NKOTB’s ‘Remix (I Like the)’ is the lead single off 10 , which drops before they hit the road with Boyz II Men and 98 Degrees. By Jocelyn Vena New Kids On The Block Photo: Michel Linssen/ Getty Images
‘Jersey Shore’ star Vinny Guadagnino, Monica, ‘Glee’ actress Dianna Agron and more weigh in on MTV’s Battle of the Boy Bands. By Christina Garibaldi New Kids On The Block Photo: Michel Linssen/ Getty Images With the Battle of the Boy Bands nearing the Final Four , things are getting pretty intense among fans who are furiously voting to keep their favorite groups in the race. Along the way, we lost some of the early front-runners , including the Backstreet Boys , ‘NSYNC , New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men . Just because the Boyz were knocked out in the second round of the competition doesn’t mean they don’t have their die-hard fans out there — among them “Glee” star Dianna Agron. “When I was growing up, it was ‘NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees,” Agron told MTV News of the late-’90s boy-band explosion. “I was so obsessed with Boyz II Men in fourth grade. ‘Motownphilly’ — so good, so awesome.” The R&B group is a favorite of Monica ‘s as well. “My favorite boy band would have to be New Edition and Boyz II Men,” she told MTV News. “I don’t know if you consider these boy bands though, but they were just unbelievable.” Another popular choice was ‘NYSNC, who made a shocking first-round exit when they lost in the final moments of voting to British boy band 5ive . Justin Timberlake and company ruled the charts (and the hearts of teen girls everywhere) in the late ’90s. “I would say ‘NSYNC was my favorite boy band. They’re amazing, they were so talented,” former Danity Kane singer Aubrey O’Day said. “Obviously Justin came from that. We all know we were sweating Justin!” Posters of Timberlake most certainly lined the walls of millions of fans, including Selena Gomez, who revealed to MTV News that her first crush was the former ‘NSYNC member. Of course, picking just one boy band isn’t always easy, which was the problem for Roc Nation’s newest member, British singer Rita Ora . “My ultimate boy band, I have a few: Jackson 5, Jagged Edge — I love Jagged Edge,” Ora said. ” ‘NSYNC, they were the ones, I swear.” But when “Jersey Shore” star Vinny Guadagnino picked his ultimate boy band, he opted for keeping it in the MTV family. “I kinda liked 2ge+her ,” Vinny admitted. “I loved [‘U + Me = Us’].” Voting for the Elite Eight in MTV’s Battle of the Boy Bands runs until noon ET on Wednesday, May 2. Winners are determined by fan votes, so if your favorite band made the cut, make sure you keep voting. Tune in to AMTV and MTV Hits for their boy-band video takeovers each day and make sure to spread the word on Twitter using the hashtag #BBB and like us on Facebook for updates! Vote for your favorite band, discuss and share on Facebook and Twitter in the MTV Battle of the Boy Bands interactive bracket! Related Videos Battle Of The Boy Bands Related Artists *NSYNC Boyz II Men New Kids on the Block
Cameron Crowe-directed retrospective set to premiere in September. By James Montgomery, with reporting by Sasha Hamrogue Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder Photo: Michel Linssen/ Redferns On October 22, 1990, Mookie Blaylock played their first official show at the Off Ramp Cafe in Seattle. Rock historians would come to imbue this event with understandable import: After all, Mookie Blaylock would go on to become Pearl Jam, one of the most important rock outfits of the past two decades. And now, with the 20th anniversary of that debut show on the horizon, the members of Pearl Jam are looking back for the first time in their careers — and they still can’t believe they’ve made it this far. Luckily, they’ve got Cameron Crowe to help them remember their journey from Seattle mid-carders to one of the biggest acts on the planet. He’s directed a documentary called, appropriately enough, “Pearl Jam Twenty,” that culls through more than 1,200 hours of rare footage — plus 24 hours of recently shot interviews — to provide a definitive look at the band’s legendary career. The film is reportedly set to premiere in September — though, on Monday, PBS announced it would broadcast it in October as part of its “American Masters” series — meaning that, at long last, guitarist Mike McCready, one of Pearl Jam’s founding members, is being forced to come to terms with his band’s own mortality. “Yeah, it all went very quickly,” he said, laughing. “There were many highs and lows throughout our career, and many arcs of creativity [and] tragedies … that run the whole gamut of human emotions, being in this. From being in a band with guys for 20 years, and having fights and making up, and being brothers in a way, looking out for each other.” And part of what appeals to McCready about Crowe’s film is that it somehow manages to tie all of those things together into one cohesive and comprehensive work — one that had even the longtime guitarist getting a bit nostalgic. “When I saw the early … edits of it, I thought it was very interesting and kind of exciting and, like I said, it runs the gamut of all those emotions,” he explained. “And it actually put in some sort of musical perspective the past 20 years, like, ‘Oh yeah, we did do that, we did do this’: the Ticketmaster thing , there was Roskilde , there were all these issues, and there were these great highs and interesting beginnings. The story it tells is: Why did it work, and why does it still? It made more sense when I saw the movie.” But “Twenty” isn’t the only thing Pearl Jam have in store for fans to commemorate the occasion: They’ve also announced plans for a Labor Day weekend concert alongside the likes of the Strokes, Queens of the Stone Age and Mudhoney, and, as McCready hinted, there might even be some new music on the way. Or maybe not. After all, all this nostalgia takes up a lot of time. “Jeff [Ament] and Ed [Vedder] were really wanting to do more music in the terms of, ‘It’s our 20th anniversary. Let’s celebrate that, but let’s also do some new music,’ and we’re all into that,” McCready said. “So, you may see some new music, you may not. I know we’re going to record some new music this year; it may not be finished by the end of the year.” Are you excited to see the Pearl Jam documentary? Tell us below! Related Artists Pearl Jam