Give It A Spin

That's Entertainment : Bros

Nothing screams 1988 like BROS.

Seriously. They are a microcosm of visuals, sounds, substance and style from that year in the late 1980's. The denim, the ear rings, the bleached haircuts…it reeks of that period, and not all of it complimentary.

Bursting on to the pop music scene in late 1987, they burnt brilliantly for a year and then there was the slow fade. Whilst other boy bands like NKOTB, Take That and the Backstreet Boys managed to carve a career that would see them dominate pop charts with a slew of hit singles and have a swag of stratospheric album releases, BROS soared with their massive debut album Push and had measured success with a decent sophomore effort before vanishing from sight. All the more ironic, when BROS' biggest hit was titled When Will I Be Famous?

At the time, you were a fan or you weren't. School bags were daubed with the band's logo and name, or equally, defaced with homophobic slurs suggesting BROS weren't the full quid.

The trio - eye candy twin brothers Matt and Luke Goss [the drummer] and smouldering bassist Craig Logan - didn't wait long for success to come. The release of their second single When Will I Be Famous? carried a catchy synth line and a begging vocal announcing their arrival to anyone who listened. Whilst its arguable if the song is poxy or not, it's a delicious slice of pop that is one of those singles that I'll throw on to get a party started. I suppose, for mine, it was once the fame train arrived for BROS that I jumped off. But on reflection, they did deliver some gems. Drop The Boy, I Owe You Nothing and I Quit are all great pop songs. By early 1989, BROS were massive. They'd adorned all the girlie magazines and Smash Hits. The videos were on high rotation. The girls swooned and the fan club - Bros Front - at its peak had over 3 million members. The Push era climaxed with BROS' 19 consecutive nights at Wembley Stadium, which was also filmed as a television (and video) extravaganza. Of course there was backlash and the urban myths began.

The first casualty was the loss of Craig Logan who left the band in early 1989 (and has gone on to become a music manager - managing none other than P!nk). Releasing their second album The Time as a duo, BROS once again hit the heights with a number of catchy singles, swish videos and a one-off Wembley gig (which was one of the first pay per view concerts on SKY). Too Much is a fantastic song and deserves a spin. And whilst world wide sales were great, they didn't match Push. Their third album released in 1991 sank without a trace and that was that. Really, BROS would make a perfect case study of the music industry as a whole…how a band can create its own sound/scene, explode on to the market, reach saturation point, then burn out and disappear. It's not something the band can do anything about either - you're a hit or you're not - and it must be cruel to be so hot one second, and not the next…and nothing you did changed, it's just the public's tastes switch. It also hurts when your fan base is the fickle teenage girl, who in the space of 2-3 years goes from a pimply 13-14 year old to a 16-17 year old who doesn't want to be seen as a 'kid' anymore, eschewing their passions of a couple of years ago (plus being in love with a teen pop star at 13 does kinda look desperately uncool at 16).

From the ashes, Luke Goss went on to appear in several Hollywood films. Matt Goss recorded some successful solo material, and in 2013 released a sombre version of When Will I Be Famous? that has to be heard to be believed. It certainly is the bookend to the original single. Sometimes, you have to be careful what you wish for.

For a long time, I not quite derided BROS, but I paid them scant regard - except for When Will I Be Famous? It was only when I worked with a fellow who loved BROS that I revisited the Best Of CD I had. Hell, I even uploaded it on to i-Tunes and forgot about it. Going back and listening to songs I hadn't listened to in 25 years, it brought back some memories. And whilst I never had BROS' logo scribbled on my school bag, I can now sit back with the benefit of time and wisdom and appreciate that BROS did indeed have something special. They had looks, they had pop hooks and they had slick production. Most of all, they were three young blokes giving it a go. And for a moment, they were quite literally the BIGGEST band in the world (except maybe in America). So do yourself a favour. Give them a few moments of your time. They might surprise you.

When Will I Be Famous? I can't answer that. But BROS can.