90’s boy bands from 5ive to East 17 – and the singer who fell from his own car

Mirror 

The glorious ’90s seem a very long time ago now, don’t they?

And while bands such as Blur, Oasis and Pulp thrived in the Britpop melting pot, many forget it was also a highly fertile time for that long-forgotten era of the boy band. Just the merest mention of the term can get the brain pinging back to all manner of acts from Take That, Ronan Keating‘s Boyzone or Irish stablemates Westlife.

These groups were absolute giants back in the day, with fans across the nation hanging on their every word – but what about the lesser-known outfits of the era? Does the name Hanson ‘mmm’ mean anything to you? Do you remember them? How about 911?

Some of these male vocal groups were manufactured, some of them were genuine mates, but all had one thing in common – they wanted success. And success is what they got – for some briefly, for others a lifetime career. In fact, time has been extraordinarily kind to many of these bands, with their music still played on the radio today. For others, their sound is very much rooted in the decade that spawned them, and you rarely hear it anymore.

No matter, for when these boys shined at their brightest, the future didn’t matter. So crack open a Sunny Delight, grab a packet of Opal Fruits – NOT Starburst – and let’s have a little look at the lost boy bands of the ’90s.

MMMBop – it’s Hanson when they were young ( 

Daily Mirror)

Hanson – “Mmmbop, ba duba dop. Ba du bop, ba duba dop”

Who can forget the jaunty refrain of 1997’s deliciously silly MMMBop? Brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac truly landed with an Mmmsplash. And lest we forget, the power pop trio were aged merely 16, 13 and 11 respectively at the time. The outfit from Tulsa, Oklahoma, never got anywhere near that initial smash, but still scored highly with Where’s The Love and I Will Come To You. As they shifted into adulthood, their star inevitably diminished. But they are still performing to this day – Mmmyes!