Boy Bands

I took a little hiatus from my blog but I. Am. Back! And so are boy bands!

I will be the first to proudly admit that I was a total "teeny bopper" when I was a teenager. I had all of the CDs of N*SYNC, The Backstreet Boys, and even 98 Degrees (come on, you remember "Una Noche," right?). I would study the album cover packet that came with my CDs and learn all of the lyrics to every song, on the radio or not. I couldn't get enough of that music. For a few brief minutes my 13-year-old self believed that they were singing to just me, and life was good. Well, maybe me and three or four of my friends; that was the best part about boy bands, there was more than one boy for me and my friends to "claim." So you could be Mrs. Justin Timberlake, and I could be Mrs. Lance Bass... well so much for wishful thinking.

But those were just my generation's boy bands. This phenomenon dates back to the 60's when the Beach Boys were singing about "Get[ing] Around" in their matching outfits and easy breezy harmonies. The Beach Boys' cool California charisma still resonates, and they even just recorded a new song: "That's Why God Made the Radio."

And let's not forget about the British invasion themselves, The Beatles, who sparked the future of rock and roll with their innovative sound, branding hairstyle (no Justin Bieber, you weren't the first to ignite a hair craze), and risky lyrics in songs like "Revolution" and "Day Tripper," among every other song they ever made. 

During that time there was also The Monkees who were in a league of their own with a TV show named for and starring them: "The Monkees Theme." Each member of the group had a coined "personality" which made them memorable individually as well as a whole. The Monkees were introduced to a new generation through Shrek and Smashmouth with their remake of "I'm a Believer."

When MTV was created in the 80's, the boy bands reemerged in their modern form: a group of 4-6 guys in their late teens/early 20's who no longer played the instruments in a band, but who took on all of the characteristics outlined by their predecessors and now shared lines in their songs and danced in unison to the music in the background. And let's not forget the importance of a great music video to get to the top of the TRL (Total Request Live) countdown every afternoon. Thank you "Bye Bye Bye" and "Everybody."

A friend of mine was a camp counselor over a few summers in college and she told me about how "deprived" her campers were. In order to motivate her girls to clean the bunk and to do so quickly, she would put on an old N*SYNC CD for that up-tempo rhythm to keep them moving. I mean, what's more fun than dancing around your room to "Pop"? When one of the campers asked her what the music was, she explained it to them like this: Do you know who Justin Timberlake is? Nods. Well, before he was a solo act he was in a group called N*SYNC, and this is them. They didn't believe her! They didn't know what a boy band was so they couldn't get excited about it. My friend was right, these kids were deprived, to never know the excitement of a boy band.

But have no fear, because boy bands are back and ready to bring a new twist to the classic structure. This whole resurgence started last summer when New Kids On the Block and the Backstreet Boys decided to get together and go on a mega tour titled NKOTBSB - epic. Nickelodeon scooped up the boy band tv show with Big Time Rush and it has been doing pretty well, so they are expanding their boy band tv show empire and have added a show to star One Direction, one of the newest groups to start stealing young hearts. Come on, with a song called "What Makes You Beautiful," how can you not love them? And of course, Glee did a cover of the new British invasion, The Wanted, with their song "Glad You Came," that elevated their popularity. This new version of boy bands comes with a chill vibe. They just hang out with each other, sing, party, and don't have to do anything in particular to prove themselves like dance or play instruments, they are just awesome from being there.

So now here we are with boy bands in full form once again, as if they never left our hearts for one moment. While these songs may not be soundtracking one particular event, they have kept the tempo from one generation to the next. Who is your favorite boy band?