"Back for Good" is a "triumphant ballad...ruminating on life,love,and second chances".[1] It was written by Gary Barlow (who also sang lead vocals) and engineered by keyboard player Phil Coxon of OMD. Barlow has said that he wrote the song in fifteen minutes. It was unveiled at the 1995 BRIT Awards,and there was such demand for the song that its release date was brought forward.[2] "Back for Good" was made available to the media an unprecedented six weeks before release.[3]
Just prior to the release of "Back for Good",the group had done a photo shoot for Vogue Italia with designer Gianni Versace. The clothing range given to the band by Versace is featured on the single cover.[4]
Release and chart performance
"Back for Good" was released on 27 March 1995[5] and entered the UK Singles Chart at number one. The single sold nearly 350,000 copies in its first week,making it one of the fastest-selling singles of the year. "Back for Good" sold almost as many units as the other songs from that week's Top 10 combined.[6][2] It was included on the album Nobody Else.[2]
"Back for Good" remained at number one in the United Kingdom for four weeks. The song has received a double platinum sales status certification in the United Kingdom,and is also still regularly ranked high in United Kingdom based favourite ever songs polls.[7][bettersourceneeded] It is Take That's biggest selling single from the 1990s and second overall behind "Rule The World",with UK sales of 1.2 million as of September 2017.[8] The song won British Single of the Year at the 1996 Brit Awards.[9]
"Back for Good" would later reach number seven on the United States Billboard Hot 100,spending a total of thirty weeks on the chart,[10] sixty-six weeks on the US Adult Contemporary chart,[11] and 30 weeks on the Top 40 US Airplay chart.[12] It reached number one in 31 countries.[13]
Critical reception
Steve Baltin from Cash Box stated Take That had "a massive hit on its hands with this very straight-ahead blue-eyed soulballad." He described it as a "nice,soothing track",adding that "Back for Good" "won’t revolutionize music,but it shows a young band very good at what it does."[14] Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel said that the song "features a fine melody line and background vocals that decorate the song with perfect finesse" and called the song "a great pop confection". He also asserted that "Back for Good" was,by far,the best song on the Nobody Else album.[15] In his weekly UK chart commentary,James Masterton called "Back for Good" "one of the most breathtakingly brilliant pop singles that had been heard in a long long time" and added that it was "arguably the band's masterpiece".[16] "If it touches people,it's a good song," remarked Noel Gallagher in an interview with Mojo. "You know,people go on about Take That –but 'Back for Good' said something to me. And if it touches me…"'[17]
Pan-European magazine Music &Media commented,"With a romantic 'film ballad' like this,Take That trespasses Wet Wet Wet's territory,which opens the possibility to crossover to an older audience–the female 25+ demo?–for the first time".[18] A reviewer from Music Week gave the song a rating of five out of five and named it Single of the Week,writing,"Take That play it safe opting for a nice-not naughty MOR pop number which will pick up sales outside their usual fanbase. With more than a month of radio support behind it,an instant,and long lasting,number one seems certain".[19] The magazine later added,"Expect to hear this beautifully-arranged,classic pop ballad on the radio and jukeboxes for many years to come".[20] Ian McCann from NME said,"'Back for Good' is just too classy,too like a Cliff Richard Christmas adult ballad about how he misses the wife he's never actually had,and what a painful divorce,which he's never actually had,is."[21] Another NME editor,Johnny Dee,praised it as "a peerless piece of classic pop".[22] Gerald Martinez from New Sunday Times called it "a beautifully produced love ballad."[23]
In December 1995,NME ranked "Back for Good" number 47 in their list of "NME Writers' Top 50 Singles of 1995".[24] In 2015,Idolator called the song a "pop masterpiece".[25] In 2018,it was ranked eleventh by Billboard critics in their compilation of the "100 Greatest Boyband Songs of All Time".[26] In 2020,Rolling Stone ranked the song number 15 in their list of "75 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time".[27]
In 2003,Q Magazine ranked the song at number 910 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".[28]
Music video
The music video for "Back for Good" was shot in black and white on 27 February 1995 and directed by British directors Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton.[29] It shows the band walking and dancing in the rain. Most of the outdoor footage was filmed at the backlot of Pinewood Studios. "Back for Good" was also the last Take That video to include Robbie Williams until 2010. A 1958 Chevrolet Impala and a 1951 Mercury Custom were used in the video. Because they filmed the video in cold and wet conditions,several members of Take That caught the flu.[2]
The "Back for Good" video has often been an influence in the band performing the song live,as the band often makes use of artificial rain when performing it. It also appears on the DVD release,Never Forget:The Ultimate Collection and was made available on Take That's official YouTube channel in 2009.[30]
The song was a big hit in Brazil during 1995 and 1996, thanks to soap operaExplode Coração: the song was one of the main songs on the television show's soundtrack.
In an effort to mock his boy band roots, group member turned solo artist Robbie Williams performed a 'hard rock' live version in the style of the Sex Pistols, which was a B-side to his single "Angels" (1998). Williams performed this arrangement of the song with Mark Owen, as the encore at his record-breaking Knebworth Park concerts and eventually performed this version with Take That, upon receiving his Brit Icon Award in 2016.
The song was featured on the final episode of the second series of Spaced, in which Tim, Brian, and Mike, along with Mike's Territorial Army buddies, attempt to play the song for Marsha, a la the boombox scene from Say Anything... It also featured in the final episode of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's The Office as a love theme for characters Tim (Martin Freeman) and Dawn (Lucy Davis). It's featured in British hospital comedy series Green Wing as a dream sequence with Julian Rhind-Tutt's character Mac enacting all members of Take That.
Gary Barlow stated on ITV1's An Audience with Take That Live broadcast on 2 December 2006 that there were 89 versions recorded by other artists.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
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