tifalucis

Axl Rose to Robbie Williams...

Wow, I really want to pour this out. So start from WC 2018 opening, you know Robbie Williams sang for the opening (and giving middle finger too which probably jinx this whole World Cup). I know RW for a very long time, probably since I was in junior high school, but I only know him for Feel. And I also know Take That for long but only know Rule the World and it’s interesting that Robbie Williams was in Take That and have come back although now he left it again to focus on his solo and his new family. In case you don’t know it, Take That is famous boyband turned manband in the UK and Europe, Australia, Asia. For some circumstances, they never make it big in the US. Robbie Williams also huge in any other place that is not North America. So they’re like really really big. In the 90s Take That were cringey 5 pieces boyband, doing dances, sing cringey love songs, make mv like mistaken gay porn. They disbanded in 1996 and returned as 4 pieces (minus Robbie) in 2006, was 5 pieces again in 2010-2011 and now there’s only 3 of them but still sell out stadium.

So, I dive into Take That deep cuts and like always as my habit when exploring to new stuffs, I read and watch everything about Take That and Robbie Williams and eventually Gary Barlow.

Back to the title, I see similarities between Robbie Williams and Axl Rose. Take That was disbanded in 1996 because Robbie Williams left. He felt forgotten, underastimated, etc etc. The motivation of him becoming huge pop star probably based on his grudge against the boyband. RW had grudged with the managers and the members but what he spited the most was Gary Barlow, who was and is the frontman (hell yea boyband has frontman, in this case he wrote all the songs and lead vocal almost every Take That’s song). But in 2006, Robbie Williams was in his lowest, years of hard partying lifestyle he learned from Gallagher brothers, alcohol, drugs, took toll of him. He went hermit, very depressed, low confidence, and took advantage of not that famous in the US by move there to LA. Funny enough, at the same year, Take That came back and became hit in UK again. (And they’re far from cringey 90s boyband persona, and literally only their songs that written since 2006 are ones I love). But unlike Slash whom Axl hated very much also hated Axl too, Gary Barlow never hate Robbie. Upset, but never hate. He reached out to Robbie and they talk again, in 2009 Take That decided to make their next album in LA, far from UK media. They were told Robbie Williams live in LA and were like hey let’s invite him. And that’s their reunion story, during writing their new album, they talk about the problems in the 90s and start forgive each other. Only short reunion, Robbie Williams left the band again in around 2011/2012, but he left with good note that he can come back anytime he wants. Robbie Williams once said in 2006 that he didn’t want to get married and have kids, he just too fucked up. But in 2010 he got married to his gf, a not famous american actress, and has 2 kids.

And after learned these I’m thinking, I wish Axl become like this. But maybe because he was cut from different cloth, he only got Beta as mother figure and Slash is not as good hearted as Gary Barlow. I think Axl recover from his low moment in wrong way. He never get his happy ending. He’ll never marry a woman and have children. And that is just sad. There’s Take That documentary that was made in 2005, pre Take That come back and before Robbie Williams went hermit in LA and that is so fucking sad. Take That were no longer a thing, Robbie Williams was international superstar without love ones, and Gary Barlow was a husband and father without superstar status. Take That today is the happy ending of the story, just like a GN’R fanfic I would write.