Whatever happened to the mixed gender pop group?

In the nineties to early noughties these groups ruled. They were at the top of the charts, selling out arena tours and on every television program. They were incredibly child friendly, whilst also singing about adult themes of love and sex. However, all of a sudden they disappeared. The noughties brought indie bands and a lot of sexually charged same sex pop groups. We lost the magic of cheesy pop music with both male and female voices.

Yes we do still have mixed groups in recent years, N-Dubz, No Doubt, Paramore and Black Eyed Peas spring to mind. These are not the same though. Where are the dance moves that we can learn? Where are the fun colour co-ordinated outfits? And where are the open mouthed manic poses on the front of music magazines? Music has gotten to serious. I absolutely hate when someone will describe a band as 'real music' - what is that? What does that mean? Are there rules?

I don't think I stand alone when I say I miss them and that I loved them. I bet my life that we all own at least one CD or tape that one of the above bands have made. They were innocent fun. They are still some of our karaoke favourites - and you know why? It's because they are easy, they are easy to sing along to and easy to mimic. So any record company that reads this blog (and I know you all do) please put a band together! All we need is some older teens or young twenty-somethings, good looking, good singers and some good dancers. We are easily pleased when it comes to cheesy pop.

Below I will write a list of songs to remind you just how great some mixed groups were.

• Steps - Deeper Shade Of Blue
• Steps - It's The Way You Make Me Feel
• S Club 7 - Bring It All Back
• S Club 7 - You
• Hear'say - Pure And Simple
• Hear'say - The Way To Your Love
• Liberty X - Song 4 Lovers
• Liberty X - Holding On For You
• Big Brovaz - My Favourite Things
• S Club 8 - Automatic High
• Allstars - Bump In The Night
• A*Teens - Upside Down

I may not be appearing the most 'coolest' person right now, but at least I am being honest. Be honest with yourself - we loved these groups. I went to see Steps on their reunion tour and they were amazing, we need some more cheesy pop about friendships and love in our lives - we take our music tastes way too seriously. There is no shame in liking these songs, theres only shame in pretending that you don't. We all loved them at one point; Steps sold 20 million records, S Club 7 sold 10 million records and Abba sold nearly 300 million records!