Everything about Boy Band totally explained
A
boy band, written in some countries
boys band or
boy's band, is a type of
pop group featuring several young male
singers. They can be distinguished from
rock bands. The members are generally expected to perform as
dancers as well, often executing highly choreographed sequences to their own music. Although there are no distinct traits defining a boy band, one could label a band a "boy band" for following mainstream music
trends, changing their appearances to adapt to new
fashion trends, having elaborate
dance moves, and performing elaborate
shows. They can evolve out of church choral or
Gospel music groups, but are often put together by
talent managers or
record producers who audition the groups for
appearance, dancing,
rapping skills, and
singing ability. Boy bands often seem to be
prefabricated.
Although they're referred to as "bands", they may not play
musical instruments, and the acts are essentially
vocal harmony groups (though there are some exceptions, such as groups like
A1). Due to this and their general commercial orientation towards a
teenybopper or
preteen audience, the term has negative connotations in
music journalism. Boy bands are similar in concept to
girl groups.
Top selling boy bands
History
Maurice Starr is usually credited with starting the trend, with his
protégés
New Edition and
New Kids on the Block, though the term "boy band" didn't exist until later in the 1990s. Starr's idea was to take the traditional template from the R&B genre (in this case his teenage band
New Edition) and apply it to a pop genre. This formula was in turn redefined by a number of European managers such as Nigel Martin-Smith and
Louis Walsh, until the UK pop marketplace was saturated with the genre.
TV Producers
Bert Schneider and
Bob Rafelson got four members to perform catchy pop tunes while also acting in a television series. The
Monkees are often considered as the original pioneers among boy bands. Formed in 1965 the group disbanded in 1970. Although the term is mostly associated with groups from the 1990s onwards, antecedents exist throughout the history of pop music.
The Temptations, popular in the 1960s, and
The Bee Gees,
The Jackson 5,
The Osmonds, and
Earth, Wind and Fire, popular in the 1970s, have also been considered a form of boy band by some. Latino boy band
Menudo was founded in 1977.
One of the most successful boy band managers is
Lou Pearlman, who is responsible for extremely commercially successful acts such as the
Backstreet Boys and
*NSYNC. In the UK, producer
Simon Cowell (noted in the U.S. for the American Idol/Pop Idol franchise) is also known for having managed boyband
Westlife, which was created by Louis Walsh and promoted by a former boy band member
Ronan Keating of
Boyzone.
Since
2001, the dominance of traditional boy bands on pop charts began to fade to be replaced by what Gil Kaufman of
MTV describes as "new boy bands" that are "more likely to resemble
Good Charlotte,
My Chemical Romance,
Sum 41,
Simple Plan or
Dashboard Confessional".
Key factors of the concept
Seen as important to a "boy band" group's commercial success is the group's
image, carefully controlled by managing all aspects of the group's dress, promotional materials (which are frequently supplied to
teen magazines), and
music videos. Typically, each member of the group will have some distinguishing feature and be portrayed as having a particular personality stereotype, such as "the baby," "the bad boy," or "the nice boy." While managing the portrayal of popular musicians is as old as
popular music, the particular pigeonholing of band members is a defining characteristic of boy and girl bands.
In most cases, their music is written, arranged and produced by a producer who works with the band at all times and controls the group's sound - if necessary, to the point of hiring
session singers to record guide vocals for each member of the group to sing individually if the members can't harmonize well together.
A typical boy band performance features elaborately
choreographed dancing, with the members taking turns singing and/or rapping. Boy bands generally don't compose or produce their own material, unless the members lobby hard enough for creative control (for example
The Monkees and
'N Sync).
The key factor of a boy band is being trendy. This means that the band conforms to the most recent fashion and musical trends in the popular music scene. As of 2008, boy bands are more likely to be imitating
pop punk acts like
Blink 182, 1960's surf and
garage rock revivalist acts like
The Horrors or
post punk revivalists like
Franz Ferdinand.
Current Boy Bands
Boy bands have since taken more of a rock influenced tone.
Backstreet Boys,
Take That and
Westlife are some examples, which are still popular among teens and adults. The 90's boy band New Kids on the Block have announced that that'll come back together and will release more details on their website in February 2008. Boy bands are beginning to peak again in the United States after a 5 year mainstream absence, such as the new R&B/Pop influenced boy bands
Menudo,
NLT,
VYBE,
Lexington Bridge,
US5 and
Day26. Boybands in Asia continue to do well in the mainstream market as popular groups such as
Shinhwa,
Arashi,
NEWS,
KAT-TUN,
TVXQ,
Super Junior, and
Fahrenheit continue to release chart-topping material in different countries of Asia.
Music genres
Although most boy bands consist of
R&B influences, other
music genres, most notably
country music and
folk music are also represented.
South 65 and
Marshall Dyllon, for example, were both considered country music boy bands.
List of Boy bands
Criticism
Boy bands tend to be heavily criticized by some in the musical press for appealing to young pubescent girls for emphasizing marketing and packaging over quality of music. Such views are reflected in the humorous definition in the
Chambers Dictionary: "a pop group, targeting mainly the teenage market, composed of young males chosen because they look good and can dance and sometimes even sing."
In the 1990s, boy bands such as the
Backstreet Boys and
Lyte Funky Ones sometimes found the term "boy band" offensive and insisted on being called a "male vocal group".
Some critics compare boy band output to the "machine-generated" popular music found in
George Orwell's novel,
Nineteen Eighty-Four, noting that much of their music (as well as the bands' composition) is extremely
formulaic. Other critics point to boy bands (and related musical groups) as case studies in
commercialism and
postmodernism, with little cultural content. Such criticisms can become extremely scathing:
Pop culture influence
Due to their pre-fab nature, boy bands are not only a frequent target of criticism, but also a frequent source of parody in popular culture, ranging from the
television series
2ge+her (which created a
parody boy band with five personality types) to a week-long spoof in
1999, wherein talk show host
Conan O'Brien, inspired by
Making the Band, created his own boy band called Dudez-A-Plenti, after randomly selecting five singers, narrowed down from the population of the entire world. A series of sketches culminated in a performance of a song O'Brien apparently made up himself: "Baby, I Wish You Were My Baby".
Further examples of boy band parodies in pop culture include:
The Norwegian movie Get Ready to be Boyzvoiced is a boyband mockumentary.
In the South Park episode Something You Can Do with Your Finger, Cartman formed a boy band named Fingerbang.
The 2001 film Josie and the Pussycats featured a fictional boy band named "Du Jour."
In The Simpsons episode New Kids on the Blecch, Bart is recruited for a boy band that's secretly a vehicle for subliminal navy recruitment messages. The members of 'N Sync cameoed in the episode as themselves. Members of another Lou Pearlman-backed band, Natural, did provide most of the group's singing voices. (Marc Terenzi did Nelson while Michael 'J' Horn did Milhouse.)
On the Veggie Tales videos The Ballad of Little Joe and Moe and the Big Exit, Larry, Mr. Lunt, Jimmy, and Junior do a parody of a boy band video for the two Boyz in the Sink songs "Bellybutton" and "A Mess Down in Egypt."
The Meaty Cheesy Boys were a fictional band created during an ad campaign for Jack in the Box restaurants.
In the Boyz 'N Commotion episode of the Disney Channel series That's So Raven, Raven wants a boy band named the Boyz in Motion to perform in front of her friends. In another episode, Raven wants the Boyz in Motion to perform in an emergency plan video for Donna Cabonna. The Boyz in Motion are sometimes referred to as The Boyz.
The blink-182 music video for "All The Small Things" is a parody of boy bands and other pop stars, most prominently, the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" music video.
The off-Broadway musical Altar Boyz is about a fictitious Christian boy band from Ohio.
Eminem lyric from "The Real Slim Shady" states "I am sick of you little girl and boy groups, all you do is annoy me"
In an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Ryan Stiles' hoedown stanza observes that boy bands aren't bands "unless [they] play an instrument."
Australian film BoyTown is about a fictional boyband who had their golden age in the 1980s, and reform to sing songs about divorce and picking the kids up from school and to go on one last tour.
New Zealand radio station The Edge created a cliché boyband, called Boyband in 2006. It consisted of Fat Boy, Gay Boy, Mummy's Boy, Bad Boy and Hot Boy. They achieved a small success in the country, with their cover of The Kinks' song "You Really Got Me" reaching number one on the New Zealand music charts for one week.
In an episode of Kim Possible, the Oh Boyz appear.
The Arrogant Worms made a parody song called "Boy Band" which includes lyrics such as "We are in a boy band, the words are stupid and the music's bland".
Totally Boyband was a reality TV show broadcast on MTV in the UK which featured several ex-boy band members attempts to reclaim success as part of a boy band super group named Upper Street.
Howard Stern's band The Backside Boys has spoofed boy bands, (especially The Backstreet Boys) with the song parodies, "Backside's Back" and "The Gay Way".
The 2007 novel In Stereo Where Available by Becky Anderson features a character named C.J. Anastasio, an aging former member of the fictional boy band "NYC Boyz." One scene features the character trying to seduce the protagonist by showing off his look-alike action figure and performing dance routines.
Success in the genre
Though some fans are wildly supportive of the music, the commercial success of specific boy bands doesn't tend to last long. As the fans (mostly teen girls) age and musical tastes evolve, they tend to outgrow such groups' appeal. If success is sustained, often one or more members of the band will leave and seek a solo career (particularly if they've some songwriting ability), often with some success, for instance: Michael Nesmith, Jordan Knight, Robbie Williams, Justin Timberlake, Jesse McCartney, Ronan Keating, Brian McFadden, and Ricky Martin.
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