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Biography

A boy band (or boyband ) is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singing|singers . The members are expected to dance as well as singing|sing , usually giving highly choreography|choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instrument s, either in recording sessions or on stage, and only sing and dance, making the term somewhat of a misnomer . However, exceptions to this type do exist. Mainly, boy bands are brought together by a producer through an audition process, although some of them form on their own.

Some such bands can evolve out of church choral or gospel music groups, but are often created by talent manager s or record producer s who hold auditions. Due to this and their general commercial orientation towards an audience of preteen s, teenybopper s, or teens , the term may be used with negative connotations in music journalism . Boy bands are similar in concept and approach to selling to girl group s as they are targeting the same audience.

History

Early history

The earliest form of boy band music took place in the late 19th century with the use of a capella Barbershop quartets . They were usually a group of males and sing in four part harmonies. The popularity of Barbershop quartets had been prominent into the earlier part of the 20th century. A revival of the male vocal group took place in the late 1940s and 1950s with the use of doo-wop music. Doo wop was a predecessor to the previous boy bands and they sung about topics such as love and other themes used in pop music. The earliest traces of boy bands were in the mid 1950s although the term boy band was not used. The Ink Spots was one of the first of what we would now call boy bands. The term boy band was not established until the late 1980s as before that they were called male vocal groups or hep harmony singing groups.

1960s

The earliest predecessors of the boy band genre were groups such as The Osmonds , The Jackson 5 , and The Monkees , which helped form the template for boy bands. While The Monkees were originally a manufactured act turned real band that featured members with distinct (albeit fictional) personality types, The Jackson 5 were a family group that established many musical conventions that boy bands follow. For instance, their music featured close harmony|close harmonies from soul music and catchy pop hooks influenced as much as they were by Motown and acts like The Supremes . All members of the band sang, which is a common convention of a boy band, as opposed to having a front man and the rest on instruments. This is effectively so that no one person dominated the stage. Even so, the members conveniently fitted into the convention of having stereotypical personality types ( Michael Jackson being the " cute one", to give an obvious example).

Although not a manufactured band, The Beatles set a precedent for boy bands to follow both in terms of marketing to young girls and certain aesthetic and musical conventions. The merchandising, whether it was films like '' A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night or novelty goods were possibly the first aimed at a certain demographic on a large scale for a group. This made them a proto-type for boy bands, such as The Jackson 5 and The Monkees . Musical conventions that boy bands adopted from The Beatles were less their technical proficiency as musicians and more the catchy pop hooks, melodies and harmonies combined with their marketability. Their marketability was based on the idea that there was something for everyone, whether it was the music or the personality of John Lennon or Paul McCartney or their sex appeal .

The Beatles were more directly an influence on boy bands that use rock band instrumentation. The precedent for this was when 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 as they were the first example of a manufactured boy band. Formed in 1965 under the supervision of Don Kirshner , the group became dissatisfied with Kirshner's control over them and they became independent two years later working on their own up to 1970.

1970s and 1980s

Although the term "boy band" is mostly associated with groups from the 1990s onwards, other antecedents (apart from those already mentioned) exist throughout the history of pop music. The genre has been copied into languages and cultures other than the Anglo-American. There is a popular Russian boy band Ivanushki International . The Puerto Rican boy band Menudo (band)|Menudo , appealing to young Latina audiences, was founded in 1977. Menudo had a convention unique among boy bands: when a member turned 16, became too tall, or their voice changed, they were ejected and replaced. The members of Menudo were generally aged 12–14.

The Bay City Rollers were a Scotland|Scottish pop music|pop musical ensemble|band who were most popular in the mid 1970s. The British Hit Singles & Albums noted that they were " tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh ", and were "the first of many acts heralded as the 'Biggest Group since The Beatles' and one of the most screamed-at teeny-bopper acts of the 1970s". For a relatively brief but fervent period (nicknamed "Rollermania"), they were worldwide teen idol s. The group were one of the first bands like The Monkees before them to take the formula shown by The Beatles and apply it to a teen market. The group achieved the same amount of success but for a limited period of time. At the peak of their popularity in the UK, comparisons were being made to The Beatles . Also by this time, Bay City Roller fan (person)|fans had a completely distinctive style of dress, the main elements of which were ankle-length tartan trousers and tartan scarf|scarves , the group using the benefit of merchandise and promotion.

In the U.S., the Cleveland -based power pop group Raspberries (band)|Raspberries was generally interpreted as a "teen act", although all the band members played their own music. Vocalist Eric Carmen later commented, "You’d have a thousand screaming girls in the front of the stage and then ten very serious rock critics in the back of the room going, ‘Uh-huh, I think we understand this.’ And unfortunately the great mass of pot-smoking 18 year-olds that bought albums and made you a substantial commodity in the great marketing world of records never took to us. It was not hip for people to like us, because their little sister liked us."Knopper, Steve. "Raspberries." Contemporary Musicians. Gale Research Inc. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 26 Dec. 2009 .

New Edition were a Contemporary R& B|R& B group formed in Boston in 1978. The group reached their height of popularity during the 1980s. They were the progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s in the United States|US and led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block , Boyz II Men , Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync . The group recorded mostly as a quintet.

Formed in 1982, Norwegians|Norwegian band A-ha became the first Continental Europe an boyband to top the US Hot 100 with their single Take on Me in 1985. Although considered a one hit wonder in that country the group went on to have considerable success worldwide and lasting success.

Bros (abbreviation of the word "brothers") were a British boy band active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, consisting of twin brothers Matt Goss and Luke Goss along with Craig Logan . Formed in 1986, they scored multiple top 10 hits between 1987 and 1989.
In United Kingdom|Britain Bros also became the first modern era style boyband to have a multiple platinum selling album with Push (Bros album)|Push in 1988, which is still one of the most successful boyband albums in the UK . Other big boybands in United Kingdom|Britain during the late eighties were Big Fun (boyband)|Big Fun and Brother Beyond .

1990s

Although the term "boy band" did not exist until the 1990s, Boston group New Edition is credited for starting the boy band trend in the 1980s. Maurice Starr was influenced by New Edition and popularised it with his Mentorship|protégé New Kids on the Block , the first commercially successful modern boy band who formed in 1984 and found international success in 1988. 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.

Some managers in Europe soon created their own acts after being inspired by New Kids on the Block . First beginning with Nigel Martin-Smith 's Take That in the UK who formed in 1990 and followed by Tom Watkins (music manager)|Tom Watkins who had success with Bros in the late eighties and formed East 17 in 1991 who were marketed and pited against Take That as rivals with a harsher attitude, style and sound. Although in previous years Bros and New Kids on the Block had achieved number one singles in the UK , it was Take That who were the first group to completly dominate the charts. Between their first number one single in 1993 and last in 1996 and before their 2005 reunion only one single failed to reach the top spot. This making them one of the most successful groups in British music chart history and the inspiration for most British pop groups ever since. Irish people|Irish music manager Louis Walsh who had witnessed the impact of these two British people|British boy bands put out an advert for an 'Irish Take That' thereby creating Boyzone in 1993. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyzone Let Loose formed in 1993, MN8 and 911 (band)|911 formed in 1995 and Damage (British band)|Damage formed in 1996 were also boy bands who enjoyed success in Britain, however by the late 1990s all these bands had ran their course and split up.

All these artists were very successful on both the singles and albums charts domestically and internationally however with the emergence of britpop and the commercial co-option of indie rock , many boy bands were ridiculed by the British music press as having no artistic credibility. The media attention was now placed on the Battle of Britpop and the bands Oasis (band)|Oasis and Blur (band)|Blur replaced the importance and rivalry of Take That and East 17 as the two new biggest bands in Britain.
However other boybands who would go on to find success in the late nineties were Five (band)|Five , Another Level (band)|Another Level , Point Break (band)|Point Break and Westlife . Ever since the late eighties and nineties, popularity of these groups has meant unlike in other countries boybands have been a yearly mainstay in British pop music and due to numbers of groups can be quite highly contested with lots of groups who don't achieve lasting success despite big promotion.

In 1995 successful Germany|German music manger Frank Farian who had been manager of Boney M and Milli Vanilli put together Latin American band No Mercy (band)|No Mercy who scored a few worldwide hits during the mid nineties.
One of the most successful boy band managers from the U.S was Lou Pearlman , who founded commercially successful acts such as the Backstreet Boys formed in 1993 and 'N Sync and LFO (group)|LFO formed in 1995, O-Town (band)|O-Town in the year 2000 and US5 in 2005 although he was later convicted of unrelated fraud incidents.

In the late nineties in the UK, producer Simon Cowell (noted in the U.S. for the American Idol/ X Factor franchise) is also known for having managed British boyband Five (band)|Five formed in 1997 and Irish boyband Westlife who formed in 1998 and were created by Irishman Louis Walsh as a replacement for Boyzone but were initially promoted by a former member of that band Ronan Keating . Westlife would eventually overtake Take That in number one's tally and are currently the most successful boy band on the UK Singles Chart . Cowell is now also having success in the 2010s with his new group One Direction formed on his television show The X Factor (UK series 7)|The X Factor . Cowell is also infamous however for passing on signing two of the biggest boybands to emerge from the 90's and 00's, Take That and Busted (band)|Busted . http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2118414/Simon-Cowell-admits-turned-Take-That-overweight-Gary-Barlow.html http://www.bebo.com/BlogView.jsp? MemberId=7322368642& BlogId=7651779757

In North America boy bands were prominent in the 1990s like internationally after having started the modern concept with New Kids on the Block . In the mid-1990s, most boy bands were African American and had R& B and gospel elements, such as the group All-4-One|All 4 One formed in 1993 and Boyz II Men formed in 1988 and who released their debut album in 1991. Boyz II Men are also the most successful boy band act on the US Hot 100 as well as the Australian Singles Chart . Although they had success on the Billboard charts, they had been targeted to more of an adult audience and were not marketed for youth. It wasn't however until 1997 and the change to pop orientated groups like Backstreet Boys , 98 Degrees , 'N Sync and Hanson (band)|Hanson that boy bands exploded commercially and dominated the market in the United States . This late nineties era marked the height of boy band popularity in North America which hasn't been seen since.

21st century (2000s and 2010s)

With the continued success of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC , USA|American and United Kingdom|British groups like 98 Degrees , Dream Street , O-Town (band)|O-Town , A1 (band)|A1 , Blue (group)|Blue , Busted (band)|Busted and McFly gained quick popularity both domestically and internationally. International boy bands would also occasionally spring up, such as the Moldova n band O-Zone (better known today as an Numa numa|Internet meme ), Overground (band)|Overground and Tokio Hotel , who are currently the most successful boyband ever on the German Singles Chart .

At the height of the popularity of groups such as Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC in USA|North America , MTV created their own parody boyband, 2gether (band)|2Gether (or "2Ge+her") . Like The Monkees in the 1960s, they were a manufactured act, which turned into a "real" group, featuring members with a distinct fictional type. 2gether (band)|2gether played off of the idea that every successful boyband must have five distinct personality types: the bad boy, the shy one, the young one, the older brother type, and a heart throb. All of the members of 2gether (band)|2gether were actors and have moved onto other projects since the end of the MTV series that followed the made for TV movie.

Since 2001, the dominance of traditional boy bands on pop charts began to fade, although Gil Kaufman of MTV.com|MTV has described "new boy bands" that are "more likely to resemble Good Charlotte , Simple Plan . This was shown in boybands such as Busted (band)|Busted , McFly , Tokio Hotel , Son of Dork and The Noise Next Door etc.

The Finland|Finnish rock band HIM (Finnish band)|HIM have been described by some, and even suggested by vocalist Ville Valo to be a boy band, despite their slightly darker imagery. This view became increasingly popular around the time of their international breakthrough album, Razorblade Romance , stemming from the amount of lyrics revolving around romance (love)|romance , as well as the band members' on-stage personas and tendencies to jokingly interact with one another during shows.

In 2001 a new all-male Japanese pop band and dance group boyband hailing from Japan called Exile (band)|EXILE , debuted under Avex Group's label Rhythm Zone with 14 members, putting them on par with Super Junior , a South Korean boy band.

In North America the Jonas Brothers had popularity helped from promotion on the Disney Channel enabling them during 2008 to sell over 180,000 copies on albums in a week and hit number one on the American Billboard 200. However apart from the Jonas Brothers boybands haven't seen the commercial boom experienced in the genre from the mid to late nineties in North America.

Moving into the 2010s boybands are still hugely popular especially in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe due to the continued commercial presence and longevity of nineties boybands such as Backstreet Boys , Take That , Boyzone (who enjoyed huge success again before the death of Stephen Gately in 2009 and who are now continuing as a 4-piece) and Westlife . Some sections of the press have referred to these acts, particularly those who have reformed after a previous split, such as Take That and Boyzone, as 'man bands'. These older generation artists chart alongside US5 , Lexington Bridge (band)|Lexington Bridge , JLS , The Wanted and One Direction who are examples of new and currently successful boy bands from Europe, the latter two also having success in North America.

Boy bands are also still very popular in Eastern Asia, notably so in J-Pop and K-pop , with successful group such as South Korea's TVXQ , BigBang , SS501 , Super Junior , Shinhwa , CN Blue , 2PM , U-KISS , Shinee|SHINee , MBLAQ , B2ST , Infinite (band)|Infinite and F.T. Island . Japan's Arashi , SMAP , V6 (band)|V6 , Tokio (band)|Tokio , KinKi Kids , KAT-TUN , Lead (band)|Lead , NEWS , Kanjani 8 , and Hey& #33; Say& #33; JUMP top the Oricon charts frequently. Taiwan also has notable boy bands like Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band)|Fahrenheit and F4 (band)|F4 . In Southeast Asia, Indonesia also has notable boy bands like SM*SH , XO-IX, DragonBoyz, Treeji, S9B (Super Nine Boys), and Max5.

In America new boy bands include Big Time Rush (band)|Big Time Rush & Hot Chelle Rae and the British-Irish boy bands One Direction & The Wanted , who have experienced moderate success on the singles and albums charts including top ten placing debut albums on the American Billboard. Another United States|US boyband is Anthem Lights who are a Christian boyband of four members. One Direction, Big Time Rush, Mindless Behavior and The Wanted have recently seen a growth in mainstream coverage and to an extent, have made boy bands relevant once more in North America. http://hamptonroads.com/2012/04/rise-and-return-boy-band

Key factors of the concept

Seen as important to a "boy band" group's commercial success is the group's Reputation|image , carefully controlled by managing all aspects of the group's dress, promotional materials (which are frequently supplied to teen magazine s), and music video s. 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. Some record labels like YG Entertainment|YG , or S.M. Entertainment|SM control even where their artists live.

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 cannot harmonize well together. However, for clarity of each voice, recording each voice individually is most commonly the norm with most modern vocal groups. In recent years auto-tune has become a popular tool for boybands who are unable to sing properly. Boy-bands have come under fire for this issue, of using auto-tune . Some have also come under fire for lip syncing in their performances as well.

A typical boy band performance features elaborately choreography|choreographed dancing, with the members taking turns singing and/or rapping. Boy bands generally didn't compose or produce their own material, unless the members lobbied hard enough for creative control (for example, The Monkees , The Fukui Boys , and 'N Sync ). However some bands were created around the talent of a songwriter within the group like Gary Barlow of Take That or Tony Mortimer of East 17 . Five (band)|Five were another group who wrote almost all their own songs.
It isn't uncommon to find extra songs on the album written by one or more of the band members, however their producers rarely use these as singles.

Since the 21st Century however boybands have been expected to write or at least contribute in some part lyrically to songs. Apart from the groups mentioned above who all had at least one primary songwriter from their beginning, other groups soon caught up. From the late nineties band members saw the lucrative incentive of songwriting through track royalties and members in bands such as Backstreet Boys who had previously used writers like Max Martin or Steve Mac during their early albums now began co writing.
Modern groups of the last ten years such as Busted (band)|Busted , McFly , JLS and Tokio Hotel etc. have all made a point from early interviews that they write their own songs and hold their own image as this is an important part of marketing. Some bands like The Wanted have even spent time learning the craft of songwriting. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a329584/the-wanted-go-to-songwriting-camp-to-write-new-album.html

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 , as well as the corresponding " emo / pop punk " fashion, as it is the current trend. A good example of this is the band Allstar Weekend , who give off the appearance of being a punk band while still maintaining the elements of a boy band.

Individuals can also go on to achieve greater success as a solo artist coming out of a boyband having used the groups popularity to build on. Usually this signals the end of the group until potential future reunions. Examples of this include Michael Jackson from The Jackson 5 , Donny Osmond from The Osmonds , Ricky Martin from Menudo (band)|Menudo , Justin Timberlake from 'N Sync and Ronan Keating from Boyzone . Sometimes the most successful solo star from a band isn't the member most obvious such as Robbie Williams as opposed to lead singer Gary Barlow from Take That . Some boy band members have gone on to successful careers elsewhere in the media. Michael Dolenz of The Monkees went on to become a successful television producer, working for ITV franchises such as LWT and Television South .

Music genres

Although most boy bands consist of Rhythm and blues|R& B or pop music|pop influences, other music genre s, most notably country music and folk music , are also represented. South 65 and Marshall Dyllon , for example, were both considered country music boy bands, as was to a lesser extent Rascal Flatts . Il Divo , created by Simon Cowell in 2004, are a band that perform Operatic pop , and in several (mainly Italian) languages. Since then operatic/classical boy bands have become quite popular and common, especially in the UK. Since 2001 there has been some crossover with power pop and pop punk from bands that play live instruments. For example, as of 2008, boy bands are often influenced by pop punk, post-grunge and power pop (a perennial genre). Just recently some boy bands decided to go back to their original doo-wop roots, most notably, The Overtones .

Criticism

Since the 1990s, bands such as Backstreet Boys , *NSYNC , and LFO (group)|LFO have disliked the term "boy band" and have preferred to be known as a "Male Vocal Group". Boy bands have been accused by the music press of emphasizing the appearance and marketing of the group above the quality of music, deliberately trying to appeal to a pre-teen audience and for conforming to trends instead of being original. Such criticisms can become extremely scathing. Boy bands are often seen as being short lived, though some acts such as The Jackson 5 , New Kids On The Block , Backstreet Boys , Boyzone , Hanson (band)|Hanson , Human Nature (band)|Human Nature , Westlife and Take That have sustained lasting careers, and in some cases, successful comebacks.

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