The Story of Pop: 2000 (Chapter 42)

Retelling the tales behind the hits of the year that American Beauty and Erin Brockovich were box office smashes, and when Anne Robinson first uttered “You are The Weakest Link, goodbye”, this is The Story of Pop: 2000. This week: British pop’s reigning prince and Australia’s pop royalty team up for the year’s sauciest duet…

By October 2000, Robbie Williams was at something of a career zenith. We already saw earlier in the series how his last single ‘Rock DJ‘ had become one of the year’s most controversial and fastest selling chart toppers, sending sales of his third solo album Sing When You’re Winning through the roof and to number one on the LP listings as a result.

Things were looking equally peachy – pardon the pun – for Kylie Minogue, back on top following the majestic ‘Spinning Around‘ we also met earlier in the series, as well as further success for the follow up ‘On A Night Like This’ (#2 in September) and her discotastic Light Years album. It was only going to be a matter of time therefore, before pop’s showgirl met pop’s showman.

And what a meeting it was. Featured on both their respective albums, ‘Kids’ was a raunchy, riotous meeting of two of pop’s key performers, as they paired off self referential eye ups of their backgrounds (“I’ve been dropping beats since Back in Black“, quips Kylie at one point, referencing of course the AC/DC album that came out the year of her debut).

However, this balls to the wall showstopper drew attention, not least for another eye popping video that got the pre-watershed censors in a tizzle, as it saw Robbie and Kylie both getting intimate on stage and in a pool, as a nation primed on tenterhooks wondered ‘Are they or aren’t they?’

Speculation was fuelled even further when they performed it at that year’s MTV Europe Music Awards in Stockholm the following month, with Kylie in a tiny slip of a dress and Robbie barely able to keep his cool. And although held off the top spot at the death by a returning U2, the single still made a respectable #2.

‘Kids’ continues to remain a favourite in both their live sets, although they’ve rarely performed it together since in the last 20 years, with Kylie performing it with her sister Dannii and U2’s Bono amongst others, whilst Robbie performed it with Olly Murs on their 2013 stadium tour of Europe.

Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 2000. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments or Tweet us, using the hashtag #StoryofPop2000.