By Kate Voltz (editorial) Waves of headlines have come and gone about the boy bands of the day. First it was Beatlemania. Then it was the “hysterical crowds” at Backstreet Boys concerts. For Gen Z, it was “One Direction hysteria” and BTS causing hysterical crowds. Hysteria. We hear it a lot in reference to boy bands and their “manic,” “obsessed,” “vapid” and “shallow” teenage female fans. Hysteria. The word “hysteria” is not like other words for obsession or fanaticism, which are usually applied to crowds and fans across genres and demographics. In fact, the word does not originate from a root that means “madness” or anything of the sort. Hysteria is derived from the Greek root hysteros, which means uterus. It was thought that only women could suffer this affliction, making them emotional, irrational, and unsuited for public life. And now, we see it applied to fans of boy bands, who, yes, are often teenage girls, as a derision of their taste and even ability to have taste at all. Everyone is entitled to their musical taste, and not everyone is going to like boy bands. That’s expected - plenty of people won’t like other genres too. But the particular vitriol directed at boy bands and their fans isn’t merely about taste or talent. It’s true that boy bands often don’t play instruments - but that’s true of many solo artists of other genres, and it’s in fact not universally true of boy bands either. Boy bands “not writing their own music” is also not a universal truth, as any fans of BTS or One Direction these days will happily tell you, and certainly isn’t unique to boy bands whatsoever. I spent an hour or so talking with Mrs. Leah Tomlin, the choir teacher for CHS who also teaches an online music appreciation class, about this idea on January 8th of this year. We discussed that boy bands are successful for many reasons: they can work with some of the best writers in the world, they’re charismatic, and they have talent, in vocals and in many cases in dance or other musical skills. She also described that many times, assumptions about the fans of an artist color people’s willingness to accept that music, comparing boy bands to many of the assumptions made about artists like Shawn Mendes: “‘Oh, well, only girls like them…’ and for some reason that means that that music isn’t worthwhile?” We talked about how, since music marketing has changed to become even more targeted to specific demographics, “men are less interested in boy bands.” Headlines about boy bands love to portray them as insipid and silly and their fans as obsessed, hysterical, shallow teenage girls. In fact, the whole discussion about what is considered a “boy band” at all belies the distinction: a Billboard article describes the Beatles as being a traditional “boy band” in the beginning and later becoming somehow less of one in their later years. They were the same men, playing the same instruments, but making a different style of music that catered to different interests as they grew. Mrs. Tomlin discussed this with me as well, describing that they transitioned from a boy band to a rock band with a fan base more in counterculture. In reality, all major artists or groups in the music industry are marketed towards a specific demographic, but boy bands are dismissed because of the one they largely cater to: teenage girls, who are stereotypically boy-crazy, silly, and emotional, and thus derided as not possibly being able to have a taste in music beyond their celebrity crushes. I’m writing this from the point of view of someone who likes boy band music, namely one in particular - shout out to my fellow Directioners. The main reason I say this is to ask you to check what you just thought when I said I like One Direction. Did you immediately think, “she likes them because they’re cute and they sing love songs”? Did you think, “ah, well, she’s a 16-year-old girl, of course she likes boy bands”? And above all, why did you jump to that conclusion? Boy bands are undoubtedly catered toward teenage girls; there’s no denying that. In the same way that heavy metal isn’t for everyone and neither is musical theatre, the music industry hits target demographics the same way fashion and toys and every other segment of the economy does. This is part of the trend of segmentation and being smart about marketing in capitalism overall, not evidence of a market divided between “crazy teenage girls” and “everyone else with good taste” in the music industry. From counterculture to country, there are niches to be filled, and boy bands hit one of those. However, their fans are portrayed as somehow “falling” for something, like a gimmick for teenage girls’ combination of hysteria and lack of taste. Hysteria. Nolan Feeney of The Atlantic describes this, saying “morning news hosts [marveled] at the mania surrounding the band, throwing out phrases like ‘One Direction fever’ or ‘One Direction hysteria’ as if a spike in hormones or an illness is solely to blame for the band’s multi-platinum success—something that happens to young girls, instead of something they choose.” Teenage girls face dual daunting opposition to their opinions being considered valid. They’re women, and they’re young. This is the very source of the saying “I’m not like other girls”: being like “other girls” is considered an insult, something you don’t want to be. “If girls were into One Direction, dresses, and high heels, I was into books, jeans, and sneakers,” writes Miranda More. Besides the flaws in this false dichotomy, it also illustrates part of the derision of boy bands. They’re what many mainstream teenage girls like - the target demographic. And liking them lumps you in with the girls that society deems airheaded, shallow and tasteless. Mrs. Tomlin also talked about this, and how many of the things teen girls enjoy turn into the butt of jokes. I know someone who used to hate One Direction but changed their mind later as they grew up; they’re not a super-fan, by any means, but they like some of their songs. I, myself, have felt the sense that somehow liking their music makes me less intelligent and more, well, girly, at least in the eyes of others, and in our society, “girly” isn’t often a compliment. Femininity in general leads to your interests and work being less valued. This is illustrated in the fact that, as the New York Times reported, the pay for fields drops when they transition from male-dominated to having more women. This is why fashion and makeup are connected with frivolity, why “chick flicks” are so called, why women in fandoms overall often face uphill battles, and why boy bands are considered by some as somehow less legitimate music. But teenage girls being fans of boy bands isn’t just being a part of a cult of handsome stars, despite what many think. “Anyone who's survived adolescence, works in an office, has a family or interacts with other humans knows how important it is to feel like you're part of something. When Beatles fans, Beliebers and One Directioners scream, they're just asking for that,” described Kate Leaver for VICE News. Teenage girls can be passionate, committed, and excited - and what they’re excited about shouldn’t be illegitimate as a thing because it’s associated with them. Alexandra Pollard of The Guardian describes this thus: “It’s high time we recognized that it’s not only men with extensive vinyl collections who are the bearers of good taste.” The Beatles. The Temptations. The Beach Boys. The Jackson 5. New Kids On The Block. *NSYNC. Backstreet Boys. One Direction. BTS. Boy bands have been around for decades. You don’t have to like them, or be a massive fan, or love their music. But respect the people who do. Yes, the people, not the girls, because it’s also not only teenage girls who like boy bands. Respect the people who like boy bands. Dr. Heidi Samuelson in her Medium article put it well: “I don’t like that little scoff that people give you when you tell them you like Harry Styles.” Boy band “hysteria” is part of being in a fandom, like any other fandom. And teenage girls who are fans of anything aren’t hysterical: they’re having fun and enjoying something, no differently than anyone else. Boy bands aren’t any more or less legitimate than any other structure or genre of music; it’s all about taste and marketing, and deriding those bands because their fans are primarily teenage girls is not only simply rude, it’s sexist and prejudiced. Overall, people often make assumptions from demographics that are often based in negative stereotypes, from rap and country to alternative and, yes, boy bands. Mrs. Tomlin emphasized how music has become divisive, rather than a medium without judgement and a way to experience our emotions and express who we are. To quote her, “Why are we putting artists in a box?” And, to that end, why are we putting their fans in a box? She put it well when she added, “It’s not hurting you… to say, wow, I just don’t like that [music]; I’m glad you like it.” So yeah, I like One Direction. Scratch that. I love One Direction. And that doesn’t make me shallow or hysterical. It makes me happy. In closing: as Harry Styles would say, “treat people with kindness.” And as One Direction put it, “let’s have another toast to the girl almighty.” Works Cited: Block, Melissa, host. The History And Meaning Of Boy Bands. Commentary by Frannie Kelley and Jason King, NPR, 11 July 2014, www.npr.org/transcripts/330685429. Choi, Stephanie. "Why Are BTS Fans Always Dismissed As ‘Hysterical Teenage Girls’?" Hello Asia, 21 June 2019, www.helloasia.com.au/news/why-are-bts-fans-always-dismissed-as-hysterical-teenage-girls/. "Concert of K-Pop Band ‘BTS’ Causes Hysteria in São Paulo." The Rio Times, 25 May 2019, riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-entertainment/music/concert-of-k-pop-band-bts-causes-hysteria-in-sao-paulo/. Espach, Allison. "What It Really Means When You Call a Woman ‘Hysterical.’" Vogue, 10 Mar. 2017, www.vogue.com/article/trump-women-hysteria-and-history. Feeney, Nolan. "Crazy Talk: How One Direction’s Movie Defends Boy Bands' Female Fans." The Atlantic, 30 Aug. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/08/crazy-talk-how-one-direction-s-movie-defends-boy-bands-female-fans/279163/. Guillaume, Jenna. "In a world that dismisses teenage girls, BTS takes their fans seriously." Metro, 17 Jan. 2020, metro.co.uk/2020/01/17/bts-art-takes-fans-seriously-12074347/. Haruch, Steve. "One Direction, Unadulterated Joy, and Girl Worship: An Interview With Maria Sherman, Author of Larger Than Life." Musing, Parnassus Books, 31 July 2020, parnassusmusing.net/2020/07/31/one-direction-unadulterated-joy-and-girl-worship-an-interview-with-maria-sherman-author-of-larger-than-life/. The hyper‐fragmented world of music: Marketing considerations and revenue maximisation. Nielsen, Mar. 2011, www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/Nielsen-Fragmented-World-of-Music.pdf. Lancaster, Brodie. "Pop Music, Teenage Girls and the Legitimacy of Fandom." Pitchfork, 27 Aug. 2015, pitchfork.com/thepitch/881-pop-music-teenage-girls-and-the-legitimacy-of-fandom/. Leaver, Kate. "How Teen Girls' Hysteria for Boy Bands Became an Unstoppable Force." VICE, 7 Mar. 2016, www.vice.com/en/article/kb4dp9/how-teen-girls-hysteria-for-boy-bands-became-an-unstoppable-force. Miller, Claire Cain. "As Women Take Over a Male-Dominated Field, the Pay Drops." The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/upshot/as-women-take-over-a-male-dominated-field-the-pay-drops.html. More, Miranda. "The Problem With Saying You’re ‘Not Like Other Girls.’" Medium, 19 June 2020, medium.com/write-like-a-girl/the-problem-with-saying-youre-not-like-other-girls-8ce0bf94d768. Nunn, Gary. "The feminisation of madness is crazy." The Guardian, 8 Mar. 2012, www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2012/mar/08/mind-your-language-feminisation-madness. Pollard, Alexandra. "Bands who bemoan their 'teenage girl' fans are missing the point of music." The Guardian, 15 Apr. 2016, www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/apr/15/bands-who-bemoan-their-teenage-girl-fans-are-missing-the-point-of-music. Samuelson, Heidi. "The Social Implications of Dismissing ‘Boy Bands.’" Medium, 6 May 2018, medium.com/@heidisamiam/the-social-implications-of-dismissing-boy-bands-d7d3a098b87e. Sigler, Gabriel. "Backstreet Boys brought the DNA tour to a hysterical crowd at Bell Centre." Bad Feeling Magazine, 16 July 2019, badfeelingmag.com/2019/07/16/backstreet-boys-brought-the-dna-tour-to-a-hysterical-crowd-at-bell-centre-photos/. Song, Sandra. "In Defense of Fangirls." Pitchfork, 6 Apr. 2015, pitchfork.com/thepitch/719-in-defense-of-fangirls/. Thomas, Stephen Rötzsch. "Demographic Segmentation Defined with 5 Marketing Examples." Yieldify, 31 July 2020, www.yieldify.com/blog/demographic-segmentation-ecommerce-marketing/. Tomlin, Leah. Interview. Conducted by Kate Voltz, 8 Jan. 2021. Unterberger, Andrew, and Joe Lynch. "Are They a Boy Band or Not? Two Billboard Staffers Debate The Beatles, Brockhampton, 5 Seconds of Summer & More." Billboard, 23 Apr. 2018, www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8371548/boy-band-or-not-beatles-5-seconds-of-summer-debate. Author's Note: I know this seems to many like a "first world problem." But, in defense of this, we have to recognize that while national/higher-level news outlets will cover the big issues, we can discuss trends that affect people around us. The dismissal of teenage girls' opinions deeply matters to many students and members of the CV community, and that includes how we treat other people's taste in music. Beyond boy bands, this extends to all genres and tastes, and I hope that by writing this article and by your reading it, we can take steps toward greater acceptance of other people and artists and a more accepting society overall. If you want to write for the Crescent Crier, we would love to see you at one of our virtual meetings, which are every Wednesday at 1:30pm! To come to a meeting, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/TrQ5PqFcDqeE2yiB9, and we’ll send you a link ASAP. If you would like to submit a single article - or anything else like creative writing, an opinion, an art piece, photo or photo series, or something else entirely - then you can do that using this form: https://forms.gle/WAHSoWJuVwK3q5du6. If you want to contact us for any reason, you can email
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