One Direction - is this a legit new threat wrt to a new boy band invasion? y/n

Louis is easily my favourite member. Anyone who can go through the live shows on X Factor without singing a single note on stage deserves some kind of credit. His audition was the only time I actually heard him sing, his vocal was quite something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAs5Ei6Bfms

Also his grinning face when he mimes along with Harry at the judges houses is classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5UQD61Tg3E

Harry strikes me as one of those guys who *would* care about whether other people think he is authentic or not.

The group has a "egomaniac annexes four nice guys who have yet to realize what has happened" vibe to me.

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all...

that is kind of a wildly presumptuous statement to make about almost anyone, much less someone who is actually in the music industry

The "Harry's House" playlist on Spotify:

Jay-Z - 99 Problems
Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
Daniel Powter - Bad Day
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Toploader - Dancing In The Moonlight

yes, you're right, people who like songs that are popular are not as seriously into music as you.

One Direction obviously have nothing to do with music as we know it

raised an eyebrow, thought "ooh here we go"

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all and doesn't dream of making the perfect 45 or anything -

BOOM - lolled a little, not as great as it could've been, entry level trollery imo

I mean I don't care whether Harry is "seriously into" music or not and it would actually be weird if he was. Most people who get seriously into music do so around university age and he hasn't had much free time since he was 16.

my eleven year-old daughter is seriously into music, as i remember being at her age.

boy bands really make a lot of people behave like complete morons huh

eyeball kicks most of all

altho tbf neither of his knew who Xenakis was at this age so credibility called into doubt i guess

like seriously read what you're saying it's just embarrassing

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all and doesn't dream of making the perfect 45 or anything -

BOOM - lolled a little, not as great as it could've been, entry level trollery imo

I guess. I'm not actually that bothered by people dreaming of making "the perfect 45", if they even still exist. We're all ridiculous in our own ways.

like seriously read what you're saying it's just embarrassing

Christ, here comes the nitwit brigade.

Pretty sure I'm saying the opposite of what you think I'm saying, but I'll read it again just to be sure.

you were just making assumptions about a correct way of engaging with music that doesn't stand up, i guess. hence the raillery. but, y'know, One Direction make music and some people really like it and some people don't care and they are all valid expressions of people's engagement with music.

the underlying talk of "seriously" liking music is misguided cos it implies that only "serious" music can be liked "seriously"

I used "seriously" as an intensifying adverb in a clause as carefully composed as to begin with "I guess". I understand there is always a kind of squeamishness on these threads, but the idea that I said anything about "a correct way of engaging with music" is daft and completely in your own head.

Being "seriously into" something (a colloquial phrase that itself suggests a lusty disregard of received notions of quality) doesn't at all imply that the object of interest is serious. I am seriously into muscle cars. I am seriously into my summer rhythm. I am seriously into him. Again, though, I acknowledge your right to be squeamish and I ought to have done more to anticipate it.

Whether Harry Styles is "seriously into" music or anything else at all is of no concern to me and does not affect how much I value his existence - or even his music! I idly speculated that music outwith his own career might not be a great passion of his - and his playlisting Toploader does seem to bear this out - but who knows?

w/e, mr defensive

So "he's a dilettante, but I like dilettantes", right

tbf, Daniel Powter is not music

can we just talk about Jedward instead of having this fight

I was seriously into Jedward until I saw them on Glasgow Green.

oof I tried listening to "Waterline", that was a mistake

also lol @ that Louis audition, wow

the only real bad thing about this band's continued success is seeing this embarrassing thread title keep popping up. i genuinely thought this would be another one of those groups that failed to crossover to America.

i don't think it's embarrassing, you asked the question, turned out the answer was "y".

'wrt to', tho

took me a minute even then

also lol @ that Louis audition, wow

― my super interesting Kant story (DJP)

I like how they only show ten seconds of him singing, like that was the best part of his audition. It's almost like it's supposed to be one of those terrible auditions we're supposed to laugh at but then Simon's there with his "You got three yeses" He's probably the luckiest guy alive.

He is especially lucky in the face

i genuinely thought this would be another one of those groups that failed to crossover to America.

There was a NYT article from a year ago that described how 1D was able to succeed across the pond:

Steve Barnett, the co-chairman of Columbia Records, said it was not a difficult decision to sign One Direction. “Other artists in that category had gotten a little older,” he said. “I just thought there was a void, and maybe they could seize and hold it.”

But Mr. Barnett and his team decided to reverse the usual pattern of releasing a single on radio, then bringing the band to America to do concerts. Instead the label mounted a four-month marketing campaign aimed at building a fan base through social media before a single was ever released or played on the radio here.

Then a social media campaign asked fans to sign petitions and to enter video competitions to win a concert in their town. (Dallas won, and One Direction will perform a concert there on Saturday; the group will play two dates in the New York area in May as part of a national tour.)

The strategy worked. The band’s Facebook followers in the United States rose to 400,000 from 40,000, label executives said. That One Direction topped the American chart underscores how powerful social media sites have become in marketing groups. “What Makes You Beautiful” sold more than 131,000 copies in its first week, even though it had yet to be played on the radio. Radio programmers were flooded with calls from fans.

Glad You Came >>> What Makes You Beautiful

I'd probably agree w/that.

I'm just glad I bumped this thread with an artist's rendering of ZAYN

Eh, something about the voice(s) on Glad You Came completely turns me off that song.

let me pour you a drink

the only real bad thing about this band's continued success is seeing this embarrassing thread title keep popping up. i genuinely thought this would be another one of those groups that failed to crossover to America.

eh, having watched that season of x factor fairly closely i'm still trying to reconcile myself with the certainty i had then that they were useless no-hopers who were being lucky to proceed every week.

yeah "Glad You Came" is icky, especially for the voices

"Glad You Came" make me want to throw something heavy through a window.

btw I've decided my heart belongs to Zayn Malik

but he can't turn his scientifically perfect face into a heart

so many Miami dudes look like Zayn, would love to know them all.

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/7022252288/h1402EFCA/

I disbelieve that erin pic.

I can't believe you're doubting the veracity of trusted source TotallyLooksLike.com, but in the interests of science here's another one (I can't believe I'm googling pics of Erin Moran at work):

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/942/HD83.jpg

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha omg

What I mean is: I remember the intro pics of "Happy Days" as being a bit like that pic, but not that pic.

She does look 'a bit' like him, but I suspect some shopping, a bit like that Dawkins/Watson thing.

if anything, I think the Harry pic has been shopped as I find it amazing to think that a human being actually is capable of making that face

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2012/12/Jimi-Hendrix-People-Hell-Angels.jpghttp://media.social.s-msn.com/images/blogs/001d0071-0000-0000-0000-000000000000_5c75745a-32be-4e03-8e21-7367c8b575c9_20120220031909_harrystyles.jpg

Just... no.

If you crossed Harry with Mick Hucknall you'd get the guy from Toploader.

*ponders googling "Harry Styles Muick Hucknall slashfic", declines*

ugh...
Hucknall clearly has a huge boner for them...
One Direction May Be The Next Beatles: Mick Hucknall Says.
“I rather like One Direction, I think they’re good. People can be snobby and say they don’t write their own songs, but it’s the pop industry.”
He added: “When the Beatles first started they were a boyband and then, through their writing, they merged into something else. So who knows what’s going to happen for One Direction.”