In the immortal words of Prince, I think it’s time to party like it’s 1999. Pop music has reached a new renaissance, and it’s all thanks to the epic return of the boy band. With the recent crossover success of British groups The Wanted and One Direction, it’s safe to say that teen girls, and their moms, will soon have something to scream about that’s on par with the success of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC over a decade ago.
It had always been a dream of mine to be in a boy band. I certainly had the look and the right attitude. There was just one little problem. I was hopeless at the singing and dancing. My dream would have to be lived vicariously through the Justin Timberlakes and Nick Carters of this world.
For reasons still unknown to me, boy bands have always gotten a bad rap. I guess not everybody loves catchy choruses, beautiful harmonies and slick choreography. Why is it that a solo pop artist can get away with not playing instruments, but when a group of performers don’t play instruments it’s seen as the end of the music industry as we know it?
Although boy bands might not always get the critical respect they deserve, they sure are climbing the charts again. The Wanted’s provocatively titled single “Glad You Came” is currently sitting pretty at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to “Glee” covering the song on the latest episode. The song is a perfectly constructed pop tune that is next to impossible to get out of you head.
Both The Wanted and One Direction were formed by a team of producers, similar to the creation of *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. So yes, their success might have been handed to them. In the case of One Direction, they were assembled as a group after each individual member was not selected as a male finalist on Britain’s version of “The X Factor.”
This doesn’t mean that either group doesn’t make real music. Their songs are as real as perfectly manufactured bubblegum pop can be.
I for one couldn’t be happier about the reemergence of boy bands. It takes me back to a simpler time when my friends and I would set up our boom boxes in the garage to perfect our “Bye Bye Bye” dance. On beautiful spring days, I still take joy from jamming out to *NSYNC radio on Pandora and reminiscing about my childhood.
Although I might be a little old, and of the wrong gender, to completely become a Directioner, it makes me happy to think that a group of teen boys can live their dreams by traveling around the world, singing, dancing and enriching the lives of crazed preteen girls.
It’s a dream that I could never see fulfilled, but at least other boys are making it happen. Maybe I should have crossed the pond to get discovered by Simon Cowell.
It’s easy to grow up too fast. Midterms, jobs and parties always seem to have absolute power of us. I know I’m in college and should be into dubstep and psychedelic indie rock, but there’s a place for boy bands in everyone’s heart. Let’s rejoice in the fact that we can turn on the radio, close our eyes and be taken back to the greatest decade there ever was: the ’90s.