If you're on my Facebook or Twitter then you know that I was listening to a bunch of UK boy band songs over the past weekend or so. Specifically, I had been shuffling through the catalogue of Boyzone, with occasional side-tracks from Take That [specifically, "Back for Good"].
That weekend was also the first time I heard the songs "Love You Anyway" and "Gave It All Away".
I'm not ashamed to say I cried watching those two videos. "Love You Anyway" was supposed to be their comeback / reunion single - and then Stephen Gately died. So they did "Gave It All Away" as a tribute to him.
I have to admit I was unmoved by the boy bands craze in the nineties. I only ever bothered to listen to Boyzone - I liked the way they performed, I liked the way they sounded, and I quite liked the way they all looked - I mean, they didn't really stick much to the clean-cut good-boy stereotypes, did they?
And then there was that spirit of fun that they brought to many of their videos: "When the Going Gets Tough [The Tough Get Going]"; "Picture of You"; their cameo in U2's "The Sweetest Thing".
I was one of the many fans who was devastated when I found out that Stephen had died so suddenly last year. It was like a slap to the face. And when I read all over the world news that the remaining members of Boyzone reacted the way they did - I wonder how close to actual hysteria each one of them came - I had nothing to say but "I understand".
I miss them. And I miss my cassette tape of "By Request", one of their greatest hits compilations.
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On the other hand, I don't know why the fans are staging a backlash against the return of Robbie Williams to Take That - especially when the band themselves are claiming to be enthusiastically happy about it. It's not really a fandom I participated in, though, so I've nothing more to say except, you know, hopefully "Back for Good".
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