Reality Killed the Video Star
Encyclopedia
Reality Killed the Video Star is the eighth solo studio album by the British
singer-songwriter
Robbie Williams
, released in November 2009. The album was produced by Trevor Horn
and recorded between September 2008 and August 2009 in London
and Los Angeles
. It debuted in the top ten of 22 national album charts worldwide, and has received varying reviews from music critics. It incorporates elements of pop rock
, dance-rock
, alternative rock
and adult contemporary
music. Reality Killed the Video Star was viewed by critics and fans as being Williams' "comeback album" after the relative failure of his 2006 release, Rudebox.
The album was preceded by lead single
"Bodies
" released in October 2009. Other single releases include "You Know Me
" and "Morning Sun
". The album has been certified platinum in Europe
for sales of over one million copies, including 900,000 copies sold in the UK alone. Despite this, it was Williams' first studio album
not to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart
, beaten to the top spot by a margin of less than 1% by the UK boy band
JLS
's self-titled debut album
.
, Soul Mekanik
, Mark Ronson
, and Trevor Horn
.
However, the British singer confirmed in August 2009 on his official website that the entire album was produced by Trevor Horn, and added that it was recorded in London.
Rumours of a new studio album co-written with Chambers had surfaced in early 2007, along with known commitments required by Williams to complete his EMI
contract. British singer-songwriter Laura Critchley
commented that she had sung vocals for three songs, and said that the LP would not be released until 2009.
At first it was believed that Williams had reunited with Chambers, but it was later confirmed that the song "Blasphemy" was co-written by the pair during the recording sessions of Williams' 2002 album Escapology
.
In February 2009, it was confirmed that Williams had written material with Soul Mekanik, Chambers and Ronson. The singer's spokesman, Tim Clark, said that the artist was planning to begin recording sessions in March and that the new album would be released in late 2009. The album was mostly written in Williams' home studio and was recorded in London
. Amongst those who collaborated in the songwriting were Danny Spencer and Kelvin Andrews, Brandon Christy, Craig Russo, Richard Scott and Scott Ralph, Chas Jankel and Fil Eisler.
On his official website, Williams wrote that he was working with producer Trevor Horn on his new album; he described himself as "buzzing" and went on to call the album's sound "Very, very big". Williams revealed that the new album would be titled Reality Killed the Video Star, a reference to the song "Video Killed the Radio Star
" by Horn's former band The Buggles
. The album was originally planned to be named Il Protagonista (Italian
for The Protagonist) until Williams' management told him to change the title as it was "too pretentious". In July 2009 Williams wrote on his official blog about the album: "My album's a killer: old Robbie, new Robbie and a Robbie that neither of us have met...". The A.V. Club
has also reported that during 2007, Williams had recorded an unreleased experimental
album that, he later said, would have amounted to "career suicide".
Before the album's release, Williams spoke about his hopes for the album: "I want people to feel elated, I want them to dance, I want them to forget about who they are and where they are for 50 minutes – and, within those 50 minutes of forgetting who they are, I also hope people relate to the songs. This is a record that I’m very proud of – I think it’s fucking brilliant. I want it to be the record that, if people think of Robbie Williams, they go, Yeah, Reality Killed the Video Star." He also talked about his collaboration with producer Trevor Horn: "He’s added something to the record that I haven’t had on previous records – his genius".
In the wake of Michael Jackson
's death on 25 June 2009, Williams was reported to have written and recorded a last minute tribute song to Jackson that would be included on the album. The track, "Morning Sun", was co-written by James Bond
lyricist
Don Black. During his BBC Electric Proms
concert at The Roundhouse
in London on 20 October 2009 Williams said about the song: "I thought it was about Michael Jackson [...] but it’s actually about me again."
UK
and Ireland
president Andria Vidler hosted the event. Mark Sutherland from Billboard
said that the album "marks a return to Williams' trademark pop sound after 2006's more experimental – and commercially under-performing – Rudebox". Sutherland felt that even though the lead single 'Bodies
', "features a refinement of the more electronic sound debuted on Rudebox, much of the album returns to the fertile, adult pop ground of Williams' previous smash hit albums Escapology
and Intensive Care
". He felt that the album highlights are the "lush ballads 'Morning Sun
' and 'You Know Me
', the intricate wordplay of 'Blasphemy' and the 1980s sound of 'Last Days of Disco'", while also noting that "a confident-sounding Williams also experiments with some light psychedelia
on 'Deceptacon' and electronic dance music
on the anthemic 'Starstruck' and 'Difficult for Weirdos'." Jude Rogers from The Quietus
said that the song "Do You Mind?" "puts Status Quo, Slade
and a gallon of glam-rock
in a bottle, shakes it up, and make an interesting, if rather peculiar, froth." Rogers said that on the track "Starstruck" "Goldfrapp
's Felt Mountain
, The Ipcress File
soundtrack
and the shadow of Broadcast
fall over the first ten seconds of this song about our obsession with celebrity". "Deceptacon" contains a "peculiar set of lyrics, floating on waves of reverb, sad strings
and icy keyboards
" Rogers said that "It's an unshowy meditation the shallowness of fame
, with a fantastic, mournful outro
." Mike Diver from BBC Music
said that "Bodies" is "A strange brew of string flourishes, rumbling low end, oriental undertones and even an Enigma
-style break into Gregorian
territory", Diver also said that "Last Days of Disco" is "reminiscent of Eurythmics
".
. The CD featured twelve classic Robbie Williams tracks, including live recordings from Slane Castle
, Cologne
, London's The Forum
and Knebworth
, and also contained six 30-second clips of tracks from Reality Killed the Video Star. The singer appeared on The X Factor
on 11 October 2009 to perform "Bodies" live.
He was featured on the November 2009 cover of GQ magazine UK, where he also gave an interview about the album. Williams performed some material from Reality Killed the Video Star on the BBC Electric Proms
at The Roundhouse
in London on 20 October 2009. It was Williams' first live performance in over three years and was broadcast live in nearly 200 cinemas across Europe on 20 October and a few weeks later in Australia
, South Africa
and Mexico
. The show featured a full band conducted by Trevor Horn. The concert received many positive reviews, and Williams also set a new Guinness World Record
for "the most simultaneous cinematic screenings of a live concert".
Initially, Williams was set to perform on 5 November 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2009
in Berlin
at the O2 World
, however, due to a scheduling conflict, he did not perform.
On Friday 6 November 2009 he gave an interview and also performed on the UK TV show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
. On the release day of the album in the UK, 9 November 2009, Williams appeared on Loose Women
for a special edition of the show as the only guest. A special intimate live show at The Metro Theatre
took place in Sydney
on 25 November 2009 where Williams performed material from the new album and some of his classic hits. He performed his single "Bodies" in Australia
at the ARIA Music Awards
on 26 November 2009 which was held at the Acer Arena
.
On Tuesday, 8 December 2009, Williams performed an intimate show in London to less than 200 people at the Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House
. An exclusive show was performed by Williams for a limited number of fans at the Melkweg
in Amsterdam
on 9 December 2009. Williams performed his hit "Angels" on 12 December 2009 as a duet with Olly Murs on the live final of The X Factor
, also performing the second single from the album, "You Know Me
".
Williams performed "Morning Sun
", the third single from Reality Killed the Video Star, on 23 January 2010 at the NRJ Music Awards
where he also received two awards for "International Male Artist of the Year" and the "NRJ Award of Honour". "Morning Sun" was also performed on 13 February 2010 (Williams' 36th birthday) on the UK TV show So You Think You Can Dance
. He performed a medley of his greatest hits, including the three singles from Reality Killed the Video Star, on 16 February at the 2010 BRIT Awards
where Williams won the "Outstanding Contribution to Music Award". He won the award for "Best International Male Artist" at the 2010 ECHO Awards in Berlin
on 4 March, making it his seventh Echo Award for this category since 2002. Williams also performed "Morning Sun" at the show.
" was released as the album's first official single. It premiered on BBC Radio 1
on 4 September 2009. It was released on 12 October 2009, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart
, and has since been certified Silver for sales in excess of 200,000 copies. It has since reached the top 5 and top 10 in several charts across Europe
as well as in Australia
. The song was also named one of the best singles of 2009 by the music website Popjustice
. Jennifer Cooke from PopMatters
said that "Bodies" is "vintage Williams, and his strongest single since 'Feel
' (2002). Featuring his two favorite subjects, God and sex (not necessarily in that order)".
"You Know Me
" was the second single to be taken from the album. It was released on 7 December 2009 in the UK, where it peaked at number six on the singles chart and was also certified Silver for sales of over 200,000 copies. The song managed to peak inside the top 20 and top 30 on many European charts and in Australia. PopMatters' Jennifer Cooke felt that "You Know Me" had "a Motown flavor reminiscent of Escapologys 'Something Beautiful
'." Jude Rogers from The Quietus
said that the song is "Nonsensical and brilliant".
"Morning Sun
" was issued as the third single from the record. In the UK, it was released as the official Sport Relief
Single on 8 March 2010. The music video for the single was directed by Vaughan Arnell and filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood
. "Morning Sun" peaked at number 45 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Williams' first single not to enter the top 40. Jude Rogers from The Quietus said that the song features a vocal "that shows what his voice really can do" and that "Even a middle-eight
that nods towards the trippy oompah of 'I Am the Walrus
' can't change a mood that is both grand but melancholy, epic but reflective."
"Last Days of Disco" was released as a promotional single in the United States
on 5 October 2010. The single featured several remixes by the artists including Roger Sanchez
, Still Going, Black Van and Mighty Mouse. As of January 2011, the song has peaked at number seven on the Billboard
Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
, gave it an average score of 64/100 based on its sample of 17 reviews.
John Bush from Allmusic gave the album two stars out of five. He praised songs like "Bodies
" and "Morning Sun
" but felt that many songs "sound rushed and the performances lackluster". He concluded that the album is "not decidedly worse than 2002's Escapology
, it's just bad in a different way. Whereas Escapology found Robbie disappearing into his own neuroses, this one is a hopeless mélange of satire and sincerity where, from song to song, neither can immediately be distinguished." Chris Mincher from The A.V. Club
gave the album a C rating stating that: "Neurotically examining his personality quirks through decidedly unoriginal, un-quirky pop songs, Williams apparently wants to express his individuality with classic-rock reference points and frustratingly nonsensical novelty tracks."
Mark Sutherland from Billboard
gave the album a favorable review. He said that it offers "string-drenched ballads, slick George Michael
-style electronic
dance-pop
, Elvis Costello
-esque clever wordplay
and the slightly cheesy, supremely catchy MOR pop he made his name with." Sutherland said that "The end result may not be enough to convince America it's missing out, but expect this album to bring the already-converted back onboard in droves." Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly
gave it a B+ rating. Karger felt that, although the album "contains fewer knockout potential hits than past efforts", it does feature "the two strongest soul-flecked tracks of Williams' career", in "You Know Me" and "Won't Do That", and that the singer "simply sounds fantastic with a horn section".
Ben Hogwood from MusicOMH
gave the album a mixed review, awarding it with three stars (out of five). He said that the "new songs reflect [a] safer maturity". Hogwood said that the album is "more like a big band
version of George Michael's 'Older' than a funk
ed-up 'Faith
'" and that, although it has "a killer tune or two", the album is not exhibit the "same vitality of years ago." Talking about the production, he felt that "the orchestration
s are layered on thickly in an attempt to bring some brightness to the grey." Hogwood concluded that Williams' "new found maturity suits his voice on one hand, but given his musical past it makes him a far safer proposition than he used to be."
Los Angeles Times
music critic Ann Powers gave the album three stars (out of four) stating that the album is "bullishly diverse". She said that the album is "a full-body flex matching buttery ballads with laser-flecked dance tracks and arch updates from the music hall;". Powers felt that the songs "showcase the nasally soulful Williams as an irresistibly smart, cosmopolitan manchild of the overly wired world." Regarding the lyrics, Powers said that Williams "focuses hard on the out-of-body experience of the everyday." She said that the production on the album is "gorgeous" and that "Williams benefits greatly from the gifts of the producer's longtime team, including the arranger Anne Dudley." Mikael Wood from Spin
gave the album a 7/10 rating. He said that the album includes "cowbell-enhanced rave-up
, a bit of Lady Gaga
–ish electro-pop, and one track named after Transformers" and went on to call the record "a charm offensive with stars and stripes".
Slant Magazine
music critic Jonathan Keefe gave the album a mixed review, rating it with two and a half stars (out of five) and talked about Williams' lack of success in the United States
, calling him "one of the U.S. pop market's biggest missed opportunities". Keefe felt that the album featured the sort of "heavy balladry and slick adult-pop" that made Williams' earlier records unappealing to American audiences and suggested that by "downplaying [his] formerly irrepressible charm", Reality Killed the Video Star doesn't do enough to reintroduce the singer to the U.S. pop market.
Andy Gill of The Independent
gave the album three stars out of five, commenting that "Williams' albums have increasingly come to focus upon the singer himself, which has consequently made them less and less appealing to those not entirely smitten with his charms." This sentiment was echoed by Rosie Swash from The Observer
who also gave the album three stars out of five. She said that "Reality Killed the Video Star is littered with references to his fall from grace, most of which hinge on the premise that someone or something else is truly responsible for his diminishing popularity." Swash said that "If there's a theme here it's not obvious, but it turns out Williams can be quite interesting when he moves off the topic of himself." Swash concluded that the album swings between "mawkish strings and piano overproduction" and "flashes of genuine pop frivolity".
, the album sold over 85,000 copies in its first day on sale and 238,125 copies in its first week, around 1,500 less than the self-titled debut album
from JLS
, which debuted at number one. The album had the third highest first week sales of 2009 in the UK, behind JLS and Susan Boyle
's debut album I Dreamed a Dream
which debuted with 410,000 copies sold. In 2010 it was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
for sales of over 900,000 copies.
Though it missed the top spot in the UK, the album debuted at number one on the European Top 100 Albums
chart and spent two weeks at this position. It was certified platinum for sales of more than 1 million copies throughout Europe (which includes UK sales) by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. In continental Europe, the album was certified double platinum in Germany
for sales of over 400,000 copies. In France
, the album has sold over 100,000 copies, earning a platinum certification from the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
. In Italy
, the album sold over 70,000 copies and was awarded a platinum certification by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry
.
The album has also reached the top ten in Portugal
, Spain
, Denmark
, Norway
, Finland
, Sweden
, and Austria
.
Outside of Europe, the album reached number one in Australia
and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
for sales of 70,000 units. It also reached the top ten in New Zealand
, where it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
for selling more than 7,500 copies. In Latin America
, the album reached the top ten in Mexico
and was certified gold for shipments of 30,000 units. The album also earned a gold disc in Argentina
for shipments of over 20,000 units.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
singer-songwriter
Singer–songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
, released in November 2009. The album was produced by Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....
and recorded between September 2008 and August 2009 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. It debuted in the top ten of 22 national album charts worldwide, and has received varying reviews from music critics. It incorporates elements of pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
, dance-rock
Dance-rock
Dance-rock is a post-disco movement connected with post-punk/no wave genres with fewer R&B/funk influences. An example of this "post-disco" is Gina X's "No G.D.M." and artists like Liquid Liquid, Polyrock, Dinosaur L, and Disco Not Disco [2000] compilation album...
, alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
and adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music
Adult contemporary music is a broad style of popular music that ranges from lush 1950s and 1960s vocal music to predominantly ballad-heavy music with varying degrees of rock influence, as well as a radio format that plays such music....
music. Reality Killed the Video Star was viewed by critics and fans as being Williams' "comeback album" after the relative failure of his 2006 release, Rudebox.
The album was preceded by lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
"Bodies
Bodies (Robbie Williams song)
"Bodies" is the lead single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams's eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star and was released on 12 October 2009 by EMI. It received its premiere on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 after an interview with Williams on Friday 4 September 2009 at...
" released in October 2009. Other single releases include "You Know Me
You Know Me (Robbie Williams song)
"You Know Me" is the second official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star. The song was released on December 4, 2009. It is based on an original song "Voilà" written by French artist Françoise Hardy. Williams performed the song...
" and "Morning Sun
Morning Sun (song)
"Morning Sun" is the third and final official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album, Reality Killed the Video Star. It was released on 8 March 2010, and it is the official charity single for Sport Relief 2010. Written around the time of pop star Michael...
". The album has been certified platinum in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
for sales of over one million copies, including 900,000 copies sold in the UK alone. Despite this, it was Williams' first studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
not to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, beaten to the top spot by a margin of less than 1% by the UK boy band
Boy band
A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...
JLS
JLS
- Music :* JLS, an English boyband** JLS , debut album by JLS* JLS a Spanish Rock band based in Zaragoza , Spain formed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic by lead Leo Susana.- Organizations :...
's self-titled debut album
JLS (album)
JLS is the debut album from English boy band JLS. The album was released in the UK on 9 November 2009 by Epic Records. It was preceded by the lead single, "Beat Again" on 13 July 2009. The album debuted at number-one in the UK and Ireland. It has been certified four times platinum in the UK, where...
.
Background
Reality Killed The Video Star was Williams' first studio album in three years. In that period, he worked with many producers, including Guy ChambersGuy Chambers
Guy Chambers is an English songwriter and record producer, perhaps best known for his long partnership with Robbie Williams.- Biography :...
, Soul Mekanik
Candy Flip
Candy Flip were a British electronic dance band associated with the Madchester music scene in the early 1990s. They are best remembered for their cover version of The Beatles hit "Strawberry Fields Forever" which was a #3 hit in the UK Singles Chart....
, Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....
, and Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....
.
However, the British singer confirmed in August 2009 on his official website that the entire album was produced by Trevor Horn, and added that it was recorded in London.
Rumours of a new studio album co-written with Chambers had surfaced in early 2007, along with known commitments required by Williams to complete his EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
contract. British singer-songwriter Laura Critchley
Laura Critchley
Laura Critchley is a British singer-songwriter.-Biography:With a voice described as that from a love child of Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks, Critchley started singing when she was 7 years old. She wrote her first song, "Change", at the age of 16. It received radio play on BBC Radio Merseyside on...
commented that she had sung vocals for three songs, and said that the LP would not be released until 2009.
At first it was believed that Williams had reunited with Chambers, but it was later confirmed that the song "Blasphemy" was co-written by the pair during the recording sessions of Williams' 2002 album Escapology
Escapology (album)
-Background:In 2002, Williams signed a record-breaking £80 million contract with EMI. The contract featured a number of provisos, including the label ceding greater creative control to the artist and a commitment to breaking Williams in the American market...
.
In February 2009, it was confirmed that Williams had written material with Soul Mekanik, Chambers and Ronson. The singer's spokesman, Tim Clark, said that the artist was planning to begin recording sessions in March and that the new album would be released in late 2009. The album was mostly written in Williams' home studio and was recorded in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Amongst those who collaborated in the songwriting were Danny Spencer and Kelvin Andrews, Brandon Christy, Craig Russo, Richard Scott and Scott Ralph, Chas Jankel and Fil Eisler.
On his official website, Williams wrote that he was working with producer Trevor Horn on his new album; he described himself as "buzzing" and went on to call the album's sound "Very, very big". Williams revealed that the new album would be titled Reality Killed the Video Star, a reference to the song "Video Killed the Radio Star
Video Killed the Radio Star
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song by the British synthpop/New Wave group The Buggles, released as their debut single on 7 September 1979, on Island Records from their debut album The Age of Plastic. It celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by...
" by Horn's former band The Buggles
The Buggles
The Buggles were an English New Wave band consisting of Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes . They are remembered chiefly for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star" that was #1 on the singles chart in 16 countries. Its music video was the first to be shown on MTV in the U.S...
. The album was originally planned to be named Il Protagonista (Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
for The Protagonist) until Williams' management told him to change the title as it was "too pretentious". In July 2009 Williams wrote on his official blog about the album: "My album's a killer: old Robbie, new Robbie and a Robbie that neither of us have met...". The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
has also reported that during 2007, Williams had recorded an unreleased experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
album that, he later said, would have amounted to "career suicide".
Before the album's release, Williams spoke about his hopes for the album: "I want people to feel elated, I want them to dance, I want them to forget about who they are and where they are for 50 minutes – and, within those 50 minutes of forgetting who they are, I also hope people relate to the songs. This is a record that I’m very proud of – I think it’s fucking brilliant. I want it to be the record that, if people think of Robbie Williams, they go, Yeah, Reality Killed the Video Star." He also talked about his collaboration with producer Trevor Horn: "He’s added something to the record that I haven’t had on previous records – his genius".
In the wake of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's death on 25 June 2009, Williams was reported to have written and recorded a last minute tribute song to Jackson that would be included on the album. The track, "Morning Sun", was co-written by James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
Don Black. During his BBC Electric Proms
BBC Electric Proms
The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms was an October music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006-2010...
concert at The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...
in London on 20 October 2009 Williams said about the song: "I thought it was about Michael Jackson [...] but it’s actually about me again."
Musical style
The British singer-songwriter unveiled the album at an industry playback in London, where EMIEMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
president Andria Vidler hosted the event. Mark Sutherland from Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
said that the album "marks a return to Williams' trademark pop sound after 2006's more experimental – and commercially under-performing – Rudebox". Sutherland felt that even though the lead single 'Bodies
Bodies (Robbie Williams song)
"Bodies" is the lead single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams's eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star and was released on 12 October 2009 by EMI. It received its premiere on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 after an interview with Williams on Friday 4 September 2009 at...
', "features a refinement of the more electronic sound debuted on Rudebox, much of the album returns to the fertile, adult pop ground of Williams' previous smash hit albums Escapology
Escapology (album)
-Background:In 2002, Williams signed a record-breaking £80 million contract with EMI. The contract featured a number of provisos, including the label ceding greater creative control to the artist and a commitment to breaking Williams in the American market...
and Intensive Care
Intensive Care (album)
Intensive Care is sixth studio album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, released on 24 October 2005 in the United Kingdom.-Background:...
". He felt that the album highlights are the "lush ballads 'Morning Sun
Morning Sun (song)
"Morning Sun" is the third and final official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album, Reality Killed the Video Star. It was released on 8 March 2010, and it is the official charity single for Sport Relief 2010. Written around the time of pop star Michael...
' and 'You Know Me
You Know Me (Robbie Williams song)
"You Know Me" is the second official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star. The song was released on December 4, 2009. It is based on an original song "Voilà" written by French artist Françoise Hardy. Williams performed the song...
', the intricate wordplay of 'Blasphemy' and the 1980s sound of 'Last Days of Disco'", while also noting that "a confident-sounding Williams also experiments with some light psychedelia
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
on 'Deceptacon' and electronic dance music
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
on the anthemic 'Starstruck' and 'Difficult for Weirdos'." Jude Rogers from The Quietus
The Quietus
The Quietus is a British online rock music and pop culture magazine, focusing on arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication led by John Doran and a group of freelance journalists and critics, some of whom have worked for other media outlets...
said that the song "Do You Mind?" "puts Status Quo, Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
and a gallon of glam-rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
in a bottle, shakes it up, and make an interesting, if rather peculiar, froth." Rogers said that on the track "Starstruck" "Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
's Felt Mountain
Felt Mountain
Felt Mountain is the debut album by English electronic duo Goldfrapp. It was released in the United Kingdom on 11 September 2000 by Mute Records...
, The Ipcress File
The Ipcress File (film)
The Ipcress File is a 1965 British espionage film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Michael Caine, Guy Doleman, and Nigel Green. The screenplay by Bill Canaway and James Doran was based on Len Deighton's 1962 novel, The IPCRESS File. It has won critical acclaim and a BAFTA award for best...
soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
and the shadow of Broadcast
Broadcast (band)
Broadcast are an electronic music band, founded in Birmingham, England. Original members were Trish Keenan , Roj Stevens , Tim Felton and James Cargill . Various drummers played with the band, including Keith York, Phil Jenkins, Jeremy Barnes, Steve Perkins, and Neil Bullock...
fall over the first ten seconds of this song about our obsession with celebrity". "Deceptacon" contains a "peculiar set of lyrics, floating on waves of reverb, sad strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
and icy keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
" Rogers said that "It's an unshowy meditation the shallowness of fame
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
, with a fantastic, mournful outro
Conclusion (music)
In music, the conclusion is the ending of a composition and may take the form of a coda or outro.Pieces using sonata form typically use the recapitulation to conclude a piece, providing closure through the repetition of thematic material from the exposition in the tonic key...
." Mike Diver from BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
said that "Bodies" is "A strange brew of string flourishes, rumbling low end, oriental undertones and even an Enigma
Enigma (musical project)
Enigma is an electronic musical project founded in Germany by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. The Romanian-born Cretu conceived the Enigma project while working in Germany, but has based his recording studio A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, since the early 1990s until May...
-style break into Gregorian
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
territory", Diver also said that "Last Days of Disco" is "reminiscent of Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
".
Release and promotion
A special CD called Songbook was given away free with the 11 October 2009 issue of British newspaper The Mail on SundayThe Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
. The CD featured twelve classic Robbie Williams tracks, including live recordings from Slane Castle
Slane Castle
Slane Castle is located in the town of Slane, within the Boyne Valley of County Meath, Ireland. The castle has been the family home of the Conyngham Marquessate since the 18th century....
, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, London's The Forum
London Forum
The London Forum, or sometimes Kentish Town Forum is a well-known venue for concerts in Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom owned by the MAMA Group. The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the closure of the cinema, The Town & Country Club was established...
and Knebworth
Knebworth
Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden and Langley, and encompasses the village of Knebworth, the...
, and also contained six 30-second clips of tracks from Reality Killed the Video Star. The singer appeared on The X Factor
The X Factor (UK series 6)
The sixth series of British television music competition The X Factor started on ITV on 22 August 2009 and was won by Joe McElderry on 13 December 2009. Cheryl Cole emerged as the winning mentor for the second consecutive year, the first time in the show's history that a mentor has won back-to-back...
on 11 October 2009 to perform "Bodies" live.
He was featured on the November 2009 cover of GQ magazine UK, where he also gave an interview about the album. Williams performed some material from Reality Killed the Video Star on the BBC Electric Proms
BBC Electric Proms
The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms was an October music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006-2010...
at The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...
in London on 20 October 2009. It was Williams' first live performance in over three years and was broadcast live in nearly 200 cinemas across Europe on 20 October and a few weeks later in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The show featured a full band conducted by Trevor Horn. The concert received many positive reviews, and Williams also set a new Guinness World Record
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
for "the most simultaneous cinematic screenings of a live concert".
Initially, Williams was set to perform on 5 November 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2009
MTV Europe Music Awards 2009
The MTV Europe Music Awards 2009 took place in Berlin, Germany at the O2 World and in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The award show was presented by Katy Perry. Nominations were officially announced on September 21, 2009. This is the fourth time that the MTV Europe Music Awards were hosted in...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
at the O2 World
O2 World
O2 World is a multi-use indoor arena, in the Friedrichshain neighborhood, of Berlin, that opened in September 2008. Developed by Anschutz Entertainment Group, it was named O2 World, when O2 Germany purchased the naming rights...
, however, due to a scheduling conflict, he did not perform.
On Friday 6 November 2009 he gave an interview and also performed on the UK TV show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
. On the release day of the album in the UK, 9 November 2009, Williams appeared on Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...
for a special edition of the show as the only guest. A special intimate live show at The Metro Theatre
The Metro Theatre
The Metro Theatre is a music venue located on George Street, in the central business district of Sydney, Australia. The venue was redeveloped, from two former cinemas, by property developer Leon Fink....
took place in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
on 25 November 2009 where Williams performed material from the new album and some of his classic hits. He performed his single "Bodies" in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
at the ARIA Music Awards
ARIA Music Awards
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Australian Recording Industry Association...
on 26 November 2009 which was held at the Acer Arena
Acer Arena
The Allphones Arena is a large entertainment and sporting complex located in Sydney, Australia. It is situated in Sydney Olympic Park, and was completed in 1999 as part of the facilities for the 2000 Summer Olympics....
.
On Tuesday, 8 December 2009, Williams performed an intimate show in London to less than 200 people at the Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters and registered office of the BBC in Portland Place and Langham Place, London.The building includes the BBC Radio Theatre from where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience...
. An exclusive show was performed by Williams for a limited number of fans at the Melkweg
Melkweg
The Melkweg is a popular music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is located on the Lijnbaansgracht, near the Leidseplein, a prime nightlife center of Amsterdam. It is housed in a former warehouse and is divided into a number of spaces of varying sizes...
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
on 9 December 2009. Williams performed his hit "Angels" on 12 December 2009 as a duet with Olly Murs on the live final of The X Factor
The X Factor (UK series 6)
The sixth series of British television music competition The X Factor started on ITV on 22 August 2009 and was won by Joe McElderry on 13 December 2009. Cheryl Cole emerged as the winning mentor for the second consecutive year, the first time in the show's history that a mentor has won back-to-back...
, also performing the second single from the album, "You Know Me
You Know Me (Robbie Williams song)
"You Know Me" is the second official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star. The song was released on December 4, 2009. It is based on an original song "Voilà" written by French artist Françoise Hardy. Williams performed the song...
".
Williams performed "Morning Sun
Morning Sun (song)
"Morning Sun" is the third and final official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album, Reality Killed the Video Star. It was released on 8 March 2010, and it is the official charity single for Sport Relief 2010. Written around the time of pop star Michael...
", the third single from Reality Killed the Video Star, on 23 January 2010 at the NRJ Music Awards
NRJ Music Awards
The NRJ Music Awards, created in 2000 by the radio station NRJ in partnership with the television network TF1 takes place every year in mid-January at Cannes as the opening of MIDEM...
where he also received two awards for "International Male Artist of the Year" and the "NRJ Award of Honour". "Morning Sun" was also performed on 13 February 2010 (Williams' 36th birthday) on the UK TV show So You Think You Can Dance
So You Think You Can Dance (UK)
So You Think You Can Dance is a televised dance competition and reality show that launched in the United Kingdom in January 2010 and similar to the version of the program that has began airing in the USA in 2005. The show is broadcast on BBC One. The content of the show is similar premise to the...
. He performed a medley of his greatest hits, including the three singles from Reality Killed the Video Star, on 16 February at the 2010 BRIT Awards
2010 BRIT Awards
The 2010 BRIT Awards took place on Tuesday 16 February 2010. It was the 30th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The awards ceremony was held at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London. The ceremony was broadcast live on ITV1, hosted by Peter Kay with Fearne...
where Williams won the "Outstanding Contribution to Music Award". He won the award for "Best International Male Artist" at the 2010 ECHO Awards in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on 4 March, making it his seventh Echo Award for this category since 2002. Williams also performed "Morning Sun" at the show.
Singles
The song "BodiesBodies (Robbie Williams song)
"Bodies" is the lead single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams's eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star and was released on 12 October 2009 by EMI. It received its premiere on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 after an interview with Williams on Friday 4 September 2009 at...
" was released as the album's first official single. It premiered on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
on 4 September 2009. It was released on 12 October 2009, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, and has since been certified Silver for sales in excess of 200,000 copies. It has since reached the top 5 and top 10 in several charts across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
as well as in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The song was also named one of the best singles of 2009 by the music website Popjustice
Popjustice
Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 and is the work of UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for NME, The Guardian, Attitude and many others....
. Jennifer Cooke from PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
said that "Bodies" is "vintage Williams, and his strongest single since 'Feel
Feel (Robbie Williams song)
"Feel" is a song by British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams. It was released on December 2, 2002 as the lead single from his fifth studio album, Escapology...
' (2002). Featuring his two favorite subjects, God and sex (not necessarily in that order)".
"You Know Me
You Know Me (Robbie Williams song)
"You Know Me" is the second official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star. The song was released on December 4, 2009. It is based on an original song "Voilà" written by French artist Françoise Hardy. Williams performed the song...
" was the second single to be taken from the album. It was released on 7 December 2009 in the UK, where it peaked at number six on the singles chart and was also certified Silver for sales of over 200,000 copies. The song managed to peak inside the top 20 and top 30 on many European charts and in Australia. PopMatters' Jennifer Cooke felt that "You Know Me" had "a Motown flavor reminiscent of Escapologys 'Something Beautiful
Something Beautiful
"Something Beautiful" is a song by British pop singer Robbie Williams, it was released as the third single from his album Escapology in the summer of 2003.-Music video:...
'." Jude Rogers from The Quietus
The Quietus
The Quietus is a British online rock music and pop culture magazine, focusing on arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication led by John Doran and a group of freelance journalists and critics, some of whom have worked for other media outlets...
said that the song is "Nonsensical and brilliant".
"Morning Sun
Morning Sun (song)
"Morning Sun" is the third and final official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album, Reality Killed the Video Star. It was released on 8 March 2010, and it is the official charity single for Sport Relief 2010. Written around the time of pop star Michael...
" was issued as the third single from the record. In the UK, it was released as the official Sport Relief
Sport Relief
Sport Relief is a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, which brings together the worlds of sport and entertainment to raise money to help vulnerable people in both the UK and the world's poorest countries...
Single on 8 March 2010. The music video for the single was directed by Vaughan Arnell and filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use...
. "Morning Sun" peaked at number 45 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Williams' first single not to enter the top 40. Jude Rogers from The Quietus said that the song features a vocal "that shows what his voice really can do" and that "Even a middle-eight
Thirty-two-bar form
The thirty-two-bar form, often called AABA from the musical form or order in which its melodies occur, is common in Tin Pan Alley songs and later popular music including rock, pop and jazz...
that nods towards the trippy oompah of 'I Am the Walrus
I Am the Walrus
"I Am the Walrus" is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Lennon claimed he wrote the first two lines on separate acid trips. The song was in the Beatles' 1967 television film and album Magical Mystery Tour, and was the B-side to the #1 hit "Hello,...
' can't change a mood that is both grand but melancholy, epic but reflective."
"Last Days of Disco" was released as a promotional single in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on 5 October 2010. The single featured several remixes by the artists including Roger Sanchez
Roger Sanchez
Roger Sanchez, also known as Roger S. and The S Man, is a Grammy award-winning American House music DJ who has scored many hits in the European and World Charts...
, Still Going, Black Van and Mighty Mouse. As of January 2011, the song has peaked at number seven on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
Critical reception
Reality Killed the Video Star received a varied response from music critics. One review aggregater, MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, gave it an average score of 64/100 based on its sample of 17 reviews.
John Bush from Allmusic gave the album two stars out of five. He praised songs like "Bodies
Bodies (Robbie Williams song)
"Bodies" is the lead single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams's eighth studio album Reality Killed the Video Star and was released on 12 October 2009 by EMI. It received its premiere on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 after an interview with Williams on Friday 4 September 2009 at...
" and "Morning Sun
Morning Sun (song)
"Morning Sun" is the third and final official single from British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams' eighth studio album, Reality Killed the Video Star. It was released on 8 March 2010, and it is the official charity single for Sport Relief 2010. Written around the time of pop star Michael...
" but felt that many songs "sound rushed and the performances lackluster". He concluded that the album is "not decidedly worse than 2002's Escapology
Escapology (album)
-Background:In 2002, Williams signed a record-breaking £80 million contract with EMI. The contract featured a number of provisos, including the label ceding greater creative control to the artist and a commitment to breaking Williams in the American market...
, it's just bad in a different way. Whereas Escapology found Robbie disappearing into his own neuroses, this one is a hopeless mélange of satire and sincerity where, from song to song, neither can immediately be distinguished." Chris Mincher from The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
gave the album a C rating stating that: "Neurotically examining his personality quirks through decidedly unoriginal, un-quirky pop songs, Williams apparently wants to express his individuality with classic-rock reference points and frustratingly nonsensical novelty tracks."
Mark Sutherland from Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
gave the album a favorable review. He said that it offers "string-drenched ballads, slick George Michael
George Michael
George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
-style electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
dance-pop
Dance-pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
-esque clever wordplay
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
and the slightly cheesy, supremely catchy MOR pop he made his name with." Sutherland said that "The end result may not be enough to convince America it's missing out, but expect this album to bring the already-converted back onboard in droves." Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave it a B+ rating. Karger felt that, although the album "contains fewer knockout potential hits than past efforts", it does feature "the two strongest soul-flecked tracks of Williams' career", in "You Know Me" and "Won't Do That", and that the singer "simply sounds fantastic with a horn section".
Ben Hogwood from MusicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...
gave the album a mixed review, awarding it with three stars (out of five). He said that the "new songs reflect [a] safer maturity". Hogwood said that the album is "more like a big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
version of George Michael's 'Older' than a funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
ed-up 'Faith
Faith (George Michael song)
"Faith" is a #1 song, written and performed by George Michael, released as a single on Columbia Records, from his 1987 Faith album. According to Billboard magazine, it was the top-selling single of the year in the United States in 1988....
'" and that, although it has "a killer tune or two", the album is not exhibit the "same vitality of years ago." Talking about the production, he felt that "the orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
s are layered on thickly in an attempt to bring some brightness to the grey." Hogwood concluded that Williams' "new found maturity suits his voice on one hand, but given his musical past it makes him a far safer proposition than he used to be."
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
music critic Ann Powers gave the album three stars (out of four) stating that the album is "bullishly diverse". She said that the album is "a full-body flex matching buttery ballads with laser-flecked dance tracks and arch updates from the music hall;". Powers felt that the songs "showcase the nasally soulful Williams as an irresistibly smart, cosmopolitan manchild of the overly wired world." Regarding the lyrics, Powers said that Williams "focuses hard on the out-of-body experience of the everyday." She said that the production on the album is "gorgeous" and that "Williams benefits greatly from the gifts of the producer's longtime team, including the arranger Anne Dudley." Mikael Wood from Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
gave the album a 7/10 rating. He said that the album includes "cowbell-enhanced rave-up
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
, a bit of Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
–ish electro-pop, and one track named after Transformers" and went on to call the record "a charm offensive with stars and stripes".
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
music critic Jonathan Keefe gave the album a mixed review, rating it with two and a half stars (out of five) and talked about Williams' lack of success in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, calling him "one of the U.S. pop market's biggest missed opportunities". Keefe felt that the album featured the sort of "heavy balladry and slick adult-pop" that made Williams' earlier records unappealing to American audiences and suggested that by "downplaying [his] formerly irrepressible charm", Reality Killed the Video Star doesn't do enough to reintroduce the singer to the U.S. pop market.
Andy Gill of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
gave the album three stars out of five, commenting that "Williams' albums have increasingly come to focus upon the singer himself, which has consequently made them less and less appealing to those not entirely smitten with his charms." This sentiment was echoed by Rosie Swash from The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
who also gave the album three stars out of five. She said that "Reality Killed the Video Star is littered with references to his fall from grace, most of which hinge on the premise that someone or something else is truly responsible for his diminishing popularity." Swash said that "If there's a theme here it's not obvious, but it turns out Williams can be quite interesting when he moves off the topic of himself." Swash concluded that the album swings between "mawkish strings and piano overproduction" and "flashes of genuine pop frivolity".
Track listing
Personnel
Performers on the album include:- Tracy Ackerman – Background vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
- Niall Acott – StringStrings (music)A string is the vibrating element that produces sound in string instruments, such as the guitar, harp, piano, and members of the violin family. Strings are lengths of a flexible material kept under tension so that they may vibrate freely, but controllably. Strings may be "plain"...
engineer - Kelvin AndrewsCandy FlipCandy Flip were a British electronic dance band associated with the Madchester music scene in the early 1990s. They are best remembered for their cover version of The Beatles hit "Strawberry Fields Forever" which was a #3 hit in the UK Singles Chart....
– ProgrammingProgramming (music)Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
, background vocals - Graham Archer – Programming, engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
, mixing editor - Paul Beard – PercussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Chris BraideChris BraideChristopher Braide is an English singer, songwriter, record producer published by Sony/ATV worldwide based in Los Angeles.Producer, Songwriter and Ivor Novello ASCAP and Billboard award winner Christopher Braide has achieved considerable success as a songwriter in the UK and the US. His songs have...
– Background vocals - Chris Briggs – A&R
- Julian Broad – PhotographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
- Chris Bruce – BassBass (instrument)Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Cadman – ComposerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
- Andy Cain – Background vocals
- Brandon Christy – Guitar, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, programming, vocals (background) - Chris Cowie – OboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
- Lol Creme – Guitar, vocals (background)
- Anne DudleyAnne DudleyAnne Dudley is an English composer and pop musician, and was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in both the classical and pop genres. She is perhaps best known, however, as one of the core members of the synthpop band Art of Noise and also as a film...
– OrganOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, piano, conductorConductingConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, keyboards, fender rhodesRhodes pianoThe Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
, orchestral arrangements - Fil Eisler – Guitar, programming, vocals (background), synthesizer bass
- Sam Farr – Assistant engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
- Isaac Gaulden – Vocals (background)
- Isobel Griffiths – Orchestra contractor
- Stephen HagueStephen HagueStephen Hague is an American music producer most active with various British acts in the 1980s. He was an influential figure in the synthpop movement.-Early career:...
– Programming, additional production - Edd Hartwell – Assistant engineer
- Earl HarvinEarl HarvinEarl Harvin is a drummer, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist from the New York area who has lived in Dallas, Texas and Los Angeles and is now residing in Berlin, Germany....
– DrumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s - Tom Hingston – Art direction, designArt directorThe art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
- Trevor HornTrevor HornTrevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....
– Bass, piano, keyboards, vocals (background), producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Randall Jacobs – Guitar
- Chaz Jankel – Composer
- Luis Jardim – Percussion
- Mark Lewis – Engineer, assistant engineer
- Steve Lipson – Guitar
- Bob Ludwig – MasteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Ryan Malloy – Vocals (background)
- Jamie MuhoberacJamie MuhoberacJamie Muhoberac is a session keyboardist with numerous credits, including The All-American Rejects, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones , Backstreet Boys, Aly & AJ, Bob Dylan, Goo Goo Dolls, Chris Cornell , My Chemical Romance, Paradise Lost, Girlfriend, Carmen Rizzo and Pet Shop Boys...
– Organ, piano, keyboards, programming, vocals (background) - Jeremy Murphy – Assistant
- Pete Murray – Organ, piano, keyboards, vibraphoneVibraphoneThe vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, fender rhodes, Hammond B3Hammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard... - Tessa NilesTessa NilesTessa Niles is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of artists.-Early life and career:Born in Kent, Niles began her professional singing career, as both a lead and a backing vocalist, in 1979...
– Vocals (background) - Ijeoma Njaka – Vocals (background)
- Chuck Norman – Programming
- Robert Orton – Mixing
- Phil PalmerPhil PalmerPhilip 'Phil' John Palmer is a sideman and session guitarist in jazz and rock who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous famous artists...
– Guitar - Steve Price – String engineer
- Olivia Safe – Vocals, soloistSolo (music)In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
- Richard Scott – HarmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
- Mary Scully – Double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
- Ash SoanAsh SoanAshley "Ash" Soan is a British drummer. His influences include Steve Ferrone, Jim Keltner, James Gadson, Phil Rudd, Art Blakey and Jeff Porcaro.-Career:...
– Percussion, drums - Danny SpencerCandy FlipCandy Flip were a British electronic dance band associated with the Madchester music scene in the early 1990s. They are best remembered for their cover version of The Beatles hit "Strawberry Fields Forever" which was a #3 hit in the UK Singles Chart....
– Programming, vocals (background) - Aaron Walk – Assistant engineer
- Tim WeidnerTim WeidnerTim Weidner is an engineer and producer, best known for his work with Trevor Horn. He produced Yes's album Magnification and for Dead or Alive. He also did a Surround Sound mix for a DVD-A re-release of Yes's Fragile. He has done mixing for artists including Seal, Art of Noise and Captain. He has...
– Programming, vocals (background), engineer, mixing - Robbie WilliamsRobbie WilliamsRobert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
– Composer, vocals - Bruce Wooley – Vocals (background)
Commercial performance
In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the album sold over 85,000 copies in its first day on sale and 238,125 copies in its first week, around 1,500 less than the self-titled debut album
JLS (album)
JLS is the debut album from English boy band JLS. The album was released in the UK on 9 November 2009 by Epic Records. It was preceded by the lead single, "Beat Again" on 13 July 2009. The album debuted at number-one in the UK and Ireland. It has been certified four times platinum in the UK, where...
from JLS
JLS
- Music :* JLS, an English boyband** JLS , debut album by JLS* JLS a Spanish Rock band based in Zaragoza , Spain formed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic by lead Leo Susana.- Organizations :...
, which debuted at number one. The album had the third highest first week sales of 2009 in the UK, behind JLS and Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle
Susan Magdalane Boyle is a Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from ...
's debut album I Dreamed a Dream
I Dreamed a Dream (album)
I Dreamed a Dream is the debut album from Scottish singer Susan Boyle. It was released on 23 November 2009 by Syco Music in the United Kingdom, and by Columbia Records in the United States one day later. In the standard edition, 11 out of the 12 songs that appear on the album are cover songs, plus...
which debuted with 410,000 copies sold. In 2010 it was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
for sales of over 900,000 copies.
Though it missed the top spot in the UK, the album debuted at number one on the European Top 100 Albums
European Top 100 Albums
The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...
chart and spent two weeks at this position. It was certified platinum for sales of more than 1 million copies throughout Europe (which includes UK sales) by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. In continental Europe, the album was certified double platinum in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
for sales of over 400,000 copies. In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the album has sold over 100,000 copies, earning a platinum certification from the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...
. In Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the album sold over 70,000 copies and was awarded a platinum certification by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry
Federation of the Italian Music Industry
The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy....
.
The album has also reached the top ten in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
Outside of Europe, the album reached number one in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
for sales of 70,000 units. It also reached the top ten in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where it was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
for selling more than 7,500 copies. In Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, the album reached the top ten in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and was certified gold for shipments of 30,000 units. The album also earned a gold disc in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
for shipments of over 20,000 units.
Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
1 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 1 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Flanders Flanders Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp... ) |
3 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) | 2 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
57 |
| Croatian Albums Chart | 1 |
| Czech Albums Chart | 2 |
| Danish Albums Chart Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
3 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
1 |
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
1 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
2 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 3 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
1 |
| Hungarian Albums Chart Mahasz Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary.... |
7 |
| Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
2 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
6 |
| Mexican Albums Chart | 6 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
7 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 6 |
| Polish Albums Chart Polish Music Charts The Polish Music Charts are two official album charts and seven singles charts in Poland, provided by ZPAV, the Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . The first, the Top 100, is a monthly chart based on data received from the album companies... |
12 |
| Portugal Albums Chart | 7 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 7 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 2 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 1 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
2 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
160 |
Year-end charts
| Year-end Charts (2009) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart | 31 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 19 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) | 90 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) | 77 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 28 |
| French Albums Chart | 46 |
| German Albums Chart | 18 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 30 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 10 |
| UK Albums Chart | 10 |
| Year-end Charts (2010) | Position |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) | 58 |
| Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) | 85 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 34 |
| European Top 100 Albums | 8 |
| German Albums Chart | 40 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 33 |
| UK Albums Chart | 95 |
Certifications
| Country | Provider | Certification (thresholds) |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | CAPIF Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers The Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers is an Argentine organization member of the IFPI, which represents the music industry in the country. It is a nonprofit organization integrated by multinational and independent record labels.... |
Gold |
| Australia | ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
Platinum |
| Austria | IFPI | Platinum |
| Belgium | Platinum | |
| Chile | Platinum | |
| Denmark | Platinum | |
| Europe | Platinum | |
| Finland | Gold | |
| France | SNEP Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
Platinum |
| Germany | BVMI Bundesverband Musikindustrie The Bundesverband Musikindustrie or simply BVMI represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 350 labels and music industry related enterprises.... |
2× Platinum |
| Hungary | Mahasz Mahasz Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary.... |
Gold |
| Ireland | IRMA Irish Recorded Music Association Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:... |
Gold |
| Italy | FIMI Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
Platinum |
| Mexico | AMPROFON | Gold |
| Netherlands | NVPI NVPI The NVPI is the Dutch tradeassociation of the entertainment industry... |
Gold |
| New Zealand | RIANZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
Gold |
| Poland | ZPAV | Gold |
| Sweden | IFPI | Gold |
| Switzerland | Platinum | |
| United Kingdom | BPI British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
3× Platinum |
Chart procession and succession
Release history
- Reality Killed the Video Star was released in three different formats: a standard 13-track CDCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, deluxe edition and digital download. In addition to the standard version, the deluxe edition features premium packaging and a behind-the-scenes DVD.
| Region | Date | Label Record label In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,... |
Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 6 November 2009 | EMI EMI The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major... |
CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
| Australia | |||
| Austria | |||
| Switzerland | |||
| Mexico | CD, Digital download, CD + DVD | ||
| United Kingdom | 9 November 2009 | Virgin Records Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny... |
|
| France | EMI | ||
| Spain | 10 November 2009 | CD, Digital download | |
| Canada | |||
| United States | 17 November 2009 | Capitol Records Capitol Records Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine... |
|
| Japan | 18 November 2009 | EMI | |
| Brazil | 24 November 2009 | CD |
External links
- Reality Killed the Video Star at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
- RobbieWilliams.com — Robbie Williams official website
- When GQ met Robbie — GQ Magazine interview with Robbie Williams