What people said about leejohnson’s jam Millennium

9 Comments (since 27 Jul 2015)

5 years, 6 months ago

leejohnson

Another critique gleaned from Tom Ewing on the blog "FreakyTrigger.co.uk" (following closely on the heels of his last one!), this time aimed at "Potteries" boy Robbie Williams, and examining his single from 1998: "Expansive of theme, expensive of sample, 'Millennium' is a self-conscious 'event' single, carrying itself as if Number One was never in doubt.

5 years, 6 months ago

leejohnson

"But while Robbie Williams was the biggest star in Britain, he'd fluffed getting to the top with several iconic songs. Robbie's most famous track of all, career ignition ballad 'Angels', had missed by several places. He was taking no more chances. Sweeping into the charts wearing a borrowed John Barry tuxedo, 'Millennium' is as brazen a Number One as I've ever covered, but as needy a one too. Robbie is, I've often felt, a difficult star to write about, hard to define for all his brashness.

5 years, 6 months ago

leejohnson

"Not chameleonic like Bowie, but complex. Solo pop stars either arrive lusting for fame – the Elvis or Madonna route – or they are already famous, and the solo career is a careful transition into the sole spotlight: the Annie Lennox or Sting method. Robbie fits neither model. He appears in flight, hungering for the right type of fame, desperate not to sell his soul but to get it back.

5 years, 6 months ago

leejohnson

"What defines him for me is a restlessness, a sense that the dissatisfaction that freed him from 'boyband' clowning turned out to be something deeper and harder to scratch." The single, aimed pretty ruthlessly at the impending 'Y2K' event in the year 2000, went straight in at No. 1 in the UK in September 1998, only leaving the Top 40 ten weeks later. In the USA, it peaked at No. 72 in the Billboard Hot 100 on June 9th 1999. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_%28song%29

5 years, 6 months ago

boredofthis

Not many chaps escaped their boyband beginnings. Scott Walker and Justin Timberlake both did their best work after their teenybopper times. Anyone else spring to mind?

5 years, 6 months ago

ErnieBilko

@boredofthis George Michael?

5 years, 6 months ago

ian38018

@boredofthis Julian Cope

5 years, 6 months ago

CallumPetch

Ah, yes. I remember growing up with Robbie being one of the biggest pop stars in Britain. You know, during that stretch in the late 90s and 2000 when he had the tunes to back it up.

5 years, 6 months ago

boredofthis

@ErnieBilko @ian38018 ah yes, good suggestions.