There’s no shame in the boy band game.
Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands, a new documentary from Paramount+, looks at the evolution of the magical male music groupings, ranging from the Beatles and the Jackson 5 to One Direction and K-pop’s Seventeen. While some members were never fond of the term, the film is a musical celebration of the successful groups — and how their female fans, dismissed as overemotional “fangirls,” helped make them what they are.
The doc features a star-studded list of boy band faves — New Kids on the Block’s Donnie Wahlberg, NSync’s Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick, Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean, 98 Degrees’ Nick Lachey and Jeff Timmons, New Edition’s Michael Bivins, as well as Donnie Osmond and the brothers Hanson — sharing their reflections.
Tamra Davis’s film also gets into the drama — group rivalries, bad blood over artists going solo (looking at you, Justin Timberlake), crappy contracts and con man managers.
A different ‘boy’ for every fangirl
Larger Than Life is a quick and catchy-tuned look at how, after the success of Elvis Presley, all-male groups blossomed. Having four and five members, they had an even broader appeal because there would be a cute, talented guy — the wholesome one, the bad boy, the sensitive one, the fitness buff — for every fangirl out there.
Wahlberg said, “The fans of boy bands all get the last laugh. They’re mothers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians. They’re in positions of power all over the country. Our fans have grown up to be the new gatekeepers.”
Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands is now streaming on Paramount+.
