Back to the future ... the stars of Totally Boyband
It's the news you've been waiting for: former members of five boy bands have combined forces to form a supergroup. The cast list consists of people from New Kids on the Block, Steps, S-Club 7, Another Level and 911. Another Level's Dane Bowers may be vaguely familiar, but only as a sidekick - he's Jordan's ex-swain, and Victoria Beckham's ex-duet partner. The others are simply a montage of hair and teeth.
The as-yet-unnamed band were called out of retirement by MTV, who are basing a reality series, Totally Boyband (starting September 17), around their attempt to fleece the kids - er, to come back. The fivesome are refreshingly cynical about the project, with the New Kid even admitting he had never heard of any of the others before he signed up.
I mention this only because it will be interesting to see if their success will match their expectations. If they are, the floodgates will open for alliances to be forged between even more obscure ex-pop stars. The remnants of Yell, Scooch, and Let Loose will be watching closely.
But Totally Boyband fails to take into account the reason some pop groups succeed and others end up working at Lidl. MTV believes five strangers can be thrown together and make a go of it because each was famous(ish) in his day. But where's the chemistry? Take That and the Spice Girls worked well, because they managed to look like gangs of friends who'd decided to form groups. Totally Boyband's members are from different gangs, with no sense of coherence.
So who will be tuning in? Original fans may revisit their adolescence for one or two programmes, but will they stick with the misjudged supergroup? Twelve year olds won't have much in common with 37-year-old New "Kid" Danny Wood, not to mention that nowadays bands like Busted (RIP) and McFly have made pop fans expect groups to write songs and play instruments.
Totally Boyband or totally rubbish?
