I grew up in the 90's...so my teenage years should've been spent like every other girl in my form fangirling over Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Instead it was Westlife in the late 90's for me as the first ever boyband I adored.

However, I can honestly say I have never ever got the appeal of them, the songs are bland, their personalities seem to be even worse. Robbie Williams is a predictable boring 'entertainer', I can't actually listen to any of his songs.

Then I go and catch an appearance this week on Strictly Come Dancing and see three of them Are they needing the money or something? It was like three old men doing a tribute of Take That in the 90's! Insane stuff. Anyway...yeah...wondering if anyone else feels the same?!

I don't feel the same, I like them, their songs. Not a huge fan of the most recent music but I do like them

Being mainly a classic rock and powerpop fan I never saw the appeal of most chart acts.
When I first heard the new Take That song on the radio I thought it was a bad Erasure song.

I think the clue is in your admission to being a Westlife fan. How then could you be expected to appreciate quality pop and song writing? Seriously? I haven't got a single Take That tune in my collection but compared to Westlife, Barlow and co are Mozart!

Ah come on! It was never about the music with these bands...it was about their appeal to impressionable teenage girls who bought Smash Hits! And I never even understood how anyone could find them attractive let alone like their music. Also! Westlife we're 1998/9 I think, Take That were way way before that so had their chance with me!

Especially now. It's just embarrassing performing when 40% of the band have left and you're in your 40's!

I'd disagree as far as pop boy-band goes in the 90s they were right up there, and there songs live longer in the memory as opposed to Westlife.

Their appearance on Strictly was embarrassing. Miming and doing it wildly out of lip synch is never acceptable.

In regards to the whole Westlife thing....I'm not comparing the two bands. If anything I was a boyband sheep growing up, I loved Westlife, A1, LFO, Boyzone, 5ive, *NSync but just never ever ever understood the appeal of Take That.

That was my statement in the opening post, not a thread on comparisons. I just fail to see the appeal, especially now 20 years on.

I was never a big fan of them, and found their music upon return bland beyond belief. However The Flood is a work of art IMO and Progress is one of my favourite albums of the past few years. However I am a massive Robbie fan so that's mainly due to Robbies involvement Although I do quite like The Circus album and Never Forget (the song).

I also find Gary Barlow a hugely overrated songwriter. Particularly his songs for other artists.

It was very cheesy with all that dad dancing.

I thought Take That's initial comeback with Patience and the immediate album that followed was very good and mature for them. They seem to have regressed since though with this cheesy pop that is too young for them.

My sister was a HUGE Take That fan back in the 90's so I knew alot more about them than I probably wanted to.
However I could understand their appeal, certainly when compared to other 'boybands'. They combined good song quality (impressively self-penned alot of the time) with lots of fun and excitement.

Their comeback was also quite impressive. Though I admit in the last few years I think nostalgia is the main driving force and people are willing to put up with some of the more questionable stuff simply because it's Take That.

As touched upon before, what I find strange is that only Gary Barlow seems able to do his own songs justice. Whenever he writes for someone else they are dreary as hell.

I agree with the above post. The fact is they contributed some fantastic original pop songs. When compared with boybands after them who relied on others to write it shows a musicality within Take That and a hard work ethic.
Take That had to break down a lot of doors (music scene/acceptance etc) which allowed a lot of these later boybands to be lazy, unoriginal and make lots of money for very little product. They also put on the best shows and were creative with their performances and like above fun and exciting. No stools and countless ballads where only the song titles change/aimless wandering around the stage.
A lot of their boyband music in 90's was diverse ranging between various styles/genres. dance/disco/pop/adult contemporary/r'n'b etc when they could have stuck to a formula and sound for years and years they challenged themselves even during the boyband years.

The comeback was really strong up until after Progress but then 4 years wait and two members gone means a lot of casual fans have gone by the wayside. They wouldn't have matched the success of Progress as that was the big card they had to play - full reunion record.
I don't think even hardened Take That fans would dare argue the 3 man group doesn't look/sound right but they want to keep making music which is fair enough. The latest album was good but not up to their usual high pop standards.

They are ok. Not my cup of tea. But because they don't appeal to me, doesn't mean i feel the need to question their mark on the charts.

I never liked them before, but some of the songs since the reunion are quite good.

However, I do think Progress is highly overrated album. And for the life of me, I don't get why most people in UK act like Gary is the best thing since sliced bread, he is probably one of the most overrated songwriters out there. The majority of the songs he wrote for others are horrible. Since Westlife is mentioned, as a big Westlife fan, I think Gary's song Lighthouse was such a crap single choice - I'm so disappointed this last single ruined their streak of having all of their songs inside Top 5 and Top 10.

And to think that song was chosen over Beautiful World co-written by Westlife's Mark Feehily in the very last minute, it still makes me angry when I think about it.

When they first really broke through, they all had terrific charisma (even Barlow). Whenever they appeared on a show, they were terrific fun.

They had good pop songs, which were mostly upbeat, meaning they didn't seem like a bunch of wet lettuces like Boyzone and Westlife.

And, whatever you thought of their music, they put on absolutely tremendous live gigs.

They were great until they let Robbie back in, dodging their taxes and Barlow started being a Tory tosspot. Now they are rubbish.

What an odd thread. You could name any popular / well known band / artist and some people will like them, while others won't. We live in a society where people have different preferences.

Exactly and why does the poster feel the need to 'understand their appeal'?
I'm not a Take That fan but obviously they have plenty of fans or they wouldn't still be around.

Their last three studio albums (the two four piece ones and the Robbies return one) all sold between 2 and 3 million copies each in the UK. This three piece album has yet to reach 500k

What has happened to all these lost fans? have they lost the support because of the tax scandal thing or do people simply not want to support a three piece Take That?

what do you think

Never really got their appeal back then but think they have done a couple decent songs since they reformed - Patience and Rule The World.
But then I'm not a fan of pop music anyway so any boyband won't be my cup of tea

To the comment above I think it's people don't want to support TT as a three piece. That said for their age and genre a #1 single and album is impressive. They are the only group to have had a #1 single as a 5,4 and now 3 piece.
Member popularity whereas in the 90s it was Mark/Robbie second time around Gary and Robbie are clearly popular. However Jason second time round seems to have major popularity many more than Mark/Howard it would appear on social media and forums.
Therefore popularity wise with no Robbie but also Jason many feel it's not really Take That. Who knows? The fact is the latest album didn't have many strong cuts and wasn't up to standard. Rushed as the group were waiting till the last minute hoping Jason would stay.