"I don't really have anything against Will Young or Gareth Gates"
About this Quote
Context matters: Young and Gates arrived as early-2000s pop’s clean, competition-forged exports, while Almond came up in a messier, more transgressive ecosystem where image, sexuality, and subculture weren’t branding exercises but lived risk. So the line carries a generational friction without staging a fight. It’s Almond defending a certain idea of pop authenticity without having to say “authenticity,” a word that turns any conversation into a purity test.
There’s also a subtle class-and-media critique embedded here. Reality-TV pop is built on consensus: likeability, accessibility, neat narratives. Almond’s career, especially with Soft Cell, thrived on edge, ambiguity, and discomfort. By insisting he has “nothing against” these men, he exposes how the press rewards conflict and how pop discourse forces artists into simplistic positions: embrace the new, or be labeled jealous.
It’s a non-attack that reads like a refusal to be domesticated.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Almond, Marc. (2026, January 16). I don't really have anything against Will Young or Gareth Gates. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-really-have-anything-against-will-young-or-136400/
Chicago Style
Almond, Marc. "I don't really have anything against Will Young or Gareth Gates." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-really-have-anything-against-will-young-or-136400/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I don't really have anything against Will Young or Gareth Gates." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-really-have-anything-against-will-young-or-136400/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.








