Why boy bands

Probably the most prominent feature of the boy band world is the fans. Their young, female audiences are the basis of their entire marketing strategy and drive the streams, sales and influence of the band for decades to come. If you think about it, the s fan hysteria of the Beatles, coined Beatlemania, could be considered the blueprint for modern fandoms. To Read the Full Story. Subscribe Sign In. Continue reading your article with a WSJ membership. Resume Subscription We are delighted that you'd like to resume your subscription.

Please click confirm to resume now. More in WSJ. See All. Sponsored Offers. The band formed for the television show named The Monkees by producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider who gained success of their merit once the programme finished in By the seventies, boy bands had expanded outside of pop and out into other languages and countries. The most unique aspect of Menudo is that as soon as a member became too tall or reached the age of 16, they were swapped out with the shorter, younger version.

Throughout their long history, Menudo has had 35 official members all of which were swapped out by the time they reached their mid-twenties unless they left the group for other reasons. Over in Scotland the Bay City Rollers were gaining popularity and for a short but intense period, they were considered to be the next Beatles and were considered to be worldwide teen idols. The late seventies and eighties saw American boy bands find the success of big boy bands gone by.

First, with Boston group, New Edition who are often credited with being the reason the term boy band exists. Although the group came in second which meant no recording contract or prize money, the producer Maurice Starr saw promise and took them to the studio soon after. Following on from their disaster of a debut album the group started on their second album, when this album came out Starr wanted to again focus on black audiences.

The video and single was sent to BET and black radio stations until one Floridian pop station started playing it. This radio station gave New Kids on the Block their fanbase, young girls. New Kids mania carried on well into the nineties with the track Step by Step becoming their biggest single and the album of the same name selling 3 million copies in the US alongside 16 million units across the rest of the world.

In response the huge boom that was the inception of New Kids on the Block, European labels and managers wanted to cash in. Hence the boy band Take That was formed.

Take That could arguably be the most successful boy band in British history. They hold the record for most shows at the O2 Arena and have sold 45 million records worldwide, this all comes despite their many hiatuses and ever changing line up, going from a 5-piece to a 3-piece over the last 20 years.

The impact these 4 groups alone had on the boy band genre is immense. Metro in argued that the Backstreet Boys were the boy band that made it acceptable for men to like boy bands.