Why Does Take That Work? And Why Have They Been Able To Come Back So Succesful? :D

 

I think its purely because they all gel well together so well.........they all had something specail to put to the group which you don't really see now......you had the serious one, the cheekky one, the dancer, the cute one and the physique one lol........or something like that lol

What i mean is they were a group of down to earth 5 lads from the north of England and they just went for it and worked their asses of to get to where they wanted to be.

They worked from the bottom to get to the top and always went from strenght to strenght

 

I think the reason why they've been so successful at a 'comeback' is simply because they left on high.....they didn't carry on for the sake of it they left with poeple wanting more and when they finally did come back they certainly didn't dissapoint. They did everything in the right way which made you just think WOW they've still got it. And their not cocky either and there just 4 dead nice lads...........i think their great! :cheer:

 

Anna.XXXXXXX :)

i just think they are amazingly talented.. I was just 10 years old when i discovered their music for me in early 1995 and i became a hardcore fan soon after. When they split i was really sad cause i knew that they had much potential left.. and finally 2006 came their new album, and the new single patience just blew me away.. i think reach out could be and personally for me is they best song ever.. so i always loved them and their new album is just great so it was about time for them to come back and take back their seat on the charts olymp.

Well the reason I think they work so well now is because they've adapted to todays market.

 

Yeah they were really popular and everything when they split up, but I mean now they're huge and I think this is mainly down to the face they've reached out to their fans who bought all their stuff in the early ninties whist reaching out to the new generation of people who weren't really old enough to remember TT.

YES THEY ADAPTED WELL plus they are talented they can sing and write there own stuff and they seem down to earth people who have wide appeal plus they have great music

YES THEY ADAPTED WELL plus they are talented they can sing and write there own stuff and they seem down to earth people who have wide appeal plus they have great music

 

Yep they do have very wide appeal which a lot of artists don't have. I mean have no idea how their next album will perform though as BW has had very good sales because it was very well marketed and promoted so we shall have to see whether or not they'll be able to live up to the cureent hype around them at the moment. :lol:

i think the next album will do well but not as well as beautiful world bit all there albums have done really really well

i think the next album will do well but not as well as beautiful world bit all there albums have done really really well

 

I have to agree on that plus BW sold over a million copies in just 4 weeks because of xmas

if the next album gets released lets say in march now that would be interesting ;)

plus they wont always have an audience with to promote the next album,and b w got heavy promo which helped also

Well to Be honest Take That Were Excellent In their Day. So Because they were good back then, their comeback, along with the great single helped them be a big success. Also All Saints were great back before they rejoined last year. But they were not as good as TT that's why their comeback wasn't as good as TT. :D :P I am not being hypocritical because i have requested an All Saints Forum, but i am just being true. :D

Edited January 30, 200718 yr by Matt.

 

Take That are the whole package, polished, sexy :wub: and very talented . When they perform, it's obvious that they are having the time of ther lives and they give 110% of pure class. They make me feel happy , especially watching Mark coz he never stops smiling, he lightens up the room and my heart :heart:

 

Take That work because they truly are :cheer: F.A.B!

 

 

Take that were good in their day. Each personality complimented each other and it worked.

 

As for why they have made this great comeback, well I'm sorry but it all hangs on the coat tails of one Mr Robbie Williams. His outstanding success provoked the press into asking the question "will take that get back together". It has been relentless. Without Robbies amazing success, take that would still be scattered about Europe, fishing in their lakes, walking their dogs or driving around the med (very badly).

 

I was given a ticket for a TT concert last week, and gave it back. I dislike bullying and will never forget the way that they gave Robbie the boot. If they succeed then it will be without my support.

that is strong but robbie did his own fair sgare of bullying to gary when he had his chance and he was very contrived and personnel about it also

How could anyone give a TT ticket back?? :o They put on the best shows around!

 

I loved Take That when Robbie was in the band, and I think they're great now. It was obvious when Robbie left they were going to fall apart, too much bitterness and stuff. Robbie has the whole package, but the others need to be together to create the buzz. I'd like to see Robbie on stage with the band again, but I doubt it will ever happen. Take That gave Robbie his chance, and fair play to him he has taken it and gone onto bigger and better things.

 

Well TT have been a smash hit with people all over the globe and they are, friends and have such a great bond that even when they split up they can re-form as great as they are now :P

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a37/Ann-marieByrne/1145883106268_773.jpg

 

 

Perdita, ( welcome to TT) I just wanted to say that you have your opinion and I am sure that every one here respects that.

I found this article last week, ( it's long but makes interesting reading) :P

 

 

ROBBIE WE JUST WANT YOU BACK FOR GOOD

 

 

 

After a TV documentary brought them back together, Take That have rediscovered their lost legions of fans. But, in a frank interview, they tell David Thomas what the show didn't reveal about the drugs, drink, girls - and their terrible trouble with Robbie Williams

 

Take That are a few minutes late. Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald - but not, of course, their most distinguished founder member Robbie Williams - are being suffocated by hundreds of fans. It's going to take a few minutes to get the boys inside for our exclusive interview.

 

Nearly ten years after they disbanded, it seems that thousands still care passionately about Take That. But, before the airing of their explosive TV documentary last month, the boys did wonder if anyone would be interested in them at all. Not only has the programme resurrected an overwhelming fan base, it has also inspired a reconciliation of a band wracked by acrimony. They are to reunite for a tour of the UK and Ireland next April.

 

Take That was the biggest boy band since The Beatles, a hugely influential force in British pop from 1992 until 1996, selling nine million albums and ten million singles. Their demise ended bitterly after Robbie's controversial departure, with accusations being hurled by all parties.

 

But, almost a decade later, the boys are all feeling regretful of the way they handled the situation and nostalgic for the lost cameraderie of the band. Even Robbie has now broken his silence to call Jason for a chat. 'We had a lovely warm conversation,' says Jason.

 

The success of Take That relied on three 'facts' - they didn't drink, take drugs or sleep around. Yet, they now admit, they did all of this in private. In public everyone thought they had the Midas touch. Everyone, that is, except their manager Nigel Martin Smith, who warned them that it would all end in tears: 'In five years time, if it is a success, you'll probably hate each other. But you'll be very wealthy.'

 

Martin-Smith remortgaged his house and sold his modelling and talent agency to launch the band. 'Everything we did was an organic process - we never had a master plan and just went with the flow,' he says. 'When it suddenly ended, I was absolutely devastated. I felt like my right arm had been chopped off. The band had been my life.

 

'The documentary was supposed to be the reality of what happened. But it was not. There was so much they didn't show or explain. When they asked Robbie why he was so angry with me and why, after ten years, he couldn't forgive me, they didn't show that he stuttered and stammered and hadn't got anything to say.

 

'He sees it as all my fault. Robbie has admitted that he took drugs. He said he was sacked and he only took drugs because of me, and the public bought that and so saw him as the underdog. What people don't realise is that Robbie was releasing singles when he left, but they were only reaching number ten. As soon as he came out with his sob story, as the victim of a nasty manager, he started to sell records.'

 

Martin-Smith's prediction that the five boys would be rich came true, but their financial success has been tainted by acrimony and regret over the band's dramatic dissolution. Robbie, who was the first to leave, now admits that he was well on the way to becoming an alcoholic by the time he left the band. Meanwhile, the others have since revealed that they asked Robbie to go because he was getting out of control. But Robbie's departure meant the end of the band less than a year later. It's only since their reunion that the nostalgia of their success and friendship has started to hit home.

 

'We weren't expecting any of this,' says Gary, when the quartet finally arrive. He admits he was terrified that their mini-reunion to promote, not just the documentary, but also their new greatest hits CD and DVD, would be a total flop. 'I was panicking. I just didn't want to be a failure.'

 

You can see why he was nervous. Gary, 34, made £15 million writing Take That's biggest hits and kept every penny. He drives a Mercedes sports car and lives in a mansion in Cheshire with his wife, Dawn, and their children, Daniel, five and Emily, three. But, like the three other remaining members, he knows what it's like to have the arrogance and ego of pop stardom smashed from your system.

 

'Over the last ten years, any ego I had has really been kicked to nothing,' says Gary. When Take That broke up in April 1996, he was supposed to be the solo success. Instead, it was Robbie, 31, who went on to superstardom, while Gary suffered the public humiliation of failed records and a cancelled contract.

 

'It was horrible; really, really horrible,' he says, with blunt, unsparing honesty. 'You used to be hot. And when you're not, you're so not. I can honestly say I've never laid in bed wishing I was Robbie, but I admit, eight years ago, I did wish I had his career. But, knowing what I know about having a family, I certainly wouldn't step back into that arena.'

 

Ironically, for all his professional success, Robbie feels equally envious of the personal contentment Gary has found. Robbie has apologised to his former bandmates for the hurt he caused them with his scathing press comments after leaving the band. He calls Mark, 'a genius - the nicest person I've ever met', and admits of Gary, ' You're an amazing songwriter and I apologise for saying that you weren't.' But not all his bitterness has abated. Robbie can't help adding that, 'I'd go into a room with Mark, Howard and Jason now, but with Gary there's a starnge mixture of guilt about what I said and knowing I wouldn't get any resolution.'

 

Despite that, Robbie knows it's Gary who has the happy family life and, in the end, it's Robbie who has to admit, 'In all seriousness, I'd swap everything I have for that.'

 

Gary, in recent years, has made a modest professional recovery as a composer and producer, providing songs for Blue, Delta Goodrem and Charlotte Church. His other bandmates, meanwhile, have had mixed fortunes.

 

Jason, 35, divides his time between Manchester and Ibiza. Freed by his wealth from the need to work, but not in a serious relationship, rake-thin and plagued by insomnia, Jason, the most thoughtful member of the quartet, is the most troubled. 'I don't know what stops a person finding what it is they want in life,' he says. 'I wonder why I'm unsettled. Is it because I was in a pop band and now I'm not?'

 

Take That are enjoying the chance to renew old friendships. 'It's like putting on an old shoe,' says Gary. 'When we started seeing each other again, the meetings were going on for six or seven hours - and very little of it was business. We were just in the room with people who spoke the same language.'

 

But one person is missing. 'This week would have felt much better with five of us,' says Jason. It's painfully obvious that they're longing to see Robbie again. They do their best to persuade themselves that, deep down, he feels the same about them. 'I try to put myself in Robbie's situation,' says Howard, 37. 'He was young and we were his four big brothers for his formative years. So he must want some reconciliation. I'd want it. I'd want to see them and say, "Come on, lads, let's sort this out."'

 

They'd hoped that Robbie would join them when they filmed their documentary. The final scenes were shot at Cliveden House, a luxury hotel in Berkshire. 'When we all turned up there, we hoped that Robbie might show up,' recalls Mark, 33. 'As the day went on, every time a car came down the drive, we would think, "Is this Rob?"' But Robbie stayed away, to Gary's regret. 'It would have been great. I believe we'd have got on fine.'

 

They don't need prompting to talk about the events leading up to Robbie's departure. 'I don't like the way Robbie slagged us off afterwards,' says Jason. 'But perhaps he needed to do that to break free. I think Robbie rebelled against the hypocrisy of a pop regime, where you're supposed to be something you're not. To have problems was uncool.'

 

'We were taught to always stay up emotionally,' agrees Mark. 'But that gets heightened if you're in a band and it goes to another level. The ego grows, but then so do the insecurities.'

 

Gradually, Robbie became more estranged from the others, as his drink and drug problems spiralled out of control. He hung out at Glastonbury with Oasis, publicly drunk, mocking Take That's clean-living image. 'The problem wasn't that Robbie went to Glastonbury,' says Jason. 'It was that he was turning up to work the next day unfit for rehearsals. He made it clear that he didn't want to be part of the band.'

 

Meanwhile, says Gary, there was a tour to think about. 'We had ten nights booked in Manchester and another ten at London's Earls Court. We'd sold about 300,000 tickets and invested about £3.5 million - yet Robbie was turning up drunk in the mornings. At one point in the show's dance sequence,' Gary continues, 'Robbie had to throw Jason backwards, and you're thinking that if Robbie's not up to that, J could break his neck. That was the point when we said, "Listen, are you going to do these shows or not? We don't want you to go, but if you go now, at least we can get sorted in time. He said, "If you want me to leave, I'll go."'

 

In Robbie's own account he says, 'I walked across the room and got to the door. I looked back at them and I remember thinking, "This is it", and I walked through the door. Then I left it a couple of seconds and jumped back in, and everybody laughed. And then I walked.'

 

From that moment, Robbie has never seen any of the band, except for Mark. Looking back, they blame themselves. 'I could have tried to persuade Robbie to stay, looked after him a bit more,' says Jason. 'We wanted to preserve the name of Take That. We were being selfish.'

 

Mark says of the split: 'We had to separate. We had spent seven years in one another's pockets. On the day we split we all got into different cars and went our own ways. It was like hearses taking us to our funerals. I didn't see Gary, Jason or Howard again for three years. In the beginning, Rob and I were really close. But, by the time the band was coming to an end, there wasn't room for friendship. It was all work and less fun.'

 

Gradually, Mark and Robbie stopped speaking. 'I felt bad afterwards that we never sat down and talked about it. The day he left was bizarre. We sat chatting in McDonalds, feeling jaded. An hour later, he was gone. I should have phoned him over the weekend. On Monday I expected him to come back, but he didn't. The five of us have not been in a room together since that day. Afterwards I was depressed a lot. I started to think that nothing was ever going to happen again. I was 26 and felt I had had the highlight of my life. I had to live for another 50 years and already I was bored.'

 

'Robbie said he would have made it without me or Take That,' says Martin-Smith. 'This is not true because, when I took him on, he was 17, had puppy fat, was very spoilt, had no father around and was living with his sister and mother who worshipped him. His auditions were very showbiz, with Mick Jagger impressions.

 

'He wasn't a singer, just a bit of an entertainer. My job was to tighten him up and make him play the game. His mum resented that, as she was very protective, and this affected my relationship with them.

 

'The truth is that it took 18 months to get Robbie to start working. Mark should get the credit for this, as he took him under his wing.'

 

As Robbie's career went through the stratosphere, Gary's plummeted and they became embroiled in a war of words. 'It got to the point where I had to leave England,' he says. 'I took the family to LA for a year, just to get off this island. I rediscovered life in LA. I remember going into a supermarket for the first time in years. I couldn't believe it - I was being left alone. I could take my shirt off and let my belly hang out without seeing a photo of it in Heat magazine. It was amazing.'

 

Mark is the only one still trying to make it as a solo artist. He has just recorded a new album, How The Mighty Fall, on his own label. Melodic, inventive, quirky and heartfelt, it's arguably better than Robbie's latest chart-topping effort. But, while his old mate plans three nights at the new Wembley Stadium, Mark has to survive on scraps.

 

'I'm going back out on tour,' he says, looking tired, his hair unwashed. 'There are no posh lights, no fireworks; I'm playing to 200 people. It's my money that's behind this now, so I can't do it forever. I just want to prove to myself I'm more than just a pretty boy in Take That.'

 

Of course, Mark was never quite the sweet, innocent pretty boy portrayed by Take That's image-makers. 'We had our fair share of fun and frolics,' he reveals. 'Drugs and sex and pop and rock 'n' roll.'

 

Concerts would end with the band whisking their best-looking fans off to nightclubs. 'When you look at the newspapers now and see a girl talking about sleeping with a footballer, you wonder why there weren't millions of stories about us,' says Gary. 'It was almost a different woman every night.'

 

Jason had his eye on Lulu, who sang with the group on thier number one hit Relight My Fire. 'We had a special relationship,' he says. At 57, the Scots singer is 22 years older than Jason. Today she purrs, 'He was so handsome and he had a lot of energy.' But did they ever have sex? She laughs, 'I'm not going to say and that's my prerogative.'

 

With the sex came drugs. And Robbie was the worst offender. He now admits, 'I'd just drink myself into oblivion by downing a bottle of neat vodka. But my drug-taking would have happened with or without Take That.'

 

The bigger the band became, the more the five band members became isolated from the real world. Mark recalls, 'We walked through a lot of kitchens at the back of hotels, where we would take over an entire floor. We'd go from the concert, to the TV station, to the van, back through the kitchen and into the hotel.'

 

The separation from reality only intensified their relationships. 'We had us lot,' says Gary. 'We looked after each other. When the break up came, I felt we did it all wrong.'

 

'I think that's why I was quite emotional at the end of it,' says Howard, who's admitted to feeling suicidal when Take That split. 'You're with four guys who are your closest friends. Then you haven't got them anymore.'

 

Over the past decade, there has been some contact between the four of them. Gary worked on one of Mark's solo albums, and Gary and Howard used to occasionally meet up because they both had young children (Donald has two daughters by different mothers). But they've never really talked until now.

 

'Emotionally, who knows how they will cope with each other now,' says Martin-Smith. 'It was interesting watching them go from being very cautious together at the beginning of the week the album was released, to the end when they were sparkling as they perfomed live on TV for Children In Need. They loved it, although God knows what it'll be like on the road. As boys they handled the pressure very well but now they're grown men, they'll have to step it up a gear to get fit to deliver on tour.'

 

Their best memories of Take That aren't the girls they slept with, the drugs they took or the money they made - roughly £4 million each for Mark, Jason and Howard - but the friendships they made. 'We'd be on stage, looking out at 15000 people, then I'd look at this bunch,' says Gary. 'You know the show so well that you don't have to think about it, you're just enjoying it and you think, "This is great!" It's you and your mates having a great time. The crowd's going crazy. And it's just us.'

 

Martin-Smith recalls that Robbie used to mock a schoolteacher who once said that he would never come to anything because he never tries. 'I came to realise that the teacher was right. Robbie has been lucky.

 

'What nobody knows, and wasn't in the TV programme, is that Robbie and I were very close and always went drinking together. They showed Rob saying that all he wanted was for me to love him, and there he was doing the "poor me" thing again. But they didn't show me saying that I loved Rob and still do.

 

10 years is a very long time ..time to move on

 

its a great read and thank you forposting it on the forum

 

 

 

I was gutted when TT went their separate back in 1996 :( , they were the best of their field back then. Robbie went on to become a top UK singer selling millions of albums and singles , a great showman. What I really don't like is the rivalry some ppl seem to feel after all this time, there really isn't any. Robbie is a singer in his own right and no-one/nothing can ever take that :P away . TT on the other hand still have a great following, ppl have waited 10 years for them to re group and remained l100% loyal , the album sales tell it all. Why can't we like them all...I do :P

 

I just wish that ppl would be happy for them, afterall, they took a great gamble to reform and they pulled it off :dance: .

 

 

woop this topic has the longest posts by people in the whole of TT

This was a great topic and what even better is reading it now and see what has happened since this thread first started but i think it is a topic well worth continuing,what do ye think?

I think the reason why they are still very succesful now, is because they are still very normal lads who don't take their success for granted. They have pretty normal lives (as normal as you can have when you are pretty much a millionair plus very famous).

 

I think it's quiet harsh to say you were given a TT ticket and gave it back because the way they treated Rob. How about the way Rob treated TT? He was the one that made the decision to quit the band and I think it wasn't the best of times to be in TT when he left. Surely, it's not all Rob's fault and things are in the past so why judge them over this again?

 

Putting these two reasons together, is also exactly my point why it isn't a good idea to have Rob back in TT. He doesn't have a normal life, still struggles with addictions, behaves oddly (eg: aliens!!) and has often said he hates being famous and on stage!