People make it seem the explosion of the manufactured group/singer started in earnest in the 90s. There has always been those groups starting with the Monkees. But when do you think that type of group has reached its peak? Or is it an ongoing phenomenon?

this is difficult

whatsgoingon said:

I would say it may even date back to the late 50s. If you think about it, groups like the Temptations, Four Tops, Delphonics, etc. were all "manufactured". I don't think it was until the Monkeys that companies deliberetely created a group to market a certain way.

daPrettyman said:

The Temptations like the Supremes were friends that tried their luck at Motown, they weren't manufactured in the sense of the Backstreet Boys or Take That. They didn't write or produce their own stuff but I couldn't call them manufactured.
[Edited 11/8/07 16:24pm]

daPrettyman said:

Delfonics manufactured? how? Because they didn't write their own material?

whatsgoingon said:

Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers were THE first american boy band from the 1950's. Yes, boy bands existed long before The Jacksons.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

When I think about a band or group being "manufactured", I not only see groups like The Monkeys, EnVogue, etc., I see a record company taking a group, teaching them how to walk, talk, perform, etc. That's manufacturing in my eyes. There are a few groups that I wouldn't consider manufactured (The Whispers) because they either had a songwriter in the group.

TonyVanDam said:

We are not just taking about Boy Bands. We are talking Manufactured bands. The type of group that a producer puts together by putting an advert in a magazine, and getting a group of individuals who don't know each other and throwing them together. Thats why I don't put groups like the Jacksons, the Tempts etc in that catergory. The Tempts were friends before they signed up with Motown. The Jackson 5 were brothers who were opening for the likes of James Brown before they got their break with Motown.
[Edited 11/9/07 8:12am]

TonyVanDam said:

Tony, who's that woman in your avatar?

guitarslinger44 said:

OFFTOPIC:

Shilpa Shetty - Bollywood Actress & Winner of 2007 Celebrity Big Brother.

Phil Spector must be one of the pioneers of this approach, considering so many of his "groups" had Darlene Love as the lead singer. That goes back to 1962. I don't know my Motown history super-well but some of those groups might have been slapped together from folks who auditioned; the ones I've looked up so far all seems to previously exist though.

I don't know enough about pop in the 40s or 50s to say of there were others who did this previously.

whatsgoingon said:

I think the current wave started in the late eighties, with New Kids On The Block... However, I think there's a direct correlation to the dumbing-down of MTV, from the mid-nineties onwards, to the current state of affairs.

I think that manufactured acts are currently at their peak. There's so many artists now whom are just a front-man (or woman) for a superstar producer or production team.

Some of the music is good and some is bad. Some is fabulous, like Rhianna's 'Umbrella'... However, today's Rhianna could easily become tomorrow's Mya if she doesn't take control of her career.

I don't think that the svengalis like Clive Davis, Simon Cowell or Simon Fuller help matters much either. There's probably fout or five of these people in the world whose personal taste inform what should be popular or not. Everybody sounds the same these days - well, in the charts at least.