I recently did a bit of research...Undoubtedly influenced by the random sounds of the birds in the trees, a caveman would bash animal bones against various targets until he developed a degree of rhythmic control, which would move the other members of his tribe to join in and accompany him. This, in turn, could have led to the formation of a travelling band that would enter a village demanding the best tent, copious amounts of meat and the undivided attention of the most hair-free women from the nearby caves. They might have occasionally lost a member of the group, or cut a performance short due to the ever-present dangers of their environment. Imagine the neolithic ancestors of Gareth Gates being hunted down by a pride of lions only to discover that there was no escape from the savage jaws of this particularly sensitive music critic. At least this band of musicians weren’t doing another rendition of ‘Unchained Melody’ or ‘Yesterday’


‘Boy bands’ receive a great deal of criticism from the media and a growing amount of concern from the public. Newspaper reviewers are increasingly finding it hard to keep up with the amount of new faces and bland cover versions that are constantly dominating the music charts. Parents are often reported to be concerned about the amount of money and attention that their teenage girls and boys are throwing at the latest over-hyped bunch of puppets. Every generation claims that the music of their era was better than the current crop of industry grown marketing tools. If only that were true.


‘Boy bands’ have been passed through the generations until they have become almost respectable. In the 1960’s The Beatles began their legendary invasion of America, offering the audience a variety of upbeat anthems which could only be resisted by the most stubborn listener. In return, a bunch of American music industry executives came up with the idea of manufacturing a band and giving them their own television show. The Monkees, despite the fact that they were all actors, went on to have a great deal of success. They would pretend to play their instruments and mime through their performances, but, due to their continuing popularity, they would give music companies everywhere a blueprint of things to come. The ‘boy band’ was on its way.



Television seemed to be a guiding tool to success for the music industry and it recognised that the more exposure the artists received, the bigger the audience grew. The 1970’s produced The Osmonds and several other industry created bands. The marketing tools were being refined and the music was blander than ever. The ‘boy band blueprint’ was beginning to take shape, although, there was still a lot of room for improvement. The Jackson Five had proven so popular in the US that they would be given their own cartoon series. It had occurred to the music industry that the power of television could be used to its advantage, and the more people who saw the artists, the more people would buy the records. An established act could be re-packaged and groomed for super-stardom in the blink of an eye.



Music television, or M.T.V., began in the early eighties. At first it seemed like a bunch of enthusiastic music fans introducing their favourite artists and explaining their passion for ‘new romantic’ tunes, but, gradually it became another marketing tool for the music industry. Inevitably, the audience was attracted to the beautiful people they would see on their television, as opposed to their facially challenged colleagues, and this was reflected in the music sales. The music industry was quick to recognise this trend and video killed a great deal of radio stars that day! As the eighties drew to a close, a new band from the U.S. was introduced to the world. New Kids On The Block were young, all-miming, all-dancing, musical instrument-free artists, forged from the newest ‘boy band blueprint’. Needless to say, they were extremely successful, although, their success was fairly short-lived.



The 1990’s would have to be described as the decade of the ‘boy-band’. In they early nineties Take That managed to bombard the charts with a series of successful hits, which was not a bad achievement considering that only one of them appeared to play a musical instrument of any description. When they finally called it a day they handed the baton to an Irish band by the name of Boyzone. Meanwhile, a bunch of ladies decided to get in on the act and the Spice Girls were born. ‘Girl power’ was a catch phrase that floated around a lot in the nineties, although it would have been interesting to find out how much power the Spice Girls actually possessed when it came to their careers. Boyzone turned into Westlife by the beginning of the new millennium. The Spice Girls turned on each other and gradually faded away. This left a huge gap in the market to be filled in later by Atomic Kitten.



The current explosion of manufactured bands in the music charts suggests that this phenomenon will carry on for a long time yet. New media, such as the internet and digital television, have given the music industry executives seemingly unlimited avenues in which to push their products. However, this has also worked to the advantage of many up and coming artists, as the average music fan has proven to be dedicated when it comes to finding new musical voices for their generation. A lot of independent music companies release songs that the mainstream companies find too extreme and edgy. The music fans frequently latch onto this radical new music and an underground success sometimes turns into an established sound. Sadly, the independent companies who taste mainstream success are usually bought up and assimilated by the larger music corporations, thus eliminating any future threat to their revenues.



The greatest symbol of success in the music business would have to be the achievement of making a number one selling single. In 1991, there were seventeen compositions that would achieve that level of success. By 2001, no less than thirty different songs would get to the number one position. In ten years the music industry appears to have gone through a deeply fundamental change. Established artists and bands could now be dropped in favour of replaceable pop icons that would be cheaper to maintain and easier to dispose of. The increasing amount of number one singles suggested that the music buying public had a much shorter attention span. On the other hand, it might have suggested that the quality of the music was disposable, shallow and bland when compared to the music of a decade earlier!



The music business appears to be a thriving, glamorous and incredibly rewarding place to be, but surely there must be stories of corruption and intrigue to be told in a business like this. Prince was one of the biggest selling artists in the world throughout the 1980’s. He was regarded as an inspirational figure to many of his fellow musicians because he would write all of his own music, play most of the instruments on the songs and even produce his own work. His music was always thought to be ahead of it’s time and fairly radical, yet suddenly, he faded away into relative obscurity. He fell out with his music company bosses in the early 1990’s. Is it a mere coincidence that this was the same time as the ‘boy band blueprint’ entered a new phase? Did the music industry think that Prince was too hot to handle? Could it be that they would rather invest in artists that weren’t as outspoken about subjects like sex, religion, A.I.D.S., poverty and war? Had the music industry, as a whole, decided to become a bland, sanitised, politically correct entity that would rather bore people than risk offending or challenging them?



Pop music has always been regarded as a bit of harmless fun for the younger generation, and yet music can have a profound effect on the way people feel. Imagine watching your favourite film without the accompanying music on the soundtrack. The music is used to set the mood in a film and it could be argued that the popular music of the day reflects the mood of the record buying public. If this is the case, why is so much money being spent on such bland music? The answer is quite simple, and it all boils down to the way that the music is marketed. In the past, a song would only be heard on the radio and the artists would rarely be seen on television. Today there are entire television channels that play the same music over and over, day after day, as long as it is still relatively fresh. Most radio stations are instructed to stick rigidly to a list of pre-selected songs and artists that will appeal to the listener and generate advertising revenue essential for their survival. As a whole, people hate to be seen as different from everyone else, and so the bland music is accepted because it must be good if it is popular!



The best way to approach modern music is with an open mind. There are a great many singer-songwriters out there and a great many glorified karaoke kings. People tend to look at the past through rose tinted spectacles and miss out the traumatically embarrassing songs that dominated their youth, this is why no one admits to liking Shakin’ Stevens or Bucks Fizz. The music industry has always been adept at churning out good looking, boring and utterly talentless superstars. This may never change, yet, if you dig a little deeper and listen to enough music, you can usually find something inspirational and challenging. The recent ‘Pop Idol’ television programme showed the audience that the manufactured stars of tomorrow have had to work hard and suffer extreme pressure just to get a foot in the door of the music industry. In time they could go on to better things, maybe even writing and producing their own original songs, but, is their fickle audience willing to grant them that time or will they have moved on to another ‘boy band’?



Some artists go on to break the mould and continue their successful careers in the face of music industry adversity. Prince released a new album in 2001 and received a great deal of critical acclaim. Robbie Williams is one of the biggest selling artists in the U.K., even after he famously walked out on his ‘boy band’ colleagues. Music is all about personal preference. If there is a song on the television, don’t look at the dance routine, concentrate on the song. If you don’t like it, turn it off. You only get one pair of ears, don’t let them be subjected to too much bland music. If it doesn’t affect you, don’t encourage it!



hnnnmmm???

Shit, that's allot to read. I gave up after the random sounds of birds. Good 4 U anyway!

When that essay went into comparing The Beatles to The Monkees in the third paragraph, you totally lost me. Don't forget that the ladies were screaming for Sinatra when Paul McCartney was in diapers.

I'm going to go listen to Black Flag and John Coltrane now. At the same time.


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[This message was edited Thu Jan 16 9:08:43 PST 2003 by tommyalma]

Partyboy said:

you too?