I will confess that I too had never heard of Robbie Williams, but I'm an older person and newer music is not my forte. (That's my car.) I have seen the trailer many times at the theater and each time my opinion was, 'this looks like a bog standard story of someone clawing to celebrity, falling and then redeeming themselves, only it's got the gimmick that the leads looks like a monkey for reasons.' aside from the gimmick nothing looked novel or interesting, that's why I didn't go.
I’m a middling millennial and I only know of Williams because I have listened on and off to the UK’s Empire Magazine Podcast over the years where they reference him as if the people of the most important Anglo county should be aware of a star of their adorable tiny island’s pop scene.
I am embarrassingly well informed about the group that Robbie Williams was once part of, though mostly in the years after it revived itself spectacularly (and more respectably) as a 4-piece without him, then briefly with all the original 5, and finally as a 3-piece.
From the time I started looking into them, I couldn't stand Robbie, and it was mainly because he's such a preener, always with a "look at me, I'm great" expression and posture, even in the "better" version of him. In a video from the 1990s, the five are asked what they'd be doing if they hadn't been chosen for a manufactured pop group. Four gave modestly realistic answers, while Robbie said "I would still be a celebrity - either a footballer or a pop star."
In those years, it apparently rankled him that he, the youngest and least disciplined member of the group, was not THE star but had to be subordinate to a more mature person (Gary Barlow) who'd been single-mindedly preparing himself for a musical career. Barlow admits that he was himself becoming arrogant, but nothing justifies the vindicative nastiness that Robbie inflicted on him for many years when Gary was floundering while Robbie was soaring into superstardom.
There's also a revealing story about the origins of the song "Angels,' which revived Robbie's solo career when it was faltering. The song started as someone else's, and then the two worked it over and made a demo - and then Robbie took the demo and ghosted the original author, had Guy Chambers work on it some more, and released it without crediting the person who gave him the core of the song. IMO, Robbie is still lying about it.
Incidentally, he was not actually married to Nicole Appleton. To his credit, he appears to have a solid family life now,
lol Amy Winehouse a “one-hit wonder.” Do your homework. She was a generational talent & Back to Black is a landmark albumin even if your musical taste is too limited to understand this.
"Despite the not-getting I kept trying; I’m about due for another Mulholland Drive rewatch."
Actually, Mulholland is one of David Lynch's (RIP) very few pictures where he gives you all the clues you need to solve the mystery literally right in the very opening moments of the film (i.e., the "jitterbug contest" and the shots of the elderly couple immediately prior to the credits).
“Amy Winehouse, who died on Saturday, had a strong history on Billboard U.S. charts despite releasing just two albums — the Grammy-winning “Back to Black” and her 2003 debut, “Frank” — during her career.
“Back to Black” reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in March 2008, almost a year after it debuted, spending 78 total weeks on the chart. It’s sold 2.3 million to-date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.”
When I was in France in the 90s, their news magazines would regularly do a "The State of America" annual-ish issue. And they'd always interview Lou Reed. Even back then he was past his sell-by date, but they loved them some Lou Reed
I have found Billboard hits rarely more indicative than that of snapshot in time of the purchasing (or downloading) habits of fairly small slice of the public.
If I marketed a Lou Reed movie to people by playing a bunch of Lou Reed songs in a trailer as if they were Queen megahits I would, in fact, be a bozo, yes.
If I were hired to direct or do the soundtrack of a Lou Reed biopic, you know I gotta think I would likely use some Lou Reed songs. Which songs would depend on pairing them with the images/plot on film
Does this mean Heat 2 is gonna be Heat 2: Dirtbag CinemaTM?
I will confess that I too had never heard of Robbie Williams, but I'm an older person and newer music is not my forte. (That's my car.) I have seen the trailer many times at the theater and each time my opinion was, 'this looks like a bog standard story of someone clawing to celebrity, falling and then redeeming themselves, only it's got the gimmick that the leads looks like a monkey for reasons.' aside from the gimmick nothing looked novel or interesting, that's why I didn't go.
I’m a middling millennial and I only know of Williams because I have listened on and off to the UK’s Empire Magazine Podcast over the years where they reference him as if the people of the most important Anglo county should be aware of a star of their adorable tiny island’s pop scene.
I am embarrassingly well informed about the group that Robbie Williams was once part of, though mostly in the years after it revived itself spectacularly (and more respectably) as a 4-piece without him, then briefly with all the original 5, and finally as a 3-piece.
From the time I started looking into them, I couldn't stand Robbie, and it was mainly because he's such a preener, always with a "look at me, I'm great" expression and posture, even in the "better" version of him. In a video from the 1990s, the five are asked what they'd be doing if they hadn't been chosen for a manufactured pop group. Four gave modestly realistic answers, while Robbie said "I would still be a celebrity - either a footballer or a pop star."
In those years, it apparently rankled him that he, the youngest and least disciplined member of the group, was not THE star but had to be subordinate to a more mature person (Gary Barlow) who'd been single-mindedly preparing himself for a musical career. Barlow admits that he was himself becoming arrogant, but nothing justifies the vindicative nastiness that Robbie inflicted on him for many years when Gary was floundering while Robbie was soaring into superstardom.
There's also a revealing story about the origins of the song "Angels,' which revived Robbie's solo career when it was faltering. The song started as someone else's, and then the two worked it over and made a demo - and then Robbie took the demo and ghosted the original author, had Guy Chambers work on it some more, and released it without crediting the person who gave him the core of the song. IMO, Robbie is still lying about it.
Incidentally, he was not actually married to Nicole Appleton. To his credit, he appears to have a solid family life now,
lol Amy Winehouse a “one-hit wonder.” Do your homework. She was a generational talent & Back to Black is a landmark albumin even if your musical taste is too limited to understand this.
"Despite the not-getting I kept trying; I’m about due for another Mulholland Drive rewatch."
Actually, Mulholland is one of David Lynch's (RIP) very few pictures where he gives you all the clues you need to solve the mystery literally right in the very opening moments of the film (i.e., the "jitterbug contest" and the shots of the elderly couple immediately prior to the credits).
“Back to Black” her second album won the Grammy for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
“Frank” her first album went triple platinum.
Unfortunately she passed away without making another studio album.
Agree to disagree on what constitutes a one-hit wonder.
Billboard disagrees with Sonny Bunch.
7/23/2011
“Amy Winehouse, who died on Saturday, had a strong history on Billboard U.S. charts despite releasing just two albums — the Grammy-winning “Back to Black” and her 2003 debut, “Frank” — during her career.
“Back to Black” reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in March 2008, almost a year after it debuted, spending 78 total weeks on the chart. It’s sold 2.3 million to-date, according to Nielsen SoundScan.”
Zero number one songs. One top ten song. Three songs that charted at all. https://www.billboard.com/artist/amy-winehouse/chart-history/hsi/
"a movie about a one-hit wonder"
You bozo.
She was, objectively, a one-hit wonder in the United States. To *U.S. Audiences* she was a one-hit wonder.
Objectively, Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed are one-hit wonders. But you'd be a bozo to refer to them as such.
When I was in France in the 90s, their news magazines would regularly do a "The State of America" annual-ish issue. And they'd always interview Lou Reed. Even back then he was past his sell-by date, but they loved them some Lou Reed
This sounds about right, yeah.
Shouldn’t the argument center around the quality of the movie not whether or not the artist was/wasn’t a one-hit wonder???
I have found it is rarely useful to use quality as an explanation as to why a movie does well with audiences on opening weekend.
I have found Billboard hits rarely more indicative than that of snapshot in time of the purchasing (or downloading) habits of fairly small slice of the public.
If I marketed a Lou Reed movie to people by playing a bunch of Lou Reed songs in a trailer as if they were Queen megahits I would, in fact, be a bozo, yes.
Whose songs would you play in the trailer of this hypothetical Lou Reed movie?
I wouldn’t play any because I wouldn’t use my money to make one. Which would YOU pick.
If I were hired to direct or do the soundtrack of a Lou Reed biopic, you know I gotta think I would likely use some Lou Reed songs. Which songs would depend on pairing them with the images/plot on film