I think this will be great. I like the fact East 17 are featured. Although I have to say I don't remember 911 or Damage at all. Is it just me? Were they big? I don't remember them ever being mentioned by girls or any of their songs.

 

As the documentary is focussing on Irish and UK boybands of the '90s - early '00s. The other ones I remember from that period, which don't appear to feature, are Let Loose --Crazy For You, though not sure they were a boyband--Boyzone, A1, Another Level, Point Break and MN8 --I've Got a Little Something For You--.

 

https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/news/w...-forever-44679/

 

My absolute favourite is Take That. Their popularity, songs, creative tours, and influence was insane. Both in the '90s and post reunion. Just look at the bedlam of when Robbie left and their split. What an impact and legacy.

Runner up: Though I also strongly liked NSYNC's music and bought an album --No String's Attached, one of my favourite pop albums-- and a few singles they released before and after that album --Tearin' Up My Heart and Pop--. They were never big in Britain though and I only knew one other person who liked them in school and had their album also.

 

Liked at points: East 17, Let Loose --that one song-- Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, Another Level, Blue, A1, Five, Point Break. JLS being probably the last one. One Direction's songs, for the most part, were far too juvenile for me and The Wanted seemed like a half-committed lesser version of East 17 and Five. Who were both the realist, if not best.

Damage were not that big really but they did have a few hits in the late 90's and early 00's. They had seven top 20 singles (four top 10) and two top 20 albums both which were certified Gold and Silver. Emma Bunton is married to Jade who was one of the members of the boyband.

 

911 were bigger than Damage and were featured on the first The Big Reunion TV series alongside Atomic Kitten, Liberty X and Five. They had three top 20 albums (two top 10) which were also certified gold (x1) and silver (x2) then eleven top 20 singles of which ten went top 10, eight were top 5 and 1 was #1. I gather they were more of a singles act.

 

Neither were on the level of Take That, Boyzone, Westlife, JLS, East 17 or One Direction though. They were all a lot more successful, even The Wanted were much bigger than either of those two.

Moved this to the Music Lounge as I think this will be really interesting to discuss!

We are being SERVED next weekend by having this and Girls Aloud on ITV *.*

 

Will be watching. I was born in the early 90s and I got swept up in girl power mania instead so the boybands were just "there" for me but I definitely enjoyed music from the likes of Blue, Westlife, Boyzone etc

Randomly saw Damage on stage last night as they came on for a couple of songs during a Northants Sings Out show (recent BGT finalist)

 

I then got super excited when the choir did a Spice Girls song and thought Emma Bunton was there. She was not….

Saw Duncan James and Antony Costa from Blue talking to Lorraine about this on her show yesterday. Will be watching of course. Will be interesting viewing, dare I say poignant as well in light of the last month.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I will be watching!

An American version released a few days ago called 'Larger Than Life: Reign of the boybands' is on Paramount+. It features Donny Osmond, New Edition, New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, 98 Degrees and NSYNC, though has recieved mixed to negative reviews.

 

The main problem from the reviews is that it is quite light, pure promotional piece and doesn't go deeper and jumps around from eras, no distinct narrative. This documentary tells the entire history of boybands, who were popular in America -The Beatles (...not convinced they were a boyband) to One Direction/BTS, as opposed to a specific era. It has also been produced by MTV.

 

It is implied that it went New Kids until their US drop off in 1992 (5 year draught) to Hanson/Backstreet Boys in 1997. However, this isn't true as Color Me Badd, Boyz II Men and All-4-One were huge during that period in America, frequent chart toppers. Plus Take That also had a US Top 10 pop single in 1995. Yes rap and grunge were huge during this time, but so were these vocal harmony groups.

 

Backstreet Boys segment talks about going to Europe and there being Boyzone, Westlife, 3T, East 17 and Take That being the biggest group.

 

Nothing truly new and none are brutally honest about anything which could be seen as damaging to their brand.

 

For these reasons I think that the British/Irish documentary will be more revealing, and plus let's be honest the American boybands were incredibly boring and serious/pretentious which never helps. Although Backstreet Boys said they liked Take That, East 17, Five, Westlife and Blue, I remember how dismissive themselves and NSYNC were in British interviews about other boyband groups from Europe:

 

''They would never make it in the States.'' ''We're not going to name names but there are a lot of poor groups currently out here who are huge who we don't want to be associated with. We are a vocal harmony group, not a boyband.''

 

What they fail to mention is the fact the British and Irish actually wrote their own songs or co-wrote, and created their own sounds. Not just Max Martin doing all the heavy work.

 

Being succesful in America doesn't mean you are the best of the best. Like anything in the music industry a lot of it is timing, luck and serendipitous. The Billboard Top 40 has always been the most notoriously slow, stagnant and least diverse in cultures/genres than any other in the world. The only motivation is wealth and fame.

Edited November 14, 2024Nov 14 by nirvanamusic

I wonder if Boyzone aren't involved due to their own Sky documentary. Take That also have a documentary currently being made by Netflix.

Watching episode 2 now. Episode 1 was brilliant! Interesting hearing the Take That and East 17 stories! Never knew Gary Barlow was so up himself! Jason was a hottie in his heyday!

The documentary is great. Gary got a hammering but as we know their relationship is solid now. I do think A1 or Another Level would have been good additions though. It was interesting to see the boybands change with the times and culture.

 

Perhaps that is why we had the boybands Busted and McFly during the '00s pop-punk and 'Indie landfill' era.

 

Didn't realise some of the managers were as young as the groups, Five, Blue etc.

 

I do feel this documentary is better than the US one released earlier this week: Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands. Namely as it is more raw and honest, features the managers and has more humour and personalities. The US documentary was also quite self congratulatory of the bands profiled, an eye on their image, commercialism and brand. Not much learnt other than their individual breakthrough successes in America.

 

From my perspective Damage just weren't as good as the US acts at that time who did have more UK success than them. 911 am still not convinced but a fantastic inspiring story of success without a major label and overcoming personal adversity.

 

The BBC would be better off airing the third episode the next day (Sunday) to keep up the momentum as opposed to next Saturday.

Edited November 17, 2024Nov 17 by nirvanamusic

Watched the first two episodes last night. Was unsure what to expect, particularly as regards to Five and 911 as they had both done The Big Reunion which kind of covered a lot of the same ground subject wise, and - to a lesser extent - Take That, whose own story, particularly Robbie's with his Netflix documentary last year, is quite well documented.

 

Framing their contributions against those of their managers, but also others - Jayne Middlemiss, Andi Peters etc - was really a stroke of genius. What I actually came away feeling from watching it was empathy and anger. It speaks volumes that some certain people (unsurprisingly) hold little or no accountability for their behaviour and actions - Nigel Martin-Smith for one, Simon Cowell for another, Tom Watkins and that absolute bellend from News of the World they had on whose name I didn't catch but who were merciless as regards to East 17.

 

Seeing Scott and Sean from Five get visibly upset recounting about their experiences makes you realise just how traumatised they still are by what they went through at such young ages. Even sadder that in the time since these interviews were filmed, what's happened inside the last month has happened with Liam Payne.

 

Feel for Damage in a lot of ways as well, and the systemic racism they faced being told they couldn't be put on the cover of Smash Hits unless it was done in a very "safe" and "approved" way.

I just watched all three episodes! It's enjoyable (if a bit harrowing in places). Lots of scattered thoughts incoming!

 

It was certainly fascinating to see how the managers felt about those times in contrast to the boyband members, and that unfortunately even after all this time the managers still aren't very empathetic regarding the mental toll it had on some of the members. Looking at archive footage with the constant promotion around the world, and the hordes of fans that greeted them everywhere, it doesn't seem surprising that many of these bands didn't make it beyond 4 years before splitting up.

 

Although I'd say I like Take That the most out of all the boybands featured (and obviously they're an essential inclusion in a boyband documentary), I was the least interested in their part of the documentary - because it's the story I'm most familiar with, and I wouldn't say there was much new ground covered.

 

Interesting to see the rivalry between Take That and East 17 though, how it was largely created by the media to sell tabloids and magazines - the framing of them as good boys vs. bad boys. Unless I missed it, did the show overlook that Brian returned to East 17 (as E-17) only a year after the drug-related controversy?

 

Being in Five in particular sadly didn't look like it was much fun at all, and it's very evident how those times are still difficult for them to talk about. Regarding Five passing on NSYNC's Bye Bye Bye and Simon Cowell's regret about that... just because it was a big Top 5 hit in the US for NSYNC, doesn't necessarily mean it would have worked out that way for Five. Like, I think it likely had to be by NSYNC to do that well in the US. I could imagine the scenario that Five releasing Bye Bye Bye could have done better in the UK specifically over NSYNC, but of course we'll never know!

 

Damage - on the one hand I feel like their singles maybe just weren't strong enough on the whole for them to become massive. Then I wonder, if the media had been more supportive and in turn the budgets had been higher, if this would have resulted in better material? The shocking story about Smash Hits magazine though - I feel bad that Damage had to experience that. I know that Eternal were put on the cover 3 times across the 15 singles they released (once in 1994, once in 1995, once in 1996). I wonder if Eternal experienced the same sort of negotiations with the magazine, and also whether those covers didn't sell so well that in turn resulted in Smash Hits' reluctance with Damage (their cover happened in 1997). A 4 year gap between the releases of Damage's first album and second album, at a time when yearly album drops were more common - this can't have helped them from a momentum perspective! Another Level (a boyband not mentioned in this show) came and went in the gap between Damage's two albums! :lol:

 

Although it certainly felt like Blue came along at the right time to hugely benefit from the end of Five, I also feel like Blue had similarities to Another Level... just that Blue were ultimately more marketable because they came across as having a lot more personality as individuals and as a collective. Funnily enough both bands achieved their first #1 singles with their second releases, both being covers of Billboard Hot 100 #1 hits which hadn't been as successful in the UK! (Another Level - Freak Me, Blue - Too Close). Sometimes I forget just how massive Blue were in 2001-4 because subsequent comebacks have kind of diluted it. Perhaps the 2011 comeback was a tad too early to trigger major nostalgia.

 

911 seem a bit less remembered than other boybands of the era, but they did very well - 10 consecutive Top 10 hits, 8 of those being Top 5 :o I don't listen to them often, but they had some bops for sure.

100% agree. I can't imagine a Five 'Bye Bye Bye' or 'Baby One More Time' due to the expert performance and fit of the artists who released them. It is also well known that Cheiron (Max Martin etc) preferred to give their best songs to the Americans: Britney, Backstreet, NSYNC. Five and Westlife usually had the pick of the rest. Take That and East 17 made them unique as they were built around song writers.

 

What would Five have been like with Russell Brand in the group though? True bad boys.. Also Ryan Gosling almost became a Backstreet Boy and Colin Farrell a member of Boyzone!

 

Speaking of which, they were glossed over. Yes compared to Take That, East 17, Five and Oasis they were safe, some might say boring, but they were bigger than nearly all of the other boybands excluding Take That, Westlife, and One Direction. The three highest selling boybands ever in the UK. Perhaps they are saving their story for their Sky documentary.

 

'94 - '96 Boyzone were third in line, possibly second, behind Take That and East 17. They claimed the crown when Take That split, East 17 imploded and Backstreet Boys were flown in but were never truly huge in Britain, consistent but not huge.

 

I'm glad East 17 were included but unlike the commercial and cultural battle in America between Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, driving both to huge record sales in the US; East 17 weren't on the same level as Take That, in this country at least. The performance shown of 'Stay Another Day' at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party 1994 was fantastic.

 

It was interesting when Brian from Westlife said Simon Cowell can make you the biggest act in the world but with no artist development. That is basically the biggest crux, along with the cover versions, a lot of people have with Westlife. Good to see a member state they were as frustrated as the public with this. Totally different to his approach with Five who he completely let off the leash, bringing their own influences into the sound and image.

Edited November 17, 2024Nov 17 by nirvanamusic

I found it interesting when Nigel Martin-Smith said that Gary Barlow was good at writing ballads but struggling with the more uplifting numbers. Never thought about it before, but their uplifting hits are either covers, written by someone else or Gary Barlow has had help from other songwriters.

 

I knew that East 17 members aside from Tony didn't make a lot of money, but didn't think it would be as little as £150 a week. That was a poor wage even in the 90s, would have almost certainly been under minimum wage if it existed then.

 

It seemed like Damage didn't think much of their music, they wanted to be the British Jodeci but ended up being a pop group. I do find it a shame when people have to make music they don't like in order to make a living, but I'd do the same myself if I had the opportunity. I recall from The Big Reunion that they didn't make much money and went back to the day jobs apart from the member who married Emma Bunton and hasn't had to work again.

As this is being discussed can anyone remind who the following band were?

 

They were British, had a kids TV show around the late 90s or early 2000s and were like a Busted rip off. You know, like a imitation Punk type thing.

 

Don't think they had much in the way of hits.

 

And no it's not McFly or Son of Dork

Edited November 17, 2024Nov 17 by Severin

As this is being discussed can anyone remind who the following band were?

 

They were British, had a kids TV show around the late 90s or early 2000s and were like a Busted rip off. You know, like a imitation Punk type thing.

 

Don't think they had much in the way of hits.

 

And no it's not McFly or Son of Dork

 

The Noise Next Door, I believe. I loved their song 'She Might' or it could be Freefaller --lead singer was Ollie from Point Break-- who had a hit with 'Do This! Do That!'.

The Noise Next Door, I believe. I loved their song 'She Might' or it could be Freefaller --lead singer was Ollie from Point Break-- who had a hit with 'Do This! Do That!'.

Ah yes! Thank you. That's the one I was thinking of.

It's interesting how boybands followed trends of the time like the pop rock iterations of the mid '00s.

 

Then JLS later who were the original X Factor launch boyband, followed by One Direction who were almost 'anti-boyband' in that they didn't dance or put on a performance, and would rip off rock songs to start their own tracks. The Clash, The Who, Def Leppard, Summer Lovin' from Grease, Simple Plan etc etc.

 

The Wanted were another lad band in the form of Five, East 17, Blue but had a dance sound, popular at the time, and some minimal dance routines. Don't know enough about K-Pop and BTS etc but know they are inspired by Michael Jackson majorly.

Edited November 17, 2024Nov 17 by nirvanamusic

This documentary was brilliant, cool of Robbie to do it and surprised none of the rest of Take That did.

 

East 17 really went through it, especially Brian. Interesting to see the other too guys, John and Terry, get quite a bit of airtime, as I suppose they were just making up the numbers and didn't write the songs it's no surprise they didn't earn much.

 

I felt sorry for 5ive too, mental health really wasn't understood at all was it? I can't believe the honeytrap for Ritchie, I'd forgotten or didn't know that's why he split with Billie. Also that journalist they had on from the tabloid paper was horrible. And poor Sean and Scott.

 

I've always found it fascinating how big 911 were in Asia - and still are. They came to my primary school to perform in early 1998 and obviously had several top five hits under their belt at this point so it was a really big deal and very good of them to do it at that stage in their career.

 

Just watched the third episode on iPlayer too and interesting to hear about Blue and Westlife. It does make complete sense how Westlife had that run of success - being equally marketed to teenage girls and mums in - as Brian put it - cardigans that made him look like Val Doonican :lol:

 

Also the whole contextualising throughout the shows and how it impacted the bands was spot on - 9/11, the Iraq war, mental health awareness, reality search for a star shows...it all had a massive impact on everything since.

 

I think the only thing missing was a bit about the evolution to Busted and McFly as manufactured pop went out the door and rock influence started to come in from about 2003 onwards.

 

I'd love to see a similar girlband show at some point.

Edited November 17, 2024Nov 17 by gooddelta