Robbie Williams wasn’t convinced by ‘Rock DJ’ because he thought the single was “cheesy as hell”.
The track went to the top of the UK Singles Charts in 2000, but his longtime songwriting collaborator Guy Chambers has admitted he had his work cut out convincing Robbie to have faith in the song.
Speaking to NME, he recalled: “We were trying to [write] a song that could be played at a wedding.
“Well, we wanted the lyrics to be funny, provocative, but he thought it was cheesy as hell. He didn’t like it.
“So I had to keep saying to him, ‘I know you don’t like it, but I think it could work.’ He was very self-critical; incredibly self-critical.”
Robbie had other doubts two years later with ‘Feel’, as he thought the music was too “sad” for him to put lyrics to given his mental state at the time.
Guy said: “He was going through a real crisis when he wrote [‘Feel’]. He found the music sad and, because he’s a manic depressive, he didn’t want to write on it.
“Eventually, he did. Thank God he did and let out how he really felt at that time, which was lonely and he needed [to fill] this massive hole in his life [with] love.”
It was another story with ‘Angels’, which was a battle of its own because Guy was suffering with “a terrible sinus infection”.
He almost cancelled the writing session until his mother convinced him to go into the studio, and an all time classic hit was born.
Asked why the song resonates with people, Guy pondered: “It’s one of the few Robbie songs that isn’t very specific to his life. It’s a universal song.
“A lot of his lyrics aren’t very personal and have a lot of his humour in it and that kind of thing. Quirky would be the word I’d use. ‘Angels’ isn’t like that.
“‘Angels’ is a spiritual song. It’s kind of a hymn. Therefore, I think because of that, it was this massive deal. We should have written more like that really, but we didn’t.”