Updated March 30, 2020 2.5K votes 666 voters 81.0K views
Voting Rules
Vote up the best jams by boy bands you completely forgot existed... until now.
The '90s were an especially amazing time for music fans, with the radio waves dominated by girl groups, boy bands, and solo stars. Plenty of male pop groups rose to international prominence, but what were the top '90s boy band hits? The list of great songs by '90s boy bands is pretty much endless.
Today, throwback groups like New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys still tour, while the members of supergroups like *NSYNC went the solo route. But other groups made their mark on the '90s scene too. R&B royalty 3T had fans that would do "Anything" for them, while sexy soul stars like Silk and Next encouraged ladies to "Freak Me" and get "Too Close." British-based bands like 5ive as well as Irish imports Westlife all had an impact on the charts. And then there were '90s boy bands who were one-hit wonders, like All-4-One (remember them?) or Shai.
Wondering what happened to these '90s boy bands? Flashback with these forgotten hits and vote up your favorite retro song.
You might not remember the band All-4-One, but you probably know their signature song, "I Swear." The ballad, a cover of a John Michael Montgomery country song, hit the top of the charts and stayed there for several months. Although All-4-One had a few more hits, they soon faded into obscurity, but apparently, they never really broke up.
You can even find them actively replying to fans on Twitter.
British boy band 5ive sure knew how to put out a hit (they shared management with the Spice Girls). They sold over 20 million records thanks to hits like "When the Lights Go Out" and eventually split - but reunited twice. Scott Robinson became a DJ, while Sean Conlon failed to make it onto The Voice.
Three of the guys became reality stars in the 2000s too. But they're still performing as a group even now - albeit as a threesome.
Next's raunchy "Too Close" heated up dance floors everywhere in the 1990s. Capitalizing on their undeniably catchy hit, its members recorded duets with Destiny's Child and R&B diva Deborah Cox in the last years of the decade. In 2000, they released a follow-up hit, "Wifey," and received a number of awards, but the band informally dissolved in the mid-2000s.
Frontman RL went on to some solo success, and the band reunited in 2011. Two members, T-Low and Tweet, also released the song "Leaving With Me" under the Next name in 2014.
LFO stood for "Lyte Funky Ones," and its three members took the "lyte" aspect to heart. Their most famous hit was "Summer Girls," but they were able to sing about more than just liking girls that wore Abercrombie & Fitch. Their second single was "Girl on TV," which was allegedly inspired by member Rich Cronin's then-girlfriend, actor Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was also featured in the video. In a true boy band triangle, Hewitt supposedly cheated on Cronin with Jeff Timmons of 98 Degrees.
LFO split in the early 2000s. Cronin was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005, but once his illness went into remission, he joined a boy band revival reality show on VH1. A few years later, he got sick again and tragically passed in 2010 at the age of 35. Bandmate Devin Lima became a barber, while Brad Fischetti took a job as a musical director for an ultra-conservative church.
Early '90s R&B group Shai - which formed when three of its members met at Howard University - heated up the music scene with its suave "If I Ever Fall in Love." The love song was followed up by some minor hits, but the relationship between band members sadly deteriorated not long after.
After a few members left the band and a few newcomers were added, the group reunited and still performs regularly.
Alt-rockers The Verve Pipe found success in 1996 with "The Freshmen," a melancholy post-grunge ballad from their first album. The single topped the charts and earned a gold certification. Unfortunately, the grunge bubble burst, and the band's second album flopped in 1999.
The Verve Pipe took a break for a few years, but returned in 2009 with an album of children's music. They continue to write and record both rock and children's albums, and tour throughout the U.S.
