http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Betsy/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2001-10-2013.mp3
The Monkees were the first group to exhibit all or most of the qualities we now associate with the term "boy band." They were assembled through auditions. They had a set of visual styles imposed on them. They were incredibly popular with tweenaged girls. They were plagued by the accusation that there was less to them than meets the eye. That last accusation was false, by the way.
The Monkees and their music have held up remarkably well over the ensuing decades. But they started a pattern that would repeat itself sometimes less gloriously in a slew of manufactured boy bands.
And yet, and yet ... if boy bands were as reprehensible as their critics make them out to be, they wouldn't be as popular as they are.
In the last analysis, what's the point of making war against nice looking guys singing catchy songs and acting goofy?
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