The music industry from the 90s and 00s was awful

[Boybandsnowmanbands]

I've been watching the boyband documentary on BBC iplayer and all these young aspirational naive lads were just chewed up and spat out by such a ruthless industry. Watching these grown men in their 40s and 50s almost without exception breaking down talking about what they went through is quite a disturbing watch. I wish I could say it is confined to the past but looking at current boy bands and what happened with Liam Payne it feels like no lessons have ever been learned.

Not just the music industry. Showbusiness in general, fashion, TV, in fact any creative industry. And not just the 90s & 00s. Still now it's going on. What I don't get is, where are their parents? That's all I could think when I watched the Robbie Williams one. Where are his mum and dad? He was only about 17 when Take That started.

But I suppose the problem is that if the kids don't sign the contract, there's 1000 others waiting to take their place. Even if they were told it would ruin their life, they'd probably still do it. It's bad.

There was more to 90s and 00s music than boy bands!

Dreadful. All the boyband songs follow the same format, with the lead boy singing by himself before all the others join in with a key change. Boring. And the record companies continue to pretend that the talent shows weren't scripted

The whole boy band thing is to music what bubblegum is to food.

At least McFly could play.

That's true but that's not what this thread is about.

We watched the first episode last night and said the same. There is a lot of publicity (rightly) about young women being vulnerable eg Britney Spears, but less about young men. No support or protection for them, just used and spat out as a commodity.

Absolutely not confined to the music industry, either.

It started long before then. I remember seeing an interview where the Beatles were describing staying in the Plaza Hotel and how they had to hide in the bathroom just to get some peace and privacy.

I think it started in the 80,s witn Stock ,Aitken ,and Waterman ,although they also used quite a lot of soap star/ turned pop star
The music was very formulaic.

Artists have always been exploited. Go back to the 50s or 60s and acts like Fabian were just this week's pop fad. Managers had whole rosters of artists that could be this week's thing. Sometimes that artist got lucky and became big eg Lulu, others reinvented themselves eg Shane Fenton who became Alvin Stardust. Girls Aloud, Saturdays, Spice Girls, Bros were all management creations. Everyone wants fame but there is a price to pay. Those acts all knew they were disposable. Trick is to get out with a name and/or some money.

Are we ignoring that the show biz industry has been destroying women since the 1920's? Then there was Elvis. Teens had more spending power and it became unacceptable for young women and girls to fantasise about adult men, so along came boy bands. Same horse, different jockey.

I felt really sorry, especially for East 17 - they do not seem to have weathered well. And Robbie looked so sad. The older male managers seemed so manipulative

East 17s manager and also the News of the world journalist were/are jaw droppingly disgusting examples of human beings. 5ive and Blue suffered from having very young managers who didn't know what they were doing. The others knew what they were doing and revelled in it.

McFly are not a boyband. They're a rock/pop band.

I was boyband obsessed in the 90's, East 17, Take That, Boyzone, 5ive I loved them all. Watching this last night as an adult made me feel uncomfortable. It all looks so fake and interchangeable. They were all obviously conditioned to be what their audience wanted them to be. Attractive, happy, smiley cheeky chaps. The pressure must have been intolerable.

If you want to see an early acknowledgement of what show biz in general does look for the Natalie Wood movie "Inside Daisy Clover". It came out in 1965 and I was shocked when I first saw it as it wasn't the normal Hollywood dream so many people had been sold. Then again my parents had tickets to see Judy Garland perform but the show was cancelled. Turned out that was the day she'd committed suicide.

Yeah because, as mentioned, they can play.

goes back many years sadly - Tam Paton, manager of the Bay City Rollers was a complete wrong 'un. Not only ripped off the band but was a child sex offender.

What is the programme?

Wasn't one of the bay city rollers also found guilty of having CSA images?

Can't remember the name but it was on BBC2 last night about 9 or 10ish. That was part 1, part 2 is tonight

Boybands Forever. All the episodes are on iPlayer now.

I watched this yesterday and I thought exactly the same how brutal it was. I'm also not sure it's much better now and feel their should be more support available for those being thrown into fame?

For those asking it is called boy bands forever, you can also watch part 3 on iPlayer already.

Judy Garland was ruined by being forced to be on strict diets, taking drugs for her weight and because of the former caused insomnia, took sleeping pills.

MGM deny she was forced the drugs.

I was too old to be into One Direction when they came on the scene but I do remember thinking how unhealthy it was for a bunch of young men and their very young fans, particularly with the added element of social media whipping things up into frenzies. And then the bubble bursts, the management move onto their next pound of flesh and poor souls like Liam Payne pay the price.

Oh thanks will have a watch now