Once apon a time (say, when I was 16), I was a bit of an arsehole when it came to all things music. If it didn’t have guitars in it, I didn’t wan’t to know. Before that I owned most of Roxette’s back catalogue on cassette, but that’s another story altogether.

Anyway, part of being a 16-year-old music arsehole is slagging off entire genre’s of music; slagging off ‘cheesy pop’ music to be more exact. Apart from Steps, SClub7 and other frankly easy targets, Robbie Williams gets a right old bashing. Heck, at an age when Oasis were the epitome of cool, picking up on Noel Gallagher’s ‘Fat Dancer’ jibe only added to the fun.

Somewhat depressingly, Robbie’s new single (Trippin’) is, well, actually it’s quite good. Not the definitive piece of 21st century music, but I’d take it over another Starsailor record.

I was suffering with this truth for a bit until this evening when I caught the end of some ‘100 greatest record sales ever on a Friday’ type programme. Apparently, all his recent material has come out of collaborating with Stephen Duffy, a man who I’ve much more respect for. His work with the Lilac Time contains some gems, (though that’s just from working through a copy of their Compendium greatest hits jobby, I wouldn’t say I was a fan as such) but what I really love is his solo album ‘I love my friends’. It’s got some fabulous pop songs on it.

I can tell you, the knowledge that Duffy can take at least some credit for Trippin’ and others makes it a little easier to adapt to this brave new world where Robbie Williams isn’t shite. I still feel a little dirty, but the pleasure blasting out ‘One Day, One of These Fucks Will Change Your Life’ on the iPod can’t be tarnished.