Take That (band)



A British pop band, consisting of members Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. They had a wildly successful initial run as a cheesy boy band from 1990 to 1996, when Williams' departure from the band led to its breakup.

However, after a reunion in 2005 (sans Williams), Take That came back and outdid themselves, with their album Progress (their first album after Williams rejoined in 2010) becoming the fastest-selling album of the century so far and the second fastest-selling album of all time (in England).

Not to be confused with the trope of the same name.


 * Boy Band: Take That's 90s tag. With all of them now aged 36-40, "man-band" has become more appropriate.
 * Breakup Breakout: after the end of their first incarnation in 1996; Robbie was the breakout star after the split, but with their reunion in 2005, the band have now overtaken him again.
 * Fan Service
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Just everything Robbie Williams says nowadays about Gary Barlow.
 * This troper definitely thinks Robbie Williams and Mark Owen qualify here. They were best friends the first time around, Mark was the only one who kept in regular contact with Robbie after the band split and was the only one who Robbie said nice things about plus Robbie asked Mark to perform with him and the friendship between them is obvious. Since Robbie rejoined, their friendship is still strong and are both very openly affectionate with each other. When Robbie backed out of the reunion, it was Mark who talked him round. Not to mention that the song 'Shine' and supposedly 'Hold Up A Light' are written about Robbie and both sung by Mark. There's even speculation that the Mark Owen solo song, 'Believe in the Boogie' is about him too. Their friendship has even been given a name by the fans- 'Willowen'.
 * Greatest Hits Album: Two, arguably; the first was released just before their break-up in 1996, whilst the second, The Ultimate Collection, was released to coincide with the ten year anniversary of the break-up: the massive sales of which (along with the high ratings for the tie-in documentary, For The Record) helped in leading to the band getting back together again.
 * One-Hit Wonder: In the USA, they're only known there for their sole Top 40 hit, "Back for Good". That song was a pretty massive hit there, and they would've probably got a few more hits, but they broke up shortly after the single's release
 * Tabloid Melodrama: Whilst the band tend to keep themselves to themselves these days, in the 90s hardly a week went by without one (or all) of them being in the newspapers for one reason or another, right down to whatever clothes they were wearing in a video.
 * Target Audience: 90s manager Nigel Martin-Smith first created the band to appeal to teenage girls and the gay audience. Nowadays the band has a much more widespread, generic appeal.
 * The Merch: 90s Take That had everything from hats to drinks bottles to their own action figures. 00s Take That have calmed things down a bit, but you can still buy charm bracelets, bags, and even tour-themed baby clothes.

Their videos and tours provide examples of:

 * Concept Video: "How Deep Is Your Love"
 * Also Covered Up the Bee Gees' version in the UK
 * Great Balls of Fire: On stage, "Relight My Fire" is always accompanied by lots of pyrotechnics and other visual effects.
 * In Da Club: "Relight My Fire"
 * In The Studio: "Rule The World"
 * L.A. Rooftop: "Greatest Day"
 * On a Soundstage All Along: "Babe"
 * Playing to The Fetishes: PVC, leather, whips, mesh shirts and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
 * the Kidz video. They show up, in an awesome space-ship. Dressed as war heroes from different ages. And Robbie rides around on a cute little bike in a chain-mail shirt.
 * Three Minutes of Writhing: The majority of Take That's 90s videos and stage sets are prime examples of this.
 * Mechanical Horse: Their recent tour had a giant mechanical elephant.
 * Even more recent - a giant mechanical man.

Their songs provide examples of:

 * Age Progression Song: "Wooden Boat"; childhood, teenage years, adulthood with marriage and a child on the way, and finally old age and death. Each era has its own verse, with all four verses being referred to in the chorus; "We go from green to blue to gold to black''
 * Arc Words: The word "progress" shows up a lot in their album of the same name.
 * Audience Participation Song: "Never Forget" and "Back For Good" are the most obvious, but on their Circus tour, the band had the audience sing the first verse of Rule The World.
 * "Hold Up A Light" most definitely.
 * Author Catchphrase: "Hold on" is definitely this for Gary Barlow since the band reformed. He can't go an album without including it in one of his songs.
 * Break Up Song: "Back For Good"
 * Cover Version: The band's breakout hit was a cover version of "It Only Takes A Minute", and they have also covered the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love". Subsequently, many of the band's biggest original hits have been covered by other artists, with "Back For Good" the most covered of the lot.
 * Shout-Out: Robbie Williams' lines in "SOS" may be one to Mark Owens' solo hit "Four-Minute Warning".
 * "You'll get a five-minute warning/For divine intervention"
 * Talent Show Version: It's actually more notable if an episode of The X-Factor or Britains Got Talent doesn't have a Take That excerpt in it somewhere, usually "Shine", "Greatest Day", "Patience", or "Rule The World". The 2008 series of The X-Factor even had a Take That Night, with every contestant performing one of the band's songs.
 * Repeated in the 2009 X-Factor (Thankfully after John and Edward got booted). They're becoming a staple.
 * It's funny they didn't repeat Take That week during the 2011 series, considering it was Gary Barlow's first year as a judge on the show.