Boy bands have been around for more than 60 years, and the stigma to hate them and their passionate fanbase has been around for just as long. Iconic boy bands who have had big success such as the Backstreet Boys, Nsync, and One Direction are often discredited and dismissed as not real artists. Being a fan of boy bands, and more specifically One Direction, I’ve been made fun of quite a lot, and when questioning people as to why they don't like them, some of the most frequent responses are: “they’re gay,” “they look like girls,” or “I’m not a girl.”
The hate towards them gets even more intense when bands get big media attraction and large fan bases. The main reasons why the genre of boy bands is so largely dismissed are due to their lyrics, appearance, and their directed demographic....teenage girls or as the media describes them, crazy, delusional, hormonal, teenage girls.
One direction had a more modern boy band look to them; they didn’t wear matching outfits on stage while performing and their videos didn’t really showcase dancing. In fact, they were really against it, the stereotypical boy band look. The Beatles were very popular in the 60s and 70s and they are now still very popular and known by everyone. They could be considered the original boy band but are widely liked by both males and females. When I asked the guys around me why they liked The Beatles their responses were: “they don't cater towards the female audience” “they have instruments.” It is true that boy bands tend to write more love songs than not, but why is that such a bad thing? The Beatles had plenty of love songs, some being “And I Love Her”, ”I Want to Hold Your Hand”, and “Words of Love.” So why is it more socially acceptable for one to say they are a fan of The Beatles than to say you’re a fan of One Direction.
According to people the sound of their music which is put under “pop” lowers their masculinity level and makes them gay, which apparently lessens their talent and the quality of their music. That and their primary audience is female girls. But like anything, a girl likes or shows interest in it is automatically considered bad and no longer “cool”. For example, if a girl says she likes a sport and her appearance is more “girly”, guys are gonna ask for her to prove herself as a fan of the sport, or be accused of wanting to get male attention. Why is being a young girl with a deep interest in a certain topic or thing deemed so bad by men? It's acceptable for 30-year-old men to cry, get angry and destroy property when their favorite team loses but god forbid a girl cries at a concert or likes some sort of boy band or music group.
Now there's a new wave of boy bands that have broken into the U.S…. South Korean boy bands. One of the more notable ones that have gained a worldwide attraction is BTS, they have broken records, sold millions of albums, and last year according to billboard “they became the first traditional group to get three number no.1 albums on the billboard 200 charts in under 11 months since The Beatles. But of course these accomplishments