G..g...g...GARETH!

[flufff]

allanc said:

I was tempted to buy his album because it was reportedly quite good but then I decided against it. Gareth should do some Sugababes-type music; a little bit edgy, catchy, pop with a twist type of music.

That's what I'd like, and based on some reports it's what we might be getting.

I think a lot of people would have considered buying the album and/or Sunshine, but decided against it because they didn't see themselves as a Gareth fan. So much attention went on promoting Gareth to younger girls and it was assumed he was a one-man Westlife. How much of that was deliberate and how much was the press being unimaginative is unclear, but BMG and 19 were unrealistic to think one single would be enough to convince people who weren't keen to buy the album, especially at the prices most shops were charging.

After the album under-performed what did Simon Cowell do? He told heat magazine Sunshine was all wrong and that Gareth was wrong to want to do it and then made him release Say It Isn't So, which is good for what it is, but exactly the sort of song that would be a turn-off for the people who had shown interest in Sunshine. They should have kept the faith and released a track like Absolutely that would build on Sunshine. For me that was always a very obvious single, catchy and poppy enough for the pop fans, but funky enough to get a bit of respect, airplay with appeal to an older audience.

[LMP]

Gareth is so totally awful.
His voice is whiney.
And he believed all the hype.
He thought he was untouchable.....Simon Cowell told him he was untouchable.....how wrong could he be??

He's always come across as wanting the screaming girls and the adulation. In all the interviews I've read or seen......he never talks about the music....just the screaming girls. It's very sad.

He's got a lot of work to do to convince the general public that he's got talent and a career worth saving.
He's percieved as a failure. Does anyone actually admit to being a fan without being laughed at?? It's hard to turn the tide.......but not impossible. If he comes up with a stonking album and stops acting like such an arrogant big-head he may just pull it off.

Good luck to him.

[Mike]

flufff said:

I think a lot of people would have considered buying the album and/or Sunshine, but decided against it because they didn't see themselves as a Gareth fan.

Don't you think the fact most stores were charging significantly more than usual for what is essentially one album spread over two discs was a factor? BMG didn't do this with Outkast's Speakerboxx/The Love Below, which is two separate albums for the price of one, and unsurprisingly sold very well.

[Greg]

Is wrong that I love Jordan then?

I don't agree she used the her and Gareth thing to sell the book. That may have been what made some people buy the book, but the whole Gareth escapade takes up about seven or eight pages of the book. She was honest about the fling ages before the book came out. Gareth only eventually admitted just before the book came out, so in many ways, he did Jordan a favour.

And she didn't write that one chapter particularly negatively. If anything she wrote rather glowingly about him. The only negative things she wrote were facts: He was a pig and denied the relationship - TRUE. His willy bled once when they had sex - TRUE. He was a virgin - PROBABLY TRUE. Consdering it's 'Jordan' the book is extremely lovely. I cried when I read it.

Anyways, I think Gareth is fabvery good. Spirit In The Sky, Sunshine and Unchained Melody were all ace songs and I really must his second album some time soon. I just think he's a bit of bastard for what he did to Jordan, making her out to be a liar (dickhead!).

[flufff]

I think it's definitely a factor (the price, sorry Greg you were too fast for me) if people are thinking about taking a risk with an album. I know I'm a sucker for a sub-£10 album that's had just a couple of decent recommendations. I resent paying above £11 or £12 unless I really, really want the album and I want it now. At the very least an over-priced album makes someone like me decide to look for it elsewhere and 8/10 times I never do get it.

One of my friends who came to the concert with me did buy the album for £17 in HMV after looking around for it cheaper elsewhere, but only because she was going to the concert and wanted to make sure she had it in advance. This is someone who had been talking about getting the album ever since it came out, but had not got round to it. Or rather her husband ignored her requests to get it for her birthday, then Chrismas. After she'd bought it for £17 her husband managed to tack down a copy on Amazon for £12 so she could take the £17 one back, but £12 on amazon is still taking the piss.

I'm hoping the next album will be on a single disc, sensibly priced and will not try to cover so many bases. A lot of reviews were very favourable for the Night CD and the more progressive material, but bulking it up with inferior tracks Simon Cowell had selected in the name of politics meant they didn't get the attention they deserved. The last two tracks on Day are rubbish and to make an double CD to fit them on is maddening. If I was in charge I'd have removed 5 tracks and made it a single CD, but it could very easily have been on one CD, cheaper and better.

[MilkMonitor]

Greg said:

And she didn't write that one chapter particularly negatively. If anything she wrote rather glowingly about him. The only negative things she wrote were facts: He was a pig and denied the relationship - TRUE. His willy bled once when they had sex - TRUE. He was a virgin - PROBABLY TRUE. Consdering it's 'Jordan' the book is extremely lovely. I cried when I read it.

I like Jordan too, but when she was on the cover of Heat literally every week telling yet more stories about Gareth it was just too much. I don't mind you telling me that you slept with him, Katie, but I don't want to know if it kept falling out of you or whatever.

He lied to his fans, journalists and probably even his family, yet these people still defended him when he admitted it. He (or his 'people') knew Jordan would still be portrayed as the guilty party, despite her saying that she loved him and only said all those things because he was being a prick about it, yet Gareth was still our blue-eyed boy and Jordan was just a cruel dog trying to ruin him. As I said, the only thing that stops Gareth from being worse than Jordan is the fact that he didn't sell the details to the press. Other than that I see no reason why he should be treated like the victim when he had consensual sex with her numerous times. Once is a mistake, ten times and you know he was enjoying it.

[flufff]

Gareth hasn't been treated as a victim, and she's not been treated as an evil predator. The media have been pretty nasty to him about it, and he admitted he was wrong to lie about it, but he couldn't exactly say 'no comment' so he was forced into a corner and although he's said very little, it's obvious his parents and everyone else important to him didn't know, so breaking the news to them as well as dealing with the media would be a lot to deal with at that age when you are private by nature. In the meantime her profile has gone through the roof, whenever it dipped a bit she'd let slip a little bit more and promise more in her book.

He has never once said that he was a victim or even that he regretted it, and the only thing most fans say he is a victim of is another trashy kiss and tell. One of the most tacky, prolonged and profitable of recent years and it's unfair to blame him for people thinking she was being a bitch because of her reputation, because she was being a bitch and she's the one that earned the reputation.

After the story came out The Sun ran quite a scathing article emphasising how mean he'd been, that was sympathetic towards her. They asked readers to phone in with their views on whether or not he was an evil cad and a menace to women, or was just young and should be forgiven. I know someone who did ring up The Sun to tell them to get over it, he was young and there are worse things in life. The person on the phone said that over 95% of phonecalls were taking his side completely, but funnily enough the results of that poll were never featured, because it wasn't the result they were fishing for.

Putting the rights and wrongs or excuses for lying to one side, the fact is that she did chase him and he was a lot younger and more naiave than she was and all that came from her mouth. She did promise to keep it secret and she broke that promise and when he realised the NOTW had a front page devoted to her taking his virginity he was probably not thinking that he ought to come clean to all his family, friends and general public to save her feelings. Someone more wordly would realise that he'd have been better off coming clean immediately and we'll never be sure exactly why he didn't unless he decides to talk about it. My guess is that he was scared which does not make you a bad person and if he had gone to OK magazine to talk about how he was hurt and all that he'd have gained a lot more sympathy and Jordan would have looked a lot worse, but he hasn't because he doesn't want to air his personal problems in public.

The stupid thing was to believe her tabloid reputation was not for a reason, believing she might keep her mouth shut. If he'd been older and more cynical he'd have known that was never going to happen and either decided against the relationship or risked the consequences. However, he made it clear that he wanted it to stay private as that's what he believes in and he's been consistent with his other relationships, so he didn't invent it to spite her. She has consisently blabbed and made her career and money from them so in that respect he can't blame her for doing it. She should never have promised to keep quiet, and maybe she believed it at the time, but she was still the one who let him down first. She's never shown the slightest remorse for blabbing and instead has tried to blame him at every turn and in that respect he's shown a great deal more maturity than her.

Have a go at him for lying by all means, but he has admitted that was wrong, it was a long time ago and he was young, and none of us always got it right with our relationships. He didn't go out of his way to discredit her, and he could do so very easily, so it's unfair to assume he has, just because she has implied he did to justify her actions.

If fans want to forgive him for lying about something that was private then it's up to the fans. Popstars are always lying about their private lives to fans and most people accept it to be reasonable. Most readily lie to their fans about their love life without the media going into over-drive when they are found-out, and in most of those cases they are older and their family and friends all knew the truth in the first place. He never pretended he didn't have girlfriends, or was a virgin and said he'd never talk about that side of thing. He did say he wasn't as sweet and innocent as portrayed by the press, but he wasn't going to start bragging about bedding models just to make sure people knew the real him. The real him may have liked shagging models, but the real him liked to keep it private. At risk of sounding like an old fart I find it worrying that so many people say they would respect him more if he was the sort to brag.

Speaking personally, I believe famous people are entitled to keep their private life private, and if that means lying it's fine by me and just as well or there would be no popstars left to like. If the only people allowed to release records were ones who had never made any mistakes in their love life, the only people releasing records would be people who have had no love life. There are total double standards on this subject, as people who are willing to respect the private life of other popstars see fit to judge when it's Gareth and it's why I've ranted so much.

He was 17 when they had the relationship, 18 when she blabbed, 18 when he came clean and now he's twenty he should be judged on more recent actions instead.

[pollyanna]

i forgive him, everyones intitled to a second chance

[drbastard]

Bootie said:

Just not approprate to use the details to sell books / magazines / her profile IMO

It's Jordan we're talking about. What the fuck do you expect of her. This is a woman who penned an open letter to droopy t*tted 'rival' Jodie and it was one of the best things I've ever read. Whoever wrote it was intelligent and clever which makes me think it may have been somebody else ghostwriting.

[Spinny 3000]

thisisnotatest said:

Don't you think the fact most stores were charging significantly more than usual for what is essentially one album spread over two discs was a factor? BMG didn't do this with Outkast's Speakerboxx/The Love Below, which is two separate albums for the price of one, and unsurprisingly sold very well.

This only happened when the album dropped out of the top 75 though, TinaT - for the 4 or so weeks it was in the charts it was £12.99 at my local Virgin and HMV. Outkast's album is yet to leave the top 75 since release hence it's still £12.99 or lower.

Not getting into this whole clowns/idiots slagging off thing - smacks of chronic too-much-time-on-one's-handsism. The sun is shining, life is great, etc.

[cherrycola]

LMP said:

Gareth is so totally awful.
His voice is whiney.
And he believed all the hype.
He thought he was untouchable.....Simon Cowell told him he was untouchable.....how wrong could he be??

He's always come across as wanting the screaming girls and the adulation. In all the interviews I've read or seen......he never talks about the music....just the screaming girls. It's very sad.

He's got a lot of work to do to convince the general public that he's got talent and a career worth saving.
He's percieved as a failure. Does anyone actually admit to being a fan without being laughed at?? It's hard to turn the tide.......but not impossible. If he comes up with a stonking album and stops acting like such an arrogant big-head he may just pull it off.

Good luck to him.

Seen you on Gareth Gates' message boards. Consider yourself banned.

God, you Willy fans are such assholes.

[Storm]

You're the one that's mentioned WIll. No one else has.

WHat has one got to do with the other.........

[Twixy]

They were both from Pop Idol! What a stupid generalisation. I find it quite sad they're both grouped together.

I for one, love Gareth. His album is great. Disc One (Night?) is better than Disc 2, with All Cried Out being my favourite (followed by Soul Affection) but they're all tops. I wanna listen to it now.

[digitalrogue]

Having conferred with my associates, the consensus has been reached that we're glad that he's faded in to relative obscurity and hope that he remains there.

And the West-End can have him when he stutters... "I c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-closed my eyes, d-d-d-d-d-rew b-b-back the c-c-c-c-currrtaaain..."

Or whatever. Cunt.

[flufff]

Sorry digitalrogue, you and your colleagues will have to re-confer. Gareth's not heading for the West End just yet. He's definitely still recording his third album. I would suggest you don't pay so much attention to the tabloids, but your immature attempt at wit over a disability suggests you can't help it.

I thought it was pointless of CherryCola to bother replying to a post of the quality of LMPs, let alone bring the Will rivalry into it, but it intreagued me. I've been talking to a friend who goes onto Gareth's official boards a lot and she tells me that LMP is the name of a Will fan who registered there and sent abusive PMs, posted some inflammatory remarks and was promptly banned. Judging by their post history (Will is great; anyone who doesn't think Will is great is mad; Gareth is the anti-Christ) I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying I think they are the same person. From what I can gather they were not the first to do it, and are unlikely to be the last. I've been aware for some time that there are a number of posters who only ever stop promoting and defending Will on this site to have a dig at Gareth. I'm not going to pretend it's never happened the other way around, and I wish both sets of people would just piss off.

I've got some news on what Gareth has actually done and will be doing, but I'll make a new thread once I've got a few more details (and photos) together.

[Dudie]

flufff said:

Sorry digitalrogue, you and your colleagues will have to re-confer. Gareth's not heading for the West End just yet. He's definitely still recording his third album. I would suggest you don't pay so much attention to the tabloids, but your immature attempt at wit over a disability suggests you can't help it.

I thought it was pointless of CherryCola to bother replying to a post of the quality of LMPs, let alone bring the Will rivalry into it, but it intreagued me. I've been talking to a friend who goes onto Gareth's official boards a lot and she tells me that LMP is the name of a Will fan who registered there and sent abusive PMs, posted some inflammatory remarks and was promptly banned. Judging by their post history (Will is great; anyone who doesn't think Will is great is mad; Gareth is the anti-Christ) I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying I think they are the same person. From what I can gather they were not the first to do it, and are unlikely to be the last. I've been aware for some time that there are a number of posters who only ever stop promoting and defending Will on this site to have a dig at Gareth. I'm not going to pretend it's never happened the other way around, and I wish both sets of people would just piss off.

I've got some news on what Gareth has actually done and will be doing, but I'll make a new thread once I've got a few more details (and photos) together.

I agree I reckon the trolls of both camps should definitely kindly piss off to their mutual spooky sites. I then have to say that in the time I've been coming on here I've seen loads of the Will troll variety and few if none of Gareth's, which has to be strange when you consider how well Will is doing. You would have thought his fans would be chuffed and chilled in this respect, but obviously not.

On the subject of the 'debate', I find it hard to believe that anyone over the age of 15 wouldn't empathize with Gareth about the Jordan thing. Of course he went for it when he had the chance, what 17 year old lad wouldn't? But who hasn't lied about something then found it hard to back out of it, especially at that age. I think she is a total fucking bitch for selling those stories and of course it helped sell her book, why else would she have kept banging on and on and on about it. I didn't buy it but picked it up on Kings Cross Station and the bloody thing opened at the page where she had sex with him of its own accord. I believe that everyone is entitled to a privacy about certain things and that is definitely one of them. God help Will if he gets caught out by an unscrupulous Jordan equivalent.

I've bought Gareth's second album and don't rate the Day CD but the Night CD is ace even after a lot of plays. I've seen him live and he was great. It will be shame if the greedy bastards at BMG have mucked up his career. He has everything going for him, looks, talent and charisma but he's been exploited and let down by his record company in my opinion. They told him to jump and he had to say 'how high' because he lost Pop Idol. That was the problem really. Will won and could afford to make demands and take his time. Gareth had to do as he was told out of gratitude and being so young with a stammer (and fuck off the sad bastards on here who take the piss out of that) didn't help either.

[popwilleatitself]

His first official website address was ggates.com (ie g..gates) Rather unfortunate, and thoughtless of the record company, they soon changed it.

[Bootie]

What an odd thing to say


ggates.com is a web site for selling gates ( as in garden gates)

his website is www.ggates.co.uk and as far as I know always has been. It can also be reached at www.garethgates.com , but its the same site

[drbastard]

Bootie said:

What an odd thing to say

ggates.com....

That is NOT his web site is it? 'G...gates!'

No fucking way! That's funny in an evil way./

[Pensiero Bello]

Dr said:

That is NOT his web site is it? 'G...gates!'

No fucking way! That's funny in an evil way./

It's not really that funny because Will Young's is www.wyoung.co.uk ...