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In 2007, VH1 aired a reality show called Mission: Man Band (note: this was during the time when all of VH1’s programming was nostalgia-based). It featured former members of LFO, 98 Degrees and *NSYNC trying to shed their boy band pasts and form a successful “man band.” The band in question was called Sureshot, and being that you’ve almost certainly never heard of them, that answers your question regarding whether or not this show was successful. It was a reminder that boy bands are almost never viable beyond a few years.
Boy bands generally have a pretty fast-approaching expiration date for obvious reasons. For one thing, they appeal to a specific fan base of young girls who will get older, and discover other – and probably better – music. Perhaps more importantly, they tend to represent a moment in time. When we think of New Kids on the Block, we think of the late ’80s; when we think Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC, we think of the late ’90s/early 2000s. Boy bands are often a microcosm of a three to four-year period, and we move on from them pretty quickly. That’s been the rule for decades, but with One Direction, who released their fifth studio album Friday, it’s hard not to wonder if they might be the exception to the rule.
At five albums, they’ve already outlasted *NSYNC, who made just three studio albums (four if you count their Christmas album) before Justin Timberlake achieved solo mega-stardom while everyone else faded into obscurity. Likewise, while the Backstreet Boys have more total albums thanks to their lukewarm adult contemporary revival (and hey, who could forget NKOTBSB?), their first run, when they were at their most successful, also saw them release just three albums. At this point in their career, One Direction have already outlasted arguably the two biggest boy bands of all-time.
So, can they keep this going? Well, they certainly have youth on their side. The oldest member of the group, Louis Tomlinson, is still just 23, while Harry Styles, probably the group’s most popular member, is the youngest at 21. This means the band has the majority of its 20s ahead of it. Now, keep in mind that the band has released an album a year since releasing their debut in 2011. The band has already overachieved for their age, and could presumably have an even brighter future awaiting them.
Of course, the problem with all of this is that along with a new album, One Direction has recently announced that they will be going on hiatus. Their break will supposedly last about two years, according to Liam Payne. Assuming the band does reconvene in 2017, they could possibly still be one of the hottest pop acts around. While mainstream pop has a short attention span, One Direction have gained a ton of extremely loyal fans, as well as the credibility that comes with landing several top-40 hits. If the band’s break is only temporary, there’s no reason why they couldn’t continue to dominate the pop landscape.
Of course, it’s equally possible that they won’t. The band already lost Zayn Malik, and you know how South Park feels about four-member boy bands. It’s possible that the remaining members could break up permanently due to dreams of solo stardom and have the same mixed results as *NSYNC. It’s also possible that, even if they reconvene after two years, they’ll have moved on musically, more interested in pursuing more adult sounds. Still, One Direction have an enormous audience, and they’ve been giving us perfectly crafted pop for half a decade. There’s all the reason to believe that they’ll be one of the most popular bands in the world into the foreseeable future, as long as they want to be.
