Get ready for it. This Saturday 13th Feb marks the 20th anniversary of Take That’s formal announcement they would disband. We asked our good friend Flower to take us back (for good) to a time when Take That ruled the world.  

Before One Direction there was THE original British boy-band.

No, I don’t mean The Beatles.

I’m talking about Take That!

Mark, Robbie, Jason, Howard and Gary.

If the combination of those names doesn’t mean anything to you then:

a) you’re too young
b) you clearly have never been friends with me
c) you must have had much better things to do than be obsessed with boy-bands in the 90s

And when I say obsessed I mean OBSESSED! From the moment I saw the ‘Could It Be Magic’ video on Video Hits one Saturday morning circa 1993, I was hooked.

I was in love.

I needed to get my hands on anything and everything remotely related to Take That.

I bought all of the UK import magazines I could get my hands on and through an amazing connection of like-minded fangirls/pen pals interstate and around the world (and we’re talking pre-social media days!) we would exchange copies of VHS video tapes full of TV performances, cassettes of radio interviews, articles, posters and photos. We knew all of the words to every song and every single dance routine. (Reckon I could still do a pretty good job of the Pray moves to be honest).

In 1994 Take That did a promo trip to Sydney and I somehow managed to get there. (Shhh… don’t tell my mum, she still thinks I was at a friend’s house!) And I was lucky enough to even meet the guys (after spending hours stalking/casually hanging around their hotel). It was ahhhmazing to finally meet Mark Owen, my fave and one true love. I was certain that I would move to the UK one day and marry him. (Spoiler alert: I did move to the UK but I did not actually marry him).

When their Australian tour was announced it was game on! All prior knowledge acquired from years of reading fellow fan stalker stories and Smash Hits articles was finally put into action. The ticket gods were on my side and front row seats were sorted (you would hope so after camping out for 3 nights!) and a trip with my other TT friends to stalk/follow the tour interstate was planned. (Who knows where we got the money from? We were only 17 for goodness sakes).

Even Robbie quitting the group months before the tour didn’t deter us.

We were on a mission. We knew which flights they were on, which hotels they were staying at (highlight: staying on the same floor as Mark Owen – we recognised his patchouli scent in the hallway – and bumping into him at the lift accidentally on purpose numerous times). We knew where they were going and usually got there before they did. Considering this was long before the days of Twitter/Instagram/iPhones (the most important stalking tools of every fangirl these days) this was a pretty amazing achievement in itself and I’m still not quite sure how we did it.

Back then the FOMO was strong. We didn’t want to miss ANYTHING. Sleeping and eating was replaced with hours spent sitting in hotel lobbies or hanging around outside for any kind of interaction and luckily we were usually rewarded with a hello/photo/autograph/awkward but pleasant/obligatory popstar-fan convo. But just like any addiction, that wasn’t enough and we always went back for more. (Just to clarify: no restraining orders were filed against us during this period). We had THE BEST time ever but once the tour was over it was back to reality for all of us.

As they say, all good things must come to an end and a few months later on 13th February 1996 (Side note: also Robbie Williams’ birthday – coincidence much?) Take That announced that they were splitting up. Fans were SO devo to the point that a phone line was set up in the UK to help deal with this tragedy.

I was kind of relieved.

Commenting on the break up, Jason Orange said in an interview: “I can get on with my life now.” And that’s how I felt too!

No more crazy fan-girl FOMO-ing. No more wasting/spending every cent I had on ALL of the Take That things.

I was over it. Finally it was time to move on.

Fast forward 10 years later to 2006 and after attempts at solo careers (Mark and Gary), Celebrity Big Brother wins (Mark), DJ gigs (Howard) and other stuff (I’m not quite sure what Jason did), the guys finally got back together (minus Robbie) for a reunion of epic proportions! And they are STILL going strong with 4 more albums under their belt and numerous sell out tours across Europe. It looks like the guys (excluding Jason who jumped ship in 2014)are definitely Back for Good and let’s Pray that they will be around for many more years to come.

Take That – I will Never Forget you.

Were you obsessed with a band, artist or movie? We’d LOVE to hear your story – tell us in the comments below!