Boy band

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For other uses, see Boy band (disambiguation).

A boy band (or boyband) is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation,[1] singing love songs marketed towards young females.[2] Being vocal groups, most boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on stage, making the term something of a misnomer. However, exceptions do exist. Many boy bands dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances.

Some such bands form on their own. They can evolve out of church choral or gospel music groups, but are often created by talent managers or record producers who hold auditions. Due to this and their general commercial orientation towards a female audience of preteens, teenyboppers, or teens, the term may be used with negative connotations in music journalism. Boy bands are similar in concept to their counterparts, girl groups. Boy bands' popularity peaked thrice: in the 1960s (e.g., the Monkees and the Four Seasons), in the 1990s and early 2000s when acts such as the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Westlife, among others, dominated the top of the Billboard and pop charts, and in the early 2010s with the emergence of new boy bands such as JLS, Big Time Rush, One Direction, and The Wanted.


Early history[edit]

The earliest forerunner of boy band music began in the late 19th century as a capella Barbershop quartets. They were usually a group of males and sang 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 bands sang 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. African American vocal group The Ink Spots was one of the first of what would now be called 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.[3]

1960s: The Osmonds, the Jackson 5 and the Monkees[edit]

The Osmonds

Although the term "boy band" is mostly associated with groups from the 1990s onwards, the earliest predecessors of this format 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 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; thus, no one person dominated the stage. Even so, the members conveniently fitted into the convention of having stereotypical personality types (e.g. Michael Jackson being the "cute one").

The Beatles were directly an influence on boy bands that use rock band instrumentation, and played more rock oriented music. The precedent for this was when TV producers Bert Schnider and Bob Rafelson recruited four young actor/singers to perform catchy pop tunes while also acting in a television series in which performances were integrated into the shows' plots and were very influential in shaping early music videos. The Monkees are often considered as the original pioneers among boy bands as they were the first example of a manufactured boy band, put together by producers rather than already performing together and then being "discovered" by record label executives. 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, when the group first dissolved.

1970s and 1980s: Menudo, New Edition, and New Kids on the Block[edit]

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. The Puerto Rican boy 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 replaced. The members of Menudo were generally aged 12–14.

The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop 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".[4] For a relatively brief but fervent period (nicknamed "Rollermania"), they were worldwide teen idols. 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 fans had a completely distinctive style of dress, the main elements of which were ankle-length tartan trousers and tartan scarves, the group using the benefit of merchandise and promotion.[5]

In the US, the Cleveland-based power pop group 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."[6]

New Edition was a 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 US. The group recorded mostly as a quintet.

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

Boston group New Edition is often credited for starting the boy band trend in the 1980s, even though the term "boy band" did not exist until the 1990s. Maurice Starr was influenced by New Edition and popularised it with his 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.

1990s: Boyz II Men, Take That, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Westlife[edit]

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 who had success with Bros in the late eighties and formed East 17 in 1991 who were marketed and pitted 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 completely 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 music manager Louis Walsh, who had witnessed the impact of these two British boy bands, put out an advert for an 'Irish Take That' thereby creating Boyzone in 1993. Let Loose formed in 1993, MN8 and 911 formed in 1995, and Damage formed in 1996 were also boy bands who enjoyed success in Britain; however by the late 1990s all these bands had run 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 and Blur replaced the importance and rivalry of Take That and East 17 as the two new biggest bands in Britain. However, other boybands found success in the late nineties like Five, Another Level, Point Break and Westlife. In 1995 successful German music manager Frank Farian who had been manager of Boney M and Milli Vanilli put together Latin American band No Mercy who scored a few worldwide hits during the mid nineties.

Although being American and the sons of Tito Jackson, a member of The Jackson 5, 3T had several hits singles across Europe in the mid-1990s, despite limited success in the US, and finished the second biggest selling act of 1996 in Europe behind Spice Girls.[7]

With the success of North American boybands like New Kids on the Block in East Asia, Japanese entertainment company Johnny & Associates formed SMAP in 1992. The group enjoyed tremendous success and paved the way for more Asian boy bands such as Arashi.

Backstreet Boys are the best-selling boy band in history.

In the early nineties in North America with New Kids on the Block continued success and Color Me Badd also having success boy bands became a continued staple of the Billboard charts. Continuing this success in the mid-1990s, most prominent boy bands were African American and had R&B and gospel elements, such as the group All-4-One formed in 1993 and Boyz II Men formed in 1988. Boyz II Men are also the most successful boy band act on the U.S. 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 until 1997 and the change to pop oriented groups like Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, NSYNC, The Moffatts, and 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.

Arguably the most successful boy band manager from the U.S. was Lou Pearlman, who founded commercially successful acts such as the Backstreet Boys in 1993, NSYNC and LFO in 1995, O-Town in 2000, and US5 in 2005. Backstreet Boys and NSYNC became the two biggest boy bands in the late 1990s until the early 2000s, and Backstreet Boys went on to become the best selling boy band in history with over 130 million records sold.[8][9]

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 who were formed in 1997 and Irish boyband Westlife formed in 1998. Westlife was created by Irishman Louis Walsh as a replacement for Boyzone[10] and was initially managed by a former member of the band Ronan Keating. Westlife would eventually overtake Take That in number one's tally in the UK although Take That's overall UK sales are still higher. In 2012, the Official Charts Company revealed the biggest selling singles artists in British music chart history with Take That placed 15th overall and the highest selling boyband act (9.3 million), followed by Boyzone at 29 (7.1 million) and Westlife at 34 (6.8 million).[11][12][13] Even though Cowell is known to have managed several successful boy bands, he is also infamous for passing on signing two of the biggest boybands to emerge from the 1990s and 2000s, Take That and Busted.[14][15]

2000s: Backstreet Boys, Westlife, TVXQ!, Jonas Brothers and F4[edit]

Jonas Brothers are described as pop boy band

With the continued success of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, American and British groups like 98 Degrees, Dream Street, O-Town, A1, Blue, and Busted gained quick popularity both domestically and internationally. International boy bands would also occasionally spring up, such as the Moldovan band O-Zone (better known today as an Internet meme), and Overground. American Christian boy band Plus One also enjoyed brief remarkable success during this time.

At the height of boy band popularity in North America, MTV created their own parody boyband, 2gether. Like The Monkees in the 1960s, they were a manufactured act, featuring members with a distinct fictional type. 2gether played off of the idea that every successful boy band 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 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 has described "new boy bands" that are "more likely to resemble Good Charlotte, Simple Plan.[16]

In 2001, Taiwanese boy band F4 (called JVKV since 2007)[17] blew up big as a result of the success of their TV drama Meteor Garden. Their popularity spread throughout Asia. With their success, many other Taiwanese boy bands emerged around this time, such as 5566 and Fahrenheit. In South Korea, Shinhwa also spread hallyu wave throughout Asia such as Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. Shinhwa's fourth album, Hey, Come On!, was released on June 8, 2001, debuting at #3 with the lead single "Hey, Come On!" rapidly climbing up the music charts. The album's release coincided with the rise of the Korean Wave, spreading the group's popularity overseas. Also in 2001, a new all-male pop band and dance group boyband hailing from Japan called Exile debuted under Avex Group's label Rhythm Zone with 14 members, putting them on par with Super Junior, a South Korean boy band, who had 13 members at its peak.

In North America, the Jonas Brothers rose to fame from promotion on the Disney Channel, enabling them to sell over 180,000 copies of their album in a week in 2008 and hit number one on the American Billboard 200. Other new boy bands like JLS and Mindless Behavior also experienced remarkable success around this time. However, apart from them, boy bands haven't seen the commercial boom experienced in the genre from the mid to late nineties in North America.

In South Korea, TVXQ! rose to fame from their hit single "Rising Sun", in 2005, under SM Entertainment.

2010s: NKOTBSB, One Direction, The Wanted and comebacks of 1990s-early 2000s boy bands[edit]

Moving into the 2010s, boy bands are still popular especially in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe due to the continued commercial presence and longevity of nineties boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and Westlife (before they dissolved in 2012), and the successful comeback of Take That in 2005, Boyzone in 2007, and New Kids on the Block in 2008. Some sections of the press have referred to these acts, particularly those who have reformed after a previous split, such as Take That, Boyzone, and 98 Degrees, as 'man bands'.[18] These older generation boy bands chart alongside the new boy bands.

One Direction rose to fame in 2011.

In the early 2010s, there was somewhat of a resurgence of boy band popularity in countries where the trend had not maintained, with the emergence of new boy bands like Big Time Rush, The Wanted, and One Direction and the formation of supergroup NKOTBSB which comprised members of New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys.[19] NKOTBSB's success inspired boy bands who were fairly popular during the 1990s and 2000s to make a comeback, such as Blue, 98 Degrees, Five, 911, and O-Town. Like 2gether and The Monkees, Big Time Rush was a manufactured act created for a television show.

In Southeast Asia, local boy bands also emerged as a result of the continued success of Korean and Japanese boy bands such as SMAP, Shinhwa, TVXQ!, Arashi, Exile, 2PM and Super Junior. One of the boy bands who emerged as a result of Hallyu (Korean wave) is Indonesia's SM*SH who enjoyed prominent success domestically.

Key factors of the concept[edit]

Seen as important to a "boy band" group's commercial success is the group's image, carefully controlled by managing all aspects of the group's dress, promotional materials (which are frequently supplied to teen magazines), and music videos. 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. 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 shy one." 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.

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 boy bands who are unable to sing properly. Some 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, for example New Kids on the Block.[20]

A typical boy band performance features elaborately choreographed dancing, with the members taking turns singing and/or rapping. Boy bands generally do not compose or produce their own material, unless the members lobby hard enough for creative control. 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. It is not uncommon to find extra songs on an album written by one or more of the band members; however, their producers rarely use these as singles.

Since the 21st century, however, boy bands 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, members of Backstreet Boys who had previously used writers like Max Martin during their early albums began writing their own songs. Newer groups from late 2000s such as JLS 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.[21]

Individuals can also go on to achieve greater success as a solo artist coming out of a boy band 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, Justin Timberlake from *NSYNC, and Ronan Keating from Boyzone. Sometimes the most successful solo star from a band is not the most popular member 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[edit]

Although most boy bands consist of R&B or pop influences, other music genres, most notably country music and folk music, are also represented. South 65 and Marshall Dyllon, for example, were both country music boy bands. Il Divo, created by Simon Cowell in 2004, are a vocal group that performs operatic pop 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. Just recently some boy bands decided to go back to their original doo-wop roots, most notably, The Overtones.


Since the 2000s, groups such as Backstreet Boys and LFO have disliked the term "boy band" and have preferred to be known as a "male vocal group".[22][23] Being categorized among boy bands was also the main reason The Moffatts split up.[24] 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 preteen 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,[25] although some acts such as The Jackson 5, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, Human Nature, SMAP, Shinhwa[26] and Westlife (before they split up in 2012) have sustained lasting careers.

Best-selling boy bands[edit]

Despite negative critical reception, boy bands continue to be generally successful, with some notable ones managing to sell millions of records. Some of the bands like Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block are even listed among the world's best selling music artists. The best-selling boy bands based on sales figures are:

Rank Name Country Records sold Genre Studio albums Members Years active
1 Backstreet Boys United States 130 million+[8] Pop/rock 8 5 → 4 → 5 1993–present (22 years)
2 The Jackson 5 United States 100 million+[27] Pop/R&B 18 5 → 6 → 4 1964–1990, 2001, 2012-2013 (29 years)
3 New Kids on the Block United States 80 million+[28] Pop 6 5 → 4 → 5 1984–1994, 2008–present (16 years)
4 The Osmonds United States 77 million[29] Pop/rock 22 7 1958–1980 (22 years)
5 Bay City Rollers United Kingdom 70 million+[30][31] Pop/rock 16 5 1966–1981 (15 years)
6 The Monkees U.S./U.K. 65 million+[32][33] Pop/rock 11 4 → 3 1966–1971, 1986–1989, 1993–1997, 2001–2002, 2010–present (18 years)
7 Boyz II Men United States 60 million+[34] R&B 11 5 → 4 → 3 1988–present (27 years)
8 *NSYNC United States 55 million+[35] Pop 4 5 1995–2002 (7 years)
9 Westlife Ireland 50 million+[36] Pop 10 5 → 4 1998–2012 (14 years)
10 Take That United Kingdom 45 million+[37] Pop/rock 7 5 → 4 → 5 → 3 1990–1996, 2005–present (16 years)

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Hickey, Walt (June 4, 2014). "Boy Bands: More Like Man Bands". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved June 7, 2014. 
  2. ^ "5 Seconds of Summer Are A Boy Band". 
  3. ^ "Boy bands". Did you know. Retrieved June 29, 2012. 
  4. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records. p. 45. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  5. ^ Strong, Martin C (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo. pp. 2–3. ISBN 1-84195-017-3. 
  6. ^ Knopper, Steve (2004), "Raspberries", Contemporary Musicians, Encyclopedia, Gale, retrieved December 26, 2009 
  7. ^ "3T Biography". Sort music. Retrieved August 5, 2012. 
  8. ^ a b Garcia, Cathy Rose A (February 22, 2010). "Backstreet Boys Share Secrets to Success". The Korea Times. Retrieved January 24, 2011. 
  9. ^ "Backstreet Boys back, for good". Straight. September 4, 2008. Retrieved May 31, 2012. 
  10. ^ "Louis Walsh Profile". Press Association. Yahoo!. Retrieved January 9, 2010. 
  11. ^ "The Official Top 20 biggest selling groups of all time revealed!". Official charts. Retrieved November 3, 2012. 
  12. ^ "Official Singles Charts' biggest selling artists of all time revealed". Official charts. Retrieved October 30, 2012. 
  13. ^ "Take That's Top 40 Biggest Selling Songs". Official charts. Retrieved November 29, 2014. 
  14. ^ Glennie, Alasdair (March 22, 2012). "Simon Cowell admits that he turned down Take That because of 'overweight' Gary Barlow". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved June 29, 2012. 
  15. ^ "Blog". Bebo. Retrieved June 29, 2012. 
  16. ^ Kaufman, Gil (2007). "The New Boy Bands". MTV. Retrieved November 8, 2007. 
  17. ^ Wang, Vivien (April 29, 2007). "Boy band changes name F4 into JVKV". China Daily. Retrieved May 31, 2007. 
  18. ^ D'Zurilla, Christie (August 17, 2012). "98 Degrees reunites as 'man band' on 'Today' show". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 14, 2012. 
  19. ^ "The rise and return of the boy band". Hampton Roads. April 29, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012. 
  20. ^ "New Kids' Performance Was Dubbed, Critic Says". Orlando Sentinel. March 4, 1992. Retrieved August 15, 2012. 
  21. ^ "The Wanted go to songwriting camp to write new album". Digital Spy. UK. July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2012. 
  22. ^ "I would be the dessert because I’m satisfying". Pop Justice. October 24, 2007. Retrieved August 16, 2012. We were never a boyband. We always thought of ourselves as a white vocal harmony group, we didn’t model ourselves on Take That or anything. 
  23. ^ "Not Just Another Boy Band". CA. January 18, 2000. Retrieved August 16, 2012. As long as you like my music, buy the record, come to the shows, fact of the matter is, if you see us, you'll know we're not a boy band. 
  24. ^ McCoy, Heath. "The Moffatts have left the building". The Calgary Herald. Retrieved August 16, 2012. Being young, there's this (boy band) stigma you pick up and they all thought it was very unjust. 
  25. ^ Hickey, Walt (June 4, 2014). "’90s Boy Bands: A Numerical Retrospective". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved June 7, 2014. 
  26. ^ "Shinhwa's longevity introduced in US magazine". 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2014-06-04. 
  27. ^ "Jackson 5 ‘ABC’: Black Music Month Album Spotlight #19". Yahoo!. Retrieved June 25, 2012. 
  28. ^ "Interview: New Kids on the Block's Jordan Knight pictures life as a teenage boy band in 2012". Chicago Tribune. January 26, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2012. 
  29. ^ "". Retrieved 2014-06-04. 
  30. ^ "Bay City bad boy: Les McKeown reveals all about the drugs in his tartan turn-ups and the cocaine-fuelled romps with Britt Ekland AND her daughter". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved June 25, 2012. [dead link]
  31. ^ "Bay City Rollers suing former label for millions". Reuters. March 21, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2012. 
  32. ^ "Revealed: the formula for a successful boy band". The Independent (London). Retrieved June 25, 2012. 
  33. ^ "Micky Dolenz". Corporate Artists. Retrieved June 25, 2012. 
  34. ^ "Biography: 60 million records sold worldwide". Boyz II men. Retrieved October 4, 2011. 
  35. ^ "A great influence". Travel & lifestyle. AU: Nine MSN. Retrieved June 25, 2012. 
  36. ^ Barr, Gordon (February 29, 2008). "Westlife breaking records". Evening Chronicle. 
  37. ^ "Gary Barlow congratulates The Wanted". UK: Heart FM. June 1, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2012. 

External links[edit]