"In 1997, the boy band phenomena truly exploded. Groups like All 4 One and Boyz II Men enjoyed moderate success,"
Boyz II Men? "Moderate" success? Ummm how old were you in the 90's? These guys redefined popular R&B and were the model for these "boy bands" you speak of. C'mon, give a bit more credit where credit is due. BIIM has been touring, recording and creating music for twenty years.
Case in point via wikipedia: "Boyz II Men would exceed even that record later in the decade with hits "I'll Make Love to You" and "One Sweet Day" (with Mariah Carey), which each exceeded records for the longest period of time a single remained at number 1. As of 2010, "One Sweet Day" still holds the all-time record with 16 weeks at the top of the Hot 100. Although "On Bended Knee" did not exceed any records, it was still a very popular song that reached number 1 and made Boyz II Men the third artist (the other two are The Beatles and Elvis[4]) to replace themselves at the number one rating of the Billboard Hot 100. Because of this, Boyz II Men are among the only artists that have stayed at the number one spot cumulatively 50 times, just fourth behind Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Mariah Carey. They also hold the numbers one, three and four spots for 3 of the longest running singles in music history with "One Sweet Day," "I'll Make Love to You" and "End of the Road."[5] These achievements were enough to earn Boyz II Men recognition as Billboard Magazine's most successful musical group of the 1990s.[6] "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...
I think your presentation here is a little unfair, based on what the actual history of music was at the time.
