No Matter What - Boyzone documentary

[WhollarBill]

Can't see a thread on this yet.
I've just finished watching this three parter. Is anyone else watching it?
It's so sad seeing the effect the management and media had on all of them. I already hated Louis Walsh but this cements it for me!

Enjoyed this but they definitely seem the most messed up out of all the bands featured in the BBC documentary. Louis is a psycho.

I've never been a Ronan fan but actually did think he was showing self reflection. He was so young when he made those choices. and his experience of adulthood was pure adoration from fans and being his manager's favourite.

He did leave the others behind in a callous way but this happens in workplaces the world over when one person gets promoted.

Felt sad for Mikey and didn't realise what a talent he was. The part where Louis did jazz-hands at seeing the tabloid that outted Stephen.. I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

Ronan is this weeks guest on Nicky ByrneS podcast so that should be a good listen.

as I said up thread, when Louis Walsh was on it he spent the entire time slagging off Ronan. I assume it was recorded before the docu aired, it would be interesting to hear what the westlife lads now think about Louis following this.

Just watching now.
I was a huge fan when I was younger, had all the albums, their concerts on video.
I saw them in their first concert in Dublin after Stephens death.
Shane was a favourite, that bad boy image, the tattoos and the wink at the camera he used to do...!

I was shocked to learn that Mikey wasn't even on the first album! The music producer who told Louis to get rid of Ronan, but then he chose to keep him and make him a lead singer...wtf?!

Louis really comes across as a totally deranged person. He, was and is out to only feather his own nest be damned with the consequences and they just washed over him.

I feel for Mikey, he was treated appallingly, which clearly caused mental health problems (easy to see now!) I just hope he finds some peace now, and all the comments show he was liked more then he thought.

He has cancer.

What a vile human being laughing at the papers outing Stephen.

Dh said he wondered if it had got physical when they fought.

Binged this tonight. Was never a huge fan, but boy, what a good documentary. Cried buckets. Louis Walsh is vile. Who was the guy who walked behind him at the very start of E1 ?

Yeah, I wondered this too. Sometimes people do things that cannot be undone and it seems he's had to draw a hard line to protect himself. I really hope Mikey sees the support for him on the back of this documentary and finds some comfort in it.

I didn't like them at all but watching the doc I realised I knew practically every word to every song,that's a testament to how huge they were and how they were played just about everywhere.

Can we talk about Ronan 's pearl earring? What a bell end ,he has really improved with age but that made me laugh 😂

I remember when Stephen was outed. It was horrendous. He was hounded by the press and looked very upset at the time.

I first saw the nasty side of Louis in the Big Brother house. Before then he always was portrayed as a bit of a fool on X Factor. When in fact he's a nasty man. I wonder if more stories will come out about him now?

I didn't like them at all but watching the doc I realised I knew practically every word to every song,that's a testament to how huge they were and how they were played just about everywhere.

I think because Boyzone were never 'cool' and because it was pre-social media, pre SMTV/CD-UK, people forget how big Boyzone actually where.

I've loved them forever, but at certain times in my life with certain people I worked with, I always had to keep them as my guilty pleasure, rather than openly admitting it. So I think people forget how big they really were.

I said up thread, that when it was NKOTB and TT, they were all told under no circumstances could they ever admit to having girlfriends. Boyzone defied this, by having Keith and Mikey become dads within the first 2 years of the band, Ronan getting married at 21 and Shane marrying Easther from Eternal. Then obviously Stephen being openly gay after being outed.

Without Boyzone, none of the other bands like 1D would have been able to be open about girlfriends/kids

@PrincessScarlett I remember when Stephen was outed. It was horrendous. He was hounded by the press and looked very upset at the time.

What's haunted me somewhat since I watched it is the fact that he spent years in the full glare of the public eye living in fear of being outed from the moment he woke up until he went to sleep at the end of the day. Can imagine the damage that did to his mental health.

Also it's annoying me more since I watched it how the others explained away Mikey's suffering in episode 1 but saying "he was just the quiet one". So that excoriates their conscious for not bothering to check on him. And as if Louis Walsh didn't speak to him for 7 years by accident 🙄.

And loved seeing posh spice being silly and trying to impresonate them 😆.

@LoafofSellotape the pearl earring and army tags round his neck. What a knob 🙄.

The lads were 16 when it started…giddy with fame and learning how to cope themselves .. I’m not sure they were capable of supporting mikey. Louis clearly didn’t care about any of them other than as income.

They were treated appallingly by Louis… I don’t believe for one minute he didn’t out Stephen - whilst never discussing his own life.. he’s said his private life is just that.. he is an absolute vile little weasel

as for Ronan, look at his teacher… Louis taught him everyone is disposable and look out for number 1. can’t say I like him and he’s obviously selfish, not convinced at least some of the tears were not fir show, but he appears to have some self awareness and I think his regrets over Stephen are true.

God that Rav guy and Louis are utterly disgusting specimens. Awful.

I listened to the Nicky Byrne podcast that PP suggested. Ronan went very easy on Louis considering! Thought he would at least have mentioned the tabloid incident from the doc.

Oh I haven’t listened yet - that’s my plan tonight.

it may be that Ronan/nicky hadn’t seen the documentary when the podcast was recorded. Depends on timelines I guess.

That's true. Maybe they know it speaks for itself!

Yeah I clocked that weird pearl earring.

Nicky Byrne's podcast is great actually. I listened to his interview with Gary Barlow from a few months ago and there are a lot of similar dynamics in all of these boybands. Gary was obviously the favoured one in Take That (with good reason to be fair) and Nicky was lower down the pecking order in Westlife so it was an interesting conversation.

Nicky said he was Louis' least favourite and mentioned coming off stage after a gig and all Louis said to him was "Shane was amazing".

Have you listened to the one with Joey from nSync @Sakura7? that was interesting about his perspective about Lou Perlman ripping them off.

the Samantha mumba one was good - she comes across as an absolutely lovely lass.

I think Nicky’s experience in radio shows, he’s a really good interviewer

They did get settled down young didn't they! I've just been furiously Wiki-ing. Three young dads, and Shane got married for the first time when he was 21. It's only Stephen who was in his 30s.

big takeaway from this documentary is what an unashamedly brazen cunt Louis Walsh is.....

Couldn't have put it better myself.

I agree with earlier comments here about how interesting it was to see genuine reflection and (I think) regret/remorse from Ronan. I also thought it was sometimes so emotional when he was talking about Steven that it felt a bit intrusive, very moving

I do wish more was made of the exploitative nature of this industry, everything argument put forward seems to be rooted in the individual bands and their dynamic, but there has been a massive industry literally exploiting the desperation and dreams of working class boys and making money from them while paying them peanuts

I want more class warfare from these docs!

So someone who wears jewellery is a knob? You don’t know the bloke. Shane had a bracelet on in the documentary. Is he a knob too?