Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia

Episode: "We Want It That Way" Edition, Part 1

Host: Chris Molanphy (Slate Podcasts)

Date: April 13, 2024

Episode Overview

The "We Want It That Way" Edition, Part 1, of Hit Parade dives deep into the history, evolution, and cultural importance of boy bands, from their roots in the 1950s and before, up through the late ‘90s. Host Chris Molanphy investigates what really makes a "boy band" a boy band—beyond talent, timing, and catchy songs. The episode explores the blurred boundaries of the boy band label, the often-dismissed cultural power of their fandom (especially young women), and how the archetype evolved through race, perception, and the changing musical landscape.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Defining the "Boy Band" Archetype

• Ambiguous Origins and Definitions

  • The term “boy band” is murky, likely arriving organically in the 1980s, but the concept vastly predates the term.
  • Chris notes, "Boy band-ness is in the eye and the ear of the beholder. The only thing boy bands have in common is rabid fandom by a young fan base." (11:32)

• Essential Ingredients

  • Beyond five-man harmonies and dance moves, “boy band” status has less to do with musical style or formation, and more with fan experience and perception (01:04-03:25).
  • “It’s mostly determined by the girls,” Chris quips about who decides what is a boy band (05:25).

Roots of the Boy Band Phenomenon

• Proto-Boy Bands and Cultural Origins

  • Frankie Lyman & the Teenagers in the 1950s are credited as possibly the first true boy band (20:43).
  • Maria Sherman's scholarship traced the "mania" for groups like Franz Liszt in the 19th century and for doo wop groups, even before the Beatles.

• Cultural Borrowings and Erasure

  • Chris stresses the black roots of the boy band phenomenon (15:10), citing how early white groups became more famous by covering or emulating black performers’ styles.

Boy Bands Through the Decades

• Early Pioneers:

  • The Beatles receive close scrutiny as both fitting and transcending the boy band mold: "The Beatles established the modern boy band paradigm..." (09:00)
  • The Monkees, explicitly manufactured to chase the Beatles’ success, perfected the formula for "pick your favorite member" (24:48).

• The Template Set by The Jackson 5 (from Gary, Indiana)

  • The “most acclaimed song ever recorded by a boy band”: "I Want You Back" (03:27).
  • The Motown machine and songwriter “Svengalis” behind the hits; Jackson 5’s streak set historic records (27:05-29:12).

• Imitators and Rivals

  • The Osmonds (“One Bad Apple,” a Jackson 5 soundalike) and DeFranco Family, each following the family-band approach (31:43).
  • The Bay City Rollers adapted the formula for a glam rock crowd in the mid-'70s.

• Rise, Fall, and Reinvention (1980s-90s)

  • New Edition, launched with Maurice Starr’s "new Jackson 5" vision, origins in Boston’s Roxbury, and early '80s R&B hits (34:00-39:00).
  • Puerto Rican icons Menudo, with their ever-changing lineup and brief English-language push.
  • New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) brought multi-platinum sales and mass merchandising; rapid rise followed by an equally swift fall from pop culture favor (43:00-47:00).
  • Boyz II Men, named after a New Edition song, raised the harmony bar and inspired late '90s acts, but matured out of "boy band" status quickly (49:00-53:30).
  • Brief detours include all-4-One, Take That (UK), and No Mercy, whose big singles didn’t spark sustained pop frenzies.

• The Late '90s Revival

  • Hanson ("MMMBop") serves as both a break from, and continuation of, the archetype: three real brothers, musicians, massive but short-lived craze (56:00-59:00).

Cultural Critique: Isms and the Power of Fandom

• Sexism:

  • Boy band fans, predominantly young girls, have historically been trivialized or dismissed:

    “How can you say young girls don’t get it? They kind of keep the world going.” — Harry Styles (paraphrased by Chris, 14:26)

• Racism:

  • Chris highlights how the genre’s black roots are often ignored when white artists eclipse earlier acts (15:10-15:55).

• Rockism:

  • The ongoing bias that values "real" (rock) bands over manufactured pop acts, and how this colors the critical response to boy bands—a stigma even the Beatles faced early on (17:06-18:00):

    “If it wasn’t cool to call the Beatles garbage or disposable... it’s not cool to denigrate New Edition, NSYNC or One Direction or their fans in the decades that followed.” (18:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Definitions:

  "Boy band-ness is in the eye and the ear of the beholder. The very term boy band has a murky history." (11:32, Chris Molanphy)

• On the Beatles as Foundation:

  “The Beatles, Sherman writes, offered a framework that boy bands could build upon.” (10:20, referencing Maria Sherman)

• On Fan Power:

  "Teenage girl fans don’t act too cool. They like you and they tell you.” — (14:26, Harry Styles via Chris)

• On Pop Music Prejudice:

  “We critics gave this bias a name, rockism, and it undermined the very premise of the boy band, even when the music was great.” (17:06)

• On Jackson 5's Breakthrough:

  “I Want You Back was more than an auspicious debut…arguably the greatest pop record of all time and certainly the fastest manmade route to pure joy.” (27:05, quoting Helen Brown)

• On Rapid Rise and Fall:

  “They exemplified the rapid half life of a blockbuster boy band - how a group that seems effortlessly trendy one year or two could become irredeemably cheesy as the boy band’s fans mature.” (45:20, on NKOTB)

• On MMMBop and the Late 90s:

  "Mmm Bop was so massive...that it is widely credited for spawning the teen pop and boy band renaissance of the late, late 90s." (57:30)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:04 – Introduction; Backstreet Boys and the definition of boy band
• 09:00 – The Beatles as the blueprint and the debate over their "boy band" status
• 13:31 – The power and dismissal of girl fandom
• 15:10 – Race and cultural erasure in boy band history
• 17:06 – The invention of "rockism" and its effects
• 19:00 – Pre-Beatles roots, proto-boy bands of the 1950s
• 23:35 – The Monkees and the "prefab" boy band model
• 26:37 – The Jackson 5 and the Motown sound
• 31:43 – Osmonds, DeFranco Family, Bay City Rollers
• 34:00 – New Edition and the 1980s resurgence
• 40:05 – New Edition's chart success and Menudo's English-language push
• 43:00 – The rise of New Kids on the Block and the commercial peak for boy bands
• 49:00 – Boyz II Men and the challenge of growing up
• 56:00 – Hanson's "MMMBop" and setting up the late '90s boom

Tone & Style

Chris Molanphy delivers the episode with informed, often playful, pop scholarship. The narrative is authoritative yet welcoming, blending chart trivia, cultural theory, and juicy industry anecdotes. The tone is both reverential and analytical, reclaiming "boy band" as a source of joy and pop power, not just pop fluff.

Conclusion & What’s Next

As Part 1 concludes, Chris hints at the imminent late-‘90s/early-2000s explosion: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, the global K-pop movement, and more. The promise? Part 2 will bring boy band history up to the present—and explore new frontiers.

For fans, critics, or the pop-curious, this episode is both primer and deep dive, reminding us that the boy band is a central, ever-renewing figure in the pop universe—one as complicated, musical, and meaningful as any other.