As a 9-year-old girl growing up in the '90s, whenever I heard *NSYNC on the radio, I would shriek with excitement. Today, as a 21-year-old, nothing has changed.
After a few trials and errors with The Jonas Brothers and multiple fatal endeavors by P. Diddy's television show "Making The Band" to conjure up a boy band equivalent, those bands fell off the circuit almost as fast as they won their spot into pop stardom. Those new bands didn't have the same star quality that the other bands had, and left the circuit with no memories, leaving our generation wanting to revert back to the old songs.
The sad truth is that the boy band era of the '90s has seemingly become extinct. However, the memories these old boy band songs provided live on, and the unity that the pop teen idol "boy banders" left is still present.
To this day, to reclaim some of the boy-band memories, my friends and I have '90s music parties and jam out to *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys on our iPods as if we were all in elementary school again, all remembering the lyrics to each song from years back.
These sing-a-longs don't just happen in private though. Karaoke bars are a great way to reminisce about the glory days. When drunk enough, the choice of song at a karaoke bar is usually either "Livin' on a Prayer," "Don't Stop Believin'," "Baby Got Back," but the actual fun comes in when someone sings an *NSYNC or Backstreet Boys song, with the voice volume turned all the way up and everyone in the bar joining in.
*NSYNC and Backstreet Boys characterized the typical '90s childhood, and as growing adults we'll always remember and be excited about their songs whenever we hear them on the radio. The memories come back and we feel like we're kids again, and the love for the teen pop idol heartthrobs come rushing back.
In today's society, the kids of this generation are forced to listen to single pop acts such as Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, and Justin Bieber, but their popularity won't last long and they won't leave a spot in our hearts to last generations. Although their songs are apparently catchy now, they don't leave the sing-a-long potential for years to come like the boy band songs have.
Recently, when Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block had their reunion tour, and yes I was there with my best friend and am not afraid to admit it, the entirety of HSBC Arena was filled with adult women screaming as if they were little girls to get a last glimpse of Nick Carter and Donnie Wahlberg dancing and singing.
Let's not forget the girls though – no one had as much girl power as the Spice Girls did, and to this day whenever "Wannabe" comes on there's no way someone will pass up the opportunity to scream the lyrics along.
Although there is really no chance of a boy band surviving this era, there will always be hope for an *NSYNC reunion tour, and if this ever happened, you can bet I would be in the front row screaming each and every word and hoping for a chance to touch Justin Timberlake's hand.
Email: vilona.trachtenberg@ubspectrum.com
