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    #51
    And yes, Ken should have had some love. (I think he wanted no part of this after a previous fiasco?)

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      #52
      Watched it this morning and I really enjoyed it. I basically agree with all the observations MsD has made and the effect decades of success in the US has had on them, and Matt's need for Luke's respect versus Luke's desire for recognition away from Matt.

      The dart story was so good, I was crying with laughter. The whole delivery was total Spinal Tap, yet utterly earnest and true. But I rarely felt I was laughing at them and whilst they come across as celebrities in a Hollywood bubble, they're both likeable and admirable characters.

      In terms of revisionism, you had to look back with some degree of shame regarding the way they were ridiculed and treated back then.

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        #53
        Just remembered the running 8 miles a day story from Luke, which was another good one.

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          #54
          Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
          Did they actually play a whole gig, or was it one of the nights where 10 different bands play one song each? Why was I not informed? Fucking long-standing Brosette, here.
          I thought it was one of those "Sounds of the 80s" multi-band events as, firstly, they were introduced to the soundman at the gig (when you would have thought that they would have had him during rehearsals) and, secondly, they were fairly laissez-faire about them having a soundcheck. However, it appears that they did two headlines on their own at the O2 (albeit others were cancelled) so fair play.

          Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
          Prices start at $50 + tax.
          I heard that he was chucked off the Las Vegas gig two years ago. Do I take it he is still there?

          Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
          And yes, Ken should have had some love. (I think he wanted no part of this after a previous fiasco?)
          Craig/Ken, famously got a £1 million settlement off them for unpaid royalties just before they went bankrupt (partly due to the settlement). He also went out with Kim Appleby. He is now "something in the music business and his "totally had his blessing" quote suggests he is glad he wants to keep it at arm's length.
          Last edited by Bored Of Education; 04-01-2019, 16:28.

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            #55
            Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post

            Did they actually play a whole gig, or was it one of the nights where 10 different bands play one song each? Why was I not informed? Fucking long-standing Brosette, here.
            That Night At The O2 (tm) was all Bros. As were the cancelled dates:
            https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39178068

            Edit: some cross-postin' action there.

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              #56
              Originally posted by steveeeeeeeee View Post
              In terms of revisionism, you had to look back with some degree of shame regarding the way they were ridiculed and treated back then.
              I don't know much about their treatment by labels/management, etc, but they always came across as very arrogant and entitled - which is probably why the music press shredded them so mercilessly. (But they shifted five million records in the UK alone during 1988 - why would they have given a monkey's about public opinion?)

              Craig Logan deserves some sympathy, I think. Let's be honest here - Bros were never a trio.

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                #57
                Originally posted by steveeeeeeeee View Post
                the effect decades of success in the US has had on them
                Did the documentary say they were successful here? They didn't have any songs on the US charts. I only know who they are because they were big when I worked in Ireland in 1988, though I tend to get them confused with Brother Beyond, who did have one US hit.

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                  #58
                  No, they did nothing in the US. Matt's been performing in Las Vegas and Luke has been an actor and living in LA.

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                    #59
                    Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
                    Prices start at $50 + tax.
                    But how many are given away by the casino? Surely he's just on a retainer.

                    (Or not, now I've read Bored's post)
                    Last edited by Patrick Thistle; 05-01-2019, 09:24.

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                      #60
                      I remember Luke bring a vampire baddie in a Blade movie.

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                        #61
                        Watched this last night and couldn't help but wonder if they were playing it for laughs - they must have had some say over the final cut and must have seen how absurd some of it looked. The row in the changing room for This Morning, filmed from multiple angles, in particular looked very staged.

                        Had forgotten how short lived their popularity was at the time, but hadn't forgotten how rabid their fanbase was (and continues to be) - a colleague at work was in the scramble for tickets for that tour and missed out on them (only for the provincial dates to be cancelled, of course).

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                          #62
                          I'm going to call the statement that they sold 5 million records in the UK alone in 1988 into doubt, as well.

                          The Bros Wikipedia page is, how shall we say this, up for debate as regards sales figures. But if we believe the plausible claim that the "Push" album went quadruple platinum, that's 1.2m-1.499m copies distributed as BPI awards measure volume distribution, not sales.

                          That would mean the five Bros singles released in 1988 would have to have sold an average of 700k each. Per Wikipedia, the BPI has "I Owe You Nothing" as the year's 25th best selling single, "Drop The Boy" at 31, "When Will I Be Famous" at 34, "Cat Amongst The Pigeons" at 42 and "I Quit" outside the top 50.

                          It's bollocks, doubtless fed to our two heroes to keep them quiet at some point during a 1989 tantrum and parroted ever since, picked up as an article of faith by the fanbase.
                          Last edited by Auntie Beryl; 07-01-2019, 14:38.

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                            #63
                            Fair enough, it does seem a little generous. I think I read it somewhere and parroted it - not that I'm either a) a member of Bros, or indeed b) a member of their fanbase. However, Cat Among the Pigeons/Silent Night would've shown much higher in that year-end chart had said list included entire chart lifespans, or had it been released in September, which would've been a bit pointless, given the intentional Xmas tie-in. (Wiki quotes it as having sold 150,000 copies, which they describe as 'unreliable'.)

                            (It's probably a moot point to say that those cumulative charts tended to be ridiculously inaccurate anyway: I recall an 'official' Top 100 that was drawn up for the whole of the 1970s and broadcast on R1 which somehow failed to include the New Seekers' You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me - a record that both topped the charts and sold over 700,000 copies (ie, enough to put it into that decade's Top 20, let alone Top 100.)

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                              #64
                              Okay, so I finally succumbed to the hype and watched this yesterday.

                              While I get the general amusement at some of the bickering - not to mention Matt Goss's bizarre attempts at philosophy - I just can't place this Bros doc on the same plane as something like The Story of Anvil or Some Kind of Monster (the Metallica doc). I guess it has something to do with metal being that much more hilariously self-regarding than teen-pop: I mean, I have a level of respect for the 'serious' musicianship and sheer aching dedication shown by a lot of rock bands (whatever I might think of their output), but I just couldn't feel it for the Goss brothers. I really struggled to get myself past the 'but you weren't very good'-element of the whole shebang. (I also feel as though I've seen enough of the same footage of crying teenage girls outside venues many times over the past five decades.)

                              I dunno, maybe I'm completely missing the point, but I couldn't feel any more for them than I did thirty years ago. And the failure even to name Craig Logan throughout the entire ninety minutes was just shockingly poor.

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                                #65
                                And Matt really did have the oddest singing voice, didn't he?

                                Strange combo of squeaky yet growly.

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                                  #66
                                  I really enjoyed the doc, but The Story of Anvil is a great reference –– it doesn't measure up to that in terms of human interest, even though the jokes are great.

                                  I like (and usually love) at least something by most pop groups, but Bros, like New Kids On The Block and Westlife, just leave me feeling entirely empty.

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                                    #67
                                    Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post
                                    I really enjoyed the doc, but The Story of Anvil is a great reference –– it doesn't measure up to that in terms of human interest, even though the jokes are great.

                                    I like (and usually love) at least something by most pop groups, but Bros, like New Kids On The Block and Westlife, just leave me feeling entirely empty.
                                    Yes, agree - Take That had a couple of genuinely decent singles, IMO (A Million Love Songs and Back For Good) and even Boyzone, one might concede, were probably a level above the 911s and A1s about them. (A former g/f used to claim that Five were good, but I struggled with that. They just seemed like a UK NKOTB to me - ie, brats.)

                                    Bros? Nah, not for me. Matt G had some quality in his voice, but (as previously argued) the songs were mostly self-entitled eighties bilge.

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