They sang, they danced, they conquered and then faded into oblivion. For years, boy bands were an inescapable part of teen life. We heard their songs, watched their videos, and generally displayed symptoms of hysteria. But somewhere down the line, we grew up, and our adulation was discarded. When we thought of those entertainers of our early teen years, it was with a sense of embarrassment tinged with nostalgia.

Sneha Kale recounts the birthday gift her school friends gave her when she turned 13. “It was a poster of the Backstreet Boys. It had pride of place on my bedroom wall for four years. I’d watch them on TV even though my dad hated the Backstreet’s Back video,” she reminisces and adds, “But later I discovered rock music in college — and suddenly, it was so uncool to love the Backstreet Boys. I took down my poster.”
The fate of most boy bands mirrors their trajectory in their fans’ minds. Intense success, followed by a a slow petering out, often accompanied by a failure to recognise that their time is up. The more talented members of these bands launch solo careers — and sometimes succeed. “Justin Timberlake and Ronan Keating are as successful outside of *NSync and Boyzone,” says 18-year-old Sukanya KC. “By collaborating with producers like Timbaland, Justin’s become cooler than ever,” she enthuses.
But Timberlake, Keating and Robbie Williams (formerly with Take That) are the exceptions. More often than not, individual careers don’t take off, leaving one-time heartthrobs mere shells of their former selves. “Did you see what happened to Gary Barlow a few years after Take That disbanded? He unravelled. At a sentimental level, I’m glad they had a really successful comeback tour. It was kind of fitting for a group that was all the rage once upon a time,” says 20-year-old Rohit Das.

Rohini Nair
The Asian Age