"For my money, the best pop groups are girl bands," says Andy McCluskey, frontman of OMD and the mastermind behind Atomic Kitten.
"Boy bands are absolutely horrible. They only sell records because lovestruck girls have their poster on the bedroom wall."
Not the most sensitive observation, perhaps, but McCluskey - speaking to BBC News in 2010 - had a point.
With a few notable exceptions (Blackstreet, Five, One Direction), boy bands coast along on good looks and syrupy ballads that promise "Girl, I know you're the one, girl."
Their female counterparts, from The Ronettes in the 1960s to TLC in the 90s and Katseye in 2025, are more experimental, with more conceptual versatility and, frankly, better songs.
