przed | New Romantics and Take That

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film,
takethat

New Romantics and Take That

At the last minute today, the Sweetie informed about a screening of Soul Boys of the Western World, a doc about Spandau Ballet with the band in attendance for a Q&A afterwards. I was never as big a fan of Spandau as I was of Duran Duran or The Police, but I'm totally a child of the '80s and have a huge soft spot for True, so with the Sweetie's indulgence I had to go. The doc was great fun, and a fascinating look at the scene that spawned the band and the New Romantics movement. And because I got there only 30 minutes ahead of the screening, there were only seats left in the front two rows, which meant a bit of neck craning during the screening, but put me right in front of the band for the Q&A. The Q&A was 45 minutes, and fascinating. Martin Kemp is still a very fine looking man, and the rest of them are smart and funny. I was very pleased when Gary Kemp took down the local DJ who was interviewing them for suggesting the '80s were a very "me" decade, when the doc had shown the effect of Thatcher on England and the working class lives they were all escaping, not to mention Band Aid and Live Aid.

Now I'm seriously considering grabbing a ticket to see the band tonight. Hmmmm.

There were also Take That hijinks in our household this weekend.

First I found a few pics of a small secret gig that band did on Friday.

Which led to this conversation.

Me: Wow, Howard looks like he just did a gig in his jammies.
Sweetie: Let me see! ::looks a pic:: You go Howard! ::said very admiringly::

Then on Saturday I followed a link on Tumblr to a gallery of Take That pictures from the past 25 years. Ros insisted on going through all of them and seeing if she could identify the boys. She consistently got Mark ("because he's the shortest") and Howard, mostly got Robbie, but regularly mixed up Jason and Gary. I am sort of disturbed that she managed to successfully identify both Howard and Jason in this picture

FYI, Howard's in the orange; Jason's in the blue.

The Sweetie decided he was going to get in on the game, and successfully managed to identify all five members of Take That in this picture.

In order he managed to get Howard ("because he's a handsome, handsome man"), Mark ("because he looks like a waif that a strong wind would blow away"), Robbie ("because c'mon, he's Robbie"), Gary ("because he looks like a jerk"), and Jason ("because he's the only one left"). He loses points for the Jason jab. (ETA: Okay, he loses a little for the Gary jab, too. Though I have to admit that while I don't think Gary is really a jerk, I can never entirely warm to someone who's an avowed Tory supporter.) He also ended with this comment:

Sweetie: I'm blaming you for the fact that I can now identify all of Take That.

Heh.

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I think it's awesome that your family have been so well educated!

I do my best. *g*

Why does Gary look like a jerk?? (I actually think he's the handsomest...)

It was a bit mean to Gary, I admit, and he has definitely grown into his looks (he was not a handsome teenager) but I've never warmed to Gary. Partly it's that he wasn't an entirely pleasant bloke in the '90s, though he has since acknowledged that he could be not very nice to the others. And partly it's that he's an ardent Tory supporter. For which reason I very much hope Mark forever keeps his politics to himself.

I can cope with stars being political morons - with the exception of the occasional Ronald Regan it doesn't usually matter much. And like me, they're only one voter, after all. I doubt if they influence many of their fans so far as voting goes!

In fact I tend to separate celebrities of any kind from their political beliefs - writers, composers, artists, etc. And I look at/listen to their creations without thinking about them provided the creations are not themselves political. I think if he came out waving a UKIP banner it might put me off him (but not his music) but otherwise, he can carry on being misguided!

Ya know, I have examined my disaffection for Gary, and the Tory thing is only a secondary issue. The real problem is that I'm really not keen on his music. Whilst I adore Mark's solo stuff, you'd have to pay me a mint to listen to Gary's solo material. (When I was doing a vid that required getting footage from his solo videos, I ended up watching them with the sound off to save my sanity.) And even his Take That songs tend to be my least favourites on the albums. I have only successfully made it through A Million Love Songs once without hitting fast forward, and that was because I told myself, "hang on, give it a chance." The chance was given, and I still am not keen on it.

Though I have to grudgingly admit he has a few good 'uns on the new album.

And less grudgingly I'll admit he has a fantastic work ethic (which is what finally made me not want to slap 'im), seems a genuinely decent bloke, and has done more than his fair share raising money for charity.

And I've just realised I got them 'wrong' in the line-up anyway... hopeless fan, that's me.

Hee.

But did you get the pants pic wrong, or the one with all five? Not being able to identify them by their bums probably proves you're saner than me. *g*

The one with all five. And I think, now, it's probably Jason who's the handsomest. They're all pretty watchable.

They're a good-looking bunch, but I agree that Jason's probably the handsomest. Though Howard's more to my taste. (I'm fond of big scruffy blokes with curly hair. *g*)

Okay, but now you're going to have to identify the guys in the last photo so I can see if my "handsome, handsome man" and "jerk" fit his definitions! (Although I don't think any of them look like jerk, so that makes it hard. My order, based on your Sweetie: From left to right: Howard, Gary Robbie, Mark, Jason. Yes?*g*)

Yay for unexpected pleasures! I am a child of the 70s, but I was following music in the 80s so, yeah, that would have been a really cool experience.

Well, you got Mark and Robbie right. *g* Actual order is Jason, Howard, Robbie, Mark, Gary. (I am horribly amused that you thought Jason was the "handsome, handsome man", because he very much is, and my second favourite going solely by looks. And also amused you thought Gary was the leftover one.)

Last night was kind of awesome, though I think reason will prevent me from attending the concert. It's Ros' ice show week which is a real grind and I don't want to put myself in sleep debt from the start.

Well done the Zed household *g*

I like Howard's pyjamas, though I would prefer Mark to leave the hats alone... I liked the matching pale blue suits from the 'These Days' video and hope they reappear on tour.

I do try. *g*

I also like Howard's pyjamas. Not many blokes could pull of that look. ;-)

And yes, someone needs to stage an intervention with Mark and his hats. I'm all for hats. I've got a ton of them myself. But speaking as another vertically challenged person, he canNOT pull off the wide brims he's seemed far too fond of the last few years. (After I saw his solo show with that bleeding panama hat he was wearing I went through my hat collection and finally ditched all the wide brimmed hats I'd been holding onto on the off chance that maybe they didn't look too bad on me.) If he'd just go back to the cute pork pies he used to wear I'd be happy.

I'm ambivalent about those suits. In theory I like the look, but I think they needed to be just a bit better tailored. (The suits in the Get Ready for It video were impeccable!)

Edited 2015-04-27 14:26 (UTC)

Interesting about the Spandau Q&A - I was a big fan in the 80s. After punk (which didn't speak to me at the time) I was just so happy to see a lead singer like Tony Hadley in his lovely smart suit :)

And hee, you have trained your family well!

I was a bit young for punk, but definitely adored Spandau (and the Durans) in their smart suits. What was interesting in the doc, though, was seeing the band before they moved to the suits and they were wearing very theatrical new romantic gear. (Their first Top of the Pops appearance is very interesting. Hadley and Martin Kemp are both wearing tartan shawls draped over one shoulder, along with jodphurs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiJmpK0ZAsE )

Ros didn't take much training. But I'm especially proud of having educated the Sweetie in spite of his natural antipathy to TT. I'm very evil. *g*

Ooh yes the tartan shawls, I remember those! I loved all that costuming/dress-up Adam Ant stuff. Heh, so cool to wear jodphurs on Top of the Pops...

You are very evil. \o/\o/

I adore the very costume-y dressing up aspect of the new romantics. (I had a pair of jodphurs in uni that got pulled out for parties all the time.) And I especially adore Adam Ant. Ah, the '80s. *g*

And speaking of fancy dress, your icon is reminding me that I still haven't cracked the series 1 DVD of The Musketeers I have sitting in the living room. Bad fangirl...

Really glad you got seats for the film and the Q&A, it sounds like it was great.

And \o/ for all members of the Zed family and their Take That knowledge.

For something that turned out as a lark, the film and Q&A turned out to be enormous fun. I've decided against the concert tonight (it's Ros' ice show week which will no doubt end with me an exhausted limp dishrag so I don't want to speed up the sleep debt) but it would have been fun.

A definite yay for the Zed family Take That knowledge, whether willingly acquired or not. *g*

Now you have me singing True

I may just have been singing along myself during the doc. (It's amazing how lyrics stick in your head even when you haven't heard a song for twenty or thirty years.)

I would still like the story of Gary and Mark dragging Howard out of bed for a Surprise Gig.

Me too! (I'd totally write that if I wasn't in the middle of writing the massive secret agent AU certain people encouraged on Tumblr.)

IS IT A SECRET TAKE THAT AGENT AU PLZ.

Of course it's a Take That AU.

The first 12,000 words are done and dusted, so I'm planning to start posting it in chapters in the next week.

YESSSSSSSSS.

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New Romantics and Take That

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