GARETH GATES – "Anyone Of Us (Stupid Mistake)"

Anyone Of Us is a rare beast; an original song written for a reality TV contestant that actually sounds like somebody took some care and attention over it. Indeed that effort comes across in all respects as it suits the image Gareth Gates was being moulded into and generally sounds well put together and produced. It is a strong song and deserves to be better remembered that it actually is.

Which takes me on to its place in the Will vs Gareth story. Will had narrowly edged the first `set`; Evergreen had outsold Unchained Melody despite speculation that Gareth might do better. The second set was a clear win for Gareth despite Light My Fire being no failure and certainly outperforming The Way To Your Love (the only real comparison point at that time). And this is the thing. Will Young was a surprise winner and not the one the puppet masters were expecting or indeed wanted. Even then there was no reason why Gareth couldn’t have the stellar pop career that was designed for him and Anyone Of Us suggested that was about to happen.

And yet, and yet. If we ignore the ultimately irrelevant bunny that marks our next encounter with Will and Gareth, Will promptly wins round 3 with a number 2 beating Gareth’s number 5. Even by the point in late 03 when Will played his ace Gareth Gates was already fading from view. You have to wonder whether they considered it Anyone Of Us job done or whether they simply never found the right song for Gareth again.

Lest we forget, Gates’ unique selling point was – and I tread carefully here – his speech disorder.

Although the appeal of this particular record is completely lost on me, I am always curious about songs and recordings that, almost in defiance of their own characteristics, can achieve international appeal. This, to my surprise, was a big hit in Europe.

And another thing! I was puzzled but no-one seem to pick up on the stupid mistake in the title. I thought the bit in the brackets referred to the bit outside the brackets – are there any other examples of this, other than “Winker’s Song (misprint)”?

Okay, some chart entries which I want to note.

Week 1
14: Tim Deluxe – It Just Won’t Do – ahhh a summer classic, or at least it has been in the past, as I haven’t heard it in a while. The last time I heard it I remember finding it surprising how deep the bass was in the chorus (?)
25: Fischerspooner – Emerge – Presumably the first electroclash song to chart and also the best. Some legal controversy over the term ‘electroclash’ meant that they had to be referred to as ‘electropop pioneers’ instead or something like that when they appeared on TOTP

Week 3
21: Doves – Pounding – a brief Doves discussion in the Elvis vs JXL thread. Lovely song anyhow. Didn’t realise it charted until the chart listed as 28 July 2002…it had already appeared on Now 52
25: Primal Scream – Miss Lucifer – PS follow one of my 10 favourite albums ever with one of their finest slabs of glam-disco-rock, yet heralding off an album that doesn’t get enough play by me. Kerrang liked this enough to put it on Kerrang: The Album 4
27: The Streets – Weak Become Heroes – Their first and best of Skinner’s bittersweet songs. His story is of discovering raves in 1995 in particular, so the same year as Sorted for E’s and Wizz, but where that latter song was a newcomer ultimately failing to fit in, Skinner hit it off so much that, 7 years later, the same piano still loops over and over

I’m sure – not 100% sure – that it should have been “Any One” not “Anyone”.

@8: Weak Become Heroes is just wonderful. The Streets’ finest hour and I like them/him a lot in general.

Shortly after reading this post, I somehow lost something worth a couple of hundred quid and had to pay for it. The chorus has consequently been living in my subconscious and mocking me for the last few days.

#13 I think that’s a working title for the tune in brackets, supplanted by the title of the lyrics.

Stereolab used to keep all their working tune titles, apart from “Broken Face (The Noise Of Carpet)” which was clearly labelled as a likely US hit so got retitled so as not to confuse the MTV crowd.

I remarked that Gareth’s take on Unchained Melody was comfortably less than the sum of its parts, because what Gareth brings to the table is a wide-eyed innocence in both physical and vocal presence. That’s not a bad thing, but you’d never have known it from how out of his depth he was on that initial single.

Here’s the pop machine actually working: an awkwardly teenage theme, a catchy song that genuinely suits Gareth as a singer, produced in the style of Cheiron’s B-grade work with Westlife and accordingly with a high enough tempo to stand out from what the Irish Model was now very much all about, if indeed it ever wasn’t. It’s no classic, but it was never meant to be, and Gareth was the sort of pop star who you’d think could be counted on to front a bunch of good singles without ever making a great one.

This should have been a career template, or at least one to be reused on multiple singles. As we’ll see in Popular to come, it wasn’t, so no wonder Will had the more enduring career. In the meantime, this singular example of what Gareth should have stood for as a pop brand is well worth a strong 6 for ticking all the pop boxes without ever threatening to be a classic.

Routine stuff from Gates, feels like it goes on a bit too long as well. 3/10 here.