Backstreet Boys: SERIOUSLY!

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Jan 27, 2000 Source: CheckOut Submitted By: Los Angeles, CA Mark Knize CheckOut.com Okay, okay. It's easy to laugh at the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync or any of the other spate of generic, interchangeable boy-bands that flooded the '90s music scene. But if you think about it, prefab rockers have been with us forever -- in the early '70s, Led Zeppelin fans probably retched everytime the latest David Cassidy/Partridge Family single hit the airwaves. Let's face it -- from The Monkees through The Backstreet Boys, industry manufactured groups don't get no respect, at least at first. Hindsight and nostalgia frequently lead to a re-evaluation of a prefab band's career, long after the laughter dies down (remember the Monkees resurgence in the mid-'80s?). But the plain truth is, pop and country music have a long standing tradition of producer created groups -- it wasn't until Bob Dylan and The Beatles came along that it became de rigeur for an artist to craft his own songs. Contrived or not, the following groups have made an impact on the music world (for better or worse) and most of them have created so me significant music… THE MONKEES What began as a simple parody of A Hard Day's Night became a Beatle-esque phenomenon in its own right. The Monkees (Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork) were four actor/musicians hired to portray the mythical band in Bob Rafaelson's psychedelic sitcom -- with the show's success, the group quickly became The Monkees for a nation of squealing pubescent girls. As a would-be teen phenomenon, the show couldn't have been planned better, with it's colorful, quick-cut style and stable of radio-ready pop classics (provided by Neil Diamond, Carole King, Harry Nilsson and others). Although Jones, Dolenz and company most certainly enjoyed their success, they were less thrilled with their status as an industry joke. Attempts at writing their own material were hit and miss at best, and by 1970, Nesmith and Tork had jumped ship, effectively ending the group. Nearly 20 years later, after signature tunes like "I'm A Believer" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" had become pop standards, the group enjoyed a nostalgia-f ueled comeback (minus Nesmith, who had established himself as a creative force outside the group), complete with tours and new records. And while none of the new material added to their legacy, the Monkees finally became what no one ever thought they could be -- legitimate. THE RUNAWAYS The Runaways have the distinction of being the only real rock 'n roll group on our list. Masterminded by Los Angeles producer/scenester Kim Fowley, the Runaways were part rock band, part jailbait fantasy designed to pump up teenage boys. Instead, they ended up influencing a generation of would-be female rockers, with frank, libidinous songs, penned largely by Fowley, that played on their image as teenage bad girls ("Hello Daddy/Hello Mom/I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-CHERRY BOMB!"). Nothing was contrived about their sound, though -- Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Cherie Currie and their compatriots could rock just as hard as the boys. Initially, the group were a critical laughing stock (except in Japan, where they were huge), but they managed to weather the storm for several years, racking up two classic albums (The Runaways, Queens of Noise) before packing it in. Both Jett and Ford have gone on to successful careers outside the band, but their Runaways legacy remains unmatched. THE VILLAGE PEOPLE As befitted the time, there was only one message to the Village People's late-'70s brand of disco -- dance and party all night long. Formed by French producer Jacques Morali, the Village People's burlesque of popular gay archetypes (cowboy, hard hat, leather cop, biker) may have been lost on middle America, but chartbusters like "YMCA" and "Macho Man" spoke loud and clear as universal dancefloor anthems. When the disco craze died, so did the group, though they've resurfaced in recent years (with various, interchangeable new members). Does it matter to the legions of nostalgia hounds who still queue up to hear them play? Not at all -- the Village People have become an institution that requires only a costume, solid abs and a decent set of pipes in order to apply. MILLI VANILLI The flashiest, trashiest, highest-flying (and most tastelessly crash-n-burn) of all prefab groups, Milli Vanilli's name will live in music trivia infamy forever. The brainchild of producer/songwriter Frank Farian, Milli Vanilli went beyond the usual producer-as-puppeteer arrangement, by simply hiring two good looking dancers to lip-sync to already completed music. Despite its high chart position, the group's breakthrough album (Girl You Know It's True) was generic pop crapola at its worst -- what put the group over were Rob and Fabs cheekbones, pecs and high-energy dancing. It took winning a Grammy for Best New Artist (and considerable industry rumor-mongering) to force Farian to come clean and admit that -- oops! -- Rob and Fab didn't exactly perform on their records. In a humiliating televised press conference, pop's newest supervillains gave back their award and began their inevitable slide into obscurity. Morvan attempted to get on with his life, crafting a more folk infused brand of music (no record deal yet). Rob Pilatus, on the other hand, descended into a pitiful downward spiral of drug abuse and self-loathing that ended with his suicide in 1998. The music is already forgotten -- the scandal lives on! SPICE GIRLS Even if you didn't dig their music, you gotta admit there was something sassy about the Spice Girls. For their brief chart and media reign, this hand-picked group of grrrls managed to inject something fresh and authentic into the Village People concept of representing archetypes that an audience -- in this case, young girls -- could relate to. The difference was, each of the Spicers had a strong personality, cheeky wit and the kind of media savvy that kept them from becoming generic, replaceable puppets. In addition, their feminist-lite stance was empowering to teenage audiences, but not threatening to anyone else. This, combined with several brilliantly crafted dancefloor singles, made them a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. The group's moment in the sun may be over (lead Spicer Geri Halliwell bailed for a solo career in '98), but the Spice Girls unquestionably made their mark. BACKSTREET BOYS / NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK Sure, there's been plenty of boy bands over the last 15 years, but NKOTB and The Backstreet Boys are the only ones who've managed to achieve the status of genuine pop phenomenon. It's equally certain that the Backstreet Boys could not have existed without New Kids. In the late '80s, NKOTB were a new kind of boy band -- slick, professional, ultra-choreographed, designed and marketed for the video age. Backstreet Boys are the logical, '90s version of New Kids -- that is, a perfect mishmash of all current trends in pop music (R&B, hip-hop, dance-pop), but with one major difference. While the New Kids were a producer's project from the start, Backstreet's members actually performed together for several years before they began recording. Sure, the "boy band" marketing of the group reeks of industry machination, but the chemistry of the members is genuine (as are their contributions to the songwriting). And even the most hardened cynic would have to admit that "Larger Than Life" and "Backstreet's Back" are superbad pop anthems. The Backstreet Boys may give a nod to prefab tradition, but ultimately, they're their own men … Comment on this item. Next Item: Boy groups following formula to success Prev Item: It's The Music