If great minds think alike, Big Time Rush and The Wanted must be brilliant.
Both boy bands recently released videos that parody some of the greatest boy bands in pop history. Weeks after BTR paid homage in their "Like Nobody's Around" clip, The Wanted put their own stamp on some of the moves originated by *NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys and more in the video for "Walks Like Rihanna."
So, are there any hard feelings between the boy bands in the wake of the video releases? "You know what? I just watched The Wanted's video that they kind of copied our idea, kind of almost exactly," Carlos Pena told MTV News. "But, I like both songs and, you know, we're kind of representing the old boy bands. It was kind of an homage."
Plus, James Maslow added, "Well, you know, it's a good idea, so..."
So, with the guys of BTR cool with the fellas of The Wanted, they opened up a bit more about what it was like to make the "Like Nobody's Around" video, which reimagined the Temptations, The Jackson 5 and New Kids on the Block.
Maslow explained, "It was a lot of fun to make though. We got to go in and look into the history of boy bands. We did our best to in a lighthearted sense to replicate and duplicate and make our own what they did and then kind of ends with modern day. It ends with us, Big Time Rush. We've been doing this four or five years now and we're still having a hell of a lot of fun."
MTV News caught up with one of the boy bands featured in both videos, Backstreet Boys, who wondered if the bands had any clue they were making similar music videos.
"We haven't seen the Big Time Rush yet," Howie Dorough told us last week. "I heard on Mario Lopez [on 'Extra'] that they were going to do something. I was like 'Ah man, I wonder if they knew The Wanted just did the same thing.' "
The Wanted definitely copied BTR's ideas here, however The Wanted used more recognizable source material. "I Want It That Way" and "Bye Bye Bye" are definitely instantly recognizable on sight and came during a creative height during the boyband wars of the pop craze. After watching both videos I think BTR did it better overall.
"Bye Bye Bye" is used by both, the puppets and the square room. The puppets are definitely easily sourced on sight over the dance choreography and square dance room. Looking at other boybands do their versions of this stuff you really appreciate how good BSB and Nsync were and are, in the case of BSB who still tour and put out music.
There's so many things I noticed in individual band member's personalities that stand out more when other people do them, like Nick Carter in "I Want It That Way", Howie's Pulp Fiction moment, NKOTB famous dance choreography for "The Right Stuff", and on and on and on. This pop music craze was really my era of music and I really got into pop hardcore.
I'd love to see them do lesser known videos like "Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely" , It's Gonna Be Me", "Larger Than Life". "I Want You Back" by Nsync would also be a great one to redo, but I don't think BTR or The Wanted could stand up well to the original. There's a reason why Justin and JC became the stars they did. I don't think anyone of these current bands has the charisma of Justin, JC, Brian, Nick, or AJ.
The flop mentality of both of these groups is why they'll forever be doing the imitating and won't be one of the groups being imitated in a decade's time. One Direction, however, will be.
