What happened to male r&b groups?

Gary

It just struck me that I haven't heard of a male r&b group in a long time. Female either for that matter...

What is this generations boys 2 men? Is there one?

batmon

TGT

Gary

Are they popular? I haven't heard of them

batmon

Gary said:

Are they popular? I haven't heard of them

Ever heard of LSG?

batmon

batmon

LaserWolf

I think he means new groups, vocal or otherwise, who are charting now.
I just checked the billboard r&b 25.
No groups charting this week. This singer featuring that rapper and that rapper featuring this singer mostly.

batmon

LaserWolf said:

I think he means new groups, vocal or otherwise, who are charting now.
I just checked the billboard r&b 25.
No groups charting this week. This singer featuring that rapper and that rapper featuring this singer mostly.

TGT Is made up of three washed up soloists from the 90s.

I dont check charts as a baromteter in 2014, but they performed at the BET awards this summer.

Overall its a dying genre but its still repped.

Fuck Boys 2 Men.

parallax

Male R&B groups = barbershop quartet brought back for the 90's. And just like barbershop quartet, it hasn't aged well, and it's corny as fuck.

Okem

Do you have a groups section in your American Idol / Xfactor shows over there?? There must have been a male rnb group on one of those shows, i think maybe the music industry has gotten too lazy to make them the old fashioned way.

Then they can turn them into this sort of abomination.

parallax said:

Male R&B groups = barbershop quartet brought back for the 90's. And just like barbershop quartet, it hasn't aged well, and it's corny as fuck.

The genre you're looking for is Doo-wop, and Doo-wop is hard as fuck.

Gary

Oh come on there were tons of soul groups in the 70s and enough in the 80s to keep it going but it seems like it died at the end of the nineties.

Jimster

R&B market has gone the way of the individual. Man can bat out a track on his own for nothing, doesn't need x amount of buddies to split the moolah with, same story with the record companies not wanting the hassle of dealing with keeping 4 people happy. All the promo is geared up for Rapper ft. Singer or vice versa as mentioned above.

I think the industry will tolerate 1D and dem, for the teenagers, but these acts are just puppets for the industry, no? Cowell and dem making the thick end of those deals.

cookbook

I ask myself this question every day

Okem

Maybe the Koreans or Russians will revive the look, but it seems pretty dead for now.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100200911/vladimir-putin-hires-boyz-ii-men-to-boost-the-russian-birth-rate-authoritarians-know-how-to-have-fun/

Jonny_Paycheck

J i m s t e r said:

R&B market has gone the way of the individual. Man can bat out a track on his own for nothing, doesn't need x amount of buddies to split the moolah with, same story with the record companies not wanting the hassle of dealing with keeping 4 people happy. All the promo is geared up for Rapper ft. Singer or vice versa as mentioned above.

I think the industry will tolerate 1D and dem, for the teenagers, but these acts are just puppets for the industry, no? Cowell and dem making the thick end of those deals.

this is correct.

groups = less money for each individual, so artists are less inclined to do it. and also = more difficult to manage/produce/control, so less incentive on the label end.

Controller_7

In my limited exposure to the radio recently, it seems to be primarily Derulo and Chris Brown anyways. Like everything is some variation of those two with the Tyga guy or whoever says the "put that on the beat" thing. I know I sound old and disconnected.

Trey Songs to mix things up.

Rnb radio is just as likely to play rock crossover stuff like that Magic "rude" song these days. Format is kind of out the window.

batmon

There is only one real R&B radio station in NYC, WBLS, which still plays old school joints.

These other stations are on some Power/Hot/Bad Hip Hop format.

Jimster

SongZ, Dizz.

LaserWolf

I guess this is true in hip hop too?
No more crews.

Groups are still the thing in rock? Seems like that would be hard to change.
Jazz? Leader+trio/quartet... Yellowjackets were the last "great" jazz group?

I think it is a shame. Can't see how you can be an R&B fan and not a fan of harmony singing.
When a group works, in any genre, the whole becomes more than the sum of the parts. Magic happens.

Okem

Those 90s groups must have been making serious bank tho. Not to mention they were the blueprint for all the shitty teeny boy bands that came in the wake of NKOTB and dem.with ALL that history it's just weird how it's become to be viewed as unprofitable or too much hassle to simply have a singing group. I mean, in Asia they have successful groups with 13 members and more, yet the home of this shit can't even scrape together 3 dudes in white suits to sing about how they gona do you right. What is the world coming to.

vintageinfants

whitey ruined it for everyone.

DB_Cooper

This is the 2014 equivalent of Boys II Men.

vintageinfants

boyz 2 men did a show at the public library in a town called oakville here, which is the suburb of a suburb with a population around 250k. insert "end of the road"/"water runs dry"/"down on bended knee" joke here.

batmon

LaserWolf said:

I guess this is true in hip hop too?
No more crews. .

There are still groups, crews, trios, and duos in Hip Hop.

I think R&B groups will swing back into favor down the line.

What's really gone are R&B Bands. Mint Condition was the last of mohicans in the 90's.

LaserWolf

The lack of bands may have a lot to do with how production is done these days.
The Roots are still doing it.

Gary

Interesting discussion.

The group format lasted for so many decades it is strange that it largely disappeared - although understandable given some of the explanation given above (money).

And yeah in Asia (or at least in Korea) the group format is just as big as ever. And akb48 in japan? I don't even know how that's possible.

Interested to see of there will a comeback for the group format. Female groups too.

Controller_7

Puffy tried to bring them back, but it didn't really work.

Gary

Destinies child ... Last of the big female groups?

Horseleech

Gary said:

Interested to see of there will a comeback for the group format.

" After the release of Midnight Memories, One Direction became the first band in the US Billboard 200's history to have their first three albums debut at number one.[4] Additionally, the album was a global success, debuting at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and became the biggest selling album worldwide of 2013"

batmon

Gary said:

Destiny's Child ... Last of the big female groups?

Yup.

They died once Beyonce went solo. They dissolved in 2006.

And even throughout their run, it was always perceived as a launching pad for Beyonce.

R.Kelly didnt give a fuck and left his peeps after the first album back in the early '90s.

Truthfully the R&B group game was weak by the late 90s/early 00s.

112, Next, Jagged Edge and them are overall wack w/ a small handfull of classics.



Electrik Red - The Dream girl group from 2009.

alieNDN

From the early tone of this thread, are people saying male r&b groups are never legit?

To me this is one of the best covers of all time:

Jodeci - Lately



Also, this is kind of unrelated, but I always thought doo-wop or an early r&b sound with explicit lyrics could definitely be huge in this day and age. People will always love a catchy melody. Even barbershop, without the irony.