Menudo THIS

Once upon a time, there was a man named Edgardo Diaz. This man had a dream: to create a band composed of prepubescent teenage boys and turn their music into an international sensation. So in 1977, he recruited five boys to pursue his goal...and Menudo was born. Menudo was unique in that its membership was based on an age-dependent rotation. Only boys under the age of 16 could be a part of the band - after their 16th birthday, they were kicked out on their own to either fade into obscurity or pursue a solo career, and their spot was filled by another talented young hopeful. Menudo's music became huge in the 1980's. The band recorded albums in English, Spanish, Italian, and Portugese and toured throughout the U.S. and Brazil, stirring up "Menudomania" everwhere they traveled. In Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1985, Menudo's concert was sold out to 200,000 people at a 100,000 person capacity venue. In Rio de Janiero the capacity was 60,000 people but 70,000 bought tickets and 2 women died in the ensuing chaos. In Fortuleza, Menudo had the same number of security escorts granted to the Pope when he had visited.



Menudo was popular for most of the 80s, but started steadily declining throughout the 90s. They changed their name to MDO in 1993, and officially broke up in 2003. Only a couple of its members went on to achieve solo success post-Menudo, including the infamous Ricky Martin.


So in theory, cool concept, right? Menudo was marketed as a teen boy-band with the members' high prepubescent voices as a trademark. By rotating out members, Menudo could supposedly live on forever without ever losing its original sound and feel. But in actuality...that's kind of a fucked up way to organize a band. "Great stage presence? check. Incredible voice? check. Original, creative, and full of possibility? check. Under 16 years old? Damn. NEXT!!" A band should choose its members based solely on talent and potential, without this bullshit age caveat.
Part of what makes permanent members of a band important is that 1)the band can establish a specific, marketable, recognizable sound that stays consistent. Only then can they create a loyal fan base. If Thom Yorke was kicked out of Radiohead for being too old, a whole hell of a lot of fans would follow him and kick Radiohead to the curb. The members of Menudo spent more time fearing a sudden growth spurt than on creating meaningful music. How can you care about the quality of your band when you know you don't have a future with them once you grow up? 2) The sound of the band evolves on an album-by-album basis, embodying the personal growth, maturity, and development of the members themselves. Menudo's sound changed from bubble gum pop to urban/pop/rock based instead on who hit puberty, who got kicked out for illicit activity (Ruben Gomez and Sergio Blass in 1990 for possession of marijuana), and who abandoned ship for a real record contract (Robby Rosa, Angelo Garcia, Edward Aguilera, Jonathan Montenegro, and Rawy Torres, to name a few).


And now, to top it all off, MTV is launching a series similar to "Making the Band" to get Menudo back together with a whole new crowd of pretty, superficial teens to make crap music. Previews provide a glimpse of one of the trainers shouting "You think you're in this band already?? You've got another thing coming!!" at a cowering, tearful boy in the corner. Quality television, indeed. First of all, this band is going to be featured on an MTV series, so you know it's going to suck. Second, ANY TV show that is trying to form a band may succeed in ratings, but is bound to fail as far as making music goes. Bands need talent, chemistry between members, a distinctive and recognizeable sound, and mass appeal in order to succeed.....none of which you're likely to find on an MTV popularity contest. Music is important to me - it means so much to so many people. It's not a gimmick, it shouldn't be abused and manipulated for the sake of trash TV. Music is life. MTV, stop fucking around with it.