Where did the Pop go?!?!

Written by Carly Littles, Entertainment Editor

Whether one considers the new decade to begin or end with 2010, this year has nonetheless been the end to one of the greatest eras of pop culture: boy bands, a group of three to six males that appeal to all females and do not play instruments for their musical talent is in pop music and dance.

I once truly believed that the Spice Girls would marry N*Sync and the world would be full of half-British, singing, dancing babies (although British singing, goal-kicking babies are welcome too, David Beckham is no artist and Lance Bass would most likely prefer Beckham to Posh Spice.) Unfortunately, I did not foresee the death of all boy bands, that would cause humiliation to any all male multi-talented, singing troupe. Nor do girls fight over which “Spice they get to be”.

Browsing the “Billboard” top pop songs, there are two all male bands, “Boys Like Girls” and “Owl City”. However, I must argue the key component “boy bands”. Have you ever seen either of these groups dance? Personally, as I sit here trying to dance to “Fireflies”, I begin convulsing into these fits that are neither synchronized with the music nor comparable to the Backstreet Boys. According to their own profile on Myspace.com, “electronica/pop” is how Owl City labels their music. So close, yet, entirely missing the concept of “boy band”. Our quest continues… Boys Like Girls considers the genre they play to be “alternative/emo/rock”, which I must add is even further from the 90s pop we have come to miss. Thus, all male bands are not the same as “boy bands”. 

What is the cause of this? Perhaps the teenybopper supporters realized instruments were more exciting than footwork. It may have been that the lipsynching band, “O-Town”, found on the MTV reality show, “Making the Band”, ruined the career of every boy band by exposing their uninteresting, scripted lives via television. Regardless of the cause, this trend is not like leggings, side pony-tails, and Molly Ringwald in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”, which were all a large part of the 80s pop culture. The singing, dancing, and acting tri-fecta is something our generation, as well as many to come, will never see. No comeback can me made without its King. How could boy bands return without Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop” and member of the most influential boy band, The Jackson 5?

Unless endorsed by Disney Channel, no boy band can survive the painful critiques of women that are not satisfied by a band lacking guitars, drums, and anything that makes an artist a “musician”. Even the Jonas Brothers that play their own music have begun to fall apart. As Joe works on his “acting” career and Kevin dedicates time to his new wife, Nick attempts to go solo. Has America lost its last boy band? Not entirely; a band’s popularity is no longer rated on the intensity of the lead singer’s pelvic thrust. Now, it is the music and guitar solos that listeners find seductive. However, the two still receive the same volume of screaming pleasure.