One Direction - is this a legit new threat wrt to a new boy band invasion? y/n

I was all, "wtf is a One Direction" when I saw the announcement on SNL last week, turns out its a British-Irish boy band. In 2012. UKers, are these guys a legitimate threat to bringing the boy band cycle around again? Are they really huge enough to justify an American push? Will we be forced to see copycats of these douchecanoes with regularity soon? Who will be the 98 Degrees to their Backstreet Boys? Important questions all.

http://default.media.ipcdigital.co.uk/11140%7C000015353%7Cfd60_One-Direction-21.jpg

There's always going to be boy bands, sorry.

"threat"

At the Jukebox we kinda liked "One Thing" (I didn't).

why are they wearing kiddie pajamas?

yeah, I mean my post was pretty much deadly serious and not at all tongue-in-cheek. i was just curious if these guys were really a "thing" or just another Jessie J for SNL.

thought this was an Alex in NYC thread

how would Another Boy Band threaten your world? I mean, the best pop released 1998-2000 was almost all boy (and girl) band.

apparently I really have to crank up the sarcasm meter for you guys today, huh?

But since Alfred needs it spelled out, no I'm not "threatened" by these guys, I like some boy band songs, I don't know that these guys will be awful, I just wonder if these guys are a legitimate chance to hit it "big" (whatever that means wrt to boy bands in 2012). I mean, do they have a shot at Bieber-level?

No.

apparently I really have to crank up the sarcasm meter for you guys today, huh?

what kind of crank are you using

Somebody mentioned "The Beatles" this morning, in relation to the 'reaction' they got.

My mom saw them on the Today Show and was smitten. O_o

man, I get shit for being too earnest, then get shit when I start a thread with a "jokey" premise, you can't win around here, can you?

No.&#nbsp;

Gah

god, americans, it is literally as if things don't exist for you until they actually land on your shores

you can act like you've only just been told about cher lloyd next

who?

god, americans, it is literally as if things don't exist for you until they actually land on your shores

But why would we know who they are if they are only just now getting any sort of traction over here? Like, I enjoy a lot pop that comes out of the UK, but I'm not actively seeking out stuff like this. Much more likely to seek out the more R&B, female-fronted end of UK pop right now.

What a surprise, that people don't know about something until they know about it...

The Wanted seem quite a bit better.

if i waited for my favourite US acts to get traction over here before paying attention to them i...would still not have heard any of them

well, yeah, the key part being "your favorite", I have no reason or desire, really, to seek out new boy band pop

lex would you have recommended someone outside the UK mediasphere look into One Direction?

if they were interested in boy bands enough to start a thread when one emrges, yeah

or in x factor alumni

Had the tv on and saw them the other morning:

from Rolling Pop Thread:

Rockefeller Plaza in NYC was packed this morning with young girls watching Brit/Irish boy band One Direction performing "What Makes You Beautiful" live on the Today Show

― curmudgeon, Monday, March 12, 2012 12:45 PM (Yesterday

haha looking at the results chart that must have been the most unsuspenseful season of X-Factor ever

it wasn't suspenseful but it was actually the best XF season EVER i think - the entire top four were viable long-term pop acts (well arguably except the actual winner, lol) and in completely different ways, too. last year otoh, there were lots of voting surprises but you could imagine never hearing from any of them again.

gah X-Factor has taken me back down the Jedward rabbit hole:

On 11 February 2011, Jedward won the Irish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 on The Late Late Show with their entry single "Lipstick". They consequently represented Ireland at the contest in Düsseldorf, progressing through the second semi-final on 12 May, and performed at the final on 14 May 2011, achieving eighth place.[13] "Lipstick" was released as the first single released from their second album Victory. Both "Lipstick" and the following single "Bad Behaviour" reached number 1 in the Irish Singles Chart, while Victory also went to number 1 in the Irish Albums Chart.[14]

In August/September 2011, Jedward participated in Celebrity Big Brother 2011, finishing in third place.[15]

Jedward for the second time in a row, entered the Irish Eurovision national final and on 24 February won both the jury and public vote and will be representing Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan with their entry "Waterline".[16]

if they were interested in boy bands enough to start a thread when one emrges, yeah

You do understand that people can be interested in an aspect of pop culture without really being invested in a specific subset, right? I mean, I can be fascinated by the rise of the Twilight phenomenon without ever wanting to watch a second of the films or read a single page of the books.

or in x factor alumni

Explain why I should be invested in a version of a program that isn't even aired in my country?

Like I completely understand your frustration with people set in a single-minded mode of absorbing pop music, but you do have to make certain allowances for where people are located and the aspects they are exposed to.

If lex did that he wouldn't be nearly as funny!

I thought that "What Makes You Beautiful" song was alright when I heard it visiting the UK last year, but I was kind of shocked when I saw the SNL announcement as well.

I'm interested in the how of this. What was the marketing angle? Or was it a viral thing that picked up traction? We haven't had a major boy band in this pop mould (I know the Jonas Brothers etc, but there are arguments to be made about the differences) and obviously we have a long history in the US of not caring at all about UK Boy Band Sensations like Take That, Westlife, etc....

If anyone can illuminate me on how this happened (and I'm not begrudging their success or concerned about it in anyway...I think it's good for America) I'd be grateful.

all the Harry dolls were sold out in Tesco the other day. my daughter has a bit of a crush on him.

Probably a surplus of Zane dolls though...

got it in one :(

I mean, the best pop released 1998-2000 was almost all boy (and girl) band.

good god no, all that boy band stuff was 100% pure garbage and I am boggled by people who defend it.

the best pop released 1998-2000 was almost all this is a thread for dope timbaland ripoffs from the late 90s ~bump--bump--bump-cack~

Oh good, they plastered themselves across the itunes store the other day and I was going to share on a shitty band photos, but got lazy.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/kingkonggodzilla/Screenshot2012-03-15at54903PM.png

I'm going to take a stab at the source of the lex/jonviachi confusion: in Britain, they probably have new boy bands popping up all the time, whereas the Jonas Bros are the closest we've had since NSync broke up.

Oh wait, Gukbe already noted that.

Boy bands will probably be back once the get get sick of reality talent shows. Not that I've missed them, but I won't be missing those idol acts either.

Why do 1D have to look like the Tory Youth Brigade in all those silly clothes?

like early Spandau Ballet?

these dudes are pretty hilarious looking... i think it would be cool to have a boy band back but they're pretty uninspiring -- k-pop groups shit on them, obv

"what makes you beautiful" is pretty huge tho

visually they remind me of LFO more than anything

feel like their impact is kinda dulled by the fact that shit just sounds like tons of male-fronted dance-pop that's on the radio right now -- there's nothing really unique aside from the fact that they're a boy band

They make me think of a Simpsons episode where Lisa buys a magazine and its called "Non-Threatening Boys"

With ilxor Corey in it

Was surprised to learn today that they're all 18-20 yrs old (one might be 17). Thought they were more in the 15-17 range.

Oh, ok. Just found out they got a project in development with Nick and are slated to appear on an iCarly episode. I get where this is going now.

I'm surprised that it's 1D getting the big US push, I'd have thought JLS was a more likely candidate for US success.

It's 1D who have the backing of the Simon Cowell machine though.

Yay!

K. pop vocal group One Direction makes history on the Billboard 200 albums chart as the first U.K. group to debut at No. 1 with their debut album. "Up All Night" enters atop the list with 176,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Previously, the highest bow for a U.K. group's first album came on Feb. 22, 1997, when Spice Girls' "Spice" started at No. 6. The album eventually climbed to No. 1 in its 14th week on the list, spending five nonconsecutive frames in the penthouse.

"Up All Night's" lead single, "What Makes You Beautiful," debuted at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 a month ago. That marked the highest entry by a U.K. group's debut single since Spice Girls' "Wannabe" bowed at No. 11 on Jan. 25, 1997.

Not surprised that this happened, just surprised that it's the first time it happened.

will a bunch of patriotic american boybands be manufactured now? or do the kids find non-american boybands more exotic now?

exotic sweater+kakhi combos

All of this just proves simon cowell has way too much power and influence.

did the bay city rollers never crack America then? (where's Marcello?)

They didn't debut at #1.

Cowell is a blight, no doubt about it

im sure very few acts ever debuted at #1 back then.

only two Elton and one Stevie albums did.

not even led zep?

did the bay city rollers never crack America then? (where's Marcello?)

Hey, I'm here! Rollers did have a US #1 late '75/early '76 with "Ssturday Night" (the re-recording; not even a single in the UK) but the only act to have gone straight in at number one on Billboard albums at that time was Elton John (twice).

hi marcello! yeah we were talking debut albums. But it must have been harder to have a new album by an experienced band go straight in at #1 back then.

"what makes you beautiful" is kind of a joint imo

can't believe Simon Cowell is forcing a target demographic to buy music they enjoy

albums did not debut at #1 very often in general in the pre-'90s pre-SoundScan era fwiw

seeing as charts have always been part of marketing strategy, i guess that reflects changes in the way music is marketed as much as anything

it's more of a change in how sales were tracked and how quick things move compared to then -- everything was a slow build back then, even for established artists, now the whole idea is you have to come out of the gate with a big hit, have big first week numbers.

yeah that's what i'm getting at really tho - the expectations for how you would build an audience are different. obviously the process of gathering the stats will have a big effect on this too?

i don't know how things work in the States but for example UK radio will play a tune for up to 2 months before it's officially "released"

I'm having trouble judging their SNL performances due to being distracted by the biggest collective tonsorial disaster I've ever seen in a musical group.

second song was dope

they don't dance

My three art classes are designing album covers. Four or five girls are doing covers for these people. They're not allowed to copy an actual album cover. If they do, I will not know.

obviously we have a long history in the US of not caring at all about UK Boy Band Sensations like Take That, Westlife, etc....

This is what's interesting to me about the big push behind these guys.

I'm tempted to think that the landscape has changed so that Brit boy bands can make a splash here like they never have before, but then there are plenty of Brit stars (like Cher Lloyd) who are total unknowns on these shores.

Man, these guys couldn't have given less of a shit about each other on SNL. They were a bunch of solo contestants forced into a boyband by the Simons at X Factor, right? They act like it. Though their lack of stagecraft is still more explicable than when the Black Eyed Peas just stand in a line, despite several members allegedly being dancers.

It's funny to have rockist pinings for when boybands were made of eager Orlando residents who couldn't wait to dance and harmonize.

who couldn't wait to sleep over Lou Pearlman's house.

lols

Ok so apparently they have to change their name from one direction to 'the brooke'

i kinda liked their second song and i thought they were kinda cute and goofy, like when one of the dudes poked the other guy in the cheek while he was singing his couple of lines

lol, from an article about the potential name change:

The court documents claim the Americans are entitled to three times the profits made by the British band...

i'm actually kind of curious to hear the justification behind that claim

bargain down to "everything"

good point

Respect if they were biding their time for when the one direction name was established and set to bring in big bucks before filing suit

Going to their gig tomorrow night, will report back.

Boy bands were once TUFF

where is Popture's report???

how convenient...

http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/896847-one-direction-in-chlamydia-scare-after-handling-koalas-down-under

"what makes you beautiful" hook is so massive

More like One Dimension, aren't I correct?

lol @ url in tpp post

"what makes you beautiful" hook is so massive

― fapper don (J0rdan S.), Sunday, May 27, 2012 7:05 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

this is what i have been saying!

it's definitely the only one of these BOY BAND RESURGENCE songs that just punches you right in the face with a hook like some of those old bsb/nsync songs

i like how the first half and second half of the chorus are basically the same thing but there's this perfect little shift in dynamics that makes the energy ramp up up up. also having all those chunky triplet accents in the rhythm makes it feel so divorced from bland four-on-the-floor shit like "glad you came."

yeah i feel that -- it's a LONG chorus but it puts every second to good use

Not a big fan of either of the 1D songs I've heard, but yes, def better than what I've heard from The Wanted.

djed a wedding last weekend and this 9yo boy just wouldn't shut up about wanting me to play frikkin one direction - like, some preteen girl in the party requested it, i played it, and then this kid was just on me to play it again for like 45 minutes. "you know i just played it, right" "yeah. play it again! now!" all snotty like after about half an hour of non-stop pestering i was so frikkin tempted to just tell him "you know that shit is for girls don't you?"

usually requests from 9 year olds is how i know what the grownups are gonna want to hear in about a year, to the point that if i don't have something they ask for, i'll write it down. in this case i hope to hell not though. not that the song is especially bad, just cause i'm gonna remember that damn annoying little brat every time i play it now.

Oh shit. Forgot about this thread. I was reviewing. They were actually pretty good. I think I made a point in the review about how pop music has been running out the string on swagger culture and this was the big pendulum swinging back. That said, they all dress like they're threatening to throw a varsity picnic and they can't dance and they don't try, so they wander about on stage in highly choreographed aimlessness. A couple of the songs aren't bad either, whatever else you can say about One Thing, it has pretty solid dynamics, that whole acoustic guitar to harmonized swell trick is one that seems like it's been absent for a while.

Also, the place was a screaming mess. Teenage girls just completely losing their shit.

I don't think I've actually heard this song

the other night, a few friends and i gave in and ranked the members of one direction

zayn
liam
harry
louis
[most of the rest of the world]
niall

louls @ those being their names, i had no idea

oh it's "louis," zayn had me prepped for them all to be weird

zayn's status as first legit mainstream british muslim teen heartthrob is probably quite interesting

It helps that Zayn is the one who looks actually hot as opposed to British-cute.

The idea of - I think it's Harry - being a teen heartthrob makes me giggle. But then I remember what NSYNC looked like back in the day, so I guess the threshold is low.

Twas Entertainment Weekly, I think, who (correctly) called N Sync "the gawkiest looking boy and ever."

I'm still loling abt Alfred calling 1D "catamites" over at the Jukebox a few months back.

I'm now singing The Hooters' 'Satellite' in my head, with 'catamite' substituted for the title word.

And if you still can't see the light
Cowell's gonna make you a catamite

I refuse to listen to music by people named Liam on principle.

was this not documented here?

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/50331/mega-pop-star-pimping-islam-on-your-daughters/

http://www.onedirection.net/zayn-malik-caught-up-in-islamic-pimping-scaremongering/

http://celebrities.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=1020456&showcomments=true

LEGIT NEW THREAT??

"low-class, young female fans who have sewers for mouths"

:D

legit new traet

In which SFJ explains One Direction to the New Yorker's audience:

The Internet isn’t the only change. The nineties cohort of boy bands performed music that was rooted in American R. & B. “Girlfriend,” ’NSync’s final single, was remixed as a collaboration with the R. & B. visionaries the Neptunes. In contrast, One Direction and other chart-topping bands are evenly split between guitar-heavy pop rock and generic club beats for drunk people to flop around to. This makes for a dramatic stylistic shift. “We’re five lads in a band,” Payne said. “Boy bands aren’t all about dancing and being structured and wearing the same clothes.”

Not only is this statement a dismissal of twenty years of unison dance routines and syncopated beats; it also signals One Direction’s desire to take its place in Britain’s lad culture, which has historically rejected boy bands, preferring rowdy acts like Oasis. Lads are now in boy bands, and they need not dance.

:(

I walked by a tabloid stand a few months ago and the headline said ONE DIRECTION!!!! with a pic of all the dudes underneath and I thought it was a cover story about how disney channel actors these days all have their hair parted in the same direction

like I thought it was a scare article about the legit new threat to hairstyles or something, but then again, I was like, haven't hairstyles been like this for a while

the other night, a few friends and i gave in and ranked the members of one direction

zayn
liam
harry
louis
[most of the rest of the world]
niall

― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Monday, May 28, 2012 7:25 AM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

louls @ those being their names, i had no idea

― some dude, Monday, May 28, 2012 7:31 AM (4 months ago) Bookmark

now zayn i can get into

debbie schlussel turned me into a fan of him/them i must admit

new single is boring

All of their singles are boring.

Last month the new single was apparently the most preorderd single in the history of itunes (or something like that) After two days on sale here in the UK it's already fallen to number three behind Rihanna and Gangnam Style. It's really strange that they're supposed to be the biggest band around but they just don't sell that many records here.

oh god I thought this band was actually One Republic

it's too late to apologize

it took me months to realize that their name was "One Direction" as 2 words and not "OneDirection" running together because it reminded me so much of "OneRepublic"

My daughter's 9 year old friend can't stop talking about them.

now zayn i can get into

― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, October 1, 2012 3:15 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I hope a massive anvil falls from the sky and crushes Harry Styles smug fucking face.

crazy crazy crazy!

xp
cool fantasy bro

it took me months to realize that their name was "One Direction" as 2 words

In the UK we call them Wand Erection.

I've called them 'One Dimensional' from the off.

clever

we really haven't discussed this? http://tomorrowthemag.com/articles/slash-and-burn

Ship Happens

fascinating story, seriously

i first posted this in the best music writing thread but for the sake of completeness it belongs here too

http://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com/post/38958539772/one-direction-little-things-did-you-know-that

Isabel rules

I also liked this tumblr post from Sabrina http://onedirectionstraighttohell.tumblr.com/post/21064929759/right-so-i-saw-this-message-this-morning-when-i

love that OWOB piece. OWOB has been really good in making me read stuff about bands/artists I couldn't care less about.

Wish I cared about One Direction tbh, but they look too young for me to ever find attractive, and their songs well... zzzzz. Can't even muster the ~outrage~ abt those supposedly misogynist songs.

this new single. oh my god.

this new single = i have finally cracked and installed tumblr savior. TOO MANY GIFS.

i mean, i'm happy for everyone, it's a good song, it's almost as good as 'hip to hip' by V, but i'm not up to all that capslock feels shit right now.

there's something about that song I can't quite place - the way it stumbles along - that reminds me of the slight awkwardness to 'More Than Words'...? even though I suppose it's structured conventionally enough

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8522/8520551784_66a6bc3b97.jpg

I can never remember the names of the other two (Louie and Niall). Also that picture subtly illustrates the five members' relative status in the group.

The top says "ONE DIRECTION buried in the sand". It's on a lakefront mural that gets repainted every year. Last year someone painted a mermaid with what I can only imagine is a Rihanna head.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5071/6913235804_6418a21c3e.jpg

I always knew Rihanna was a mermaid

Louis is the only one I care about

I sat in a cafe a couple days ago watching Czech MTV and when One Direction "Kiss You" came on, in the context of Three Days Grace vids and w/e, it was like a manga come to life. Is 1D a secret K-pop band? It was very sweet.

Which one is Louis?

The gay one

Paul Morley prefers Harry Styles to Jake Bugg.

I had to google all three of those names just now

mrrrr that was an annoying article tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o63lcWu6kY

Paul Morley otm

Paul Morley's just trolling really, but that's cool. It is kind of annoying that the people most likely to whinge about One Direction hold up the likes of Jake Bugg as somehow in opposition to them. Bugg's obviously talented - or as much as a teenager in hock to a very narrow idea of the possibilities of song can be said to be talented - and might potentially one day do something interesting, though now that the Noel Gallagher crowd has its weight behind him I doubt it.

One Direction obviously have nothing to do with music as we know it, but in these times when charts don't matter and TV doesn't matter and everyone is basically following their own noses in terms of listening, who gives a shit? The only times I even notice One Direction is in Morley-style pieces and when I see their posters and calendars all over the place in high-street headphone shops that will soon be closed for good.

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all and doesn't dream of making the perfect 45 or anything - I'm sure any criticism that I was fake and manufactured would be easily brushed off in the context of my (presumably) making loads and loads of non-fake money and shagging loads and loads of very real lassies. (No doubt Jake Bugg is enjoying these things too, though more solemnly.)

Styles' X Factor audition, as a solo artists (the whole band auditioned as solo artists and Cowell had the masterful sense to put them together) it was as an 'authentic' 'alternative' 'rock' singer, actually.

He auditioned with Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely, which is kinda cool but hardly signifies 'authentic', 'alternative' or 'rock'.

(No doubt Jake Bugg is enjoying these things too, though more solemnly.)

Amazing

<i>If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all...</i>

that is kind of a wildly presumptuous statement to make about almost anyone, much less someone who is actually in the music industry

He was in a band called White Eskimo before auditioning for X-Factor, IIRC. Still, I think Niall may have been the most *musically* driven before joining the band.

Cowell had the masterful sense to put them together

Or Nicole Scherzinger did, if you ask her.

Which one is Louis?

― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Saturday, March 2, 2013 10:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The gay one

― approx. david bowie (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, March 2, 2013 10:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lotta rumors (and, as a consequence, slash-fic) about Louis & Harry, tbh.

I think it's an unfair assumption based on judgments about the type of music they make and where that music finds an audience to presume they themselves don't care about any kind of music at all. Also, in what way *should* they care and why? As a group whose average age is probably not even 20, I'm not sure what kinds of concerns or opinions about music any of them are supposed to have that would satisfy a guy like Morley or why they should be concerned with doing that in the first place.

Louis is easily my favourite member. Anyone who can go through the live shows on X Factor without singing a single note on stage deserves some kind of credit. His audition was the only time I actually heard him sing, his vocal was quite something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAs5Ei6Bfms

Also his grinning face when he mimes along with Harry at the judges houses is classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5UQD61Tg3E

Harry strikes me as one of those guys who *would* care about whether other people think he is authentic or not.

The group has a "egomaniac annexes four nice guys who have yet to realize what has happened" vibe to me.

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all...

that is kind of a wildly presumptuous statement to make about almost anyone, much less someone who is actually in the music industry

The "Harry's House" playlist on Spotify:

Jay-Z - 99 Problems
Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
Daniel Powter - Bad Day
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
Justin Timberlake - SexyBack
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Toploader - Dancing In The Moonlight

yes, you're right, people who like songs that are popular are not as seriously into music as you.

One Direction obviously have nothing to do with music as we know it

raised an eyebrow, thought "ooh here we go"

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all and doesn't dream of making the perfect 45 or anything -

BOOM - lolled a little, not as great as it could've been, entry level trollery imo

I mean I don't care whether Harry is "seriously into" music or not and it would actually be weird if he was. Most people who get seriously into music do so around university age and he hasn't had much free time since he was 16.

my eleven year-old daughter is seriously into music, as i remember being at her age.

boy bands really make a lot of people behave like complete morons huh

eyeball kicks most of all

altho tbf neither of his knew who Xenakis was at this age so credibility called into doubt i guess

like seriously read what you're saying it's just embarrassing

If I were Harry Styles - who I guess isn't seriously into any kind of music at all and doesn't dream of making the perfect 45 or anything -

BOOM - lolled a little, not as great as it could've been, entry level trollery imo

I guess. I'm not actually that bothered by people dreaming of making "the perfect 45", if they even still exist. We're all ridiculous in our own ways.

like seriously read what you're saying it's just embarrassing

Christ, here comes the nitwit brigade.

Pretty sure I'm saying the opposite of what you think I'm saying, but I'll read it again just to be sure.

you were just making assumptions about a correct way of engaging with music that doesn't stand up, i guess. hence the raillery. but, y'know, One Direction make music and some people really like it and some people don't care and they are all valid expressions of people's engagement with music.

the underlying talk of "seriously" liking music is misguided cos it implies that only "serious" music can be liked "seriously"

I used "seriously" as an intensifying adverb in a clause as carefully composed as to begin with "I guess". I understand there is always a kind of squeamishness on these threads, but the idea that I said anything about "a correct way of engaging with music" is daft and completely in your own head.

Being "seriously into" something (a colloquial phrase that itself suggests a lusty disregard of received notions of quality) doesn't at all imply that the object of interest is serious. I am seriously into muscle cars. I am seriously into my summer rhythm. I am seriously into him. Again, though, I acknowledge your right to be squeamish and I ought to have done more to anticipate it.

Whether Harry Styles is "seriously into" music or anything else at all is of no concern to me and does not affect how much I value his existence - or even his music! I idly speculated that music outwith his own career might not be a great passion of his - and his playlisting Toploader does seem to bear this out - but who knows?

w/e, mr defensive

So "he's a dilettante, but I like dilettantes", right

tbf, Daniel Powter is not music

can we just talk about Jedward instead of having this fight

I was seriously into Jedward until I saw them on Glasgow Green.

oof I tried listening to "Waterline", that was a mistake

also lol @ that Louis audition, wow

the only real bad thing about this band's continued success is seeing this embarrassing thread title keep popping up. i genuinely thought this would be another one of those groups that failed to crossover to America.

i don't think it's embarrassing, you asked the question, turned out the answer was "y".

'wrt to', tho

took me a minute even then

also lol @ that Louis audition, wow

― my super interesting Kant story (DJP)

I like how they only show ten seconds of him singing, like that was the best part of his audition. It's almost like it's supposed to be one of those terrible auditions we're supposed to laugh at but then Simon's there with his "You got three yeses" He's probably the luckiest guy alive.

He is especially lucky in the face

i genuinely thought this would be another one of those groups that failed to crossover to America.

There was a NYT article from a year ago that described how 1D was able to succeed across the pond:

Steve Barnett, the co-chairman of Columbia Records, said it was not a difficult decision to sign One Direction. “Other artists in that category had gotten a little older,” he said. “I just thought there was a void, and maybe they could seize and hold it.”

But Mr. Barnett and his team decided to reverse the usual pattern of releasing a single on radio, then bringing the band to America to do concerts. Instead the label mounted a four-month marketing campaign aimed at building a fan base through social media before a single was ever released or played on the radio here.

Then a social media campaign asked fans to sign petitions and to enter video competitions to win a concert in their town. (Dallas won, and One Direction will perform a concert there on Saturday; the group will play two dates in the New York area in May as part of a national tour.)

The strategy worked. The band’s Facebook followers in the United States rose to 400,000 from 40,000, label executives said. That One Direction topped the American chart underscores how powerful social media sites have become in marketing groups. “What Makes You Beautiful” sold more than 131,000 copies in its first week, even though it had yet to be played on the radio. Radio programmers were flooded with calls from fans.

Glad You Came >>> What Makes You Beautiful

I'd probably agree w/that.

I'm just glad I bumped this thread with an artist's rendering of ZAYN

Eh, something about the voice(s) on Glad You Came completely turns me off that song.

let me pour you a drink

the only real bad thing about this band's continued success is seeing this embarrassing thread title keep popping up. i genuinely thought this would be another one of those groups that failed to crossover to America.

eh, having watched that season of x factor fairly closely i'm still trying to reconcile myself with the certainty i had then that they were useless no-hopers who were being lucky to proceed every week.

yeah "Glad You Came" is icky, especially for the voices

"Glad You Came" make me want to throw something heavy through a window.

btw I've decided my heart belongs to Zayn Malik

but he can't turn his scientifically perfect face into a heart

so many Miami dudes look like Zayn, would love to know them all.

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/7022252288/h1402EFCA/

I disbelieve that erin pic.

I can't believe you're doubting the veracity of trusted source TotallyLooksLike.com, but in the interests of science here's another one (I can't believe I'm googling pics of Erin Moran at work):

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/942/HD83.jpg

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha omg

What I mean is: I remember the intro pics of "Happy Days" as being a bit like that pic, but not that pic.

She does look 'a bit' like him, but I suspect some shopping, a bit like that Dawkins/Watson thing.

if anything, I think the Harry pic has been shopped as I find it amazing to think that a human being actually is capable of making that face

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2012/12/Jimi-Hendrix-People-Hell-Angels.jpghttp://media.social.s-msn.com/images/blogs/001d0071-0000-0000-0000-000000000000_5c75745a-32be-4e03-8e21-7367c8b575c9_20120220031909_harrystyles.jpg

Just... no.

If you crossed Harry with Mick Hucknall you'd get the guy from Toploader.

*ponders googling "Harry Styles Muick Hucknall slashfic", declines*

ugh...
Hucknall clearly has a huge boner for them...
One Direction May Be The Next Beatles: Mick Hucknall Says.
“I rather like One Direction, I think they’re good. People can be snobby and say they don’t write their own songs, but it’s the pop industry.”
He added: “When the Beatles first started they were a boyband and then, through their writing, they merged into something else. So who knows what’s going to happen for One Direction.”

Mick sighed with relief as he put down the phone. He was beginning to think the journalist would never stop asking him questions.

Suddenly he felt the touch of soft fingers on the back of his neck, running slowly upwards to bury themselves in his flaming red locks.

"So, you 'rather like' One Direction, eh?" laughed Harry, his eyes shining with playful intent in the soft candlelight which lit the silk-draped room. "Oh, if only they knew. If only they knew..."

Then they fucked etc.

No.

If ILX turns into alt.sex.simplyred.stories I will be ducking out before the donation drive.

How about alt.sex.onedirection.stories?

Now you're talking.

Maybe we could entirely avoid the need for a donation drive if we all chip in some 1D slash and hope for a 50 Shades-style publishing phenomenon.

For a title I suggest '50 Shades of Zayn'.

Depending on the levels of BDSM content in the stories, '50 Shades of Payne' could also work.

Then they fucked etc.

amazing

holding back the tears

hold him by the ears more like

http://www.rathergood.com/holding

Internet nostalgia...
http://www.rathergood.com/gaybar

Fuck this thread and all who slashed in it.

http://p.twimg.com/Av6ElWICIAEy0jx.jpg:large

Why would you even want to have this thread w/o slash?

good point.

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/loudwire.com/files/2012/04/slash.jpg

awwowoowoh sweet harry of mine

I'm calling it now that Slash will perform at an awards show with 1D within the next 365.

http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/one-direction-fans-gq-outrage-is-valid/

Can we have some guidelines on when bomb threats are bad and when they're an "absolutely valid response"?

The double standards in that piece, especially paragraph four, are nauseating. Imagine applying the "naturally hyperbolic" "absolutely valid" response to any other kind of online abuse.

uh it was GQ magazine who started the abuse. the reactions are pure self-defence

gtfo. The abuse started when the cover appeared online with the Get Lucky reference, before the feature was even available to read. And please tell me any other circumstances where you'd consider a bomb threat - however daft and obviously not to be taken seriously - would be a valid response to a magazine article.

natural hyperbole? i've certainly ranted about how things should be bombed or otherwise destroyed before.

And if you tweeted one of those rants directly to somebody then what? Why should yours be treated differently to one coming from a troll?

eh, when the abuse started 1D fans were already circulating the image of the bit where harry styles is badgered about the number of people he's slept with - it wasn't the cover on its own that was the problem.

i.e. someone'd been in a situation where they could photograph that part of the printed interview, and it spread. (you can see this actually from Aja Romano's stuff on the daily dot: she wrote a previous piece that was more about the fan desire to defend harry styles from being made uncomfortable about his sexuality)

if the GQ writer tweeted his descriptions of 1D fans directly to them, i dare say he'd be seen as a particularly creepy and misogynistic troll

xp to self
bcz among teenage girls who love harry styles there is a tendency to kind of... associate him with themselves? the early reactions are v much of the type 'you called my bff a slut, someone hold my earrings'

xp OK, that info wasn't in the original news report I read. That does make the reaction more explicable, though not defensible imo.

My concern is that we can discuss the difference in power between teenage girls threatening adult men and teenage boys threatening adult women, and therefore find one more dangerous and repellent than the other, but the recent debate about the culture of extreme abuse has been about stigmatising and deterring abuse among the people who do it. If people are seen to defend one kind while being outraged by the other then it sends terrible mixed messages. Your angry teenage male tweeter isn't going to go, OK, fair enough, men do have power in society and rape is infinitely more common than castration, so it's not the same. He's going to think that threats can be excused. It's a really bad precedent.

yeah i mean, surely the root of most of this problem is that people think abusive language doesn't actually mean anything cos y'know it's just the internet. like whatever the hell people think of gq, prob read it last at a barber about a decade ago, i assume it's casually sexist given its brief.

He's going to think that threats can be excused

he already thinks this!

i mean i get why GQ is allowed to act so super surprised by this because it has historically been ok to describe teenage girls as a pulsating mass that produces sobs and screams and vaginal discharge -- so okay that it is usually let slide, and even teenage fangirls themselves let it slide. So the idea that that's what the 1D fans are reacting to, that they're defending themselves against this description, is very surprising, because teenage girls who love a boyband don't tend to defend themselves for liking it, they tend to 1. defend the boyband 2. deflect the conversation somewhere else 3. ignore you.

What it seems these twitter users are responding to is the GQ interviewer trying to interpellate Harry Styles in their blokey laddish world by getting him to talk about how he gets laid a lot, which 1D fans are repelled by and I think not on a 'harry styles cannot have sex look at him he is a cherubic angel' level because no-one would ever believe that, 'going to get so much pussy', etc; it's instead that this no doubt 30-something man is trying to co-opt Styles, reduce him to his sexuality (an experience that a teenage girl is p damn familiar with) but also take him away into the value system of laddishness when he belongs in the value system of the 1D fan.

It's not the piece I would have written but why do you think Harry Styles "belongs in the value system of the 1D fan"? The history of fandom is full of fans realising that actually their idols are complicated autonomous individuals who have their own value systems. Styles does behave in certain laddish ways and if you agree to be interviewed by a men's magazine then that's going to come up. Of course the fans are angry because it doesn't suit their version but theirs is not the only version. That said, I've read a lot about fan cultures and attitudes to teenage girl fans over the years and the article's POV feels archaic to me so I'm not surprised they're angry, I just won't defend the more extreme manifestations of that anger.

slightly because when you take someone into the value system of laddishness (whey lad, getting laid) from the imaginative world of the 1D fan (idk, presumably a world in which Styles is having a lot of sex but it's all very sincere and he's probably not having as much sex as people think because it's very tiring touring) you have to go through the value system of the actual world in which, for a teenage girl, having a lot of sex = people think of you as a slut. And because the characterisation of Styles belongs to teenage girls, the values of the world that are applied to teenage girls apply to him, and so talking about him having a lot of sex = implying that he is a slut. (rather than, e.g. a stud)

tl;dr and that is why some of those tweets involve teenage girls calling GQ 'sluts'.

Of course the fans are angry because it doesn't suit their version but theirs is not the only version

but they... want it to be...

like, they are 14 year olds?

ALTHOUGH ACTUALLY one thing that's super interesting is that in a way teenage girls are culturally more powerful than they have ever been, because with the fracturing of various monocultures and 20-odd-years' creation of several separate cultural/commercial spaces that are very very specific to the teen and tween markets, there are places in which the teen consumer and the teen culture-consumer are now dominant.

Which is to say places in which the moral universe of the teenage fan girl can now be treated as the normative moral universe.

1D are an interesting case-in-point because they are a boyband who are not required to pretend that they are not having sex.

NSYNC were required to say that they were not having sex: I have a very vague memory of an interview in which Justin Timberlake was pressured about whether or not he and Britney Spears were sleeping together.

this is partly to do with cultural pressures, the Southern American purity culture from which Timberlake and Spears and many of their fans came, Britney Spears' cultural position, etc etc etc -- but crucially a lot of those 1D fans having shitfits on twitter about GQ are also American and from cultural groups with varying ideas about sex-before-marriage and sex-during-high-school and what is appropriate to show (as distinct from what is actually happening).

So the teenage girl fan - who knows it's not appropriate to be seen to be having sex - has lived in a world in which your boyband members were "not having sex" but you are constantly being told by external media that they are obviously having sex, maybe they're taking girls back after shows, lads will be lads and will take advantage of all the adulation they get because that's normal.

the guys themselves are part of the whole lad culture thing, even if it's mostly concealed.

xp This is all interesting and true. Teenage morality can be a terrifying, unyielding thing. But irl Styles is a grown-up and GQ presented him accordingly.

xp-to-self (sorry, this is getting well convoluted)

i.e. the cultural values of the "real world" are bigger than you, and dominate everyone, and the boyband you love belongs to that "real world"'s cultural values and is only pretending to purity to get your money.

by contrast, in the microuniverse of a teen/tween market, the morals deemed acceptable by Disney and your parents and your peers' self-presentation are all one.

i don't disagree with anything you're saying but i do think there are so many 1d fans it seems a bit difficult to say they're all behaving as one mass for the same reasons, no more than it would be criticised if you attributed negative behaviour to them in a blanket way.

The way we've tended to think of boybands' "not having sex" is that it's to convince teenage girl fans that they could be in with a chance-- or at least that no other girl is further ahead in this heart than you potentially could be.

But there's also an extent to which their "not having sex" is the same "not having sex" that teenage girl fans are expected to uphold. It is a state of being that's true and false in the same ways, and the penalties associated with visibly breaking it are similar -- and people from "the real world" will attack you about it in the same ways.

xp yeah this really cannot hold for all of them!

I mean, the reason I started thinking about this was that I was surprised that they were so offended by the "harry styles as total LAD" characterisation, because that was, you know, obviously what GQ would do to make him palatable to their audience.

I'm interested on what set them off here. Lex assumes it's the same thing that bothers him (condescension towards the fans) but the tweets I've seen suggest, as c sharp major does, that it's more about the handling of Harry Styles' promiscuity. Those are two distinct grievances and GQ is culpable in the first case but merely doing its job in the second.

xp-to-self
And because I think at the same kind of age I was very impressed by lad mag culture, there was a coolness associated with it -- i guess because i was v embedded in the UK of the 90s? I think I would have been pleased that this object of my affection was getting a male-world stamp of approval.

So it is AMAZING to me that these girls are so vehemently against GQ making Harry Styles palatable to lad culture.

like, they are basically less impressed by patriarchy than i was at their age, this is astounding

I still don't think it's possible to be fully clear as to what the annoyance is about. Like, this is fanaticism (I don't mean that in a loaded or negative way.) It's like people raging about religion or something, everyone has their own interpretation.

and it's super self-feeding, i think a lot of people are just doing it because other people are doing it.

there's a group of 1D bloggers who are in their 20s and refer to the process of being into 1D and writing on tumblr about it and sharing images and ideas as the 'Contagion'

also, lest we forget, other 1D fan twitter users' greatest hits:
1. being convinced that harry and louis are in a secret relationship and that louis' girlfriend is a paid beard
2. being absolute nightmares to anyone remotely connected to anyone in the band
3. so much racism toward zayn, so much racism, in a way the lulzy ironic racism is more offensive than the straightforward, oh my days

I'm interested on what set them off here. Lex assumes it's the same thing that bothers him (condescension towards the fans) but the tweets I've seen suggest, as c sharp major does, that it's more about the handling of Harry Styles' promiscuity. Those are two distinct grievances and GQ is culpable in the first case but merely doing its job in the second.

I honestly do not think that many teenage girl fans know that they could defend themselves, tbh, that's kind of where i'm coming from.

and it's super self-feeding, i think a lot of people are just doing it because other people are doing it.

otm. it is really like this. twitter obv is a medium that lends itself to this. i kinda use twitter for work pretty much all of my day and i often gaze into the lake of souls of a given trending topic. it does have that feeling of a lot of people who are sort of joining in but not fully aware of what's going on. the multiplication of the words/tweets is kind of scary in a sense of how much person power (in the sense of manpower) it constitutes.

i should really do some work rather than continue to think about The Teenage Girls And Their Complicated Selfhood but

But irl Styles is a grown-up and GQ presented him accordingly.

gq didn't present him "as a grown up", or indeed as irl Styles-- they wanted to interview him as the kind of young man who impresses other young men with bragging about his sex life, and he resisted that (as is kind of his job)

also, if you think "Can you give me a rough, ballpark figure [of the number of people you've slept with]" is a question that a grown-up asks of another grown-up, then... you really need to think about your concept of adulthood.

for ref, here's the images that were floating about at the beginning of the whole kerfuffle:
https://twitter.com/oh1dstalker/status/362234283580076032/photo/1/large
https://twitter.com/alexandergold/status/362232475239469056/photo/1/large

** he resisted that (as is kind of his job) and then his resistance could v easily be read as "him being pressured about the number of people he's slept with" and etc etc etc etc etc etc etc

I"m astounded by this conversation because Harry Styles is an ugly little man.

he's not

I mean if you wanted to blow him up there's aesthetic reasons for doing so

up?

missing a comma.

"Up there's asthetic reasons" etc. Probably a bookshelf or something.

I am surprised that Harry has only awkwardly had sex with two people.

up?

― some dude, Thursday, August 1, 2013

ew

You know yr a gay homosexual when it totally shocks you that harry gets paid any attention whatsoever.

Poor Harry is just rhyming slang for haemorrhoids in our house. Sorry thread, that's all I've got to offer.

― trippin' on brostep beats (NickB), Thursday, August 1, 2013 1:24 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

love this

i can see how harry is attractive though i guess looking hygienic has always been more important to me than some others

also his tattoos are an embarrassment

The GQ description of their fans was unquestionably gross and misogynistic, but their fans' perceived need to defend Harry from being "badgered" about his sexual proclivities seems misplaced. What are the consequences for a dude like him being seen as sexually promiscuous? Not many, I'd imagine. Actually I don't have to imagine, the guy already has a reputation as a womanizer, false or not and it doesn't seem to be hurting him the way it would if he were to be a woman. And speaking of that, I also can't help but take their defense of him and put it in context with how the same fandom has treated just about every woman he's dated or been seen with. I mean, their reaction to him dating Taylor Swift was incredibly gross.

I'm also confused as to why Zayn is not universally agreed to be the obligatory "Hot One" but I feel like if I spent time thinking about why the unfortunate reasons would become clear.

I'm also confused as to why Zayn is not universally agreed to be the obligatory "Hot One"

I'm saying.

Though the second part of your sentence is probably correct too.

I think a lot of fans maybe also equate big fluffy hair with innocence?

I equate big fluffy hair with 1981.

a/k/a innocence

it's no "What Makes You Beautiful" but i like "Best Song Ever"

I think it's their best song ever. I even like the audacity of the nod to "Baba O'Riley."

"Can you give me a rough, ballpark figure [of the number of people you've slept with]" is a question that a grown-up asks of another grown-up, then... you really need to think about your concept of adulthood.

Unable to access ILX all day because it's blocked by the library's new porn filter (!) but fair point, "grown-up" was the wrong word if you think it implied approval. I just meant that he's an adult who has sex. Enjoying your posts itt, csm.

i think zayn is probably second in the Hot One stakes and at some point was probably first - what pushes harry ahead of him is tabloid hi-jinks and celebrity friends

Do you mean officially or for you personally?

"officially" i guess

okay that makes sense - I read it the other way first and was surprised by the idea that tabloid hi-jinx would have such a big impact for you.

Zayn is like astonishingly beautiful but all the people I know who've talked about 1D seem to fancy Harry, i really dgi.

Unable to access ILX all day because it's blocked by the library's new porn filter (!)

library filter otm

I'm so all about Zayn.

Anyway, cis is killing it itt

ikr

for me liam is the Hot One but i am unashamedly into conventionally good-looking men. but zayn before harry obv

Liam would be fine were it not for his purple lipstick

Is this one Liam?

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/29400000/-Liam-Payne-one-direction-29445872-1280-1024.jpg

Cause I have a co-worker who gets told he looks like him a lot. No purple lipstick, though.

Harry has a sexual aura and is also the dominant personality in 1D. Teenage girls can sense these things.

It's not about looks, it's about body language.

Harry reminds me of that guy from MGMT. The one with the hair. Anyway, he does nothing for me. I feel like you could find a couple dozen guys like that walking around Coachella.

tavi gevinson (I know, I know) tweeted something about harry styles looking like beethoven and now I can never not see it

everyone else in the room can see it http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5300000/Ludwig-van-Beethoven-portraits-classical-music-5377632-500-464.jpg

New song rules. Love when they extend the chorus and you get those sixteenth notes on the hi-hat (or some percussion instrument) - I THINK IT WENT OH-OH-OH/I THINK IT WENT YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!

why the "I know, I know" caveat w/r/t gevinson? does she not hold caché around here?

i'm not aware that ilx has any particular stance on tavi's cachet or lack thereof?

an admission: i have not heard the new 1d song yet, i think because based on gifs on tumblr it seems to just be the experience of putting your fist in your mouth so no-one can hear you hyperventilate.

I realised the other day that I hadn't knowingly heard a 1D song, then I listened and realised I'd basically heard all of them.

Regarding the debate upthread, not all threats are the same because not all groups of people feel equally threatened. Which is why Stella Creasy calls the police on hers while GQ are able to put up a blog post and laugh about it, the gulf in perception is enormous.

(does she not hold caché around here?)

I basically have no idea who does and doesn't and because of this I have to automatically use a caveat about liking anyone's work. INTERNET TASTE POLICING IN 2013 BOYS AND GIRLS

that's cool. it just sounded like she had a history of being ragged on here from the way you phrased it. of what i know of her work, she's always came across as a prodigiously talented and intelligent person to me.

Ppl love Tavi

<3 c# major. great posts!

^

Is Harry considered cute because he looks like a Christmas Claymation elf come to life?

lol @ hermey styles

http://www.newnownext.com/one-direction-dolls/08/2013/

http://media.salon.com/2013/08/ku-bigpic-620x412.jpg

Oops.

did we forget the lessons of the korean air thing that fast?

Some seriously dodgy vocals on this performance at the Teen Awards the other day. Harry sounds like he's pushing out a painful shit and Nail clearly has never heard the song before. The best part is the look of panic on the face of poor Louis as he's about to do his solo. People have been commenting on the fact it looks like he says " Oh shit" as he realises it's his turn to sing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2H89ulLtqk

It's pretty obvious these guys are in desperate need of a break, shame they have a new movie and album to promote in the next few months that will probably do them all in.

harry's sort of singing this song just like i sing 1d songs at karaoke

Just when I thought hardcore 1D fans couldn't get any more disturbing, there's this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/16/one-direction-fans-documentary-larry-shippers-suicide-rumours_n_3766001.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

ehh, maybe i'm jaded by actually having grown up among adolescent girls, but wild rumours are pretty par for the course?

there was a big spate of pseudicide/suicide-rumour a few months ago when either harry or louis tweeted "harry is bullshit" and people went into frantic damage mode, in fact i thought we'd talked about that on ilx before?

if you are interested in 'spaces on the internet where teenagers tell each other to kill themselves' the larry-elounour ship war is pretty rich in awfulness.

tweeted 'larry is bullshit', i mean

haha that would have been amazing

it was a whole year ago! wow, what an evergreen:

http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/72016044.html

haha that would have been amazing

― OH MY GOD HE'S OOGLY (DJP), Friday, August 16, 2013 2:16 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

'harry is bullshit' probably would have been glossed as a lovers' tiff or something, idk, the kids will brook no contradiction of this tru love story

i love that they've internalised the "boy bands are mere puppets of dastardly record labels" narrative so deeply that they refuse to accept any sign of the boys' agency and yet in a completely opposite way to the usual one

in a way it's no different from rockists who refuse to believe that pop singers write their own songs, it's just something to bolster a certain idea of the world

assuming the suicide rumours are untrue, i feel like - as amusing as some of the more hot-headed beliebers and directioners can be - the mock bafflement/fear exhibited on the part of the adult mainstream media is getting a bit absurd. the internet allows teenage ridiculousness to be a lot more viewable than before but i'm pretty sure everyone of my generation remembers girls in school being absolutely distraught and calling the take that helpline when they split up.

i love that they've internalised the "boy bands are mere puppets of dastardly record labels" narrative so deeply that they refuse to accept any sign of the boys' agency and yet in a completely opposite way to the usual one

yes!

although the "they are being kept in the closet by THE EVIL MANAGEMENT" narrative was apparently also beloved of the much smaller group who were convinced that Elijah Wood was dating one of his Lord of the Rings costars - i guess it's the most satisfying of reasons.

a girl at my school once gave an assembly about what it was like to have epilepsy, and one of her stories was about the time she had en epileptic attack because Take That split up.

I love that sentence.

xp Well of course it's because it's more visible. Adults are only a hashtag away from the bewildering intensity of teenage fandom. There's nothing mock about my bafflement - teenagers are baffling to their own parents let alone strangers. If you click on the hashtag even some 1D fans are pissed off about this because it makes them all look bad. Whenever something (the doc, the GQ feature) presents fans as unbalanced fanatics some of them retaliate by playing to the worst stereotypes.

Moving beyond pop music and considering the recent case of the female games designer who quit because of death threats based on a six-year-old interview, or the shit that George RR Martin gets from his weirder fans, it seems absurd to deny that some strands of fandom are unhealthy.

Beatlemania was heavily documented. I just really dislike the narrative that this is 'a new phenomenon', everybody but some serious magazine seems to get it. Also, contemp for 1Ders and beliebers usually reeks of sexism the same way hatred for football fanatism usually reeked of classism.

it seems absurd to deny that some strands of fandom are unhealthy

it seems absurd to think this is about fandom rather than people just being horrendous to each other!

Whenever something (the doc, the GQ feature) presents fans as unbalanced fanatics some of them retaliate by playing to the worst stereotypes.

this is a super important point tho-- i know i did this as a teenager, i feel like this is a very common reaction although it's completely nonsensical.

xp Of course a lot of it reeks of sexism and has done since Lisztomania but "nbd, same as it ever was" isn't interesting to me. There's a new dimension to online fandom that fan scholars have been studying for years and that does interest me.

but hardly any of the mainstream pieces i've seen on this bother to engage with online fandom at all - they focus on the wacky end of it, they don't discuss the multiplicity of it, they don't discuss the complicated social interactions/politics that drive it, they don't even bother getting to grips with online stan slang (that tends way towards exaggeration).

"look how cray-cray teenage girls are" is NOT good analysis or a fully accurate reflection of what is going on, basically.

Well I'm not defending any of the mainstream articles about it. It's not about taking sides.

it's the convergence of a few things -- the general tendency on the internet for people to be massively thin-skinned while expecting everyone else to be absurdly thick-skinned, the standard monstrosity of the teenager learning how to interact in society by appalling trial and error, the wildness of gangs. it is interesting! i like thinking about how they come together! but... it's not "disturbing", particularly.

think of the rumours there were about manics fans back in the day!

but you guys they are seriously being so cray-cray right now.

#RIPLarryShippers So sad to hear that 42 beautiful directioners committed suicide over a stupid documentary, are happy now Channel 4 ??

We lost 42 directioners over ONE stupid documentary. WE LOST THEM.. All because of channel 4. Hope your happy. #RIPLarryShippers

@Real_Liam_Payne we lost 42 of our true directioners who are now beautiful angels in heaven #RIPLarryShippers you will be 4eva loved x2

CHANNEL 4 KILLED MY KIND. May you all live in peace, you beautiful 28 Larry Shippers. Forever in our hearts. ❤#RIPLarryShippers

xp Personally I find it uncomfortable but that's probably because I've never had obsessive fan tendencies so I have a hesitant fascination with that mindset. I don't think it's disturbing in a moral panic way, no.

reddening's tweets kind of prove my earlier point though - they (by which I mean some not all) are angry at being portrayed as crazy but they behave in a way that confirms that portrayal. I'm not sure there aren't equivalent stereotypes about teenage boys obsessed with gaming or sci-fi anyway - it's just that in pop it tends to be girls and that brings out the sexist generalisations. Yes it's partly "ugh girls" but it's also "ugh teenagers".

also they concern troll like crazy! it's always like "calm down guys 42 people have killed themselves!!!! why can't we just get along!!!!!!"

they would like very much to be the mature and reasonable and kind voice in the crowd but they are SO EXCITED about the idea that people are killing themselves out there.

It reads to me as a genuine concern for their fans, not concern trolling. I was playing catch-up with a bunch of Youtube celebs this morning and I came away very impressed with how this new batch of pop gremlins have been making plays for online fandom in a way that seems driven by a desire to be a member of a digital community, a symbiotic member, like, maintaining a romantic relationship with their fans-- as opposed to an "advancement of brand". For example, I was looking at a Youtube celeb's Twitter feed this morning where dude was full-on asking his fans to write fan fiction about him, posting songs about maintaining online relationships. But it doesn't read as cynical, or money-driven, or perverted, but reads as an ego-driven desire for attention, like, maintaining a romantic relationship with a mass of people. I don't know if that makes any sense.

xp Yeah I realised that my first reaction - "Why don't you google first to see if there are any reliable reports of suicides?" - was a ridiculously adult response to teenagers' love of drama. I used to believe any old rumour if it felt exciting, especially if it involved death.

i've never had quite that level of obsession but i've certainly been around it (tori amos fandom, oh my) and the thing is...up close, apart from in a few loony cases, it seems less mental unhingement and more self-indulgence, and i certainly get how speaking in that language and saying OTT things would be attractive or funny, especially if you combine that with the teenage need to fit in. (and this is where the highly self-aware "obsessive" language of internet stans comes into play)

It reads to me as a genuine concern for their fans, not concern trolling.

oh dude all of these "42 people have killed themselves"/rip tweets are from teen 1 direction fans, not the group -- the group generally have the media training to stay the fuck away.

oh! I was under the impression this morning they'd responded

I like lex's posts this morning btw

It is curious that self-harm and the boyband have come together as phenomena - when i was a teenager, in those there 90s, self-harm and suicide were generally associated with angry/sad/alternative music, not with pop. Reading tweets where 1D fans tell each other to go home and cut themselves is vaguely unnerving, it makes me wonder when self-injury got so... mainstream. Though admittedly these lot are quite fringe.

I kind of wonder - this is also wrt the ask.fm stuff that's happening recently - whether it's not in part a reaction to the very salience of the anti-bullying conversation, and the anti-self-injury conversation, that telling someone to hurt themself has become such a popular form of bullying.

I don't know anything about these guys' music but 1 Direction member Liam's tweets this morning are really moving & right on imo

“Just so all of you know we love you guys and we know how dedicated you are and tbh we can't believe it that you gus [sic] spend all you time on us,” he tweeted. “We couldn't give a f--- what any documentary says there dramatized for entertainment and full of bulls--- anyway we all know... ... How hard you work for us and see it everyday at our shows, Let's all take a step back and think about what we/you have all achieved... You should be proud.”

so did kids kill themselves or not

kendrick lamar literally murdered them

not confirmed and nobody's even sure where the rumor started afaik - this component of pop-band hysteria ("somebody died at the show") is old as pop hysteria.

i just can't get over the sheer scale of it. FORTY-TWO SUICIDES IN ONE DAY with no media coverage or specific names given!

well I mean generally you don't give specific names of kids in situations like this at the outset

HarryMyCatDied has the count escalating gradually from 14 to 100

The thing about all the Larry stuff is that yes, at worst it's a weird form of fetishizing homosexuality that mostly straight people do, and at best it's based on very spurious to the point of being nonexistence evidence. However, as an idea, is it really all that different from Britney and Justin having to pretend they were virgins, or certain J-Pop groups' no-dating causes, or Lance Bass or Rock Hudson? This isn't, like, Illuminati conspiracy theories; morality clauses are things that exist.

well I mean generally you don't give specific names of kids in situations like this at the outset

there are no reports of any suicides. there are reports that people on twitter have said they heard about suicides.

xp: of course, but it's valid to be bemused at anger that the puppet show being presented by management doesn't match the one this subset of fans have written in their heads

However, as an idea, is it really all that different from Britney and Justin having to pretend they were virgins, or certain J-Pop groups' no-dating causes, or Lance Bass or Rock Hudson? This isn't, like, Illuminati conspiracy theories; morality clauses are things that exist.

lance bass being gay:larry stylinson being real::the cia supporting groups that also trafficked drugs in foreign countries:the cia inventing crack cocaine

please point out the part in that where I ever suggested it was real, as opposed to "plausible to a 13-year-old with a basic understanding of what is generally heard of and not"

i'm not saying you suggested it was real! rather, that it is of an order of magnitude that is actually pretty similar to illuminati conspiracy theories.

do you even understand what orders of magnitude are?

"these two people might actually be dating rather than these two people" = "the U.S. government, for decades, has been kidnapping babies and brainwashing teenage girls using magical technology that works by conspiracy theory logic, for reasons nobody really gives a shit about explaining, in a manner that is suspiciously similar to anti-semitic tracts or bad porn"

sorry, let me rephrase:

the extent to which "lance bass stayed in the closet while in nsync" is like "larry stylinson is real, louis' girlfriend is a beard, anyone who expresses the idea that this is not true is being paid off by management to hush up their true love (but they nevertheless keep showing it in their body language so that we True Believers can recognise)"
is of a comparable order to the extent to which "jay-z has made a lot of canny business deals in order to have success" is like "jay-z has taken a blood oath and joined the devil-worshipping illuminati in order to have success (but he nevertheless keeps showing it in his accessories and aesthetic choices so that we True Believers can recognise)".

i.e. the order or magnitude i'm talking about is how much the conspiracy theory has exploded beyond the part that relates to known fact. i don't feel like i'm saying something very controversial?

lol

in that case then yeah

The thing about all the Larry stuff is that yes, at worst it's a weird form of fetishizing homosexuality that mostly straight people do, and at best it's based on very spurious to the point of being nonexistence evidence.

Spurious?

http://static.tumblr.com/68031e1cdf744a70cb3b828689b6f7ae/1vge2nl/XGmmmxs43/tumblr_static_a99cj4lccaeqbd_.jpeg

http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/30900000/Larry-larry-stylinson-30903893-470-345.jpg

etc.

Those aren't even the steamy ones

Like, I'm pretty sure Larryshippers, mostly have a reasonable level of belief that This Relationship Exists. "Spurious evidence" is kind of beside the point. Like I said upthread, these guys are deliberately allowing fans to cultivate their shipping fantasies. Evidence isn't an issue.

(apologies for shitty punc)

hazel robinson:

http://piratemoggy.tumblr.com/post/58456757322/five-posts-about-that-one-direction-fan-documentary

also http://piratemoggy.tumblr.com/post/58443637677/five-posts-about-that-one-direction-documentary-part and http://piratemoggy.tumblr.com/post/58451917375/five-posts-about-that-one-direction-fan-documentary and the next two whenever she posts them

basically just read everything hazel ever says

also Amanda Hess who wrote about Larry shipping months ago: http://tomorrowthemag.com/articles/slash-and-burn

So what song are they talking about? You know, "the best song ever"? They dance to it ALL NIGHT. What song could possibly be good enough to play again and again and again AND AGAIN AND AGAIN? AND DANCE TO? ALL NIGHT?

That one about Lucky.

we're up all night to dance to get lucky, all night

"Like, I'm pretty sure Larryshippers, mostly have a reasonable level of belief that This Relationship Exists. "Spurious evidence" is kind of beside the point. Like I said upthread, these guys are deliberately allowing fans to cultivate their shipping fantasies. Evidence isn't an issue.

yeah, an interesting thing about one direction is how shipping-aware they seem to be. not sure whether this is a new thing -- shipping was around (HOLY SHIT WAS IT AROUND) for bsb/nsync but I'm not sure how much they played to it. for all I know they totally did and I just didn't notice it.

It's like these 1D fans have never heard of fanservice or something

"Best Song Ever" debuted in Billboard at number two, but then sunk into the bottom part of the top twenty in week number two and is now out of the top twenty in week number four. Haven't heard it on the radio.

It hasn't left the top 20 on iTunes since release, so at the very least, it's weekly sales have been relatively strong and consistent. But yeah radio seems hesitant to fully jump on board.

Came expecting to see a picture of a Joy Division t-shirt. Leaving disappointed.

idg why VMA audience would boo them

Disgruntled Joy Division fans.

"best song ever" is surely their best song since "what makes you beautiful"

nah, "kiss you" is their best work

oh yeah, i do like that one too

We have a "Hit Music" station and a "Star" station in the city where I live. Looks like it's #43 on the former and not in the top 100 on the latter.

so what's this movie like, is anyone going to go see it

i didn't go see the justin bieber movie or the katy perry one either

these movies are all 'recent concert footage interspersed with adorable home movies of the performers singing as little kids' right?

Why can't we have another spiceworld is what I'd like to know

you want Elvis Costello in a One Direction movie?

Idk itvwas a pretty fun movie! As brit films of the nulab era go I like it more than oh trainspotting

YES spiceworld is kind of wonderful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgHWvu9rlG8

Gabriel Agbonlahor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taking Out Twats is What This LAD does.

Gabriel Imuetinyan "Gabby" Agbonlahor (born 13 October 1986) is an English footballer of Nigerian-Scottish heritage who plays for Aston Villa and also an arsehole for hurting our louis

A spew-inducing reducer. Beautiful.

Shame that guy's knee joint only works in one direction.

:D

I am privileged to have witnessed this first hand. Also, he runs like a girl.

he must be in the bottom 5 players to have donned the hoops in your time, surely

idk there ought to be some unwritten rule that random slebs in a charity football game are not to be treated the same as (ex)professionals or targeted for bantz inducing comedy violence

although im sure having spent a year in chemotherapy stiliyan petrov appreciated watching an emaciated dude being sick in front of him

the camera angle just doesn't seem to show the impact.

agbonlahor had 3 different women pregnant at the same time when aged 20 or something iirc, he's not known for reserve

he must be in the bottom 5 players to have donned the hoops in your time, surely

Right down there with Gerard Butler, aye.

I can't find a good YouTube version to embed or anything but "Diana" off their new album is a jam.

It is! A couple of the "rock" numbers are astonishingly confident; somebody's been listening to Def Leppard.

Yeah, some of them are a bit too reverent of the source material they're pulling from, but it's an interesting new approach from a band known for uptempo glossy power-pop and they mostly pull it off. Seems a few of current young popstars have one eye keenly on the rock acts of yesteryear between this album, Ke$ha's LP last year, and most of Demi Lovato's first two albums.

one track -- I forget which -- is the male version of Ke$ha's "Gold Trans Am," not like the world needed it.

Though "Diana" is still the "uptempo glossy power-pop" that Greer speaks of but it's pretty much the second best thing they've done in this vein (behind "Kiss You", of course).

http://i.imgur.com/aJbZF7I.png

completely behind this

directioners otm

Thank you for reading, and justice for all!

this is either inadvertently genius or a tip-off that it's a gag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1NcFqT2i34

love this

on their nico & vinz wave i'm down

lovely

'midnight memories' is a seriously phenomenal album, it makes me emotional

when the night is coming down on you
we will find a way through the dark

maybe this is a wikipedia prank but if not...

6. "Our Girls"
Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Good Charlotte
7. "Little Rebels"
Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, John Legend
8. "Fire"
Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, 1975
9. "Feel This"
Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Fall Out Boy

almost definitely a well put-together fake tracklist, but they have been confirmed to be writing with all of those artists

"just can't let her go" was a leaked demo from before 'midnight memories' so severely doubt there's any truth to the song titles

This album is the Pyromania of boy band pop

i am surprised to like this preview track as much as i do, wouldn't be surprised if the radio singles are nothing like it tho

their last big radio hit featured harry nilsson on guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFmaCZDYHsc

kinda liked "fireproof" better but not bad

The piano bit reminds me of something I can't put my finger on.

Faithfully by Journey?

That's it!

Even if this never gets better than its opening chords that is still pretty great.

What would this be?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpsKGvPjAgw

Blasting in the student union common area as I type.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B099-nPCcAAxlh9.jpg

Here we go again.

No way, Steal My Girl is the lazy Journey rip off single...Fireproof is the Only The Fans Know How Good One Direction Really Are should-have-been single.

Like other people said earlier in the thread

"Fireproof" is very good but I'm not sure how it's less derivative. At least journey ripoffs are the one thing 1D does that no other comparable group does. Whereas the "we play this in the middle section of the set on stools and one member playing acoustic guitar" songs are kind of a standard boyband maneuver aren't they? Even when done very well?

Although to be clear I prefer "Fireproof" as a song.

Oh c'mon, you can't ripoff an entire genre of music ("acoustic guitars on stools") the way you can ripoff a piano part from a particular pop song. The most you can say there is that the Laurel Canyon sound isn't a current pop sound, but you can't accuse the song of being lazy in the same way for that reason.

I assume there's some nuance to your argument beyond "The Police wrote "I'll Be Missing You", not Puff Daddy" which I'm missing.

Man, I love this track. I think it does get better than the opening chords. The chorus - I love their unison singing.

Yeah I've been won over by the song qua song. I like the relative restraint of Harry's variations on the final chorus too.

Both kinda perfect. Luv the shania twain outfit chosen by harry for the video.
Fireproof reminds me of fleetwood mac which makes me every happy.

I really like the middle 8 on this:

https://soundcloud.com/izzynolan8/02-ready-to-run

"Story of My Life" was big on U.S. radio, but "Best Song Ever" was not (at least not that I heard). Have not heard "Steal My Girl" at all as of yet.

Change Your Ticket and Stockholm Syndrome are pretty ace here.

Greer check out the 1975 thread we're kinda crossing streams here

i like the new record a lot! "night changes" and "spaces" are a little goopy but otherwise this is a lot of fun. "girl almighty" alone synthesizes two paul simon songs and a fleetwood mac riff

http://cdn04.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/headlines/2014/06/harry-styles-bonjour-paris-caroline-flack.jpghttp://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjE4OTAzODg2OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDY0OTQ4Mg@@._V1_SY317_CR1,0,214,317_AL_.jpg

this is prob my favorite jam on the record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW7W8hbdhX8

Fireproof > change your ticket > no control > stockholm syndrome. all perfect, tho.

Really enjoying this, made me reconsider Take me home and Midnight Memories and don't sound dull at all now (though I think this one's better).

Personal favorites are Ready to Run, Where do broken hearts go, No Control and change your ticket. And Clouds sounds totally like "The Wolf"-era Andrew WK.

I still think that Take Me Home is the best. Kiss You is kinda perfect.

No Control second listen > No Control first listen > Change Your Ticket > No Control third listen

all i hear when i listen to "18" is "a-team". such a terrible sheeran rip

everything else is good.

"fireproof" is still basically soty

This album is almost perfect when you replace "18" with "Change Your Ticket." Would be awesome for "Girl Almighty" to have more than one verse (either very lazy -- likely -- or subsequent verses got too dicey with the religious imagery).

Yeah, 18 is the only unequivocal clunker here.

all i hear when i listen to "18" is "a-team". such a terrible sheeran rip

lol sheeran wrote it

i was surprised by how not-terrible it was but it's still kind of terrible

i love that the guy who co-wrote/co-produced this entire album + guests on that one pitbull song looks like this

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1194650156/163489_580828058959_20805349_32253654_5512167_n.jpg

The Tears for Fears moment on Stockholm Syndrome is so unexpected but so great.

I kinda love "18" but I don't hate Ed Sheeran.

18 feels like the weakest ballad here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/magazine/the-pernicious-rise-of-poptimism.html

"night changes" is so good, it's like the 1D version of 'fearless'-era taylor

man who would've thought that teddy geiger would resurface as a 1D songwriting whisperer

clip is awesome also

yes i feel like it captures each member's personality perfectly so much so that it probably maps exactly to the viewer's pre-existing 1D power rankings (for me liam > harry > zayn > louis > niall)

also if you imagine taylor as being on the other side of the camera during the fictionalized goofy figure skating harry styles date it all makes sense

Remember when you tried to figure skate too soon / twenty stitches in the hospital toom

Niall plus spoodle is the most likeable he's been

I'm cool on "Night Changes" even though it's pretty and decently constructed; I like their come-ons when the beats are harder.

it feels like this band have been popular for like 8 years or something now

their hairstyles have not improved either

i feel like they're in a really good place even though the hair has gotten demonstrably worse all around

Zayn hits a new peak every month. The rest are highly questionable.

Where Do Broken Hearts Go

is this a Whitney cover

"No Control" is the Animal Collective song I've demanded for a decade.

Meaning it doesn't exist?

powerless to be born at the hands of British guys who look like foals.

the hair is nowhere near as atrocious as the tats

i want zayn to hurry up w/ his rumored solo release

Zayn's the cutest but it's like these dudes are at a Danny Wood level of C- cuteness.

i disagree although i think three of them have similar raw look materials

so like if you're not into that look you're probably not going to be into them

i think all of them are properly attractive except niall who is kind of a goober

liam looks the best right now tho

isn't that what "niall" means in Gaelic

i want zayn to hurry up w/ his rumored solo release

― dyl, Monday, November 24, 2014 3:00 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

i still can't figure out the musical talent hierarchy w/ this group ... it doesn't seem like they've reached the nsync phase where it was like justin -> jc -> who cares

zayn is technically the best singer i think

he is also perfectly carved

anyway my favorite is louis inexplicably