Who doesn’t love a good boyband? Those who say they don’t are most likely lying, because boybands are one of the greatest things under the new gods and the old. Fact.
The first ultimate boyband would have to be the Beatles. They set the tone for upcoming bands, such as Westlife, 98°, Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, the Dutch based Caught in the Act, Boyzone, and most recently, One Direction. But in my humble opinion, none of these great bands will ever match the greatest boyband of all times, Take That. I wonder if they’d ever consider fully reuniting for Eurovision? Oi, Gary! Can we please talk?
Eurovision has had its share of boybands through the years. Now, without any time peg or reason other than the fact I love them, it’s time to stage a little countdown of the best boybands this contest has gifted us. This list is mostly about vocal groups (hence the boyband title), and bands such as A Friend in London and MaNga are not featured. So, without further ado, I present Eurovision’s greatest boybands.
10) Eden – Israel 1999
The host country of 1999 jumped on the boyband wagon by giving us the Israeli birthday group Eden — a quartet of nice looking fellas wishing us all a happy birthday. They might not have been in full harmony the entire time, but they were so sweet and lovely, and enjoyed every single second on stage. It’s no wonder this is now a staple of many Facebook posts wishing friends a happy B-day.
9) Prime Minister – Russia 2002
Russia also embraced the boyband theme with this wonderful and diverse quartet, and their great serenade to an unnamed “Northern Girl”. Is she from Murmansk? Yakutsk? Novy Urengoi?
No matter. We’re still jealous of her for winning over these lads, who had the moves, the looks and the charisma. Slam dunk for those boys. This was indeed from Russia with love.
8) Blond – Sweden 1997
The boyband is strong with Sweden in Eurovision, for Blond is the first of three(!) Swedish boybands on this list. Count on the Swedes to nail this (and long before the likes of FO&O were even born).
Blond was a trio of, yeah you guessed it, über blond Swedish guys, wishing for a girl to love them. So Swedish, so blond, so good…
7) Edin-Ådahl – Sweden 1990
Another Swedish boyband triumph (because, yes, I count them as a boyband), and one of the very first ones too!
This brotherly band of four was hands down the greatest asset of Eurovision 1990 and “Som en Vind” was robbed of its rightful glory that year. Sorry, Toto Cutugno…
6) D’Nash – Spain 2007
Oh, D’Nash. Around 2007 I was having a moment and trying to deny that boybands were a marvellous thing, and tried my best NOT to tap my feet and sing along to “I love you, Mi Vida”.
I failed miserably. Sadly D’Nash did not make an impression on Europe with this Thomas G:Son number, but damn it, they were a delight!
5) Arvingarna – Sweden 1993
Eeeeeloooooiiiiiiseeeee! Hey, I said “mostly vocal groups only” and you can’t make an ESC boyband list without including Arvingarna, who were armed with two guitars and a mini tamborine.
They were a huge thing in the Nordics back in the 90’s and their seventh place finish was well deserved for their 60’s influenced tune, which is an evergreen born in the time before Spotify, iTunes and even Napster.
4) No Name – Serbia and Montenegro 2005
This group combined two of my favourite musical trends. Boybands and a Balkan ballad. Haven’t we all at some point shouted “Eureka!” when singing along to those darling boys from Podgorica? Oh yes, we have. Don’t deny it.
And for the record, the men of No Name have names: Marko, Marko, Danijel, Branko, Dragoljub and Bojan (not Bojana).
3) One – Cyprus 2002
So kitch and so straight out of the boyband factory! Those Cypriot boys, with Constantinos leading the way and looking like a stylish hobo, were the perfect poster children for the boyband genre. Gimme more of this, please! One? I’ll take Six!
2) V.I.P – Hungary 1997
Eeek, I get the giggles just writing this!
Did I have a big crush on Alex Józsa back in 1997? You bet! Did I learn the lyrics to “Miért kell, hogy elmenj” without understanding a word in Hungarian? Naturally! V.I.P was the best. Köszönöm, Magyarország!
Blue – United Kingdom 2011
Of course Blue is my number one boyband! “I Can” is my ultimate jam, and Duncan, Simon, Lee and Antony were and are everything that is good and pure with boybands of Eurovision.
They should’ve won! There, I said it! Now, sing it with me…”I can, I will, I know I can untie these hands, ge..ge..ge..get back up again!”
This concludes my personal countdown of Eurovision’s greatest boybands. What are your favorites? Are you able to reach back into the 90s and pick out a few of your own? And do you want to see more boybands at Eurovision in the future? Sound off in the comments box below!
Giggle no more, Kristin, you are among friends! VIP WERE ROBBED!!!!!!
The Hungarians look like The Four Georges sketch from Horrible Histories, I almost expecting them to sing that song.
Nice list, even if I would’ve switched second with first 😀 and after that switch I would’ve changed places for Blue and No Name (I like Blue’s song, but No Name…that mix of Balkan sounds and boyband feel…me gusta!) 😀 About VIP, Alex didn’t look bad on that video, but I think the guy singing next to him looks quite good (funny, it’s one of those guys who did song for Kati Wolf in 2011 and Candlelight in 2008- here also being a backvocalist, and other composer was sitting here next to that guy 😀 ) and the guy I… Read more »
D’Nash and Blue were the only quality Boy Bands here.
I’d like to see a NF version of this list, as I actually liked EMD from Melodifestivalen 2009. Such a schlager-fillled throwback to the ’90s that you can’t help it being a guilty pleasure, haha!
Lighthouse X, despite the pretty forgettable song, actually had decent vocals too.
No, they are elderly women. Il Volo can still pass as “boys” – a large part of the boyband formula is good looking guys who make people swoon. In fact, that’s really the only criteria.
Problem with blue was average to bad live vocals along with bad styling and staging
Also by 2011 they were well past their youthful prime.
I am not a fan of Blue, and I would not have them at No. 1, but other than that – great list!
Il Volo are kinda a boy band, I would have thought.
They’re more of a classical group – by the same logic, Buranovskiye Babushki would be a girl band.