Photo of the Day (08.16.10)

by Mike Barish on
Whatever happened to boy bands? I guess popular music is cyclical and we’re just not in a boy band era right now. I mean, the Jackson 5 were amazing. New Edition was pretty awesome, too. NKOTB (New Kids on the Block, for those not in the know) were pretty horrible but injected life into the slumping light-wash denim industry. The 90s gave us LFO, the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and a bottomless hole of migraines. Now, the music landscape is once again devoid of boy bands and, as such, choreographed dancing. That, dear readers, is a shame.

People like seeing young men in matching outfits gyrate in unison. It’s a fact. Look it up. That’s why I love this photo by Flickr user jrodmanjr. These guards marching in the Forbidden City have clearly been rehearsing. Those long hours sweating it out in leg warmers perfecting their routine certainly paid off.

Have any pictures of boy bands on the road? Or just some amazing travel photos? Upload them to the Gadling Flickr group and we might just use one for our next Photo of the Day.

World Sound: More Desi Boy Bands

by Adrienne Wilson on

If you were to give me a pop quiz right now on Desi pop culture I’d flunk horribly. I’d like to think my crooning Asha Bhosle’s version of Ina, Mina, Dika would score me some points in the Desi community, but the song is centuries old and the world is need of a fresh new sound from young Desi boy heart-throbs. According to my favorite and really the only Desi culture blog I read, Sepia Mutiny, the planet could use a few more boy bands. Desi boy bands. My initial thoughts were quite opposite and not so much the Desi part, but the boy band part. However, I decided to read further and listen.

JoSH is a Montreal based Desi duo. The one they say resembles Lenny Kravitz (Q) is kind of cute to me and the other (Rup) rocks the turban while delivering the vocals that make the hearts of women melt. Okay, not so much melt, but you know the ladies are feeling it and shaking their tail-feathers, swinging their hair all wild and what have you and so it seems that the world needs more of this Desi boy band business, right? If you’re not familiar with JoSH (long O like Joe, not Joshua) you’ll want to see the videos they’ve included in the blog. The first one sold me, but the second one almost lost me. I’m a sucker for world music though so I’d probably pick it up or download a few tracks.

Seriously, if you’re into tuning your global ear to new things give JoSH a try. They’ll be opening for Nelly Furtado in Bombay on New Year’s Eve if you happen to be around India end of year.