O-Town: Lou Pearlman Ousted Once Again

Considering that this is the third time in as many attempts that Lou Pearlman has been dropped as the manager of a successful boy band, it's tempting to wonder if he is fit for the profession. But after taking a closer look at his track record, it becomes abundantly clear that Lou Pearlman knows exactly what he is doing. As we've seen in the past with the meteoric rise and fall of groups such as the Monkees and New Kids On The Block, boy bands simply can't sustain high levels of popularity for more than a few years. No one is more aware of this phenomenon and no one has profited more handsomely from it than Lou Pearlman.

After seeing the marketing and licensing frenzy that surrounded New Kids On The Block in the late 80s, Lou realized that successfully marketing bands to young girls was the key to superstardom. Lou began recruiting attractive young men and boys with at least marginal singing or entertainment experience and molding them into professional performers. Pearlman developed an uncanny knack for identifying which songs would appeal to throngs of young girls and devoted his skills and resources to pushing the Backstreet Boys and later 'NSYNC to mega-star status. Both of these bands found some problems with their contracts with Lou after they realized how much of "their" money he was taking in return for discovering them, training them, and providing them with can't-miss song lyrics and production talent.

It didn't take long after his first two boy bands reached the top for them to drop Lou from the team. And again, with O-Town, Lou is being shown the door now that the band is poised to emerge into the mainstream. But, you have to ask yourself, who's getting the better of whom during these divorces. As Lou will tell you, the boy band phenomenon will last as long as young girls are around to drive their success. But individual boy bands can only last for a few years, at best.