Into the eight hundreds, and we do so with a bold statement of a number one…
Millennium, by Robbie Williams (his 1st of seven solo #1s)
1 week, from 13th – 20th September 1998
The biggest British pop star at the turn of the century, the black sheep of the ‘90s biggest boyband, finally scores a solo number one. It’s a cocky, swaggering track, making nice use of a sample from Nancy Sinatra’s ‘You Only Live Twice’. (Though in actual fact it is a rerecording in a slightly higher key, which was cheaper than paying for the original.) Anyway, it slams the door open, sweeps into the room chorus first, declaring ‘I’m here!’
After that comes a state of the nation address, over a hip-hop beat. Live for liposuction, Detox for your rent, Overdose at Christmas, And give it up for Lent… We’re all in the gutter, but some of us are gazing at the stars, that sort of thing. It’s very zeitgeist grabbing, very of-the-moment, less than a year and a half before Y2K, all delivered with a sense of theatre by Robbie Williams. We’re praying it’s not too late… he sings in the chorus… Millennium…
Even if you’re stuck behind a dead end desk job in Slough, the appeal of an idea that we’ve got stars directing our dishevelled fates is clear. My favourite bit though is the nonchalantly loutish Come and have a go if you think you are hard enough… chant. It is this that sums up the post-Britpop nineties, the lads and the ladettes, the alcopops, all that. It’s clever, and catchy, somehow deep without really trying.
Some pop stars don’t seem to care about their chart fortunes, about whether or not a song will be a hit, but I don’t think Robbie Williams is one of them. At this point in his career at least, he seemed to relish being famous, being on stage, on TV, on the radio. And he released songs that were big and catchy, that appealed to the widest possible audience, like this one. He certainly had charisma, the X-factor that the best pop stars need. But he also had a clever team around him, and a songwriting partner in Guy Chambers who guided him through this imperious phase from 1998 to the early years of the 2000s.
‘Millennium’ was the lead single from Williams’ second album, ‘I’ve Been Expecting You’, but to pinpoint the moment he became Britain’s biggest pop star we need to rewind a few months to when ‘Angels’ was dominating the charts and the airwaves, to the extent that it began to feel like the country’s unofficial national anthem. Despite peaking at #4 it remains his biggest selling single. Following that his now signature tune ‘Let Me Entertain You’ made #3, and the rest is history.
It had been a long time coming, though. Williams had left Take That over three years before, and spent a year fighting a clause in his contract preventing him from launching a solo career while his former band were still recording. Fittingly, his first release was a cover of George Michael’s ‘Freedom’, which made #2 in July 1996, around the same time his bandmate Gary Barlow was releasing the dull ‘Forever Love’. Compare and contrast Barlow’s two forgettable number ones with this one, and it’s not hard to see why Williams went on to be the far bigger solo star.
It’s also hard to overstate how big Robbie Williams was becoming when this record went to the top. I wouldn’t count myself a huge fan, and I’ve never bought any of his music, but it turns out I knew all the words to ‘Millennium’ through sheer osmosis. He will have a nice and steady drip-feed of #1s for the next few years, so I’ll have plenty of time to test my knowledge of his other lyrics as we go on.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I can’t say
Sorry, commentus interruptus. I can’t say I’ve ever actually listened to the whole of “Millennium”, but the chorus is catchy. You’d have to be a complete musical snob not to like “Angels” (and also be lying), while Rock DJ Is one of my very favourite songs. And I really like his Something Stupid duet with Nicole Kidman (I think?). So glad you are not hooting at him!
I too think you’d have to be a massive snob, and probably a liar, to say you can’t enjoy anything by Robbie Williams. I wouldn’t count myself a big fan, but if I listened to a Greatest Hits or saw him live I’m sure I could sing along to most of the words. He’s just very good at being a pop star.
Howdy, Stuart. I have never heard of this guy…or this song. It’s not bad, tho…
Hey! Glad you’re back among us : ) Yes, he’s yet another Brit who was massive at home (and most other places) but who failed to crack the States…
Can you put your finger on when the Brit music stopped crossing the pond? We used to exchange so much.
Thanks.
I’m not sure it has stopped, to be honest, as current British pop stars like Adele, Harry Styles, and Dua Lipa are pretty popular in the States.
In particular, the glam acts of the 70s, and the Britpop acts of the 90s (with whom I guess you could class Robbie Williams) struggled to break through… For some reason they just never clicked…
I do like Adele’s music. The other two, not sure. Isn’t Dido a Brit, too? Then, there is my undying love for Def Leppard, Duran Duran, Power Station, George Michael… Brit music in the 80s seemed to get thru faster.
Yeah the 2nd British invasion, right? Who knows why sometimes it clicks with a US audience, and sometimes it doesn’t… Dido is British too, yep.
Much fun. I was too young and/or not alive for the first one. The Beatles showed up here in, what, 1964? Two years before I even existed…HA!
Growing up as a kid during the 2000s and a teenager during most of the 2010s in Australia, I never knew what Take That was besides hearing their one international smash a couple of times (well, the chorus of “Back For Good”), but I was very aware of who Robbie Williams was, even if I didn’t listen to his music. But “Rock DJ”, “Angels”, “Feel”, I definitely knew those songs. I like Robbie. I don’t mind Barlow, but when I hear his music, I don’t really hear much personality or character. Robbie has far more personality and character when I hear his music.
Now, “Millennium”, it’s a decent enough song. For me, the re-recorded soundalike recording does quite a bit of the heavy lifting in terms of my enjoyment, but it’s a perfectly functional pop song.
I was actually surprised it did chart in the US, at #72 on the Hot 100, and it did reach the Top 30 on the pop radio airplay chart.
Side note: I watched this British comedy video that Robbie basically quit Take That after partying and hanging out with Oasis and wanted to roughen up and toughen his image. I thought they were exaggerating but then I read his Wikipedia article and that’s basically what happened lol.
Yes, I’m not sure there have been many artists better at being a ‘pop star’ than Robbie Williams. And I mean that as a compliment!
He definitely did have a lost summer with Oasis, but then they fell out a few years later when one of them called him ‘the fat dancer from Take That’. All very childish, and funny…
Those early Robbie Williams singles hold up pretty well, I think.
Robbie was the top pop star of his era, no question, his records were very British lyrically, Rob’s an under-rated lyricist, and Guy Chambers was amazing with the music and production side, Robbie sounds like Robbie but the records are inventive, sensitive, amusing, quirky, fun, exciting, moving, and inspired by my fave Bond theme here (You Only Live Twice is a perfect record) but just as likely to be anything else, and the Robster has kept up the quality long after the hits dried up. I was taken by surprise by Robbie’s musical output. Barlow was obviously able to cobble a hit together, and bung out the odd classic, but Robbie didn’t seem an obvious superstar as a young cheeky likeable lad. He was though – I see him as the last great British entertainer popstar with across-the-board appeal, not least due to his live concerts. I’ve seen him twice (Net Aid 1999 – the forgotten global concert that was Live Aid for the internet generation – and at Southampton St Mary’s a couple of years back) and he is still an exciting act, even with back problems and props to assist in that. And the back-catalogue is stunning, not least Millenium which I loved, still love, and was record of the year for me. It also was fairly topical what with everyone expecting the world to crash and burn from IT failure in 12 months or so… (not that that is what it’s about, of course). Still love Robbie and always will….
This is definitely tapping into the spirit of the time, the excitement/nervousness about the turn of the millenium (which I can just about remember, as I turned 14 a few weeks into 2000)… I much prefer Robbie when he’s in this mode, rather than on ballads like Angels, or Feel… Having said that, She’s the One is probably one of my favourites of his… And I’d agree that he’s the last of his kind (I always thought Olly Murs had potential to be the next Robbie Williams, but he fizzled out pretty quickly).
This is a guy I have heard of a lot but never really listened to. I had stopped listening to radio a lot around this time…but I don’t think he was played a lot here.
Yeah maybe ‘Angels’ got some radio play in the US…? He was huge at this time in the UK
Yea…that might be the one! I just heard it…yes I’ve heard that one.