Backstreet’s back all right. Who would have known that when the Backstreet Boys announced they were back, in 1997, they would be back again. In the 2000s. Along with the return of the “boy band.” Boy bands have been around for some time, truly beginning with the craze that the Beatles sent global in the 1960s, but they have come and gone over the years just as any pop culture trend tends to do.As a true 90s kid, I grew up on boy bands. There were The Backstreet Boys, *N SYNC, Hanson, 98 Degrees, and the list goes on. There were posters, magazines, CDs, stickers, and countless fights with friends over who was the best. Then, some time in the early 2000s, boy bands just died. Buried away in the ghost yards of record label archives, collecting dust in CD stores nationwide, the crooning ballads of young voices barely cracked, just vanished.
As happens to every true fad, though, boy bands have come around again! With shows like The X Factor introducing us to the new shaggy-haired, baby-faced One Direction, and the true return of The Backstreet Boys, I think it’s safe to say that boy bands are making a comeback! To get you back in the swing of the boy-band era, I’ve created a playlist with boy bands old and new alike, to help ease this transition.
ABC – Jackson 5
If ever there was a boy band, Jackson 5 was it. Little Michael Jackson may have been the most talented kid ever, and this is such a fun song.
As Long As You Love Me – Backstreet Boys
Sorry to all you pro-*NSYNC-BSB-Haters… Backstreet Boys were the best. Sure, they didn’t produce adult Justin Timberlake, but Backstreet Boys were just so cute, and if you haven’t heard. They’re back.
Live While We’re Young – One Direction
I may or may not (may) have a very soft spot for these young Brits. It may have something to do with this video, or it may be Zayn’s pouty, brooding bad-boy look, but even the shame of being too old to like 1D wouldn’t be able to stop me from liking them. And the accents… that doesn’t hurt.
I would suspect when the radio stopped blasting MmmBop, and the posters were taken off your childhood walls, you may have never thought you would see this day again. I know I didn’t see this one coming, but, alas, here it is, boy bands. Reunited and it feels so good.
By
Ali Vitali
Please keep adding to this list! Perfect guilty pleasure to play during work. PS: New BSB can be found (and rocked out to) c/o of Buzzfeed…http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedmusic/backstreet-boys-new-song-in-a-world-like-this-is-pretty-amaz