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A boy band is a type of Pop Group featuring three or more young male Singer s. It is disputed whether or not music groups that have more than five members should be considered boy bands, such as Super Junior who has 13 members. The members are generally expected to perform as Dancer s as well, often executing highly choreographed sequences to their own music. Although there are no distinct traits of boy bands, one could label a band a "boy band" for following mainstream music trends, changing their appearances to adapt to new fashion trends, having elaborate dancers, and performing elaborate shows. They can evolve out of church choral or Gospel Music groups, but are often put together by managers or producers who audition the groups for appearance, dancing, rapping skills, and singing ability, and often seem to be Prefabricated . But one thing that they all seem to have in common is that they have three to six members, with singing and dancing in their repertoire. Although they are referred to as "band aids", they rarely play instruments, and the acts are essentially Vocal Harmony groups (though there are some exceptions, such as groups like A1 ). Due to this and the fact that the acts are generally aimed at a Teenybopper or Preteen audience, the term has negative connotations in the rock press. Boy bands are similar in concept to Girl Group s. Terms synonymous to boy band include boy groups, male vocal groups and guy groups. TOP SELLING BOY BANDS HISTORY Maurice Starr is usually credited with starting the trend, with his Protégé s New Edition and New Kids On The Block , though the term "boy band" did not exist until later in the 1990s. 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. This formula was in turn redefined by a number of European managers such as Nigel Martin-Smith and Louis Walsh , until the UK pop marketplace was saturated with the genre. TV Producers Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson got four members to perform catchy pop tunes while also acting in a television series. The Monkees are often considered as the original pioneers among boy bands. Formed in 1965 the group disbanded in 1970. Although the term is mostly associated with groups from the 1990s onwards, antecedents exist throughout the history of pop music. The Temptations , popular in the 1960s, and The Bee Gees , The Jackson 5 , The Osmonds , and Earth, Wind And Fire , popular in the 1970s, have also been considered a form of boy band by some. Latino boy band Menudo was founded in 1977.
KEY FACTORS OF THE CONCEPT 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 Magazine s), and Music Video s. 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 nice boy." 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. 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 (e.g. The Monkees and 'N Sync ). 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. COUNTRY BOY BANDS The "boy band" format has been applied to some Country Music groups as well. Notable examples include South 65 and Marshall Dyllon . LIST OF BOY BANDS
CRITICISM Boy bands tend to be heavily criticized by some in the musical press for appealing to young pubescent girls for emphasizing marketing and packaging over quality of music. Such views are reflected in the humorous definition in the Chambers Dictionary : "a pop group, targeting mainly the teenage market, composed of young males chosen because they look good and can dance and sometimes even sing." In the 1990s, boy bands such as the Backstreet Boys and Lyte Funky Ones sometimes found the term "boy band" offensive and insisted on being called a "male vocal group". Some critics compare boy band output to the "machine-generated" popular music found in George Orwell 's novel, '' Nineteen Eighty-Four '', noting that much of their music (as well as the bands' composition) is extremely formulaic. Other critics point to boy bands (and related musical groups) as case studies in Commercialism and Postmodernism , with little cultural content. Such criticisms can become extremely scathing:
POP CULTURE INFLUENCE Due to their pre-fab nature, boy bands are not only a frequent target of criticism, but also a frequent source of parody in popular culture, ranging from the Television series '' 2ge+her '' (which created a Parody boy band with five personality types) to a week-long spoof in 1999 , wherein talk show host Conan O'Brien , riding the coattails of the successful program "Making the Band", created his own boy band, ''Dudez-A-Plenti'', after randomly selecting five singers, narrowed down from the population of the entire world. A series of humorous sketches ensued, culminating in a Friday performance of a song O'Brien apparently made up himself: "''Baby, I Wish You Were My Baby.''". Further examples of boy band parodies in pop culture include:
SUCCESS IN THE GENRE Though some fans are wildly supportive of the music, the commercial success of specific boy bands does not tend to last long. As the fans (mostly teen girls) age and their musical tastes evolve, they tend to outgrow such groups' appeal. If success is sustained, often one or more members of the band will leave and seek a solo career (particularly if they have some songwriting ability), often with some success, for instance: Michael Nesmith , Michael Jackson , Jermaine Jackson , Jordan Knight , George Michael , Robbie Williams , Justin Timberlake , Ronan Keating , Brian McFadden , and Ricky Martin . EXTERNAL LINKS
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