# Boy Bands: There Can Be Only One?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-bands-there-can-be-only-one/666466>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 17, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-bands-there-can-be-only-one/666466 "2013-08-17T01:25:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-bands-there-can-be-only-one/666466/41 "2014-04-04T02:31:55Z")

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Paul McCartney and John Lennon both did pretty well for themselves afterwards.

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**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-bands-there-can-be-only-one/666466/42 "2014-04-04T05:39:09Z")

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> [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](#):
>
> The original boy band.

Again showing a poor understanding of the term.

> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> Paul McCartney and John Lennon both did pretty well for themselves afterwards.

No more a boy band than the Rolling Stones or The Eagles. Boy bands are distinguished by being manufactured by management rather than the more organic origin of a group of guys getting together to make music. They’re also not actually bands, as the members typically don’t (often can’t) play any instruments. Just because the two types have demographic crossover doesn’t make them the same, even in cases like The Jackson 5 or The Osmonds.

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**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-bands-there-can-be-only-one/666466/43 "2014-04-04T07:12:48Z")

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I had a look online & the definitions of boy band are quite varied. I thought wikipedia got the closest. [Boy band - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_band)

IMO they are boy bands if most of their fan base are teen or pre teen girls. I was going to say they had to be good looking guys - but this article has the Bay City Rollers!

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**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-bands-there-can-be-only-one/666466/44 "2014-04-04T09:29:58Z")

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> [@maplekiwi](#):
>
> I’ve read all their Wiki pages & it looks like they’ve all been successful - just to varying degrees. I have to say if I had been told in 1999 that Posh would be the most famous Spice Girl in 2014 I would have laughed my socks off.

Victoria is the most successful, but she’s known more as a fashion designer, a style icon and a celebrity than as a songstress

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-bands-there-can-be-only-one/666466/45 "2014-04-04T11:39:04Z")

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> [@epbrown01](#):
>
> A biography? According to Wikipedia, the oldest ones are **twenty**!

I remember seeing a bio of Estopa after their first record. They were old enough to drink in the US, barely. The same collection included Justin Timberlake; ISTR he would have been allowed to vote but not drink (a google check for dates confirms this).

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