round up!
Apparently, Nick Carter loves looking youthful:
"I used to have that feeling [of missing out on a childhood]. I used to live in the past, trying to figure out who I was. I regretted things. My friends went to high school and had their proms and everything, whereas I only came home for a short time and then had to fly off again. I used to be a kind of a roving soul,” he explained in an interview with German website unikosmos.de. “But when I look back I can see how happy I am. All my friends look older than me and are not as healthy as I am. Plus I am urban because I have travelled the world. I like my life."
And another good review for the first Mohegan Sun show:
The boys, all men now, have aged well. Dance moves that seemed forced and awkward when they were young are now hip and effortless. Voices are seasoned and the whole persona of both bands is that of smooth operator, something they struggled to pull off as younger men.
All of them, especially Wahlberg, seemed amused now by the idol-worship that once defined them and the act is far more dignified than the repertoire of some so-called “credible” rock stars twice their age.
And now for a really good article about NKOTBSB and boybands in general. They interviewed academics and everything! *snort*
The Boys (and the New Kids) are back!
Bands retain original fans, and gain new ones, as they launch new tour
By Michael Ventre
As the father of three daughters raised in the heyday of the New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys, Gordon Thompson knows a bit more about the magnetic appeal of boy bands than the average academic.
His girls dragged him to concerts - and he loved it.
“As a parent, it was kind of fun,” said Thompson, a music professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and author of “Please Please Me: Sixties British Pop, Inside Out.”
“It was a scream fest. As anybody with teenage daughters knows, they can be absolutely addicted to things. But I have to admit, (the groups) put on a pretty good show.”
Gerrick Kennedy seconds that emotion. He is a music critic for the Los Angeles Times. He attended the American Music Awards in November and suddenly discovered that his legs were moving when New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys took the stage.
“I’m 23 and I’m in the aisle dancing,” he recalled.
New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) and Backstreet Boys (BSB) embark on a North American tour together that will include an appearance on TODAY’s Summer Concert Series on Friday. Whatever that thing is that keeps bands relevant and piping hot, they both appear to be brimming with it, as evidenced by how quickly tickets for their shows have been gobbled up.
Demand for ducats crashed the bands’ websites. Tickets in Chicago, for instance, sold out in 15 minutes, requiring the addition of a second show there.
NKOTB - consisting of Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, Joey McIntyre, Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight - were assembled in 1984 and last released an album in ’94. BSB - Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough (Kevin Richardson left the group in 2006) - came together later, in 1993, and despite some activity lulls, never stopped.
Given the vagaries of the music business in the past quarter century or so, and the flood of new acts arriving almost daily, how can two groups whose core fans were young impressionable females but are now savvy adults not only maintain their followings, but enlarge them?
“Teen singers have been around for many decades - Fabian, Ricky Nelson, David Cassidy, etc. So there is always need for a fresh new face or a group thereof,” explained Mathieu Deflem, professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina and an expert in pop culture. “What is remarkable, though, is that some of these singers (and) bands grow up, and their fans right along with them, and they stay popular to some extent, (like) NKOTB.”
Deflem cautions, though, that not every group has the staying power of NKOTB and BSB. “The more likely path is that fans grow up, and hence grow out of their idols,” he said.
“It doesn’t surprise me that these bands still have strong fan followings,” noted David Marchese of Spin Magazine. “The music of people’s youth stays with them. There were millions and millions of people who loved these bands when they first came out.
“It’s not weird that a large number of those original fans still love them. In fact, it’d be weirder if they didn’t.”
It used to be that a band’s worth was measured in the sales of discs, whether they were made of vinyl or some metal alloy. NKOTB have sold more than 80 million records worldwide. And BSB have the distinction of being the best-selling boy band of all time, having moved more than 130 million records.
(Of course, it depends on your definition of “boy band.” The Beatles have sold more than 300 million records. They were boys. And they were a band. But most consider a boy band to have a dance component, and often an act with some pyrotechnics or elaborate staging. The Beatles were a traditional standup rock 'n' roll band.)
In today’s market, however, in which records have given way to downloads, the power of bands is in touring. And there might be no better example than the one that NKOTB and BSB are embarking on now.
comments at Dreamwidth. Comment at either place.
"I used to have that feeling [of missing out on a childhood]. I used to live in the past, trying to figure out who I was. I regretted things. My friends went to high school and had their proms and everything, whereas I only came home for a short time and then had to fly off again. I used to be a kind of a roving soul,” he explained in an interview with German website unikosmos.de. “But when I look back I can see how happy I am. All my friends look older than me and are not as healthy as I am. Plus I am urban because I have travelled the world. I like my life."
And another good review for the first Mohegan Sun show:
The boys, all men now, have aged well. Dance moves that seemed forced and awkward when they were young are now hip and effortless. Voices are seasoned and the whole persona of both bands is that of smooth operator, something they struggled to pull off as younger men.
All of them, especially Wahlberg, seemed amused now by the idol-worship that once defined them and the act is far more dignified than the repertoire of some so-called “credible” rock stars twice their age.
And now for a really good article about NKOTBSB and boybands in general. They interviewed academics and everything! *snort*
The Boys (and the New Kids) are back!
Bands retain original fans, and gain new ones, as they launch new tour
By Michael Ventre
As the father of three daughters raised in the heyday of the New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys, Gordon Thompson knows a bit more about the magnetic appeal of boy bands than the average academic.
His girls dragged him to concerts - and he loved it.
“As a parent, it was kind of fun,” said Thompson, a music professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and author of “Please Please Me: Sixties British Pop, Inside Out.”
“It was a scream fest. As anybody with teenage daughters knows, they can be absolutely addicted to things. But I have to admit, (the groups) put on a pretty good show.”
Gerrick Kennedy seconds that emotion. He is a music critic for the Los Angeles Times. He attended the American Music Awards in November and suddenly discovered that his legs were moving when New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys took the stage.
“I’m 23 and I’m in the aisle dancing,” he recalled.
New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) and Backstreet Boys (BSB) embark on a North American tour together that will include an appearance on TODAY’s Summer Concert Series on Friday. Whatever that thing is that keeps bands relevant and piping hot, they both appear to be brimming with it, as evidenced by how quickly tickets for their shows have been gobbled up.
Demand for ducats crashed the bands’ websites. Tickets in Chicago, for instance, sold out in 15 minutes, requiring the addition of a second show there.
NKOTB - consisting of Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, Joey McIntyre, Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight - were assembled in 1984 and last released an album in ’94. BSB - Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough (Kevin Richardson left the group in 2006) - came together later, in 1993, and despite some activity lulls, never stopped.
Given the vagaries of the music business in the past quarter century or so, and the flood of new acts arriving almost daily, how can two groups whose core fans were young impressionable females but are now savvy adults not only maintain their followings, but enlarge them?
“Teen singers have been around for many decades - Fabian, Ricky Nelson, David Cassidy, etc. So there is always need for a fresh new face or a group thereof,” explained Mathieu Deflem, professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina and an expert in pop culture. “What is remarkable, though, is that some of these singers (and) bands grow up, and their fans right along with them, and they stay popular to some extent, (like) NKOTB.”
Deflem cautions, though, that not every group has the staying power of NKOTB and BSB. “The more likely path is that fans grow up, and hence grow out of their idols,” he said.
“It doesn’t surprise me that these bands still have strong fan followings,” noted David Marchese of Spin Magazine. “The music of people’s youth stays with them. There were millions and millions of people who loved these bands when they first came out.
“It’s not weird that a large number of those original fans still love them. In fact, it’d be weirder if they didn’t.”
It used to be that a band’s worth was measured in the sales of discs, whether they were made of vinyl or some metal alloy. NKOTB have sold more than 80 million records worldwide. And BSB have the distinction of being the best-selling boy band of all time, having moved more than 130 million records.
(Of course, it depends on your definition of “boy band.” The Beatles have sold more than 300 million records. They were boys. And they were a band. But most consider a boy band to have a dance component, and often an act with some pyrotechnics or elaborate staging. The Beatles were a traditional standup rock 'n' roll band.)
In today’s market, however, in which records have given way to downloads, the power of bands is in touring. And there might be no better example than the one that NKOTB and BSB are embarking on now.
comments at Dreamwidth. Comment at either place.