First Published in GCD’s The Circular, December 2006

2006 has seen the re-birth of a phenomenon that many people thought had died with the 90’s – the boy band.

Thousands of girls – or more correctly women – around the world rejoiced when Take That, the biggest of the nineties boybands, reformed this year. Take That first formed in 1991 and for five years their music dominated the charts and their images adorned the walls of thousands of teenage girls across the globe. However, just when their fans thought they could do no wrong Take That split in 1996 breaking the hearts of those who loved them.

Some bands followed in their footsteps – Boyzone, East 17, 5ive and Westlife to name a few, but none really reached the dizzying heights that Take That reached at the peak of their fame. So when Take That decided to go back on the road, then release a new single and album it seemed to open the gates to a flood of band reformations.

5ive, another boy band – no sorry – lad band has also reformed. 5ive made  a very clear point of saying that they would not tour without releasing new material, in what was a clear digat Take That. One of 5ive’s members did not rejoin the band, 5ive are now down to Four (4our?). How long will the four last? East 17 toured England again this summer and All Saints have got back together this year too. The girl band ended in 2001 with a whimper rather than a bang, but believe they still have a fan base and have returned with a new single called ‘Rock Steady‘.

Some people are less happy about this rebirth of the Nineties than others. Nadine Coyle of Girls Aloud fame attacked All Saints recently for reforming, saying that the “vintage” girl band’s new material was just a rip off of Girls Aloud’s old sound. This begs the question; did we ask for this reinvasion of past pop? Did the split of Busted really leave a hole in the charts? Maybe it was the fact that we are now 6 years out of the Nineties and nostalgia has kicked in? Who knows, but seeing the bands we used to love has a certain appeal, even if they are older, wiser, and maybe a little balder.

Who is next to reform? Do you remember Northern Line? No? These were the next generation of boy bands that formed in the wake of Take That’s fame, hoping to be the next non instrument-playing group of boys to have knickers thrown at them on stage and teenage girls camping on their lawns. Somehow this did not happen. The ill-fated boy bands disappeared into nothing (the last I heard, Tom from Northern Line was featuring on London’s West End in Les Miserables) and it was the girl groups that rose and took their place… anyone hear of the Spice Girls?

Are the Spice Girls the next band due to reform on the back of Nineties nostalgia? It seems as though we’ve got rid of them, with Posh finally giving up the ghost of her singing career and Mel B moving to the US to star in Rent on Broadway and date Eddie Murphy. Thankfully we have not heard Geri Halliwell open her mouth lately, much less sing! Mel C seems to be enjoying her anonymity and Baby Spice has popped up on ‘Strictly Come Dancing‘, but there is no hint of a reunion tour. Yet, if All Saints can do it so can the Spice Sisters… be afraid readers, be very afraid.

Nostalgia does not take  long to make us view the past through a pair of glasses that are not only rose tinted, but more like selectively blind to the horrors of the past. Looking back on the Nineties, do we really want to live those days again? Grunge hair, dark lipstick and platform heels – who told us this was a good look for us?! Yet, when it comes to our music, we seem to be more than happy to let memory lane dictate who’s hot and who’s not.

May I take this moment to remind you that the band that, according to a friend of mine “have got better looking as they got older” – Take That, began as a group of teenage lads with peroxide blond hair, wearing leather codpieces and dancing to incredibly dodgy dance beats. Who would yearn for those days to be back again? Certainly not me – I can appreciate the benefits of hindsight, but the image of Gary Barlow in a codpiece is one that nobody needs! Take That have managed to make their classic songs mature with the band themselves, but what’s next? Who is the next band that are going to follow in their footsteps? Are the Boyzone lads going to subject us to another rendition of “No Matter What”? Here’s hoping these former stars are happy to bow out gracefully and leave the nineties where they belong.