The Return of Boy Bands?

Last Tuesday, which so happened to also be the day of the Illinois Republican Primary election (Ron Paul 2012!!), I happened to catch the majority of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (which is rare as I was disappointed with both NBC and Jay Leno in the mess with Conan O'Brien and normally I watch Conan on TBS for my weekday late-night entertainment) as Ron Paul was the headlining guest and I wanted to hear what my choice of candidate had to say. Anyways, the musical guest was an act called The Wanted, performing their latest single "Glad You Came."







I recognized the tune, but wasn't sure from what, but liked it. It was fun, catchy, upbeat... I looked them up on Wikipedia.

And if these guys get huge over here in the US, it could be the return of boy bands.

Which, it is about time - unless you include Nickelodeon and Disney Channel stars/bands the Jonas Brothers and Big Time Rush, there hasn't really been a string of successful boy bands since the late 90s when Hanson, The Backstreet Boys and Nsync blew up and others like 98 Degrees, LFO, Five, O-Town, Youngstown, etc came out of the woodwork too.

So far, The Wanted has been huge overseas in Europe, much like BSB and Nsync were before they hit it huge over here.

And "Glad You Came" has a similar catchy, upbeat sound and feel as "I Want You Back", "Tearin' Up My Heart", "Quit Playin' Games (With My Heart)", and "As Long As You Love Me".

Plus, there's 5 guys in the group, all aged 18-23.

"Glad You Came" has also already been performed on Glee this season too, by the Warblers at Regionals (which is where I originally heard it).

Keep your eyes and ears on these guys - I wouldn't be surprised if boy band mania is back in full swing by summer (15 years after the start of the last major boy band mania!).