When I was a kid, it was all about Hanson. Even now girls my age (I was born in ’87) will giggle and reminisce about the old days and how hot we thought these guys were. Really?! Yeah, really. I find it hard to believe myself, looking at them now. But their post-grunge home-grown awesomeness found its way into my CD collection, onto my bedroom walls, and yes, even onto some Pogs. But they weren’t the first and certainly not the last of their kind, as boy-band teen heartthrobs are a theme for every generation. Take a look at some of the best from years past and present, after the cut. 


One Direction seems to be the hottest thing to come out of the fame machine lately. Their debut album Up All Night seems to be sweeping the younger set. I think they kind of look like a creepy underaged Abercrombie campaign, but that’s because I’m 25 and not 14.


I was still too old to appreciate the Jonas Brothers, but I was no stranger to the sensational appeal they had. The boys went from the Disney channel to every facet of the media practically overnight. A polished-up Hanson, no?

Suffice it to say, the ’90s were a funny time. The Backstreet Boys might’ve been pitted against rivals N*Sync for record sales, but they were created by the same man, Lou Pearlman, the boy-band mastermind of Orlando, Florida. The appeal of the boy-band formula was that there was a guy in the band for every “type” a girl might want: The Bad Boy, The Older Brother Type, The Cute One, The Shy One, and The Heartthrob, or at least that’s how the mockumentary 2Ge+her portrayed it!

If the ’90s were funny, the ’80s were positively ridiculous. Just look at the New Kids On The Block! Now, if you’ll believe it, they’re touring with the Backstreet Boys as NKOTBSB: New Kids On The Backstreet Boys… wait, what? Seriously.
These are just a handful of the most memorable boy-bands from my generation. I’ll include some more in the gallery, but tell us:

Who were the boy-band sensations of your childhood and adolescence? Who were you totally gaga over that, in hindsight are completely hilarious-looking?

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