Who were the first ever Boy band/Girl group?
 

They say that there are certain rules to follow if you want to be a successful Boy band/Girl group.

1. 3 to 5 members
2. Good looks
3. R&B/Hip Hop/Pop music (Mainstream music)
4. Experienced dancers
5. Fasionable
6. Strive for a Top 10 hit, etc.

Who were the first boy band/Girl group ever, and why?
What golden rules do you think need to be followed to be able to say,
"Hey! I'm in a Boy band".

No, I'm not interested in starting one. It's just that the discussion popped up at a BBQ on the weekend.

I disagree with most of the stuff I've just written. I say the Sex Pistols were first. :)

The Monkees.

The four young men who became The Monkees were British-born David Thomas ("Davy") Jones (vocals/percussion/guitar/{drums-live only}), Hollywood native George Michael ("Micky") Dolenz Jr. (vocals/drums/keyboards/guitar), Texan Robert Michael ("Mike"/"Wool Hat") Nesmith (guitars/vocals), and Peter Halsten ("Peter Tork") Thorkelson (bass/keyboards/banjo/guitar/trombone/vocals), who had lived with his family in both the eastern United States and Canada.

They were cast after ads were placed in trade publications like Variety calling for "folk & roll musicians" to play "4 insane boys" on a new television series. 437 hopeful actors and musicians auditioned for the parts; a then relatively unknown Stephen Stills was short-listed for a role, but lost out because producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider felt he looked too old for the part, and because he did not want to lose his music publishing rights to Screen Gems. Stills referred friend and former roommate Tork to audition. (False rumors have circulated that Charles Manson also auditioned. He was incarcerated at the time.)

The Monkees, selected specifically to appeal to the youth market with their manufactured personae and carefully produced singles, are seen as an original precursor to the modern proliferation of studio and corporation-created bands. But this critical reputation has softened somewhat, with the recognition that the Monkees were neither the first manufactured group nor unusual in this respect. The Monkees also frequently contributed their own songwriting efforts on their albums and saw their musical skills improve. They ultimately became a self-directed group, playing their own instruments and writing their own songs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkees

Tonto And The Renegades

The Staples Sisters

I'd disagree with Bananarama as being a "first girl band", but, if they were, there would be a certain irony to it, as they were given their first chance to record by no less than Paul Cook and Steve Jones, of that infamous '70s boy band The Sex Pistols.

Nothing beats the cunt named Malcolm McLaren, right?

swa(y), The Beatles were good musicians. Doesn't that exclude them? :rolleyes:

Ps: No golden rules?

Are you trying to say that boy/girl bands have to be rubbish in order to be considered as such?

They generally are.

I'm not sure, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me.

If you don't like pop, there isn't point in telling you. And in the 60's alone, there where tons of good girl/boy bands.

Who says I don't like pop? Define a Boy/Girl band if you will. Thanks.

I think if you're talking manufactured boy/girl bands (Girls Aloud, Bros, etc), then I think the fact that they're rubbish isn't surprising. It's in the nature of their creation and marketing.

I think that's why you need to differentiate between bands that consist of boys and "boy bands".

That's exactly what I was thinking. Just because The Beatles had an image, many top ten singles/albums and girls crying at their feet, didn't necessarily make them a Boy band as such. Besides, you need a manager that's only in it for the money.

It's safe to say that manufactured boy/girl bands have not always been rubbish. It's true that there is a trend now that would prove otherwise, but when songwriters behind them are good, the songs themselves reflect that.
It's true that not all pop bands made up of boys or girls are 'girl/boy bands'. Duran Duran are an example of that, they formed like most other bands do, but they still played the industry game like another boy band would have done.

In that case girl groups are not exactly what you are refering to. I am confused.

So am I.

I still can't find a good definition of "what makes THE perfect Boy band". Fuck wiki's blah blah!

And they were rubbish like any other manufactured boy band.

"Are you trying to say that the VU <(my band) fit the description of being an all-in Boy/Girl band"?

VU were formed before Warhol's involvement, they didn't just consist of boys, and they weren't very successful at the time. And they can hardly be described as a pop band.

Only pulling your leg.
But really, would it be fair to say that they wouldn't have made it as far as they did, if it weren't for Warhol?

This thread is now officially about Andy and his empire.

Exactly. On the other hand, Warhol once tried to put together a band of girls who all played the theremin and was in fact convinced that they would make him any money. Needless to say, the project never went ahead.

Not worse than The Clash.


ps: What's with the A Taste Of Honey avatars and the threads about rockabilly? Are you turning into Morrisey?

They didn't really make it with Warhol to be fair.

And having a good/successful manager isn't enough alone to make you a boy/girl band, Toto.

I'm sure it made a difference putting his name next to a banana.
Make or break for the VU at the time.

I just watched A Taste of Honey again recently.
And I just got a lot of r&b/rock 'n' roll/rockabilly CDs back from somebody I lent them to and so we were playing them.
AND I was looking at the Ken Russell 50s pictures, and I loved the teddy girl ones:

Yeah, it did. Maureen Tucker once said that the money that she made with the Velvets at the time was barely enough to buy herself perfume, a packet of cigarettes and the train journey home.

That's a gorgeous picture.

She's 14 there apparently.
Here's another:

If by boy/girl band you mean manufactured, then the quality of the band is going to be determined by the manufacturer - some of whom, inevitably, have more talent than others.

This talent doesn't have to relate directly to music; it can be about having a vision. People like Kim Fowley and Malcolm McLaren, for example. Both geniuses, in their own way.

I guess any Motown band was a boy/girl band.

Ding Ding. Of course it'd be nice if one of the boy bands to follow were interested in pushing the envelope as the beatles became when they got bored with the screaming girlies. I can't think of another one where that happened for some reason, must've been the acid.

Anyone remember Blazin' Squad?

Yo! The Walthamstow massive!

There used to be a guy who worked in one of the bars in this building who would hang out with them. He had the decency to keep some distance, after a while. Wicked!

I have never seen a group of young men more undesirable than the blazin squad.

You can say that out loud.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_group
(females sing (generally harmonizing together) but do not play any or all the of the instruments)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_band
(a type of pop, R&B or hip hop group featuring three or more young male singers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-women_band
(musical groups in which females sing and play all the instruments)
There is no listing obviously for "all-male rock band" as it is superfluous.

Given these terms, The Marvelettes on the Motown label were the first "girl group." They hit #1 with "Please Mr. Postman" in 1961. Other early examples include The Supremes, The Ronettes and Shangri-Las. Although, predating these groups by a good bit were outfits growing out of the vaudeville tradition like The Boswell Sisters and later, The Andrews Sisters.

The Monkees would be the first "boy band" if not for a couple of conditions. They did learn to play their instruments in the end. Also, none of The Monkees were teenagers when the show first aired in 1965.

New Edition is cited by wiki as the first "boy band" along with New Kids On The Block next.

I'll hold, however, that Menudo (from Puerto Rico (as pictured in Tokolosh's post)) were first since the original line-up was formed in 1977. But Menudo really didn't break in the U.S. until on into the eighties and they never became a huge draw outside of Latin America in their history really.

They never had a private jet like Menudo, but
Musical Youth (a band of talented British schoolchildren known for their 1979 international smash "Pass the Dutchie" based on the Mighty Diamonds' "Pass The Kouchie" (a reggae song about cannabis)) are also worth mentioning. A Peel Session got them signed to MCA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_Youth

VU's third album is all about pop choruses. My personal interpretation is that everything they did was, depending on the elasticity of your interpretation, a pop song. Even if you don't agree with my self-confessed 'liberal' interpretation of pop, can you really say Sunday Morning is not a pop song? I'm sticking with you? All tomorrow's parties? I'm waiting for the man? VU took pop to other places, and it's easy to conflate the idea of rock music (which follows the verse/ chorus/ verse or verse/ bridge/ chorus [etc] model) with non-pop when pop has, in a huge amount of cases, exactly the same musical structure as 'rock'.

Sonic Youth

get wikied.