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It's a proven formula, boybands have a lifespan of two years, max. Their second albums never do as well as the first. They will soon after their second album flops, disband as a group and go back to their normal lives as before the band was created. It was mainly proven by New Kids on the Block, to be suceeded by several other boyband attempts such as Take 6, Menudo, Color Me Badd, etc. It seems almost like boybands have a curse on them.
Boybands died in the early nineties, mainly in part to the huge breakup of NKOTB. The peppy pop sound was replaced by grunge and hard rock for several years. The creators of NKOTB decided that there was a new generation of teenyboppers to appeal to now. Old enough to have been influenced by the NKOTB but young enough not to have been scarred by the bitter aftereffects. A young successfull entrepreneur, Louis J. Pearlman decided that enough time had gone by that it was time for a new act to show up. Girl Power was slowly fading and boybands were ripe for blooming. Thus sprang the Backstreet Boys. Their fun pop songs took over Europe and soon after, America in a rage. Once Mr. Pearlman saw how successfull the Backstreet Boys were becoming, he decided to clone the band, by signing five young gentlemen with good looks and amazing harmonies. 'N Sync, standing for justiN, chriS, joeY, lansteN, and jC.
Because of their catchy tunes and awesome dance moves, 'N Sync soon caught up and battled their competition frequently. The Backstreet Boy and 'N Sync fans have often dueled on their attributes, neither of which coming up the winner except in their own minds. As Donna Wright, ex-manager of the Backstreet Boys was told, boybands come to a point where they feel they can manage themselves eventually. That time passed for the Backstreet Boys in a suit of bitter legal battles between their managers Johnny and Donna Wright and Louis Pearlman, founder. The uproar was loud when the decision was first made, but soon after, the battle was fought quietly, the fans having no idea what was going on.
In May of 1999, the Backstreet Boys released an album after a lull of almost six months. Millenium was recieved with almost as much sucess as their first self-titled American album. The Backstreet Boys have set their place in history and will never be forgotten. As of this moment, they are riding high with renewed fame and better management. The fans seem to have fully embraced their newly laid-back attitude about their music. There are no more contracts, no more secrets about the life they live. The fans are newly renewed in their ferver of Backstreet Pride, perhaps BECAUSE of the quiet lull where the boys weren't shoved in their faces everywhere they looked. On 9/9/99, 'N Sync announced that they were switching record companies from RCA to Jive records, home of the famous Backstreet Boys and pseudo-famous Britney Spears. They also announced that ties to Transcontinental Records, company of founder, Lou Pearlman, would be severed also. They feel that their financial end of the deal is being shortcut and not being handled well.
Perhaps the prediction that Ms. Wright was told was correct. 'N Sync may or may not survive as well as the Backstreet Boys did during the interim of silence. The problem is that their contract with RCA has not yet been fulfilled. The legal battles will be terse and cutthroat between 'N Sync's legal protection and the powerhouses of RCA and Transcon. The band will NOT be releasing their second album, No Strings Attached in November as previously slated because of this new change. Mr. Wright, who WILL be staying with 'N Sync unlike the BSB who acquired new management, stated that the album has been delayed until for sure after the new year rolls in.
Will 'N Sync stay silent during the next five months while their legal battles are being fought? Will the interim of silence HELP the band as it helped the BSB? Will the fans stay loyal during the term of non-productivity? Some will say that this decision is greedy on 'N Sync's part. But you have to look at it from their view. If the BSB can do it, why can't they? They have rougher schedules (as proved by the entire FOUR complete tours 'N Sync made during 1999) , more work hours and harder management than BSB and they are making less money. It all comes down to simple economics; if a person is doing less work than you and making more money, then you are likely to complain. This is what is happening.
As for for the loyal fans, the stereotype is that teenyboppers are flighty. If a band stays on ice for a while, then their fans will fade away. Only time will tell if this is true or not. True fans will stay with the band, waiting patiently for the new album. The teenies, AND the older fans will be determined by their amount of patience in waiting for the silence to end.
Suzanne McDaniel (9/21/99)
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This is the best article on my site! It tells it like it is and explains a lot. Questions arise that only seperetly, can we answer. Are you a loyal fan, or a fan that will float away once a new group hits the chopping block?
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