Your opinion on Robbie

[rjd2]

Mine?
Firstly the myth that he's great live. I've saw him live once and I must say running about and pulling faces are not what I consider great live music. Now then his music. I must admit I did like some of his earlier singles like No Regrets which I think is probably his best record, its catchy and its lyrics are not as jaw droppingly crap as some of his more recent hits like Feel, or Rock DJ or the utterly intolerable Angels which must rank as one of the most overrated and soulless dull records ever written. I did think he would disappear a few years ago but in fact he's now at his commercial peak with an ever-growing fan base who seem to lap up his more recent "more mature" music which I personally find impossible to listen to . I can't stand this god complex he seems to have developed and this need he seems to have to sing about his apparent angst and unhappiness with his life. It would be fine if he had the musical maturity and intelligence to pull it off but it fails miserably and if you want proof just listen to Come Undone.

So unimpressed, but so in awe
Such a saint, but such a whore
So self-aware, so full of shit
So indecisive, so adamant
I'm contemplating, thinkin' about thinkin'
It's overrated, just get another drink and

Watch me come undone
They're selling razor blades and mirrors in the street
I pray when I'm coming down, you'll be asleep
If I ever hurt you, your revenge will be so sweet
Because I'm scum, and I'm your son
I come undone
I come undone

So rock 'n' roll, so corporate suit
So damn ugly, so damn cute
So well-trained, so animal
So need your love, so fuck you all
I'm not scared of dying, I just don't want to
If I stop lying, I'll just disappoint you

Come undone
They're selling razor blades and mirrors in the street
Come undone
I pray when I'm coming down, you'll be asleep
Come undone
If I ever hurt you, your revenge will be so sweet
Because I'm scum, and I'm your son
I come undone

So write another ballad, mix it on a Wednesday
Sell it on a Thursday buy a yacht on Saturday
It's a love song, a love song
Do another interview, sing a bunch of lies
Tell about celebrities that I despise
And sing love songs, we sing love songs so sincere

So sincere

Come undone
They're selling razor blades and mirrors in the street
Come undone
I pray when I'm coming down, you'll be asleep
Come undone
The young pretend you're in the clouds above the sea
I come undone
I am scum
Love your son
You've gotta love your son
Come undone
You've gotta love you son
Come undone

Love your son
I am scum
I am scum
I am scum
I am scum
I am scum
I am scum

Anyways what are your own opinions of the chap?

[Garfield And Friends]

The music he has his name attached to isn't the worst, but lots of what of heard from him is tripe.

The public persona he puts across isn't my cup of tea. He makes me want to chin 'im. It doesn't help that he's a prime example of utterly celebrated mediocrity.

[Maximash]

I hate him with all of my heart. For reasons already stated. I love the fact that America shunned his fat fuck-off head.

[Peking O]

Aren't the results of this poll going to be a tad predictable?

[Labian Quest]

He used to irritate me more, then I realised that he knows his music is a meaningless load of crap but he's happy to carry on churning it out as long as people are prepared to buy it.

[Maximash]

He used to irritate me more, then I realised that he knows his music is a meaningless load of crap but he's happy to carry on churning it out as long as people are prepared to buy it.

If anything that makes it worse.

[Doctor Stamen]

He used to irritate me more, then I realised that he knows his music is a meaningless load of crap but he's happy to carry on churning it out as long as people are prepared to buy it.

Yeah, he doesn't really bother me that much these days.

Still, that 'film' he did contains the funniest clip of footage on TV ever, there's a camera at the back of the stage filming him at a gig in Europe somewhere, then suddenly someone runs on from the side of the stage and pushes him violently into the pit!  Take that you cock!

[Labian Quest]

Still, that 'film' he did contains the funniest clip of footage on TV ever, there's a camera at the back of the stage filming him at a gig in Europe somewhere, then suddenly someone runs on from the side of the stage and pushes him violently into the pit!  Take that you cock!

Fair play to him then. It reminds me of a comment I read by UB40 somewhere where they said that even though the band had made a few million quid out of the music business and were thinking about retiring, a band of their size builds up quite a large entourage (road crew, record company people etc) who depend on them to make a living, so they carry on making records and touring out of loyalty to those people, even though they don't really give a toss anymore.

[Clinton Morgan]

It's hairdresser music or (if you will) high street clothing store music (I'm so glad where I work has not got a stereo). Robbie Williams the artiste (as opposed to the man of whom I know fuck all) is a cunt but his fans are the biggest cunts of all. I'll never forget typing on this forum on the day of Live 8 and hearing the television set get louder when he performed. What a bunch of sycophantic cunts, I heard they didn't fucking appreciate The Who. They have an attitude that his music and lyrics are quite clever. What would they do if they were made to sit down and listen to 'Doc At The Radar Station'? To quote Frank Zappa, " These people wouldn't know good music if it jumped up and bit them on the ass."

Robbie Williams knows how to play the game. He appears to be music business savvy so perhaps one can safely call the cunt a cunt. Remember how he got us all on his side by slagging Take That when he left the group? " At last! A member of an irritating boy band group who says he hates that irritating boy band group." Albeit I don't think the term boy band was used back then.

The reaction to his big band numbers was just the same as Vinnie Jones' appearance in 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells'. When that film came out "everybody" was surprised at how "good" an actor Vinnie was. Even fucking Michael Parkinson sucked the egotistical cock of Robbie Williams. People who only heard bits and bobs of big band and crooner music started to talk about how Robbie was as good as the greats. Stop living out your fucking fantasies you cunt.

It is easy to knock Robbie Williams but then again easy things can be very enjoyable so I should continue. His lyrics are just an updated version of 'Where Do You Go To My Lovely'. As Nick Hancock put it that particular song is one of those numbers where you're meant to think is clever because you can actually hear the words. I can't think of actual examples but that line about overdosing for Christmas, giving up for Lent, detox for your rent really gets on my nipples.

Fuck the cunt and fuck his fans.

[TJ]

I wish the 'Robbie (Cunt) Williams' thread from the old board was still around...

[The Mumbler]

Five years ago, I'd have been striving to better Mr. Morgan's wonderful rant further up.  Now, I'm utterly indifferent.  I believe he's still making records, but I simply don't notice.  But when I hated him, I knew that it represented "clever music" for "stupid people".

[slim]

Who?

[Clinton Morgan]

Now, I'm utterly indifferent.

That reminds me of (ahem) a routine that Kevin Day did on television in the nineties about being too knackered to hate the Tories. I don't notice Robbie's music nowadays (save for the fact he has an album with two slightly different covers) but what brought this all up again was the montage of  "and the winner is" clips on the Take That documentary.

[klaatu!]

But when I hated him, I knew that it represented "clever music" for "stupid people".

That's still the case. He's appeared on Later twice in the past twelve months, and 'Angels' is still held up by bland broadsheet critics as a 'classic'. Angels is a revolting song; a vomit-inducing chrous, a feeble guitar solo in the middle, and an attempt at lyrical sincerity by a man who completely lacks it. It's such an unambitious song. It's the sort of music that appeals to people who don't really like music, people who don't appreciate ambition and are content with blandness. The lyrics are shite too.

"And down the waterfall, wherever it may take me..."

Into the pool of water below, surely? Where the fuck else will it take you? Putney?

I remember when Williams played Knebworth a couple of years ago and the fuckwits on Radio 1 were blabbing on about it all day long (I think they were covering it). Annie Nightingale came on in the early hours and came out with a fantasic line that summed it  all up:  

"I was watching that Robbie Williams thing on TV earlier. I can't see what the fuss it about. It just looked like a giant hen night to me."

[Clinton Morgan]

I want to give her a great big hug.

[The Mumbler]

Also, what's the point in writing songs exclusively about yourself when there's nothing interesting there to write about?  

Annie's comment is fabulous.  I'd like to think that if her request show was still running, she'd veto any Williams tracks.

[Dusty Gozongas]

The funniest thing is working with homophobic men who haven't realised what their £3 xmas CDs for the wife contain.  Priceless!

[weirdbeard]

Angels is a revolting song; a vomit-inducing chrous, a feeble guitar solo in the middle, and an attempt at lyrical sincerity by a man who completely lacks it."

That, and the rest of his few albums were 'co-wirtten' with Guy Chambers,  Does anyone know exactly how much Williams contributed to the songwriting process on those records?  Were a couple of lines and bit of melody enough to get him a songwriting credit or were they proper equal collaborations?

Regardless of the answer to that, he's still vastly, vastly overrated.  Would he have sustained his popularity had he not released 5 albums in 5 sucessive years to coincide with the Christmas market, getting 3 Christmas number 1 albums wih possibly another one on the way?  I'd love to see a breakdown of his sales figures, month by month.

[Garfield And Friends]

Hah. I've just done a google search for Wikipedias's entry for Williams' "ANGELS", and the current page and cached page differ quite a bit.

The current page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_(Robbie_Williams_single)
"Angels" is a song by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, originally performed by Williams

The previously cached page:
[http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:WPQFOFlgVUAJ:en.wikipedia
.org/wiki/Angels_(Robbie_Williams_single)+angels+%22robbie+williams%22+%22written+by%22&hl=en[/url]
"Angels is an alternative song which was initially performed by Robbie Williams"


.
Alternative song my arse!

[The Culture Bunker]

I remember my Dad gruffly admiting that "She's The One" was a half decent song and showing visible signs of relief when I played him the World Party original.

That's the only good the fat get has done in his life, put a few quid in Karl Wallinger's retirement stash.

[Jemble Fred]

Not many options on that poll, are there?

For the record, I started out with the opinion that he was just that loudmouth cunt from Take That, then his first two albums changed my mind – he could do very little wrong in the mid-late-nineties IMO. Except for bloody Angels.

Rock DJ luckily broke the spell for me, and he can certainly piss off now. So I would vote 'He has done some genuinely superb work, but ultimately... and then the first option.' As it is, I went for option 2.

[Whug Baspin]

I can't help but think this is forum suicide, but has anyone read Feel? It's actually a rather good book.. Also while I'm no big fan of the music he does seem to have quite a good sense of humour (based on a few funny comments from the book). I mean really the music can fuck off though, I think it's real local radio bollocks. It always sounds like he's trying to do a particular type of music, like 'this ones a poor mans Brian Adams ballad' or something like that, like the x-files used to feel like, this is the x-files doing (insert horror film here).

[hansen mork]

I can't help but think this is forum suicide, but has anyone read Feel? It's actually a rather good book.. Also while I'm no big fan of the music he does seem to have quite a good sense of humour (based on a few funny comments from the book). I mean really the music can fuck off though, I think it's real local radio bollocks. It always sounds like he's trying to do a particular type of music, like 'this ones a poor mans Brian Adams ballad' or something like that, like the x-files used to feel like, this is the x-files doing (insert horror film here).

Thats true about trying to do particular styles. His latest one is a reggae one and at the end of the two live performances ive seen him do he starts singing bits of Bob Marley and The Specials. Its like him perfoming an IDM song and shouting out obvious references. "AFX! SQUAREPUSHER! ETC...".
I'd imagine if his latest album had been a comletely reggae album he would have called it something obvious like "Jamaica dreams" or "Peace and love and war"

[sick as a pike]

The people who hate him only do because they are Robbie Williams. (...what?  Sorry, bored today.)
I met him a few times and thought he was funny and friendly and only a bit insane.  As I mentioned elsewhere on here, he played me the demos to "Old Before I Die" and "Angels." I don't know what it says about my taste, but I told him I thought "Old Before I Die" was the better song.

[23 Daves]

Mark E Smith recently pointed out that his mother saw Robbie Williams on the television, and turned to her son and said "Isn't he basically like a Blackpool end-of-pier entertainer?".  And that's about the most bang-on description of his style I've ever heard - his whole stage act is held together largely through arrogance and a sort of Butlins Red Coat type enthusiasm.  The rest is just mediocre.  But, you know, some people like a bit of chicken in a basket on a Friday night, so I suppose there's a large market for that sort of thing.

He doesn't irritate me that much, though. At least, not as much as the current crop of male singer/songwriters who are coming through with their sensitive songs about love and life.  They really have me reaching for the kitchen knives.

[ninestonecreature]

Shoot me down in flames if you wish, but I actually consider 'Rock DJ' to be one of his more tolerable efforts, probably because it's just a daft three minute pop song as opposed to the embarassingly over-earnest pseudo-confessionals he usually churns out, the cunt. Top marks for the flesh-tearing video too.

[rjd2]

Not many options on that poll, are there?

.

Yeah sorry about that their was meant to be another much more favourable option such as"Yeah he's a great talent" but for some inexplicable reason I wasn't allowed to add it, probably due to the horrible slowness of the computer I was using last night.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

there was meant to be another much more favourable option such as"Yeah he's a great talent" but for some inexplicable reason I wasn't allowed to add it

Because it would be an outright lie.

[Ciarán2]

The new album's quite good, actually. I like "Trippin'", it has an excellent rhythm track, one of the most interesting singles he's done.

[eric claptop]

WHY DOES HE HAVE TO HAVE A RAP ON EVERY FRICK'N SONG THOUGH!?