On the agenda for our first session of Boy Bands 101 – what makes groups like One Direction, *NSYNC, and New Kids on the Block boy bands? And who are the entertainment industry pros that helped shape the modern boy band formula?
Defining the Boy Band Formula
According to the Encyclopedia of Children, Adolescents, and the Media, there are multiple crucial components that make an all-male musical group a boy band. The “boy band formula” requires:
- “combin[ing] somewhere between three and six (typically four or five) young, singing and dancing males;”
- “hav[ing] each [boy band member] represent a distinct personality type;”
- “carefully choreograph[ing] their (individual and band) images as closely as their dance steps;” and
- “mass-market[ing] them to an audience consisting mostly of preteen and teenage girls” (Arnett 131).
Therefore, male duos and all-male groups of seven or more members do not count as boy bands. Members must be diverse (personality-wise, ethnically, etc.) and “young,” generally from ages fourteen or fifteen to ages twenty or twenty-one. That boy bands are composed of vocalists is also imperative because it differentiates them from all-male bands whose members play instruments. Furthermore, the formula requires that someone other than the group members themselves be responsible for “carefully choreograph[ing]” images and “mass-market[ing]” the band.
History of the Boy Band Formula
Music producer Maurice Starr, manager of 1980s boy bands New Edition and New Kids on the Block, was the first to perfect this “boy band formula.” Starr was inspired by 1960s television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, who casted for their situational comedy show the four charming youngsters who would become the Monkees. While the Monkees meet most of the aforementioned boy band requirements (the exception being that they played instruments instead of only singing), the most important element they exemplify is the fabrication of their formation and presentation. This is an important differentiation from contemporaries the Jackson 5 and the Beatles, who both formed of their own volition as opposed to being handpicked like the Monkees.
Starr’s New Edition and New Kids not only replicated the Monkees’ careful curation and boyish charm, but further laid the groundwork for what it meant to be a “true” boy band. Unlike the Monkees, New Edition and New Kids were composed only of vocalists – a distinction that would remain crucial in differentiating future boy bands from other all-male musical groups.
Video interview in which Starr discusses the fabrication of boy bands.
In the 1990s, producer and manager Louis Pearlman, seeking to Starr’s and past boy bands’ successes, held auditions for what would become Backstreet Boys. That same decade, the boy band mastermind also formed and managed Backstreet Boys’ rival, *NSYNC. Together, these Pearlman-curated boy bands, along with 98 Degrees, LFO and others, dominated 1990s culture and media with catchy pop songs, charming good looks, and choreographed dance moves.
The pervasive popularity of these highly fabricated 1990s boy bands declined during the early aughts as members reached their mid-twenties. This decline went hand-in-hand with the surge in popularity of up-and-coming, all-male, instrument-playing bands like Coldplay, Maroon 5, and the Killers whose musicianship differed vastly from boy bands’ artifice. Not until 2010 when Simon Cowell and fellow X Factor judges handpicked five young, attractive, aspiring vocalists who christened themselves One Direction was the boy band formula again truly, successfully implemented.
Only time will tell whether another Starr, Pearlman, or Cowell will come along to craft and introduce the world to its new favorite boy band. In the meantime, though, boy band fans will remain appeased while former boy bands reunite, individual members like *NSYNC’s Justin Timberlake have solo careers, and 1D ride the success of their third studio album.
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Sources:
Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. “Boy Bands.” Encyclopedia Of Children, Adolescents, and the Media. London: SAGE, 2006. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 27 Feb 2014.
Irons-Georges, Tracy, and Milton Berman. “Boy bands.” The Nineties In America. Pasadena, Calif: Salem Press, 2009. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 27 Feb 2014.
Lurie, Karen. “The Monkees.” St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 3. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 394-396. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Mar 2014.
Waldridge, Christina. “Maurice Starr INTERVIEW.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 2 Aug 2009. Web. 4 Mar 2014.
Boy Bands 101 