Bros were thus named because they included twin brothers Matt and Luke. In America, we'd have called them "Bro-z" but in England, it rhymes with "cross." In England, it was like the second coming of The Beatles. 
The third, non-sibling guy left the group eventually. The same thing later happened with Right Said Fred, so the lesson here is don't join a band of siblings if you aren't one of them. That's why I turned down the invite to join the Jonas Brothers.
There was a second hot boyband, Brother Beyond, who... did not generate the same level of excitement, but who were cute(ish) and had some hits.I have NO IDEA how I got wind of them. I guess a few teen magazines ran stories and pictures of them. In fact, I think a few magazines I bought were actually FROM the UK because they were packed with articles about artists that I had never heard of or that I had heard of, but knew they weren't that popular here. At any rate, I DID become aware of them... and I liked what I heard!
Bros' first it was "When Will I Be Famous" which is still my favorite by them:
Their next single was "I Owe You Nothing."
I don't remember any more of their songs, even though I had (and may still have...) their album. I guess I just listened to those two songs.
Brother Beyond on the other hand, I was quite fan of and would listen to their entire album.Their first hit was the very poppy "The Harder I Try."
I'm pretty sure I thought their lead singer Nathan was really cute. Plus, Nathan is like my favorite cute guy name. Like... if a guy is named Nathan, I automatically think he's cuter. No, it doesn't make sense. I know that, but it's true. It's funny in the I Love 1988 clip when the girl makes fun of his dancing. She says something like, "He's the kind of guy that can't dance but he's giving it a really good shot." (It's about 5 minutes in.) Now I look at him and I'm like "Oh ew! What was I thinking?" (That happens a lot.)
Here they are performing on Top of the Pops. Once again, I'm not sure how I became aware of Top of the Pops, but I did and to this day wish it would air over here! Get on the ball, BBC America!
I remember seeing the 12" of "He Ain't No Competition" at the record store in the mall... back when records existed. I wish I'd bought it.
My favorite song from their album was "Be My Twin" which I found very titillating. The video is stupid though. LITERAL!
I'm pretty sure Bros' album was actually released in the US. I got the Brother Beyond cassette, but it was really expensive, like $15 which is high even today, so I think that was an import. Their second album was released here, because I bought the cassette single "The Girl I Used To Know" and I remember seeing the video on MTV.
It was written and maybe produced by Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers who wrote and produced a string of big hits from this time period, including Donnie Osmond's big come back singles "Soldier of Love" and "Sacred Emotion." They also scored a big hit themselves as Rythm Syndicate, "P.A.S.S.I.O.N." They scored another string of hits in the late 90s, writing "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You" and other hits of that time period. They formed their own label and their first signing was Rihanna, whose career they launched. Currently, they are developing the career of Shontelle. TRIVIA!!!
Anyway... so yeah, I really don't know how I became so captivated by the British pop music scene. It's so funny, because these types of pop artists cause HYSTERIA in their homelands, but don't make a ripple over here. I was into them, but the US had New Kids of the Block and didn't have room for MORE boy bands. The same sort of thing happened later, with Take That. I dug them, but they didn't score a hit over here until they had started breaking apart after Robbie Williams quit to go solo. Then after BSB and NSYNC came out, I was the only American buying cds by 911 and Five and Boyzone. Tower Records in New Orleans used to carry a full array of British import magazines including Top of the Pops and every time I went there, I loaded up!
Nowadays? I don't think I have the energy to pay that much attention to what's popular across the pond. I barely know what's popular here anymore. Watching the MTV VMAs has become a more and more foreign experience. I never know who half the people on it are! But yeah, I used to be all up into it and this blog is the result. Yeah... sorry about that!
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