I desperately want to know what the beef was between Mike’s and the others. He seemed more visibly damaged whereas the others seemed like they would go back even now.
Louis is a nasty piece of work. He built his TV career off the back of being manager of Boyzone and Westlife which fair enough but some of the stuff he gave to the press is unforgivable. One could speculate that some of the information offered up was in exchange for other things not being published about him.
Terribly sad, beautifully written. The price of fame... My youngest daughter was a big fan as a pre-teen, so it was wall-to-wall Boyzone in her room. You used to have to send away for merch, and I recall buying her an oversized T-shirt and baseball cap for Christmas. My osteopath, Lawrence, has stories of going on a charity cycle ride with Shane. Shane would invite Lawrence out drinking after a long day's cycling. Lawrence declined, knowing they had another day ahead of them. Shane would do the next day's ride on 3 hours sleep, after a night clubbing.
So so good. I think this might be the best thing I've read on the topic of "when boybands go bad" or sad...Speaking as someone who rolls her eyes every time a highly successful pop-star does a piece to camera, moaning about his life, while sat on a throne in his mansion, surrounded by dogs wearing Chanel collars.... Justin, you've achieved the impossible and made me feel a certain sympathy here. Great stuff.
Did you watch the BBC documentary series on boybands produced by Louis Theroux’ company, Mindhouse? Really well paced, anchored in cultural context, villains slightly less villain-y…
Fabulous writing, Justin. I’m truly envious, for I never would have thought it possible anyone could get me to read anything about Boyzone…ever.
But I have, and you transported me back to that awful period around Stephen Gately’s ‘outing’, when I, a straight man but living and working in a largely gay man’s world, was shocked and dismayed by his treatment at the hands of the media. We truly were (are?) a disgustingly prurient and judgemental lot, aren’t we?
As for Ronan, there must be Faustian pact locked away somewhere, and I sincerely hope it surfaces before I pop off…small prurience’s are not beyond me, either…ha-ha!
And Louis Walsh? Well, I think you’ve said it better than I ever could, and you’ve put me off ever running a dishcloth down the inside of my dishwasher!
One last thing: what’s wrong with wanging on about my all-time favourite Revel?
Thank you for reading! Haha the Revels comment is more about the flavour of banal observations cultural retrospectives of this ilk tend to attract. Although I have to say coffee Revels are not a personal favourite
This is really superb. I particularly love the depiction of Louis Walsh as the fame-hungry gremlin he is 👏🏽
When I was teaching secondary English I dug out Jan Moir’s vile Daily Mail piece to show my GCSE class. This was 2014 and these 15 year olds were horrified that somebody could write so callously about another human **weeks** after his death. This has made me look back at it again - truly, truly awful.
A fantastic piece of writing and kudos for getting 'ritzier' in there. You almost made Ronan interesting, which is to be fair, a feat Hemingway would struggle with.
I desperately want to know what the beef was between Mike’s and the others. He seemed more visibly damaged whereas the others seemed like they would go back even now.
Louis is a nasty piece of work. He built his TV career off the back of being manager of Boyzone and Westlife which fair enough but some of the stuff he gave to the press is unforgivable. One could speculate that some of the information offered up was in exchange for other things not being published about him.
This is what was frustrating – so much went unsaid. But I guess Mikey was either protecting himself from further hurt or the producers held it back.
Mike’s looked like he did offer more. The others were being a bit circumspect- maybe in a hope of a career revival.
I seem to remember that maybe Shane had a real problem with alcohol or maybe drugs at one point before his conversion but I could be misremembering.
I suspect production held a lot back with perhaps enough for a follow up after a make up tour
Terribly sad, beautifully written. The price of fame... My youngest daughter was a big fan as a pre-teen, so it was wall-to-wall Boyzone in her room. You used to have to send away for merch, and I recall buying her an oversized T-shirt and baseball cap for Christmas. My osteopath, Lawrence, has stories of going on a charity cycle ride with Shane. Shane would invite Lawrence out drinking after a long day's cycling. Lawrence declined, knowing they had another day ahead of them. Shane would do the next day's ride on 3 hours sleep, after a night clubbing.
Thank you for reading! They learn how to party hard in the boy bands!
So so good. I think this might be the best thing I've read on the topic of "when boybands go bad" or sad...Speaking as someone who rolls her eyes every time a highly successful pop-star does a piece to camera, moaning about his life, while sat on a throne in his mansion, surrounded by dogs wearing Chanel collars.... Justin, you've achieved the impossible and made me feel a certain sympathy here. Great stuff.
Thank you!
Did you watch the BBC documentary series on boybands produced by Louis Theroux’ company, Mindhouse? Really well paced, anchored in cultural context, villains slightly less villain-y…
I watched one episode. Didn’t love it, to be honest!
Fair enough! I am looking forward to the inevitable girlband follow up though…
Yes I was definitely more invested in girl bands so hope there is one. Although I imagine it would be pretty dark in places.
YOU ARE A FUNNY MAN (Sega Mega Drive almost ended me...) x
Haha thank you! x
Fabulous writing, Justin. I’m truly envious, for I never would have thought it possible anyone could get me to read anything about Boyzone…ever.
But I have, and you transported me back to that awful period around Stephen Gately’s ‘outing’, when I, a straight man but living and working in a largely gay man’s world, was shocked and dismayed by his treatment at the hands of the media. We truly were (are?) a disgustingly prurient and judgemental lot, aren’t we?
As for Ronan, there must be Faustian pact locked away somewhere, and I sincerely hope it surfaces before I pop off…small prurience’s are not beyond me, either…ha-ha!
And Louis Walsh? Well, I think you’ve said it better than I ever could, and you’ve put me off ever running a dishcloth down the inside of my dishwasher!
One last thing: what’s wrong with wanging on about my all-time favourite Revel?
Thank you for reading! Haha the Revels comment is more about the flavour of banal observations cultural retrospectives of this ilk tend to attract. Although I have to say coffee Revels are not a personal favourite
Oh! I’m disappointed, Justin. I have previously attributed impeccable taste to yourself, but I can see I shall have to review the situation!
This is really superb. I particularly love the depiction of Louis Walsh as the fame-hungry gremlin he is 👏🏽
When I was teaching secondary English I dug out Jan Moir’s vile Daily Mail piece to show my GCSE class. This was 2014 and these 15 year olds were horrified that somebody could write so callously about another human **weeks** after his death. This has made me look back at it again - truly, truly awful.
Thank you for reading. Yes, it was a truly ugly time that showed the worst of almost everyone involved.
What a life. Didn’t know all the evil these managers manufacture… thank you for this piece!
Cheers!
A fantastic piece of writing and kudos for getting 'ritzier' in there. You almost made Ronan interesting, which is to be fair, a feat Hemingway would struggle with.
Thank you very much!