were the eagles a boy band?

[alreadygone]

In casual conversation with someone the other day I was talking about my favorite music and mentioning groups. I mentioned the eagles and for a second he said "you mean the sports team" and I was like "no the music group". Then he said, "oh you mean that boy band from 40 years ago?" and I was like "yeah, but they weren't a boy band".

technically you could call them a boy band since they were all dudes in there 20s/early 30s but when I hear the word "boy band" I think of wannabe hip hop white guys like New Kids or NSYNC. Has anyone here heard them called a "boy band" before?

[buffyfan145]

I actually have but in terms of them attracting a large teen female audience (especially Glenn aka The Teen King). I've also heard The Beatles called the first boy band, so in those terms yes but it's the fan demographics when they came out. However, it's not the same as when New Kids, or my own teenage boy bands Backstreet Boys & N'SYNC came out. They were marketed specifically for teen girls, but it was based on what happened in the past.

The difference with the Eagles, Beatles, Elvis, and others were they were teen idols whether they liked it or not, or were supposed to be or not. The Eagles to me for sure was a rock band first, but they had a big teen following. My parents were around 11/12 when they became Eagles fans in the early/mid 70s (thanks to their older siblings too being fans). So for my Mom, and later her younger sisters in the 80s, Glenn and Don were teen idols (even for myself when I became a teen and realized why LOL). And for my Dad in other ways he wanted to be like the guys because he thought they were cool. LOL

[Freypower]

Well, that is an interesting take on it, because my answer would have been absolutely not (I will say nothing about how enraged I become when this term is applied to the Beatles). They were a rock band. They didn't play bubblegum pop or wear matching outfits & I would have thought that many fans would not have been able to identify them at their peak & therefore back then they didn't have individual fanbases like the members of One Direction or Take That. Look at any photo of them from the early 70s & tell me that is a 'boy band'.

[SilverAcidRayne]

interesting question... they put most of the boy bands to shame lol

[Jonny Come Lately]

I firmly disagree with the suggestion that the Eagles were a boy band and I can only suggest that anyone who says this either doesn't remember their music very well, or is trying to wind you up. To me, the word 'boy band' has nothing to do with whether the band is popular with teenage girls, and IMO is not really a description of any particular sound (they invariably seem to make light bubblegum pop, but this sound varies depending on what is deemed popular), but is instead to do with the way their music is made and promoted.

Generally speaking, I will say now that I don't think there is any meaningful overlap between rock bands and boy bands, they really couldn't be much more difficult. In my opinion there are many, many major differences between the Eagles and several of the boy bands mentioned so far in this thread, and some of these have already been alluded to. However, arguably the most important difference between boy bands and rock bands (Eagles included) is that boy bands are almost always 'top down' organisations - the band members may be the public face of the group but in reality they are basically puppets for their promoters, record companies etc. It's easy for a guy in his early twenties to be quite cynical about all this, but I think there generally isn't a lot of creativity in these groups, it is all about getting to the target audience and maximising their earning potential while they are still popular. Several boy bands don't write their own songs, and often their songs are covers of previous hits. Boy Bands usually seem to have short lifespans because their fan base tends to dwindle as their demographic matures and the new generation finds a different favourite.

Rock bands, by contrast, are 'bottom up' institutions where the band members are in full control of their careers and images. They usually write most of their own songs and if they do covers it is usually songs by artists they admire (e.g. Eagles covering Dillard and Clark's TLTHM, another example would be Lynyrd Skynyrd covering songs by J.J. Cale and Merle Haggard). They can usually write and sing about whatever they want. It is very difficult imagine a boy band writing a serious political commentary song like The Last Resort, to name just one example. Rock bands tend to have a clear idea of how they want their music to sound and generally don't take kindly to being told what to do by producers/record labels (*cough* Glyn Johns *cough* David Geffen *cough*). Obviously rock bands come and go like in any other genre, but a number of truly great bands have earned their places in music history and continue to attract many new fans over the last 30-50 years.

Another key difference is that to my knowledge, the members of a number of boy bands often only sing live, without playing any instruments. This is in direct contrast to the Eagles, especially in the early days where all the instruments were played by the four of five official band members. Admittedly older rock bands, Eagles included, tend to use more backing musicians, but in their prime years they certainly played virtually everything themselves.

Also, a lot of the Eagles' music is very definitely not aimed at kids - as I have mentioned they have several social/political commentary songs but perhaps more importantly, there a lot of references to sex and in some cases drugs. In addition, the overall tone of the songs is too dark for a 'teeny bopper' audience. HC and The Long Run are rather dark albums, while the subject of death is a central theme of the Desperado album and features more than once on On The Border. There are also other songs also have themes that would seem far more likely to resonate with adult audiences - Last Good Time In Town being a good example, I think. Boy bands don't tend to cover darker subjects and mostly stick to more child-friendly pop themes. Another more specific difference is that the Eagles always spoke about 'song power' and did not like to promote the band members as stars. Indeed, Glenn joked about the issues with people not recognising him, Don or the others on their solo albums in the 1980s! Boy bands always make a big deal about the individual group members, their appeal would be lessened substantially otherwise, and the appeal of the songs themselves is usually less important.

[MaryCalifornia]

I have always thought that "boy band" connotes a manufactured group put together by a record label that is comprised of very good looking young men who don't know each other but who have good voices and they don't play instruments or write their own songs.

I don't think the Eagles fit this in any way, shape or form...they are sort of the opposite (except for good looking and good singers!)

[SilverAcidRayne]

now I cant even get Backstreet Boys out of my head. dammit.

but i honestly think they are in a class all by themselves

[alreadygone]

My parents were around 11/12 when they became Eagles fans in the early/mid 70s (thanks to their older siblings too being fans).

weird, I thought I was the only under-50 person on here. I'm 25 and my parents are 56-57.

[Witchy Woman]

Well, that is an interesting take on it, because my answer would have been absolutely not (I will say nothing about how enraged I become when this term is applied to the Beatles). They were a rock band. They didn't play bubblegum pop or wear matching outfits & I would have thought that many fans would not have been able to identify them at their peak & therefore back then they didn't have individual fanbases like the members of One Direction or Take That. Look at any photo of them from the early 70s & tell me that is a 'boy band'.

Agreed. No way were The Eagles a boy band. Boy bands are One Direction, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and others of that ilk.

[WS82Classics]

Bands like Herman's Hermits and Tears for Fears are boy bands. The Eagles and the Beatles are not.

One Direction, NSYNC, and the Backstreet Boys don't merit even that much consideration.