h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good article, but I feel the Popstars TV show should have got a slightly bigger mention.

There's an episode of the Simpsons with a good 'anatomy of a boy band' in it. Bart gets recruited to be the whacky one, with Nelson as the bad boy, Milhouse as the respectable one and Ralph Wiggum as the 'other' one. Then they computer modulate their voices so they sound like they can sing, and get used to send out subliminal messages telling people to join the navy.

There's a cameo by N'Sync; I can't help wondering if they actually got the joke.

The Prophet.

The scary thing is, though, that that song actually 'works'. I've had "Evan eht nioj" bounxing round my head ever since I saw the episode. There's only one thing to do- kill all manufactured bands! It's for the sake of our children!
KJ xxx

I don't have any children, but I'm with you.

The Prophet.

I'm with you too. I have a younger sister who listens to NSYNC all the time. Ban the boy bands!! (Try saying that five times fast )

Yeah! Ban the Boy Bands! Maybe we should start Rambo-Researchers Manufuctured Bands.

The "O" at the end is just so it spells something.

Stop picking on manufactured bands. They serve a valuable purpose. If they did not exist you would be no-where near as grateful for all the other bands now would u?

Also there would be no foolproof method for diagnosing the fact that a given pub / bar / restaurant / pizza joint is not worth giving your custom to. Walk in, hear Sclub7, walk out.

exactly

Say what u like about Hear'say (Why the apostrophe? Are they trying to sully Frank's memory?) u have to give them kudos. They are the ultimate manufactured band: We watched (no we didn't) in horror as they grew, like a pulsating boil, on the face of pop in general, we KNEW that they all had no talent whatsoever, and their first single goes straight in at number one. An edictment of the sorry state of the pop charts in Britain, or merely of the record-buying public, who stupidly went out and bought the damn thing? You decide. To be honest, i don't care.

Hey, shagnasty! Great word. My dad used to refer to wire as being "26 Birmingham Shagnasty Gauge"

Shagnasty should be the new name of Shaggy. There was a pelican today on Animal Park making the exact same noises that he does in his songs. That's why his songs always have to be "feat." someone who actually can sing.

It's a nice idea, and i would go with it, but i don't want to be known as 'the guy who's got the same name as shaggy', thanks.

yeah, I'd noticed that about Shaggy
I was listening to one of his songs with a friend and I said something like "hey, that guy actually has a nice voice" and my friend replied with "no, that's not Shaggy, that's the feat. guy. Shaggy's the one saying 'yeah yeah' at the end of every line"
kinda depressing. I suppose the N. American version of Hear'Say (or should I say, one of them), is O-Town, a rather irritating boy-band that has thankfully disappeared

THe most annoying boyband are whoever it is that does that tacky, cheesy annoying, AWFUL 'Pop' song, the one that's made like an advert. If it were an advert, it would have to be for suicide booths.

J xxx

PS- what do people think of the whole Linkin Park thing? Personally I think whether you like nu-metal or not, it's a bit harsh to call them a boy band just because they are young.

Linkin Park are not accused of being a "boy band because they're young". They are accused of being one of the first in a new line. A manufactured "alternative" act (nu-metal is big money in America). Basically a band tailored to the desires and needs of "rebellious" middle-class white kids in the US.

Next time Linkin Park are on the radio, listen carefully to their well-produced catchiness and ultra-cliched "teen angst" lyrics. It's pretty believable.

The horror, the horror. As someone who is into metal, i can say that all this chart s**t is as bad as the next trend. It is now a fashion to like 'pop metal/pop punk'. They did an article on Newsround (yes i know im way too old to watch newsround) a kids news program, and in the round up of the nine year old metalheads comments e-mailed to the show was this gem: 'Pop is dead, pop is rubbish, nu-metal is the new pop'

Cheers kiddo, summed it all up there really.

Linkin park is regarded as crap by the bands they support.

Last year i went to a Deftones gig in London, with the s**te support of the metal boyband. They had to stop the moshing cos of little kids getting crushed. A week or so later on 'The Big Breakfast guide to nu-metal', they featured the Hamburg gig on the same tour, they asked LP about nu-metal and they say loads of' yeah we are nu-metal and we rule' kind of s**t. They ask Deftones about new metal and they said: 'Nu-metal equals opo metal, you might as well listen to Britney Spears'

says it all really.

by opo metal i mean pop-metal

Well done, The Deftones!