Claim: One Direction made music.

A boy band -LRB- or boyband -RRB- is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers , usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation , singing love songs marketed towards young females . Being vocal groups , most boy band members do not play musical instruments , either in recording sessions or on stage , making the term something of a misnomer . However , exceptions do exist . Many boy bands dance as well as sing , usually giving highly choreographed performances .   Some such bands form on their own . They can evolve out of church choral or gospel music groups , but are often created by talent managers or record producers who hold auditions . Due to this and their general commercial orientation towards a female audience of preteens , teenyboppers , or teens , the term may be used with negative connotations in music journalism . Boy bands are similar in concept to their counterparts , girl groups . Boy bands ' popularity peaked thrice : in the 1960s -LRB- e.g. , the Monkees and the Four Seasons -RRB- , in the 1990s and early 2000s when acts such as the Backstreet Boys , * NSYNC , and Westlife , among others , dominated the top of the Billboard and pop charts , and in the early 2010s with the emergence of new boy bands such as JLS , Big Time Rush and One Direction .