If you think Popstars was a successful TV series then try doubling the viewing figures and then multiply this by the number you first thought of. That's the scale of success MTV's Making The Band series enjoyed. We've have them to thank for planting the idea of Hear'Say in Nasty Nigel's head.
The product was the ultimate boy-band, O-Town. Throughout the series we saw the trials and tribulations as thousands of hopefuls were whittled down to five lucky chaps. But the fun didn't stop there. The show is on-going so O-Town has almost become a soap opera which is just as well as the band have so far failed to surpass the success of the big boys - Nsync and the Backsteet Boys. Give it time though!
Their self-titled debut album offers nothing new or original but why should you come looking for inspiration here. You know what you're getting even before you've pressed play. It's a mixture of every single variation on the male pop sound known to man from the current trend for energetic Swedish R&B pop to sweeping Westlife ballads.
One thing that's immediately obvious is that these guys have sex on their brain. You won't see them in rehab for drugs or drink but don't be surprised to see them sneaking out of sex therapists offices red-faced. Not since New Kids On The Block has pop been so violated by a group of rampant young men chomping at the bit. They may look clean cut but behind closed doors…knows what they get up to.
Just check out the first few tracks - they pay homage to their perfect woman on the 'Liquid Dreams' single, discuss cold showers in 'Every Six Seconds' (apparently the regularity of men's thoughts about sex) and track four is called 'Sexiest Woman Alive'. Need we go on?
When it does stray from the well-worn path of current pop tastes you sit up and listen. Take 'Love Should Be A Crime' for example. It's strangely alluring use of, dare I say it, guitars makes it sound like Noel Gallagher's started a lucrative career of penning soft-rock songs for the pop market. 'Shy Girl' sounds like an FM rock tune given a dose of pop in an almost Take That vein.
The shades of Boyz II Men on 'Sexiest Woman Alive' are spoilt firstly by the lyric 'I'm going to make you my wifey' and secondly by plugging their sponsors ('you got a body like a dancer on MTV'). On 'The Painter' you can't help but compare the vocal to Michael Jackson or is it Mark Owen. It's hard to tell.
There's diversity on this album it's difficult to pick fault with it and it's certainly better than a host of it's rivals. You can't free yourself of the nagging feeling that the album is the result of a market research survey aimed at getting into every teen in the universe. The problem is there might be too much on offer.
