The Innovations and Evolutions of Boybands
Boybands! Where to begin? They were such a pivotal part of my pre-teen and early teen years. From Boyz II Men, to N*Sync, The Backstreet Boys, B2K, and more, I was OBSESSED to say the least. While I had memorabilia from most of my favorite groups, N*Sync was my all-time favorite. I had everything from their CDs, to posters, bookmarks with the group members on them, a photo album that I put magazine clippings in, and t-shirts. I have tons of memories that include listening to their CDs in my room, or dancing with my friends while their music videos played on TV. There is no way I can talk about or think about my preteen and early teen years without mentioning my love for N*Sync at the time.
Their run on the boyband scene is legendary and the amount of hits they put out is nothing short of amazing. They were THAT boyband for so many girls. With songs like "Tearin' Up My Heart", "Bye, Bye, Bye", and "Gone" N*Sync stole the hearts of girls all over, including myself. I honestly cannot pick a favorite song by N*Sync, but one that sticks out to me the most would me "It's Gonna Be Me", which was written by Swedish songwriters Max Martin, Andreas Carlsson, and Rami Yacoub in 1999 and recorded in the US in 2000. The reason this song sticks out is because a show called "Making the Video" on MTV showed the behind the scenes and it was awesome watching how the video was made while feeling like you got to know the group members a little better. It was a fun video where they're pretending to be dolls in a toy store.
A particular part of the song that is really popular is the harmonies used for the lyric "gonna". It's an amazing build up to the bridge, which happens to be my favorite part of the song.
How Boybands Started
Now, although the term boyband didn't make its appearance until the 1980s, the appearance of boybands was much earlier than that. Boybands, which are defined as a group of men who create pop music and can sing and dance, actually began with barbershop quartets in the 1800s. Barbershop quartets began within the African American community and became popular amongst other cultures in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Their style was acapella, and every group member had a particular vocal part.
Here's a YouTube video of the Mills Brothers singing "Rockin' Chair". This song was recorded in 1931 in the US.
One of the elements of the Mills Brothers version of "Rockin' Chair", is the instruments that you hear were all imitated. The group members mastered using their voices to imitate the sound of instruments for their music. Another element would be the tempo. Most songs sung by quartets has a slower tempo that gave a mellow and sophisticated feel.
Eventually, boybands grew to what we know them as today. A huge innovator on the music scene was a widely known group, who went by the name Jackson 5. I mean you may or may not have heard of them. Jackson 5 took the scene by storm in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, again before the boyband term was being used, with songs like " I Want You Back", "ABC", "Who's Lovin' You", and many many more.
"I Want You Back", which was written by Barry Gordy Jr, Fonce Mizell, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards in 1969 in the US, was Jackson 5's first and biggest hit. Here's a YouTube video of Jackson 5 from December 14, 1969, performing "I Want You Back" on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Now with "I Want You Back", there's a difference with the elements I mentioned regarding "Rockin' Chair". Here, Jackson 5 is using a live band, with real instruments. Two of the group members are also playing the guitar and the bass. Also, you'll notice that the temp is much more upbeat. Giving its listeners the need to sing and dance along.
Here's another video of Jackson 5 showcasing their talent on The Carol Burnett Show from January 25, 1975.
Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson's (the lead of Jackson 5 who later went solo) music was such a big part of my childhood, thanks to my mom. She was and still is a huge fan of their music and was really upset when Michael Jackson passed away.
Throughout the 1980s, groups New Edition and New Kids on The Block held the spot for most popular boybands, setting the mold for modern day boybands as we know them.
My favorite of the two would have to be New Edition, who is more of and R&B boyband. The group got their start 1982 and became very popular, very quickly, with hit songs like "Candy Girl", "Mr. Telephone Man", and "Can You Stand the Rain" to name a few.
One of my personal favorites by New Edition would have to be "If It Isn't Love". If It Isn't love was written by Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam in 1988 in the US, which happens to also be the year I was born. My Mom has always been a big New Edition fan, and I can picture her dancing to this song while pregnant with me, seeing as how she knows all the dance moves from the music video.
If it isn't love
Why do I feel this way?
Why does she stay on my mind?
If it isn't love
Why does it hurt so bad?
Make me feel so sad inside
If it isn't love
As we proceed into the 1990s, this is where the boyband craze really took off. As I mentioned before N*Sync was very popular during this time, along with groups like The Backstreet Boys and 98Degrees. Those boybands held it down for the pop charts, however the 90's and the early 2000's were great years for R&B boybands too. Groups such Jagged Edge, 112, Jodeci, Silk, and Blackstreet all had amazing runs throughout their careers.
Although not as big as they were in the 90s, boybands have continued to show success with groups like the Jonas Brothers in the 2000s, One Direct in the 2010s, and BTS who debuted in 2013.
As the years progress and music continue to be everchanging, it will be interesting to see if the boyband craze will ever reach the heights, it did during the 90s and early 2000s.
Work Cited
“Jackson 5 – ‘I Want You Back.’” Classic Motown, 2 Feb. 2018, classic.motown.com/story/jackson-5-want-back/.
“The Mills Brothers.” The Vocal Group Hall of Fame, vocalgroup.org/inductees/the-mills-brothers/#:~:text=The%20brothers%20began%20performing%20at,actual%20instrument%20the%20group%20used. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.
Bowenbank, Starr. “Billboard Explains: The Magic of Boy Bands.” Billboard, Billboard, 9 Feb. 2022, www.billboard.com/music/music-news/billboard-explains-boy-bands-1235029089/.
“New Edition – If It Isn’t Love.” Genius, genius.com/New-edition-if-it-isnt-love-lyrics. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.
BOYBANDS! Who doesn't love them! "Barbershop quartets began within the African American community and became popular amongst other cultures in the late 1800s and the early 1900s." Knowing the origin of boybands is super interesting. Their style is unique in all way. I loved the song choices you used, especially " If It Isn't Love." Iconic!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely to this day love boybands. I do not care how old or outdated they get or myself I will always love boybands. Backstreet boys was probably my favorite with NSYNC in 2nd place. My step dad was the one who introduced me to them. I think this was a really clever and funny assignment topic!! Good job!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your blog post, I must say I appreciated it! This stirred many feelings that I had for boy bands as well. My mom would play songs by NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys while I was growing up, occasionally even New Kids on the Block. I also thought It’s Gonna Be Me was an excellent track. Another interesting thing that I found was understanding what can be referred to as boy bands starting from barbershop quartet to Jackson 5, New Edition, and the likes. It was great to read this article and implicitly revert to the early 90s with the boy bands and their magnetism.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you, boybands will always be boybands no matter the time era. I was not really shown boybands nor really had an interest, but the links to your videos showed me what I was missing out on! I also didn't realize boybands date back to the 1800s, which I think is pretty surprising. Overall, I really liked how you compared your musical elements- tempo and instruments. I feel like with those changes we can really see how the music then changed to what it is now.
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