With three No. 1 albums, two world tours and millions of screaming fans across the globe, British boy band One Direction has taken the world by storm. Since they were formed on the X-Factor UK in 2010, they have become the world’s biggest boy band.
Their first album, Up All Night, was the fastest selling British album in the US since The Beatles. Their upcoming Where We Are stadium tour sold out in less than 10 minutes.
Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan originally started out as individual acts on the X-Factor UK. Later at the bootcamp stage of the talent show, all five boys were told their journey ended.
Little did they know, judge Simon Cowell suggested that they form a vocal group out of Styles, Horan, Malik, Tomlinson and Payne. Thus, the newly formed One Direction began its journey to pop stardom.
The original “British Invasion” began with The Beatles in 1962 when they released their first single, Love Me Do, and two years later, they were international superstars. Following the The Beatles was the American pop group The Beach Boys. With their fun and upbeat lyrics, they quickly gained international success.
Boy bands all throughout history have captured the hearts of young girls everywhere, but one question remains- what’s their secret?
Looks certainly add to the success of most bubblegum-pop bands through the ages. “All boy bands are good looking,” freshman Erin Lundy said. “Their songs are really fun and enjoyable too.”
Talent has always been a questionable element for some boy bands. The Wanted and One Direction can get away with boring lyric repetition and predictable beats, but since they’re “cute”, so obviously they’re going to be successful in the music industry.
“For example, One Direction are supposedly really attractive to girls,” sophomore Grant Rollins said, “but without that, they’d have nothing.”
Earlier groups such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Jackson Five without a doubt had loads of talent. But they do fit into the classic boy band stereotype of matching outfits and stiff choreography, something that has not gone away with time.
“My favorite thing about One Direction is their personality,” junior Kristel Franjie said. “Their concerts look so fun and they always mess around with each other on stage. They don’t have that typical boy band feel about them. They like to have fun.”
One Direction is definitely known for their on stage jokes and amusing lyric changes. They might not be the most talented in the business, but they sure know how to get the attention of their fans.
One Direction has one of the biggest fan bases out there, but that isn’t always a good thing. The boys have reported fans trying to sneak into the band’s hotel rooms by hiding in trash cans or even scaling the walls of buildings.
“Their fans can go crazy for, like, no reason,” junior Rachael Allshouse said. “Some of them are just psychotic.”
The Wanted and One Direction fans have been known to be very hostile towards each other. After Twitter fights between One Direction member Louis Tomlinson and The Wanted member Max George, a rivalry between the two bands and their fandoms formed.
The fans of some boy bands can tend to be extremely dedicated to their idols, but that’s only because they’re the “lovable yet idiotic British guys with charming accents and perfect hair”.