Everybody who’s lived through the 90s has tasted boy band fever in some form or another. Explosive record sales and innumerable last song syndromes are just small tidbits of proof of how
Take That
this phenomenon has grown in the past. Many their members have risen from obscurity to become household names in several countries. The appeal of catchy love tunes, inventive dance moves and boy-next-door looks apparently transcends nationality and race.
Here are some of the more popular boy bands to appear of the last decades. Together they’ve packed stadiums, engaged in a couple of scandals here and there, made a lot of adolescent girls scream and shout, and eventually endeared themselves to millions of fans:
- Boyzone: When British people boy band Take That attained worldwide success, Ireland answered back with their very own set of handsome lads singing romantic ballads. After having four UK first albums, lead singers Ronan Keating and Stephen Gately emerged with solo careers, with Keating releasing 5 albums by himself.
- Take That: If Boyzone was Irish people answer to Take That, this group in turn was British people answer to the New Kids On The Block. Described as the most successful UK group since the Beatles, Take That has sold over 27 million copies of their record worldwide. It also produced the pop superstar Robbie Williams.
- The Backstreet Boys: Boy band fever in the mid-90s experienced a renaissance and it was mostly started by these lads. They became the biggest thing in music since the Spice Girls and are among the biggest selling pop groups ever. And though fan interest in the group has waned in recent years, they still remain a force in the music industry.
- Menudo: Better called the group that produced Ricky Martin, this group was much more than that in the late 1970s and early 80s when producer Edgardo Diaz of Puerto Rico decided to create an all male teen sing and dance group. They started an international boy band craze, whose format would be followed by all those who succeeded them.
