Boy Bands and Gay Youth

Miller, D. A. (1998). Place for us: Essay on the Broadway musical. Cambridge:

Harvard.

Epstein, J. (2000, May 9). The boys on the bandwagon. Advocate, 36-43.

Backstreet Boys. (1999). I Want it That Way. On Millennium. Jive.

N*Sync. (2000). Bye, Bye, Bye. On No Strings Attached. Jive.

98 Degrees. (1998). I Do. On 98 Degrees and Rising. Motown.

Barr, A. (Writer), & Burrows, J. (Director). (2001). Crouching Father Hidden Husband

[Television series episode]. Will & Grace. Los Angeles: National Broadcasting

Company.

Schroeder, A. (Producer), Rudnick, P. (Writer), & Oz, F. (Director). (1997). In & Out

[Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.

November 19, 2007
After reading “In the Basement,” I feel boy bands in the late 1990s served the same role as Broadway musicals for gay youth. There was the stereotype that gay youth liked boy bands (just like gay youth liked musicals). Both types of music allowed gay youth to express themselves. The main difference or should I say improvement was by the time of the boy band explosion there were media outlets that represented young gay culture and provided an opportunity for young gay people to be more vocal.
The article “Boys on the Bandwagon” describes one man’s attempt at explaining the myth that gay guys automatically like boy bands, “I think liking boy bands reinforces some people’s ideas about me being gay, but I also think that the stereotype that all gay guys like boy bands is dumb. In fact none of my gay guy friends like boy bands nearly as much as I do” (Epstein, 2000, p. 36). Meaning gay youth are boy band fans, but do not have be.
The stereotype that gay youth like music they can dance to is reinforced by boy band music videos including N*Sync’s “Bye, Bye, Bye,” Backstreet Boy’s “I Want it that Way,” and 98 Degrees “I Do.” Other media clips including the Will & Grace episode titled “Crouching Father Hidden Husband” and the exploring your masculinity scene in In & Out, show homosexuals embracing and the music and enthusiastically dancing.
The article introduces the idea that boy bands not only help pre-pubescent girls figure out their sexuality, but also serve the same role for boys who are discovering their same-sex orientation (Epstein, 2000, p. 36). Magazine covers with the Backstreet Boys in wet t-shirts and 98 Degrees shirtless revealing their six packs and bulging biceps were consciously marketed to both demographic groups. This helped gay youth of the late 1990s openly admitted to being boy band fans.
The other music explosion of the late 1990s was pop princesses including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, and Mandy Moore. Girls viewed pop princesses as role models and gay youth listened and danced to their music. Pop princesses helped heterosexual males figure out their sexuality and provided examples of the ideal female.