Just some random rumblings...

I know I may be pilloried for it but I like manufactured groups, not all of them, and most of the groups I like are from England who seemed to have turned this particular band niche into an art form. But I can say with confidence that I like the music enough to know that the kind of poppy melodies and dancey tunes appeal to my sense of fun. I don’t need all my music to be deep; sometimes it’s enough to be entertained. It started with the Spice Girls, the penultimate manufactured group. I fell for their loony brand of Girl Power hook line and sinker. I have all of their music, which I still listen to and thoroughly enjoy, saw them in concert for their reunion tour and if they released any new music, I’d most likely buy it. Being a fan of Robbie Williams has turned me into a fan of his youthful boy band Take That. He is the UK’s Justin Timberlake and is a far bigger star there than here. Fairly recently after years apart, they reunited first without Robbie and later with and released some very good songs and several albums. Currently, I am loving another girl “band” called Girls Aloud. This band was put together from individual contestants from the British The X-Factor, which blows away its American counterpart. For these guys, I must pick and choose their songs but so many are so good that I can overlook the stinkers. 

 

The prime years for loving this kind of music, mostly pre-adolescent, passed me by. I went through my Shaun Cassidy phase (yes, I’m showing my age) but I usually crushed on TV and Movie actors, not singers. I remember being dreamy about Gilligan and Gopher from the Love Boat and by the time I was a freshman in high school, Harrison Ford was it, I mean who doesn’t want to be romanced by Han Solo and Indiana Jones.   In my house, I grew up listening to what my mother listened to which was Steely Dan, The Beatles, Paul McCartney and Wings, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, and …you get the picture (I think the only albums I had just for me was the Grease soundtrack which I wore out and the Aristocats**). No manufactured bands here and I had a disdain for them without even realizing I did. I think the closest thing to a boy band in my teenage years that I obsessed over was Duran Duran and they don’t really count. The winsome charms of Menudo, NKOTB, and the Backstreet Boys rolled over me. So I find it vaguely ironic, that I like these types of bands now more than I did when I was younger. Although I must say that I think that if nothing else, Justin Timberlake emerged from all this, and I think he is so talented. His futuresex/lovesounds is sooooo good plus he just seems so charming and funny. If you haven’t already, give yourself a treat and watch the history of rap part 1, 2 and 3 with Jimmy Fallon. Watch them in order and if you don’t find yourself laughing, dancing, singing along and probably wanting to put together a compilation of these songs I feel bad for you because you are probably not much fun to be around.

If you are wondering where this ramble comes from it was from watching The Voice last night and they featured one of the newest crop of boy bands coming to prominence, 5 Brit boys called The Wanted. While the popularity of the boy or girl bands have waned in America, England still has a plethora and throws out new ones every year with boy bands consistently more popular. Besides, The Wanted, there is One Direction, Parade and Fe-Nix, plus many others too numerous to mention.  Sometimes they break here, sometimes they don’t and not all are equal. For instance, when Girls Aloud was huge, so was another group called Sugababes, which I didn’t like at all. But watching the show got me thinking about this and I decided to share because, hey, why not? I will end this post with some links to a few of my favorite videos and songs for you to enjoy.      

http://www.wimp.com/raphistory/    This is getting harder to find, so watch while you can. See all 3 though they are all great!

This song by Girls Aloud was written by the Pet Shop Boys.

This is Take That from their first reunion album but before Robbie. I find this to be a beautiful song.

Here they are in all their boy band glory singing their only song to hit in the US.

Here's the band that inspired this post, The Wanted. Their so pretty.

I can't end this without including my favorite 5 girls: Baby, Posh, Spice, Ginger and Sporty

**I completely overlooked  above the first manufactured band, one which I loved then and now and containing another of my adolescent crushes, Mike Nesmith, The Monkees. I think this is because although they started out as a fake band, they grew into a talented group belying their beginnings.