Number 400 - Robbie Williams
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Robbie Williams
"Let Me Entertain You"
(1997)
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art by Taracon
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entertain this
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Out of all the members of Take That, Robbie Williams never really seemed to fit in. Roguishly handsome where his bandmates were merely cute, Williams was tougher and sexier than the rest, which made him more distinctive. He also fought regularly with the other members and their management, primarily because he was occasionally adverse to being so heavily packaged. So it didn't come as a surprise that he was the first to leave the band, departing early in the summer of 1995 to pursue a solo career (by some accounts, he was fired from the group). Although he was the first out of the gate, it took Williams awhile to get started. For most of 1995, he attempted to boost his credibility by tagging along with Oasis, hoping that Noel Gallagher would give him a couple of songs. He never did, but all of his time with Oasis launched Williams into a world of heavy partying, drinking, and drugging. Over the course of 1996, he was only heard from in gossip columns, and every published picture indicated he had put on considerable weight. Occasionally, he was quoted as saying his new music would abandon lightweight dance-pop for traditional Brit-pop, but his first single was a cover of George Michael's "Freedom '90." Released late in 1996, the single was a disaster, but his second single, 1997's "Old Before I Die," was more in the vein of his early pronouncements, featuring a distinct Oasis influence.
Its written all over me face
Williams finally released his first solo album, Life Thru a Lens, in 1997. The album became a big hit in Britain, prompting his second, I've Been Expecting You, in 1998. (The Ego Has Landed, a U.S.-only compilation designed for breaking Williams to American audiences, was released stateside in the spring of 1999.) Sing When You're Winning followed in late 2000, gaining success with the video hit "Rock DJ," while a big-band album of standards (Swing When You're Winning) appeared a year later. During 2002, Williams celebrated an enormous new contract with EMI (rumored to be upwards of $80 million dollars), but suffered the loss of his longtime production partner, Guy Chambers. Escapology, the fifth Robbie Williams album (and the last including Chambers' input), sold millions of copies in Europe, though it failed to persuade American audiences. As a result, the 2003 concert record Live at Knebworth wasn't released in the States.
mmmmph!
He introduced a new musical partner, Stephen Duffy, with a pair of songs from his compilation Greatest Hits, then reappeared in 2005 with Intensive Care. Although the album topped charts in Europe and Williams set an impressive concert record -- his 2006 world tour sold over 1.5 million tickets in one day -- a certain creative atrophy was setting in, despite the new input of Duffy. Within a year, he had recorded and released Rudebox, a dance album recorded with half a dozen outside producers, some featured guests, and several covers instead of self-penned material. Rudebox hit number one across Europe soon after release. In 2004, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, after being voted as the Greatest artist of the 1990s ~ [Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide]
5th Member of Kiss?
oh shit
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For Oasis see Number 574
For Dean Martin see Number 430 & #870
For Elvis see Number 443, #501 & #840
For John Lennon see Number 492, & #639
For more Robbie Williams see MM Vol 1 #126
For George Michael see Number 450 & #821
For Queen see Number 539, #747, #799, #805 & [with Bowie] #513
For Rolling Stones see Number 689 & #767
What does R Stone think of Robbie?
For Kiss see Number 733
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Über-pop star Robbie Williams enjoyed his first round of mega-success as one-fifth of Take That, Britain's most popular boy band since the Beatles. His solo career began in 1995 when the rest of Take That -- a rather straight-arrow bunch -- parted ways with the drinking-and-drugging Williams. The playboy's revenge came in the form of two #1 U.K. albums: his debut, 1997's Life Thru a Lens, and its followup, 1998's I've Been Expecting You. Those two discs were combined to make The Ego Has Landed, a delicious guilty pleasure that served as Williams' official introduction to American ears. Standouts here include the pop trinkets "Lazy Days" and "Millennium" and the swoon-inducing ballad "Angels" -- expected fare from a boy-band alumnus. But within the album's fluff lurks plenty of cheek: The sing-songy "Strong" is an exercise in self-deprecation, while "Let Me Entertain You" -- quintessential Williams -- sees the singer both reinventing and promoting himself as the human embodiment of show business. ~ [Source: Rolling Stone - From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]
Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '400th Song of all Time' was "Kicks" by Paul Revere & The Raiders. Paul Revere & The Raiders has not appeared in The Definitive 1000.
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (C'mon, he British for Gods sake) and the Album ranked at (Not like he was in a famous band .... oh wait)
This song has a Definitive 1000 rating of 78.5 out of 108
Tags:Robbie Williams, 1997, Pop Rock, Take That, Oasis, Queen, Rolling Stones, George Michael, Beatles, Kiss, YouTube, Music Video, Rolling Stone Magazine, Crowbarred, New Zealand, Crowbarred Unleashed, The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time, Mellow Mix Volume 1, Mellow Mix Volume 2, Mellow Mix Volume 3, Mellow Mix Volume 12 Robbie Williams, 1997, Pop Rock, Oasis, Take That, Queen, Kiss, Crowbarred, The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time
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underlay trademe
Labels: Robbie Williams 400
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