After the Screaming Stops

There's footage from their peak where the Goss twins are surrounded by 100s of screaming girls, plus the one boy. Him being quite the unexpected fan as boys, including 10 year old me, absolutely did NOT like Bros. However, as an adult, I do find myself revisiting stories from my early years that I was too young at the time to fully comprehend, and I watched 'After' wanting to know how the biggest phenomena of 1988 fell out of favour so quick.

'After' follows the Goss Bros reuniting for their first performance together since their initial split, and the doc follows the preparation for their comeback gig (at the London 02 Arena no less), interspersed with archive footage and the brothers looking back at their childhood and the peak years of their success.

Within the first 10 minutes, Matt is giving us a tour of his home, showing us, completely irony free, a commissioned painting of his bulldog with a pint of beer. There seems to be little change from their 80s selves, ludicrous with no apparant sense of self-awareness, but this is actually what makes the film a hugely entertaining watch, for the fan and non-fan. The prize quotes from the film and have been plastered all round the internet, so I don't need to repeat them here - there are some real laugh out loud moments, and I'm left thinking that the brothers are in on the joke but they won't show any cracks in their facade.

My bigger disappointment in the film was that there is little insight into their decline. They had a hugely successful first year, followed by a more muted comeback in 1989, and a barely noticed third clutch of singles and an album in 1991. There was the departure of Craig Logan (the rumour mill at the time suggested the boys kicked him out, not true), mockery and hostility from the press, competition by way of Jason Donovan and New Kids On The Block, and no especially memorable songs after 'I Owe You Nothing' and 'When Will I Be Famous'. They touch on Luke quitting, their financial troubles, and the stress of the sheer venom unleashed upon them, however, by the end of the film, I was left non the wiser as at the start - what actually happened?

As the boys arrive at the airport, they receive an enthusiastic and emotional greeting from the grown-up Brosettes, showing that 30 years later, they still mean a great deal to some of their fans. These same fans would wait all day outside the family house in Peckham for a glimpse of the twins - a major intrusion into their personal lives - but they (and their mother) took it well, happy to go outside hug fans and give autographs, whilst other stars would hide behind their bodyguards. This invites cynics like me to want the twins to deliver a knockout comeback performance, whilst the decades apart from each other in a studio has not softened their clashing personalities, and we're left wondering if the twins reunion will indeed lead to destruction or the genesis of new beginnings.

For a fan, this naturally is a must, but there is plenty of reasons for the non-fan to watch. And to imagine they nearly called themselves Caviar...

Great honesty shown by the identical twins, one apparently bald, one apparently sporting a full head of hair. They suffer from full on Gallagher and Davies syndrome. Yet their articulacy goes against the expected grain of a boyband. Great respect for allowing this to be exhibited, really wish I had gone to the O2 reunion now!

There are only two reasons to watch this documentary. You are a Brosette from the 1980s or you heard that this was a real life Spinal Tap mockumentary.

It is obvious that a lot of footage here has been contrived. Matt and Luke might have fallen out several decades ago but negotiations must have taken place between the brothers for them to: a) reunite for a special series of concerts and b) to be followed by a documentary crew.

What the documentary crew captured was how unaware the two brothers are, especially Matt. My wife just burst out giggling with some of the stuff the brothers came out with.

'This area's for conversations.'

'I made a conscious decision because of Stevie Wonder. To not be superstitious.'

All of it without any irony.

Bros were the next big boy band to emerge after Wham called it a day. Their best known song was 'When Will I be Famous?' Their fame lasted for exactly 15 minutes. The band consisted of twins Matt & Luke Goss as well as Craig Logan the bass player. We see some footage of Craig but he really has been airbrushed out of Bros history.

Ironically Craig who quit the band at the height of their brief fame is the most successful one as a music executive.

Matt is a crooner who pretends to be Frank Sinatra in the lounge of a Las Vegas hotel. His audience probably consists of middle aged British Bros fans and their exasperated husbands. Luke managed to carve a niche as a straight to DVD action star.

The brothers were hoping that there is enough nostalgia out there for Bros to have a long series of nights at the O2 but the shows only lasted two nights. I guess those tickets did not fly off the shelves.

Just see the brothers when they are not arguing, going through their set list for the upcoming tour. They debate what they should leave out. Hold on you only had three hit songs!

Watch it for all the wrong reasons.

I watched this doc on BBC iPlayer over Christmas - you really don't need to have previous knowledge of Bros to enjoy this. If you appreciate Spinal Tap, David Brent, Alan Partridge etc you'll love this. And it's real.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

This movie is what This Is Spinal Tap was trying to achieve but so much more. The Goss brothers unintentionally put together one of the funniest films of the last 10 years. Matt Goss' insane similes, metaphors and anecdotes are akin to Michael Scott of The Office and really must be heard to be believed. It spoke volumes about how brief and fleeting fame can forever skew a person's perspective of reality and a sense of their own importance. Ultimately Bros were huge for an incredibly small amount of time but seem to perceive themselves to have been at the level of the Beatles and their earnest belief in that makes them both comic and tragic. The battle of egos over the smallest detail in what turns out to be a not exactly sold out show at the shed that is London's O2 is akin to Christopher Guest's 1984 classic. Compelling in its madness and definitely worth a watch.