Friday Night With The Boys

Clockwise: 98 Degrees; Backstreet Boys; New Kids On The Block; and 'N Sync.

It was not that long ago when you wanted to go out on a weekend to dance, you knew you'd be hearing the music of some of the exceptional "boy bands" that were so very popular. Take, for instance, any of the songs sung by Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson. You might better know them as the Backstreet Boys, so extremely popular in the 90s and beyond. From 1996 to 2005, they had four multi-Platinum selling albums, with almost 31 million album sales in the United State alone. In 1997, we were all dancing to Everybody (Backstreet's Back).



Before he'd met Jessica Simpson, before he had a solo career, Nick Lachey was a member of the group 98 Degrees with Jeff Timmons, Justin Jeffre, and brother Drew Lachey. They released three albums, and had one go Gold, and the other two score multi-Platinum in sales. Later, Nick was known for the reality series with his then-wife, Jessica. Brother Drew went on to win the second season of Dancing With The Stars. The group was very good looking, and had tight vocals, as you could hear on songs like 2000's Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche).



'N Sync was another band that had only three studio albums, yet the sales numbers were astronomical. The second album, No Strings Attached, sold 2.42 million in just the first week of release. The popularity of Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, and JC Chasez could not be denied, and can still be seen today. Back in 2000, every club could be heard playing mixes of the Top 5 Billboard song, Bye, Bye, Bye.



In many ways, New Kids On The Block, who later tried to hip their image up going by NKOTB, are the big daddy of all these bands. Between 1986 and 1994, they had four albums, three of which went multi-Platinum. Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, Joey McIntyre, Jordan Knight, and Jonathan Knight were living the high life, with screaming girls meeting them everywhere they went. And you'd be sure to hear Step By Step if you were going out in 1990, but you could still hear it a decade later when you were also hearing the latest from the other bands. They recently reunited, and went out on tour with Backstreet Boys, causing yet another stir.



Enjoy the weekend!

Great Music - JC Chasez

I have said I had a thing for some of the boybands, and N-SYNC wasn't one of them. I wasn't a fan of JT, but I did think JC was very talented. I bought his first CD and loved it, thinking it was 10 times better than anything JT put out. Apparently, my musical taste doesn't coincide with that of the buying public.

So I love Schizophrenic, and listen to it all the time. I love Blowin' Me Up, Some Girls Dance With Women, You Ruined Me, and others. But my favorite might just be All Day Long [I Think About Sex]. He was dropped from the label after the first CD, but I have hopes he might put out something else, cause his music is fun!

You can hear more of JC's music on his MySpace page.

New Music - V Factory - Love Struck

It is only too funny that not long ago, I posted about Boyzone and their video Better, with out member Stephen Gately videoed in a romantic situation with another man. Needless to say, a bit late to the party and with a bit less grace, an American boyband have stepped up to the plate with a gay of their own. The band is V Factory, and the gay is Nathaniel Flatt. The band has released their first song, a hip-hop/pop song with a bit more teeth than either N SYNC or Backstreet Boys could muster, but not that much more.



It is really just a pop tune worthy of a club diva, with a thin veneer of hoodies and Beat It dance moves to add more of a street feel. However, like much boyband material, it is a great dance tune, and should do well in the clubs.



Speaking of thin covers, unlike the Brit boybands, the video shows Nathaniel dancing with chicks, not so much other guys. But unlike previous American incarnations, they are giving this gay boy the ability to be out and talk to plenty of outlets about his sexuality and not wait until after the band has broken up.


Mark Feehily and boyfriend Kevin McDaid

Don't get me wrong, boybands are a guilty pleasure for me. I love Backstreet Boys - Squeee! A new CD is coming in the fall - and Westlife - who had me seriously considering flying to Ireland to see them in concert last year, and I have CDs and DVDs of the Irish lads performing. To the best of my knowledge, Backstreet doesn't have the prerequisite gay on payroll, but Westlife has Mark Feehily, an out gay man who doesn't mind chatting about his boyfriend while on stage.



Hey, any step forward is good, and Nathaniel says his bandmates have no problem with his sexuality, and neither do the executives handling the band. It is a non-issue, at least at this point. I haven't heard any of their music other than this video, so time will tell if V Factory has the talent and charisma to make a go of it. You can check them out at their website.


Nathaniel Flatt of V Factory