What the members of boybands look like and how they perform have ranged widely through the decades.
Musically, they cross genres and performance styles. Some bands are filled with brothers who play instruments. Some are complete strangers who become best friends who don't know how to dance at all. Regardless of the evolution of what the boyband is and means, they all are marked by an adoring fanbase.
Starting from the 1950s and the explosion of The Beatles all the way to the current global appeal of K-pop, the Paramount+ documentary "Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands" chronicles the origins of the boyband and the surrounding frenzy around this type of group. Directed by Tamra Davis, the documentary interviews numerous boyband members like AJ McLean, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Bivins, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick, Nick Lachey and Donny Osmond. The former boyband members share some of their most exciting adolescent moments becoming some of the defining faces of pop music. But despite their successes, they also share troubling experiences. Salon goes through some of "Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands" most illuminating moments.
Read some of the documentary's most shocking moments:
In the early days, New Kids on The Block played everywhere and everywhere including prisons
New Kids On The Block: Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight and Danny Wood (Richard E. Aaron/Redferns/Getty Images)Donnie Wahlberg shared in the documentary that in the beginning stages of New Kids on The Block the members were put through the wringer. In order to reach as wide an audience as possible, the band – comprised of Wahlberg, Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre and Danny Wood – used to play gigs anywhere allowed.
"We played in prisons, high schools, birthday parties, parks, we played in bars that we were too young to be in. We played everywhere," Wahlberg said, laughing.
Tiffany was overshadowed by New Kids on the Block on her own tour
Tiffany in Los Angeles, California (Lester Cohen/WireImage/Getty Images)While on tour together with '80s hit teen musician Tiffany in 1989, New Kids on The Block got a chance to appeal to her audience.
"We were very fortunate that Tiffany, herself personally, advocated for us to be her opening act. Suddenly, we walked out and they saw us. Nobody knew what was going to happen. Nobody knew," Wahlberg said.
But Tiffany's closeness with the band, particularly Jonathan, resulted in female fans spewing vitriol at her before her performances on headlining tour.
“I started hanging out with Jonathan but it produced a little bit of a rift because a lot of my female fans wanted to be with him," Tiffany said in the documentary.
The now 53-year-old explained, "When we would be on tour, the fans are screaming and yelling at me, calling me names, pull my hair. I was shocked. The girls were very tough."
Because of the New Kids' skyrocketing popularity, Tiffany then became an opener on her own tour, relinquishing her top spot for NKOTB to take over for the renamed Hangin' Tough Tour. While they were technically co-headliners, it's clear the popularity of NKOTB had eclipsed her.
A German music executive said Lance Bass was too feminine
Lance Bass, of the American boy band, NSYNC, poses for a portrait circa 2000 in Los Angeles, California. (Ron Davis/Getty Images)Financially, manager Lou Pearlman was the sixth member of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC
Lou Pearlman poses with N'Sync Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Justin Timberlake seen at N.Y.P.D. pizza in Miami, circa 1996. (Mark Weiss/WireImage/Getty Images)After both bands took off, NSYNC received their first paycheck of a whopping $10,000, and this paltry number alerted the band that they were being cheated financially.
Wright explained, "Lou was taking a lion's share. Let's just say it's a dollar. The band gets 15% and he gets 85%. On top of that, he was a sixth member of the band. So he also got a piece out of their 15%."
McLean said, "He was the sixth member. Anything we got paid — anything we did, he got. Even though he wasn't lifting a finger and we were generating him so much money. It was crazy."
NSYNC was poached from RCA Records and Pearlman
American boy band NSYNC in Los Angeles, California, United States, January 2000. (Tim Roney/Getty Images)Attempting to regain agency and stolen funds, NSYNC entered a contentious legal battle to free themselves from their ironclad contracts and Pearlman.
Bass recalled, "That's when we realized it was a fight. JC called his uncle who was a lawyer, sent him the contract, and he was like 'Whoa this is horrible.' He helped us find a little out in the contract which the Backstreet Boys did not have."
NSYNC's performance at the 1999 MTV VMAs lead to Jive Records poaching the band.
When Barry Weiss, former President of Jive Records, was asked how he got the band to come over to their label, he said frankly, "We stole them. We basically stole NSYNC."
Weiss requested a meeting with the band through Wright, who explained at this point NSYNC was still in a legal battle with Pearlman. Weiss said, "This was like enemy territory."
Donny Osmond said Michael Jackson confided to him about his family abuse
American singer Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009) poses with Donny Osmond at the American Music Awards in Hollywood, 19th February 1974. (Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images)Donny Osmond, one of the recognizable faces from the '60s boyband The Osmonds – featuring five of the Osmond brothers – said he shared similarities and moments of vulnerability with a young Michael Jackson, who was part of the Jackson Five.
Osmond revealed the pair bonded over their family structures and bands. He said, "There’s nine children in each family. Mike and I are both the seventh child of nine. Our mothers' birthdays are on the same day. Michael and I are the same age."
In the documentary, Osmond said that he and Jackson would reunite to “laugh and reminisce” about their childhoods.
“Michael said something to me one day,” he recalled. “He said, ‘Donny, you’re the only person on this planet that knows what my childhood was like.’”
Lance Bass embraced the "shy one" archetype to hide his sexuality
Singer Lance Bass of American boy band NSYNC, in the penthouse suite of the Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles, California, United States, January 2000. (Tim Roney/Getty Images)In each boyband, there are specific qualities each member takes on. In NSYNC, Bass was designated to portray the shy member archetype.
He explained, "I think of everyone who's changed the most in the group, it would be me. I was the one who was hiding a huge part of myself. I wasn't the person I was supposed to be. I became the shy one because I didn't want people to figure out the secret I had. I didn't want people to see I had a personality — 'Oh he might be gay.'"
Bass continued, "I look back at my interviews 20 years ago and I'm like, 'Who is that kid?' That is not me. I didn't know who I was. I remember towards the end I could speak my voice. I became more confident."
"Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands" is available to stream on Paramount+.
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