5 Seconds Of Summer Are A Boy Band, But It's Not Because Of Their Music
Auto-tuned vocals, dashing good looks, and a bunch of outside writers and producers making the songs. Those are probably the most common qualities that you'll find in your standard boy band. But what about the so-called boy bands that transcend these stereotypes - the "boy bands" that are far from what's considered manufactured? Will they ever stand a chance, or is it too easy to give in to the mainstream pressure?
In general, there's the automatic assumption that a boy band equals bad music, but what exactly equals a boy band? You could say that pop music is the instant boy band qualifier, and the poppier the music is, the more it'll be discredited. But when you look at a band like Fall Out Boy - one of the poppiest and biggest pop rock bands in the world - why are they considered a "real band" when they aren't all that different from an act like 5 Seconds of Summer? Obviously, there's a ton of differences between the two groups, but the point is that they both started out as just some guys looking to play music together. The type of music isn't what makes a band a boy band, but rather, it's the marketing behind them.
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Fall Out Boy started off in their local punk rock scene in Chicago, while members played in various rock bands before ending up together. Their first big hit, 'Sugar, We're Goin' Down,' showed their label that they didn't need a gimmick to sell records - their music did the all the marketing itself. Similarly, 5 Seconds of Summer started small, posting cover videos on YouTube, but they quickly rose to their international fame after taking part in One Direction's "Take Me Home" tour in 2013 - and that was the point of no return. After signing a record deal with Capitol Records that October, a decision had to be made about how they would be marketed to the masses, and it was when the 5 Seconds of Summer boy band edition would be born.
More: Are 5 Seconds of Summer the next One Direction?
Of course, it was a situation that had to be dealt with delicately, seeing as 5 Seconds of Summer wasn't your “typical” boy band. The guys write their own music, they play their own instruments, and weren't formed together by a big time manager, so they needed a way for their new persona to flourish without exactly alienating their fans, or the music that got them a following in the first place. In fact, if you asked the members about being a boy band, they wouldn’t agree with it at all. “I [grew up] watching, you know, live rock ‘n’ roll bands and I wanted to be like Tre Cool ... from Green Day,” drummer Ashton Irwin told Associated Press. “To be called a boy band coming from those roots and writing our own songs and starting in the garage, it’s just, I don’t think it’s the correct term for us.” But it is. The roots don’t matter, and neither does starting in a garage. The fact is: being friends with One Direction entered them into the boy band world, and they either had to adapt or die. They had to follow in One Direction’s footsteps, and it’s like they never even had a choice.
So, as months went on, and with the release of their debut, pop-heavy single, 'She Looks So Perfect,' lyrics like "she looks so perfect standing there in my American Apparel underwear" left you scratching your head. They embarked on yet another tour with One Direction, and some of the writers they made their album with are even known for cutting One Direction tracks as well. The plan worked. 5 Seconds of Summer may have had a genuine guitar driven, pop-rock/punk sound, but they became as manufactured as it gets.
Next page: Is manufactured really a bad thing?
Made to sell records or not, before 5 Seconds of Summer, this brand of hooky pop-rock was nearly non-existent on the radio. As catchy as it is, and as much as it may belong scattered on the Top 40, current bands similar to 5 Seconds like All Time Low or Mayday Parade wouldn't be found on the radio in a million years. It was 5SOS' boy band affiliation that pushed them over the edge and into the limelight, but their emergence is also not going to open the door for pop-rock bands to do the same. Alex Gaskarth, lead singer of All Time Low, wrote plenty of songs with 5SOS on their debut album. The tracks actually sound like they're straight out of an All Time Low demo pile. Despite the fact that 5SOS essentially sound like a 2006-era ATL, they never had an album that debuted better than number four. There's a reason 5SOS is getting huge when, perhaps, All Time Low may have earned it first - but it doesn't have anything to do with what each band sounds like. For what it's worth, All Time Low were never once considered a boy band.
There are also other occasions where a band is technically manufactured, but the way they're marketed isn't forced. UK group Rixton, for example, plays all their instruments but doesn't have a single song on their EP that's written by them. They aren't touted as the next big boy band and they don't look the part either. Rather, they just have incredibly accessible songs, and they're simply just a pop band. The Vamps? They formed after guitarist James McVey, who was already signed to a management company, searched for possible members on YouTube. Even though a majority of their recent record is written by them, they're still considered a boy band. And sometimes, you even see marketing that is forced, and it doesn't end well. Emblem3 were originally an alternative rock group until their stint on the X Factor landed them with songwriter Savan Kotecha. Their debut full length was pop brilliance, but the band hated the direction that they were told to go in, and none of the singles ended up taking off.
Ultimately, pop bands come in a variety of different ways. They may have been created; they may have been together for years. Maybe they write their own songs; maybe they've never even picked up an instrument. Either way, none of that makes a boy band, because they aren't just groups that make music your little sister likes. In fact, you could even go as far as to say that boy bands don't even exist unless they're specifically made to. They'll never be regarded as legitimate music because the brand that's forced on the general public sticks more than the fact that they might play their instruments or write their own songs. There may even be some boy bands better than a "real" band that sounds the same, but until a boy band can succeed without a deceptive marketing ploy, it's never going to matter.