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Disclaimer: This entry is, in no way or form, intended to insult, badger, let down or attack the subject involved. Neither is this supportive or encouraging in any tone or manner. This is a purely (hopefully) neutral stand based on observation, research (courtesy of Wikipedia) and historical remembrance of the said subject. Comments of all sorts are freely invited, so as long as we all remember that this is not meant to choose sides nor attack, for as always, we are all entitled to our own opinion. Enjoy. For those who know me well, they know that my taste in music is quite eclectic. By eclectic (God, I hope my choice of word was appropriate), it means that I enjoy listening to all types of music. From classic, to techno, to EMO, alternative, R&B, 2-Step, UK Garage and so on, with anything and everything in between. In this entry, however, and as stated in the title above, I will not necessarily be tackling the general genre of the subject involved, but instead on the phenomena that has swept through a decade, anteceded by earlier generations, and even attempted comebacks or continuity in this century. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children, teeners, tweeners and adults of all ages; I present the subject of this matter: BOY BANDS. Yes, folks. Those group of boys bunched together, created in bunches, and a staple of the 90's music scene. The quintisssential Pop genre machine, and a moneymaker for probably any recording company in that century. For starters, I would like to give a short history of this "revolution". While most people would think that the first group to have come from this was Maurice Starr's brainchild New Kids On The Block (which he had patterned after his teenage R&B group New Edition, except that he wanted to target the Pop market, and take note that they weren't labeled a boy band yet), history has detailed us with earlier connotations of this through acts such as Menudo ("If You're Not Here"), The Beach Boys ("Wouldn't It Be Nice") and the Monkees that the concept of a boy band has been implanted in music history a long time ago. Only by the commercialization of this concept in the 90's has the "boy band" label been materialized to how we know it to this day. I'd also like point out that the most prominent countries that have churned out boy bands are the US and the UK. Let's face it, no matter what stand you may have on them, the "boy band revolution" has been engraved into our lives as we speak. Though there is no currently dominant faction of this in our current billboard charts, it's practically in our state of mind. Take, for instance, if you see 4 guys walking together, all of which uniquely dressed and quite fashionable (let's not forget the different hairstyles), what could be the first words that you might utter? "Wow, parang boy band". Or, for another instance, you hear a group of guys, singing in harmony. What do you say? "Wow, you guys sound like a boy band" ;P See? It's that deep into our culture. Of course, there are a couple of things that you may have noticed about boy bands. These are what I call the "Make or Break" moments for them. Take note, that our of perception and observation, I feel as if most boy bands have most, if not all, of these moments in their history. Let us elaborate: They have at least one song that is practically cheesy, yet sells. Who could forget LFO's contagious ditty entitled "Summer Girls", where a bevy of cliches are belted out at disposal? Or maybe even A1's "Everytime", which plagued the radio for months. Oh, let's not forget "Freaky Time" by Point Break (a group which didn't wanna be labeled as such since none of their songs contain the word "love" in it.. and I will just add that they very much remind me of the wrestling faction once known as "3 Count"). They have that song that, after deep observation you'd think to yourself: "What the hell?" Maybe it's the words, or maybe the way it was arranged, the cheesy song puts them on the map, regardless of location or meaning. Nice way to get attention. Conan O'Brien's parody "Dudez-A-Plentee" made one called "Baby I Wish You Were My Bab". For a bunch of pretty boys, there's always a heartthrob. Yes, there's always the perennial eye candy. The one who gets the most screaming fans because he's like, the most handsome thing you'll ever see. Now, apparently, this label gets often linked to the youngest or the "baby" of the group. This works as a plus for them, coz they're the ones who elevates their personal growth as a musician, should they decide to go solo afterwards (see: Justin Timberlake, NSYNC; Nick Carter, Backstreet Boys; Ashley Parker Angel, O-Town). Sadly, it also works to his disadvantage, as he becomes the most publicized and most ridiculed. That means he gets all the weird rumors, mostly the ones that involve him being gay. (See: Nick Carter (again); Stephen Gately, Boyzone - of whom I'll be mentioning again later) They are assembled. Regardless how, they are assembled. See, this goes both ways: either the group gets assembled on their own by way of friends, siblings or acquaintances, or a record company just plain decides to do a nationwide search to make their boy band. Eitherway, these guys spend time on the road together, sometimes bunking in one room. Yes, there is a Brokeback reference. Now, I'm not saying that this automatically make one of them gay, but for the ones who actually are, it hides it from people, adding more to the respect (though Stephen Gately's case isn't subject to that, I guess. Oh, I almost forgot: Neil from Code Red applies to this, too). 98 Degrees represents that natural assembling, while bands like O-Town are examples of manufactured. See Dudez-A-Plentee, again. The campy dance steps. Yes, folks. They will have at least 1 song with a choreographed routine which makes Napoleon Dynamite look more like Usher. These will vary from movement containing variations of pelvic thrusts, jumping around like monkeys (See: NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" routine or A1's "Same Old Brand New You" steps), acrobatic displays (See: Youngtown, 911), kick poses (See: 5ive's "Get on Up" and "When the Lights Go Out", Boyzone's "So Good"), and yes, my all-time breaker of a dance step which will be in people's heads forever for thus bastardizing the song (See: Code Red's "What Good Is A Heart.. now I dare you to tell me that you've never seen this dance before! :P). Let's not forget that they have innovative "dances" (BSB's Chair Dance and Hat Dance) that I'm sure we had all dared to imitate, be it with in soberness or not. The members embody a certain stereotype for band members. Yes, there are a lot of these. You have the "tough guy", "eldest", "youngest", "the sensitive one", "the pure mucisian", "eye candy", "the one who doesn't get much applause", "the little brother", "the buff one" and so on. Yes, even if they are united under one name, they are too unique that they get these labels on them. It also helps so that people can tell each member apart from the other. And of course, one stereotype I'd like to touch base on would be.. They have at least one junkie. Yes, this is amusingly true. Sad maybe, but true. For some reason, be it succumbing to a flaw in popularity or plain coping mechanism, one member often turns to drugs. A friend of mine once said this of one boy band member who ended up turning to drugs: "oh, the edgy one? maybe coz he realized that he's not black" Hahaha, brilliant. But it's cool, coz they end up being even edgier after they get out of rehab. The music videos are either dumbfoundingly expensive, or strangely cheap. What's it with these guys? Some of them have like, multi-million budgetted videos that skyrocket them to MTV fame, or they tone it down, keep it simple with them just standing around and waving their hands, pointing to the camera while singing their song. Man, there's always that scene, by the way! They have to have that group shot where they're all looking at the camera and singing, tapos pointing to their chest, or to the camera. Ay, let's not forget the rain shot! That's the money for them, where girls get to see their bods as they make pa-gwapo to everyone (98 Degrees' "Invisible Man", Take That's "Back For Good", Backstreet Boys' "Quit Playing Games With My Heart"). Oh oh oh!! My all-time worst music video for a boy band goes to Natural, for "Put Your Arms Around Me". You have the singing to the girls, the love angle.. and then the change scene with the wireframe background as their instruments fly away and then the dance number with the lightning and thunder background! Plus the dance steps get interrupted by the Matrix-like still-frame-with-moving camera sequence! Hahahaha! (Sorry, I'll return my composure again). :P They have costumes that are either color or theme-coordinated. Every time! The baggy jeans or the shiny jackets. Whether they be in concerts or just when they do autograph sessions. This is why it's hard to for guys in groups to walk around all-dressed up, coz they know that somewhere out there, someone's gonna say that they look like a boy band. They like having a factor that differentiates them from other groups. Plus One, for instance. They say that they're a Christian boy band. Which is quite convincing in their songs, but then their looks don't really take the part (they look like a bunch of thugs or a rock group to me). They will say stuff like that so that they can be separated from the rest of the boy bands. Again, Natural is in this category, being the "rock band" boy band.. I swear, that music video invaded my head again. :P They pay respect to artists of the past by covering their songs. Yes, they covered at least one old song. This is not only for added marketability, but apparently it helps in bringing them to a larger audience. If they're able to sing an old song, make it a hit, and perform it to their fanbase, they even help out the original singer. Though Boyzone and Westlife kinda overdid it. Coz looking back, how many songs did they have that weren't covers? :P But ironically, in spite of all the above, they actually have nice songs. Yes, ironically "What Good Is A Heart" by Code Red is actually a good song. That goes for most of their songs. Like Youngtown's "Now That I Found You", that's another really good song. Taking credit for this would be the direction given by their producers. Sadly, these aren't the songs you'd hear from them. They use the cheesy, or upbeat, or quick-catching song to make peopel listen to them. :P And finally, because they have a chance to learn from their mistakes, as they evolve, they become better musicians.. I think. A1 gets this award because they ALMOST pulled off what I had hoped they'd do, and that was become an actual band. These guys can play instruments, so they had the best potential. Oh well, anyone know what happened to them? Oh, as I had mentioned, there are the ones who become solo acts? They're successful now. Not just in music, but on TV, theatre, and even politics (yes, Justin Jeffries of 98 Degrees became a senator). So there, just a bunch of stuff about the boy bands. Makes you think of what you miss, not miss, or just plain agree upon with regards to these qualities. Sorry, I hoped for more things to say or elaborate upon, but these things are quite a hodgepodge. Feel free to comment! :P Post a comment in response: |
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