The End of Boy Bands

The Backstreet Boys hit the pinnacle of fame when they released their hit, “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” — the fight song that spoke for all the boy bands before and after.

In truth, though, boy bands never left.

Popular groups featuring an all-male crew (of typically five members) have been around since the 1950s, and they’ve popped up in every decade since. From The Beatles to the Jackson Five to the more modern New Kids on the Block, *NSYNC, and One Direction, boy bands captivate audiences in every generation.

Teenage fans, in particular, form a special bond with the bands they listen to growing up. It’s a rite of passage of sorts.

Even when the bands break up, there seems to be an unwritten rule that members of boy bands are expected to reunite on occasion. It’s a lifelong pact that’s been more or less required of boy band members — until recently.

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The age of social media is changing the business of boy bands, as evidenced by the curious developments in One Direction’s career. They just announced a hiatus, eight months after Zayn Malik called it quits for good.

While it’s certain the foursome will reunite, the original five-member group is not the same after Malik cut ties. Boy bands have always seen members branch out to pursue solo careers; only in today’s self-absorbed culture is it plausible for a boy band member to disassociate his name from the group entirely.

It’s indicative of the “me” culture we live in today.

Sure, members of the top boy bands have always gone their separate ways, but only to reunite for big dollars and big ratings at a later date. Fans of boy bands are fans for life, and group members have always been willing to take the trip down memory lane with their audiences.

The Jackson Five reunited multiple times with Michael Jackson, decades after he started his solo career at the tender age of 13, and The Jackson Brothers have continued to tour even after his death.

More than a decade after the group had produced their last hit, *NSYNC buckled Twitter in 2013, launching their account with a simple “Mic check, mic check one.. two… is this thing on?!” That year, the MTV Music Awards saw a 66 percent ratings boost from 2012 on the back of a Justin Timberlake medley that featured a brief *NSYNC reunion.

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The 1980s and 90s “Hangin’ Tough” band, New Kids on the Block, continue to produce hits in collaboration with today’s top artists, and all five members have remained committed to touring as a group, 25 years after releasing their biggest-selling single, “Step by Step.” Even Beyonce reunited with her original “girl band,” Destiny’s Child, during her Super Bowl performance.

However, those artists come from a different time than today’s most popular boy band, One Direction. Having lost core member Malik in March, the band continued as a four-person group until recently, when the remaining members announced on X-Factor that they would take an indefinite hiatus.

Following the show, the group posted a video to Twitter in which they thanked the fans for being a part of their first chapter. This certainly means that One Direction will not be gone forever. Unlike other boy bands though, the next time we see them, they will still not be complete.

Malik is intent on not returning to the group, content with his decision to pursue a solo act and never look back. This new train of thought, where artists are focused on the “me” rather than the “we,” is really a sign of the times.

Every wannabe celebrity, from the fledgling YouTuber to the aspiring Voice winner, is focused on their “personal brand,” a byproduct of the “famous for nothing” trends in social media. While a megastar like Justin Timberlake doesn’t see a huge uptick in sales by reuniting with *NSYNC, he does so happily as a gesture to his fans and the original group that launched his start.

Timberlake is a relic of a former era, however. His values seem foreign in the context of popular media today, in which selfishness is rewarded. Kim Kardashian may be promoting her family along with her own brand, but make no mistake, she published a book called “Selfish,” and it’s easily the manifesto for the social generation.

The likelihood of success is still low for those who attempt solo careers from their boy band roots. Timberlake and Jackson (and if The Beatles count, then arguably Paul McCartney and John Lennon) are the exception to the rule — no one else has managed to create a brand name for themselves greater than their original boy band.

Malik would be wise to take into consideration the examples of Nick Carter, JC Chasez, and Donnie Wahlberg. Widely considered to be future superstars, all three have only managed to carve out careers outside of the music limelight, and their solo careers have paled in comparison to the branding they achieved in a group. All three have also proven themselves more than ready to reunite with their brethren to keep the gravy train rolling.

At the very least, an attitude adjustment is in order for Malik. His current view stinks. Dismissing the very group that brought him to popularity in the first place might be acceptable in the “me” culture today. But his decision to disassociate altogether still reeks of ungratefulness, and chances are, he has a much larger hurdle to overcome now that he’s dismissed his roots.