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

the best pop released 1998-2000 was almost all this is a thread for dope timbaland ripoffs from the late 90s ~bump--bump--bump-cack~

Oh good, they plastered themselves across the itunes store the other day and I was going to share on a shitty band photos, but got lazy.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/kingkonggodzilla/Screenshot2012-03-15at54903PM.png

I'm going to take a stab at the source of the lex/jonviachi confusion: in Britain, they probably have new boy bands popping up all the time, whereas the Jonas Bros are the closest we've had since NSync broke up.

Oh wait, Gukbe already noted that.

Boy bands will probably be back once the get get sick of reality talent shows. Not that I've missed them, but I won't be missing those idol acts either.

Why do 1D have to look like the Tory Youth Brigade in all those silly clothes?

like early Spandau Ballet?

these dudes are pretty hilarious looking... i think it would be cool to have a boy band back but they're pretty uninspiring -- k-pop groups shit on them, obv

"what makes you beautiful" is pretty huge tho

visually they remind me of LFO more than anything

feel like their impact is kinda dulled by the fact that shit just sounds like tons of male-fronted dance-pop that's on the radio right now -- there's nothing really unique aside from the fact that they're a boy band

They make me think of a Simpsons episode where Lisa buys a magazine and its called "Non-Threatening Boys"

With ilxor Corey in it

Was surprised to learn today that they're all 18-20 yrs old (one might be 17). Thought they were more in the 15-17 range.

Oh, ok. Just found out they got a project in development with Nick and are slated to appear on an iCarly episode. I get where this is going now.

I'm surprised that it's 1D getting the big US push, I'd have thought JLS was a more likely candidate for US success.

It's 1D who have the backing of the Simon Cowell machine though.

Yay!

K. pop vocal group One Direction makes history on the Billboard 200 albums chart as the first U.K. group to debut at No. 1 with their debut album. "Up All Night" enters atop the list with 176,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Previously, the highest bow for a U.K. group's first album came on Feb. 22, 1997, when Spice Girls' "Spice" started at No. 6. The album eventually climbed to No. 1 in its 14th week on the list, spending five nonconsecutive frames in the penthouse.

"Up All Night's" lead single, "What Makes You Beautiful," debuted at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 a month ago. That marked the highest entry by a U.K. group's debut single since Spice Girls' "Wannabe" bowed at No. 11 on Jan. 25, 1997.

Not surprised that this happened, just surprised that it's the first time it happened.

will a bunch of patriotic american boybands be manufactured now? or do the kids find non-american boybands more exotic now?

exotic sweater+kakhi combos

All of this just proves simon cowell has way too much power and influence.

did the bay city rollers never crack America then? (where's Marcello?)

They didn't debut at #1.

Cowell is a blight, no doubt about it

im sure very few acts ever debuted at #1 back then.

only two Elton and one Stevie albums did.

not even led zep?

did the bay city rollers never crack America then? (where's Marcello?)

Hey, I'm here! Rollers did have a US #1 late '75/early '76 with "Ssturday Night" (the re-recording; not even a single in the UK) but the only act to have gone straight in at number one on Billboard albums at that time was Elton John (twice).

hi marcello! yeah we were talking debut albums. But it must have been harder to have a new album by an experienced band go straight in at #1 back then.

"what makes you beautiful" is kind of a joint imo

can't believe Simon Cowell is forcing a target demographic to buy music they enjoy

albums did not debut at #1 very often in general in the pre-'90s pre-SoundScan era fwiw

seeing as charts have always been part of marketing strategy, i guess that reflects changes in the way music is marketed as much as anything

it's more of a change in how sales were tracked and how quick things move compared to then -- everything was a slow build back then, even for established artists, now the whole idea is you have to come out of the gate with a big hit, have big first week numbers.

yeah that's what i'm getting at really tho - the expectations for how you would build an audience are different. obviously the process of gathering the stats will have a big effect on this too?

i don't know how things work in the States but for example UK radio will play a tune for up to 2 months before it's officially "released"

I'm having trouble judging their SNL performances due to being distracted by the biggest collective tonsorial disaster I've ever seen in a musical group.

second song was dope

they don't dance

My three art classes are designing album covers. Four or five girls are doing covers for these people. They're not allowed to copy an actual album cover. If they do, I will not know.

obviously we have a long history in the US of not caring at all about UK Boy Band Sensations like Take That, Westlife, etc....

This is what's interesting to me about the big push behind these guys.

I'm tempted to think that the landscape has changed so that Brit boy bands can make a splash here like they never have before, but then there are plenty of Brit stars (like Cher Lloyd) who are total unknowns on these shores.

Man, these guys couldn't have given less of a shit about each other on SNL. They were a bunch of solo contestants forced into a boyband by the Simons at X Factor, right? They act like it. Though their lack of stagecraft is still more explicable than when the Black Eyed Peas just stand in a line, despite several members allegedly being dancers.

It's funny to have rockist pinings for when boybands were made of eager Orlando residents who couldn't wait to dance and harmonize.

who couldn't wait to sleep over Lou Pearlman's house.

lols

Ok so apparently they have to change their name from one direction to 'the brooke'

i kinda liked their second song and i thought they were kinda cute and goofy, like when one of the dudes poked the other guy in the cheek while he was singing his couple of lines

lol, from an article about the potential name change:

The court documents claim the Americans are entitled to three times the profits made by the British band...

i'm actually kind of curious to hear the justification behind that claim

bargain down to "everything"

good point

Respect if they were biding their time for when the one direction name was established and set to bring in big bucks before filing suit

Niall released his second solo album, which I still have to listen, but I'm enjoying this Tears for Fears rip-off, although I prefer when he's doing songs a la fleetwood mac. and he's a cutie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4L3EQ6ljcU

there's some amazing songs on the album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TA-WzcAl5Q

he's had the brilliant idea of continuing to work w/ the ppl who made 1D's best music... genius stuff

some other good ones

new angel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAhdtwJnI8w

small talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fFc0sqAGAc

san francisco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkvm1qEabl4

'cross your mind' is a really good song.
who knew that, besides Harry, Niall would stand out as a solo act?

it was pretty obvious to me tbh

is he singing "It's easy to return the avocado" on "Cross Your Mind"

it was pretty obvious to me tbh

― maura

i thought that zayn's carrer would not be as "invisible" as it seems these days.

great 1D album, although i miss the other voices

"bend the rules" is especially <3

zayn has a new song. it's nice. just nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAo38Q9c4xA