Boy bands are grody. That’s a given. But there used to be a time when you could separate the talent from the pretty face that sells lunchboxes.
Let’s think back to the good old days before boy bands became prefabricated puppets strung from the hands of Lou Pearlman or Maurice Starr. Some forefathers actually played a more important role in music history than just lining a bedroom wall with their squeaky clean smiles and oddly shaped facial hair.
In no particular order, here are my favorite predecessors:
1. Duran DuranThese boys became MTV darlings and helped put the music channel on the map. “Hungry Like the Wolf” introduced the art of the music video. |
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2. The Jackson 5Without Michael Jackson, there would be no Justin Timberlake. No Lance Bass either. |
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3. New EditionStill sugary sweet but unlike Maurice Starr’s vanilla version, these guys all moved on to solo careers. Watch closely and you can see Bobby Brown’s ego on the verge of ejaculating all over Ralph Tresvant’s high tops. |
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4. The MonkeesThe Beatles may have done it first but these guys perfected the prefab model. The difference is that they were actual musicians that eventually gained control of their own music and image. |
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5. New Kids on the BlockDon’t you judge me!! I was a 12 year old girl once! I had pre pubescent needs! I, of course, fell in love with the gay one. |
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I am bitter. I remember auditioning for New Edition but they told me my voice was too high pitched.
You had me until New Kids. New Kids, really? That’s where it all started going wrong. I remember girls who used their posters like wall paper. If moving on to successful solo careers is on the rubric for being more than an “influential prefab puppet,” they miss the mark. Perhaps your middle school nostalgia is clouding your brain on this one. Can I have an OMG!
They do not belong in the category of “BEFORE Boy Bands Went Wrong.” You are absolutely right. I put them there because even I have to admit to my guilty pleasures.