair with Barlow a dozen years ago. He spilled the beans when Gary ended it. Is anyone here familiar with Kele?

As for Robbie Williams, I got nothing. The subject of many a rumor but no names. He and Gary look quite bromance-y in some photos as well as that “Shame” video. But other than that - nada.

Do people from the UK tolerate bisexuality more than Americans? Especially when they are married?

Kele Okereke? He's Simon Amstell's ex.

Amstell the comic actor or whatever he is? I’m familiar with him.

Kele was boasting about his conquest to several friends over the years.

Pray

^This video is majorly homoerotic. Most of their videos were in the beginning.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Versayce.

Pants.

Mark Owen was cute, but he has not aged well.

I thought that all of them were married with children.

Jason is still heartbroken over Lulu.

Champagne for Lulu!

Lulu? What’s up with that?

Yeah, what's up with that?

I think British men are better at compartmentalizing and therefore they have no hangups about having same sex dalliances while being in a “traditional” heterosexual marriage.

R141, who is the hot man next to Lulu?

it's Stuart Manning R143...but he doesn't look like that anymore

Angus MacFadyen.

cougar Lulu got around

But were they all photo ops?

Stuart is ADORABLE ! Id totally hit that .

R144, what a fall from Grace....

Once Lulu is done with you, it's over.

Lulu is the Mrs. Robinson of the UK entertainment world.

And how!

Bring back the boy bands! I'm tired of Kpop sameness.

Gary’s chocolate bar

Gary was breathtakingly beautiful.

He still is.

....caption this

I think that Robbie Williams has had a nose job at some point in his career.

.....love.

I prefer Robbie Williams. Barlow sings mostly lame elevator music. Whether solo or with the other two members. At least Robbie has personality. I can’t believe that he made any kind of comeback with that cliched tripe he sings. The band was better when all five of them were singing pop dance music. After listening to his stuff on YouTube that’s my opinion. Gary can sing but the stuff that he writes - Josh Grogan level mediocrity. Perfect for his frau fan base.

Bump. Caught this on YouTube. I guess Jason couldn’t sing after all. AAMOF, several of their songs used session vocalists in the studio.

There are several good later video versions of Could This Be The Magic. I like this rather lavish one.

They did put on good shows. I have watched several concerts on YouTube. For all the hate on Robbie, Gary was the arrogant one. And a shameless cash grabber. Robbie actually comes across as a decent sort.

So Take That was like a UK version of New Kids but targeted the gay club audience before transitioning to a more mainstream hetero sound. Reminds me of how Backstreet and New Kids were the white versions of Boyz II Men and New Edition and originally R&B groups played on black radio before whitewashing their sound.

I think New Edition was the best boy band ever...all of them weren't that good looking, save for Ralph and later Johnny Gill, but their choreography and harmonies were always spot on.

R165 Agreed. New Edition was definitely the most talented and had the best discography. It helps they never were targeted towards just kids, they were an R&B group so their audience always included adults.

NKOTB were deliberately created to be a white version by NE's ex-manager. Most of the boy bands of the 90s like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Take That, Westlife and etc. were created to profit off the R&B groups like Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Blackstreet, All-4-One.

R157

Favorite docking partners.

Really R166? They used the money they made from the black groups to finance the white ones? Maurice Starr was one of the few black managers/producers of a white boy band.

R&B was one of the most popular genres of music in the 80s and 90s. Whitney, Prince, Anita, TLC, Toni, Mariah, Boyz II Men, Brandy, Aaliyah, Bobby Brown, Joe I, SWV and Janet were big on the charts.

NKOTB was probably the first to be intentionally created to profit off it. New Edition was mostly the 1980s but they got little to no airplay on MTV. So Maurice Starr after getting fired by NE decided to prove his theory that had NE been white boys they would have ruled the charts. The surprise success of his newly formed group NKOTB proved him right. He just picked up a bunch of ghetto white boys from Dorchester and gave them a bunch of NE leftover songs and a choreographed hip-hop dance routine and they got huge. Its even telling that Boston even acknowledged NKOTB before giving props to NE and Bobby Brown.

All these later boy bands were created as a way to market R&B music to teenage white suburban audiences. Many white parents weren't comfortable with their kids listening to love songs sung by black guys and crushing on them. But if it was non-threatening pretty white boys it would be fine.

Backstreet Boys and NSYNC were created to hop on the new jack swing/R&B craze of the 90s. Their debut albums were mostly R&B songs with black songwriters. NSYNC went further and had rap features and did covers of Janet songs.

98 Degrees also were signed on Motown. Westlife had a song with Mariah Carey. Britney Spears herself was lab created to be a mix of Janet, The Spice Girls and TLC into one package.

I must say that UK boy bands tend to have more pure pop or pop rock sounds in comparison to American ones. Take That and Westlife likely didn't find success in The US because they sounded so different despite superficially resembling NKOTB and Backstreet Boys. One Direction's success is surprising but I guess it's because in the late 2000s and early '10s, synthpop and pop rock became big in the US with Gaga, Katy, Rihanna and Kesha before trap took over again in the late 2010s.

*rap

They are terrific. Gary Barlow is such a good songwriter. Far better than the likes of Westlife, One Direction and whatever the hell those Korean kids are called.

If that's true about Gary and Kele, it means Gary is a top.

R173....whaaaat? Isn't Barlow kind of short?

I haven't heard any of Kele's music! What's it like?

Frankly, NKOTB, NSync' and especially 98 Degrees, were all supremely mediocre. They came across as fake and pandering, especially in their interviews; those "blaccents" were completely offensive and corny AF. I prefer the Euro boy bands a bit more, save for One Direction. I don't get the fuss over them at all.

AND GET OFF MY LAWN.

I agree but NKOTB actually came from the poor part of Boston, Dorchester which had a mixed population of poor Irish, Italians and blacks. Jordan and Donnie were white hip-hop fans who breakdanced on the streets and trains for coins. So they were a bit more authentic in that regard. Their music is mostly mediocre though.

Now for blaccents. Nick Carter had the most annoying one. As did Justin Timberlake. They were the only ones in their groups that actually did that from what I recall too. Kevin and Brian were country bumpkins. JC never tried to sound like a black dude from the hood and Lance also was a country bumpkin

Nick is a twat, a useless twat. So is Timberlake. He has lost his cred in the black community. I seem to recall one of the black roadies wanted to sue NSYNC for constantly using the N-word and making black jokes a lot. The story quickly disappeared; my guess is that NSYNC's handlers threw some money at the problem to make it go away.

If I were to form my own boy band, I would make sure that they could all sing well and write music. The current and past crops were so manufactured. Some were better than others, but most of them were crap, save for New Edition and Take That in their early days. TT was cheesy but fun. Robbie should have been the front man from the jump.

I LOVE this cover of "Back for Good" - please watch at least a few seconds

So Harry Styles, Justin Timberlake, Mark Wahlberg (he was in NKOTB during their first year), Bobby Brown and Robbie Williams were the most successful solo artists from boy bands. And no I don't consider The Beatles of Jackson 5 to be boy bands. I liked Jordan Knight and Ashley Parker Angel's solo stuff but they were too boring to be solo artists.

JC Chasez also should have been bigger. Schizophrenic was a good pop album. The singles and song titles they chose were stupid though and his stylist should have been fired ASAP.

Robbie is kinda like Kylie Minogue, Cheryl and Darren Hayes. Well-known in The UK and Australia but basically unheard of in The US. It's shame Robbie's music isn't bad. Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith are big in The US yet he's not.

R179, I am pissing myself...too funny!!!

Robbie's "Rock DJ" video got a lot of play in the gay clubs in my city. Because he took his clothes off.

This one of the most WTF videos ever

R178 Justin Timberlake would have ended up like Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Nick Carter and JC Chasez with a failed solo career. He must have copied Bobby Brown's playbook because JT hooked up with the hottest producers at the time and got into a high-profile relationship with a much bigger female artist. His breakup with Britney Spears basically saved his solo career and he also profited from the Super Bowl scandal by exposing Janet's titty to the world. Bobby was a flash in the pan though his influence is seen in Usher and his clones which including Timberlake and Chris Brown. MJ and Prince weren't street like Bobby was; Bobby made it cool for R&B stars to act hood rather than following the Motown school of social skills training.

This is a very soothing song.

What is the deal with people calling Barlow greedy and money grubbing?

R132 that video looked like it was directed by BelAmi

I guess Take That, Backstreet Boys and New Kids On The Block are the only boy bands were most of the members were attractive.

The latter two groups had some dog face dudes in them too r190.

R191

Westlife was pretty hot too. Kevin and AJ were the sexiest in Backstreet. Howie was plain. Brian was an acquired taste. Nick was the cute twink before he got fat. Danny was the ugliest in New Kids on the Block. Donnie was also an acquired taste, his brother was hotter. Jordan, Jon and Joey were all good-looking though

Robbie was 16/17 when Take That made their debut. Their early videos had them dancing in leather, shirtless, tight pants, stripteasing, playing with food, etc. So he was sexualized as a teen which was common back then.

Brian Littrell is fug...Deliverance Face.

Kevin was beautiful.

Robbie wasn’t conventionally handsome but he photographed well and was the most charismatic member of Take That. Mark Owen was adorable but aged quickly. Fair skin like his never ages well.

R188 probably because of the tax avoidance.

Robbie is very cute. I mean he's better looking than Justin Timberlake and Harry Styles to me.

Robbie also has not aged well. His face has hardened. It's like him and his wife have these really hard-boned faces...whaddup wit dat?

Why is Robbie William's bisexuality ignored? I noticed when men are openly bisexual like Robbie Williams, Billie Joe Armstrong, Robert Downey Jr, Brendan Urie, John Mayer and Marlon Brando it gets ignored.

Robbie stops short of actually getting involved with men. He panders and likes to keep people guessing. He also threatened to sue a media outlet for accusing him of bisexuality. Pretty rich for someone who started their career with an out gay man for his manager. Same with Gary. He blocked someone on Twitter for saying something similar about his sexuality. But I know the stories about him being with men early in his career. Jason Orange allegedly made out with men at some point too. The gay men ate that shit up in the UK - five young, cute men in leather performing in gay nightclubs. Did any of them shag Nigel?

So Robbie was the Harry Styles of the 90s? Bowie and Jagger did it better.

Robbie lost his looks and I don't think anyone is out buying his records anyway. He was never George Michael or Elton John in terms of being critically acclaimed and beloved. He may as well come out and try to profit off of it.

His shows are quite exciting though, I’ll say that much.

I can see why they never crossed over in The US market. We were over that feelgood dance-pop music by that point. New Kids on The Block was hated anyway, so a British version would never have made it here even if they had much better music. Grunge, alternative, hip-hop, sad ballads, R&B and folk was what was charting. Robbie Williams had no chance because Take That was not known in The US so he could never had built up a fanbase to consume his solo music like in The UK.

Backstreet Boys and NSYNC were big in Europe before The US and knowing Perlman probably had them market chickenhawks at gay clubs. Some of NSYNC's early photoshoots were quite racy especially with JT and Lance being underage.

Nick Carter and the rest of BSB appeared in the US gay teen magazine XY in 1997 when they were just breaking into the US.

Another XY Magazine pic.

Chris looked a million times better with that 90s curtain cut and JC with the caesar cut.

Gary Barlow wrote the execrable music for Harvey Weinstein’s huge flop musical FINDING NEVERLAND. The score is atrocious from start to finish.

I’ve never seen the movie r206...any samples?

r207 It's not a movie. (There was a non-musical movie, but Barlow had nothing to do with that.)

Barlow seems to believe that he’s the next Great British Songwriter.

He was cute when he was younger and has morphed into a bit of a DILF. But he’s so dull. No matter how he’s packaged, he simply isn’t interesting. That tell-all documentary about TT gets into that; Simon Cowell said that he didn’t get why Nigel made Gary the group leader when he lacked charisma. So did some of the former roadies. They all said that he is dull and boring.

So Gary was the JC to Robbie's JT. JC was supposed to be the leader of NSYNC but puberty was kind to JT and he had more charisma and cockiness to outstage JC and JT became the fan favorite and lead singer with solos in the last album.

Another boy band craze will come around again.

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

The point above was he could play Matt Gaetz for the biopic relating his ascendance from "roommate" of a gay guy to the presidency of what used to be called the United States of America (before Ca, OR, WA and all the Eastern states bolted around 2028).

I don’t really know them, but hearing about boy bands makes me sad because most, if not all, of them have been sexually abused.

[quote]Mark looks like an aging lesbian

That would definitively be the KD Lang kind of aging lesbian even though I think KD Lang has more facial hair than Mark.

I lived in europe when they were big and it was ALL you heard about

No Grammy nods, but a string of Euro and Asian music awards. Barlow makes a big deal of his Ivor Novello awards for songwriting. All of them were cute in their own way BITD. Robbie has really hit the wall.

My favorite boy band is PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT.

Who?

[quote]My favorite boy band is PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT.

I prefer the Latinx version: SMOKE ON YOUR PIPE AND PUT THAT IN.

Their softcore porn debut. I don't know how they got away with 16 or 17-year-old Robbie Williams being naked in this?

[quote]Their softcore porn debut. I don't know how they got away with 16 or 17-year-old Robbie Williams being naked in this?

Because sexualised teenagers were common in the early 90s in the UK.

Tabloid newspapers used to have 16 and 17 year old girls showing their tits on page 3, occasionally in school uniform. The age for topless modelling was raised to 18 in the early 2000s.

Has anyone found Jason Orange yet? Is he still hiding from the public?

R222

If that's the case I imagine the British thought nothing of the sexualization of Britney Spears and felt Americans were prudes.

I watched this UK sitcom called "Chewing Gum" and there's an episode where the main character has a nervous breakdown after finding out she slept with a 16-year-old boy. She is taken over by guilt and confesses it to a nurse who then tells her there's nothing to be worried about as the age of consent is 16.

In the US, not only would that episode spike controversy despite the fact the age of consent in most US states is in fact 16 but Twitter would have called Michaela Coel's character a "pedophile".

"Skins" itself had a lot of sexually active teenage characters played by real teens. There was an ill-fated attempt to make an American version which also cast real teenagers and it went exactly as imagined. The US moral guardians accused it of being "child porn".

It seems the UK is just less hung up about sex in general

[quote]I watched this UK sitcom called "Chewing Gum" and there's an episode where the main character has a nervous breakdown after finding out she slept with a 16-year-old boy. She is taken over by guilt and confesses it to a nurse who then tells her there's nothing to be worried about as the age of consent is 16. In the US, not only would that episode spike controversy despite the fact the age of consent in most US states is in fact 16 but Twitter would have called Michaela Coel's character a "pedophile".

The reaction to Harry Styles dating Caroline Flack when he was 17 and she was 31 made headlines, but a 31 year old man dating a 17 year old woman would have made headlines as well, in fact age gaps still do - see Florence Pugh and Zack Braff. There was lots of pearl clutching too about Liam dating Cheryl Cole.

The UK has been through a turnaround over the last few decades - in the 1980s it was just treated as matter of fact that 13 year old Mandy Smith was dating Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, in his mid 40s. When the Labour government equalised the age of consent for gay sex a very sensible provision was put in outlawing consensual sex for 16 and 17 year olds with someone in authority, such as a teacher or youth worker. That and countless scandals, in particular Jimmy Savile and the grooming gangs, have made the UK a bit more cautious about the sexualisation of children.

I'd say there's now a much stronger understanding about Safeguarding kids, which was seen when the Scottish finance minister resigned for pestering a 16 year old boy he had a crush on. The issue around kids being prescribed puberty blockers is another example of this.

Probably the hottest boy band. Every member was attractive especially Mark and Jason.

Mark was hot

Thank you for that, R226.

Jason Orange is totally a gay. He loves fashion and has never been linked with a female outside apparently dating Lulu which was clearly just for publicity.

Howard is hot solely because of his nipple piercing.

So Jason is gay and Robbie is a gay-leaning bisexual.

[quote]Jason Orange is totally a gay. He loves fashion and has never been linked with a female outside apparently dating Lulu which was clearly just for publicity.

He dated tv presenter Jenny Powell in Take That's early days, he fucked Lulu when they worked with her on Relight My Fire and dated Catherine Tate for a couple of years.

But yeah, he loves fashion. so he must be gay.

r10 That was sooooo gay! I forgot how hawt Robbie was once upon a time though.

Didn't Noel Gallagher call Robbie a "fat dancer from Take That?"

r221, this is so gay.

And I mean they look like homosexuals, not that it's lame. But it is lame but that is not why it's a gay video.

R134

The style of their early music is very gay too. It has a Hi-NRG and house sound. It's clear their initial audience was gay men from the leather outfits, near-nudity and homoerotic videos and the touring gay clubs. Their early music videos looked like something out of a Bel Ami porno.

Robbie is definitely bisexual.

R236, Robbie just loves it when people talk about his chavy self. If suggesting that he is bisexual will cause the tabloids to give him plenty of coverage and people to discuss every aspect of his life, he will do it a million times.

Whether they started pandering to us gays or not, it is undeniable that TT were the cream of the crop as far as boy bands are concerned, both in terms of talent and looks.

They are definitely better than New Kids On The Block, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Dream Street, BBMak, O-Town, LFO etc, One Direction and BTS. Take That actually grew as artists and matured their sound throughout the decades.

Robbie's logic. I love having sex with men but still I'm married to a woman and have kids so I'm straight.

Gary Barlow really is a great songwriter.

His top 5 are Pray - Love Ain't Here Anymore - Back For Good - Patience - Rule The World - Greatest Day

I often wondered if he regrets giving What About Us to John Barrowman. Whitney would have done it justice, if she hadn't died of course.

If such a thing as a "bisexual vibe" actually exists, then Robbie has it in spades.

I would love a list of his male hookups. I bet it's extensive as well as interesting.

They were HUGE with the teenyboppers when I was growing up in the 90’s. Their music was largely poor, although admittedly I don’t like much pop, and they had one or two good songs (Rule the World). But god, they were pretty hot back in the day. A Take That orgy would have been heaven.

Robbie always struck me as a dirty boy who could fuck real good.

When they broke up the fans went crazy in Europe. There were phone helplines set up where distraught and even suicidal fans could call. MTV was doing nothing but having discussions about Take That and playing their videos the whole day; this was obviously before reality tv. Take That was never big in the US but in Europe they were so big that they were compared to Beatles. I think One Direction was the next band to achieve the same level of teen following but this time it happened everywhere.

I liked their farewell song but otherwise I didn't really give a damn about them. I remember a rumor from years back when a man claimed that before they became big and were doing a record at some sunny destination Gary Barlow looked at him lustily when they met on the street. Pretty thin but still kinda hot :P

I loved their comeback single Patience. It's one of the most beautiful pop songs ever made.

Don't remember much Take That here in Canada, only Robbie's solo stuff in the later 90's.

Robbie's appeal is his cheeky bad boy appeal and charm. Just like Harry Styles, Justin Timberlake and Bobby Brown or Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Beyoncé. The cocky flamboyant one with the edge gets the solo career. Not necessarily the best looking or most talented.

Robbie probably reads this thread and masturbates.

I love watching the screaming female fans - they are hysterical! They get so...invested in their favorite boy bands.

I think Take That, New Edition and New Kids On The Block are the only boy bands where most were handsome and sexy rather than cute and non-threatening.

Late to this but have had a thing for Robbie, Gary, and Howard at one time or another, and Progress is actually a great album for them.

What the hell were they thinking with his cover of How Sweet is Your Love video, it is beyond creepy.

What was Howard Donald thinking about when he decided to grow dreadlocks?

[quote]What was Howard Donald thinking about when he decided to grow dreadlocks?

White people like Howard don't grow dreadlocks, they have them attached.

As dreadful as he looked, he started a trend.

I feel like The UK has no shame in manufacturing pop stars and enjoying them for what they are. While in The US, we obsess over how authentic our pop stars are and the pop stars try to always act like they are real artists too. So British are less pretentious in that regard.

I know so many people here who try to argue Spice Girls and One Direction are real talented artists but I have a hunch in The UK nobody would even entertain such a stupid idea and they would freely admit they are manufactured.

No they're not. I recall S Club 7 talking about how their new album is "more mature." They all do it. I blame the Beatles.

The Beatles were probably the most shocking example of a band that had an image manufactured by a label but actually had talent and wrote their material. I think they set that precedent that "real artists write their songs" in the public eye. Songwriting, singing, charisma and dancing are four completely different skills and not related to each other as we think.

So many pop stars today try to evoke this image of being perfect and doing everything on their own and their naive fans buy into it.

[quote]While in The US, we obsess over how authentic our pop stars are and the pop stars try to always act like they are real artists too. So British are less pretentious in that regard.

The US produced New Kids On The Block and NSync were manufactured?

R258

People will try to argue they aren't though and are real singing groups. Often people who were kids or tweens when they were popular who have an attachment to them. Even when NKOTB got caught lipsyncing and were a rip off of New Edition a much more talented black R&B group and even had their original manager and producer.

I believe that New Edition was able to transition to a more adult image without as much drama as the other boy bands.

New Edition was never strictly a boy band. They were an R&B group made up of young black boys. Yes they were manufactured but their target audience included adults along with teenage girls. Child and teen R&B singers are often not pigeonholed to just a young demographic. New Edition was modeled after the Jackson 5 for instance which had a wide audience the included adults and kids.

New Edition was smart to fire Maurice Starr who not only was stealing money but also had a very cheap and repetitive style of music production. Way too much drum machines and cheap sounding Casio synths. New Edition's debut was strong though because their music sounded great for its time in 1983 but the Starr production sound got stale pretty quick.

New Edition grew as artists because they got better producers. They even did a doo-wop which helped get them to appeal to an older generation. NE just had better music from the get-go and when they hired Janet Jackson's producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for their Heartbreak album and got a baritone powerhouse vocalist Johnny Gill the rest was history. New Edition became men and got a coolness factor. They even got to perform at the VMAs while NKOTB was still being ignored by MTV.

New Kids On The Block got stuck with Starr's whack overproduction that was outdated by 1988. Outside of the singles which were catchy most of their albums were garbage and forgettable. NKOTB finally figured out that their music was mostly shit so they hired a bunch of hip hop producers for their final album in 1994 and it ended up being their most cohesive work. But they barely promoted it and broke up shortly after.

Jordan Knight's solo album is better than JT's and JC's solo debuts but it failed to help JK's career break through as he was too old and a "hasbeen" at that point. Plus there wasn't much promotion and only two singles.

Johnny Gill was adorable. Always wondered what he looked like naked.

Guess I'll have to ask Eddie Murphy.

Looks like we’re going to have the full Monty-they’re planning for a reunion of all five members!

Ironically only Barlow has improved with age. So unfair.

They should tour with the Spice Girls or Girls Aloud.

At least one group will be able to sing. And it's not the two girl groups.