When boy bands grow up

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I like pop music.

There. I said it.

Of course, I happen to consider the Clash and the Sex Pistols as pop music bands, but that's beside the point for this post, because I'm starting off by talking about the Backstreet Boys. While many of you probably said "Bye Bye Bye" to them years ago...excuse me for a moment...

WE INTERRUPT THIS POST WITH THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE TO 'N SYNC FANS. YES, I JUST INCLUDED AN 'N SYNC REFERENCE WHEN TALKING ABOUT THE BACKSTREET BOYS, AND I WAS WELL AWARE THAT I DID IT. SO DON'T MAKE ANY COMMENTS THAT READ "BACKWARD BOYS SUX" AND STUFF LIKE THAT.

WE AGAIN INTERRUPT THIS POST WITH THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE TO CLAYMATES. YES, I JUST MENTIONED TWO MUSICAL ACTS WITHOUT MENTIONING CLAY AIKEN. SO DON'T MAKE ANY COMMENTS THAT READ "CLAY IS THE SUPREME ENTERTAINER BAR NONE," BECAUSE BEFORE THIS POST IS OVER I'M GOING TO DRAG MICHAEL JACKSON INTO IT. SO THERE.

WE AGAIN INTERRUPT THIS POST WITH THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE TO ADAM LAMBERT FANS. YES, I FAILED TO MENTION ADAM LAMBERT BEFORE CLAY AIKEN, AND EVEN THE "SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST ARGUMENT" WON'T WORK BECAUSE I ALREADY SAID THAT I'D TALK ABOUT MICHAEL JACKSON LATER. DEAL WITH IT.

AND ONE LAST TIME - I PROMISE - WE INTERRUPT THIS POST TO APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE TO MICHAEL JACKSON FANS WHO ARE INCENSED THAT THE JUST-BURIED JACKSON IS NOT THE SOLE SUBJECT OF THIS POST. AND IT GETS WORSE, SINCE WHEN I DO FINALLY GET AROUND TO MENTONING JACKSON, I WILL DO IT IN THE CONTEXT OF ALL OF THE JACKSON BROTHERS EXCEPT JERMAINE. DEAL WITH IT. GO HEAL THE WORLD OR SOMETHING.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, the Backstreet Boys. As I was saying, I like their stuff, and I haven't shared "Incomplete" in a while, so here goes.

Backstreet Boys - New Music - More Music Videos

But according to PopEater, this song, like their previous ones, suffered from a lack of control by the band. They've rectified that:

Despite the benefits of success, some pop stars still don't have a say in their creative process. With their seventh studio album, 'This Is Us,' the Backstreet Boys are trying to change all that....

Instead of being told who they were going to work with and what songs they were going to sing, Backstreet started calling their own shots and personally contacted the producers they wanted to work with. Nick Carter called T-Pain to see if he was interested, while the whole band reached out to RedOne, Jim Jonsin and others.

Artists taking control of their own music is nothing new - as time went on, the Beatles exerted greater control over their music, and Jimmy Page ensured that Led Zeppelin controlled their sound throughout their career - but it's rare for boy bands to get that type of power. But then again, the Backstreet Boys are not unique in that regard.

Enter (I told you this was coming) the Jacksons.

Throughout their young lives, the Jackson Five were pretty well restricted in what they could do, first by their father, and then by the Motown machine. Even when the Jacksons (minus Jermaine) broke free of Motown, they found themselves under the control of Gamble & Huff - an updating in their sound to be sure, but not necessarily a Jacksons sound. So they insisted on artistic control, left Gamble & Huff, and recorded Destiny. And while some of the songs were written by outside songwriters, the biggest hit, Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground), was written by Michael and Randy Jackson and produced by the band itself. And Destiny was followed by Triumph and Victory, and while one could argue that the success of Victory was partially due to the incomparable success of one band member at the time of the band's release, the fact remains that this former controlled boy band was able to carve out a successful career while being in (using the words of their younger sister) "control."

Will the Backstreet Boys carve out a comparable level of success as they call their own shots? Time will tell.