Boyzone: No Matter What – The dark side of boyband superstardom

To the despair of my mum and fans from a particular generation, my knowledge of the Irish boy band Boyzone was worryingly slim before watching Boyzone: No Matter What, which premiered on Sky Documentaries on Sunday, 2 February. Having indulged in the heady world of 90s boy bands after watching Boybands Forever on BBC Two, I thought I knew it all about boy bands. From Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams’ infamous feud to East 17 and those white fur coats, boy bands offered a certain kind of musical magic in the 1990s and early 2000s – a magic I feel I missed only being in my early 20s now. However, Boyzone: No Matter What provides an immersive experience into the success and scandals of this world. With a short trip across the Irish Sea, ‘Top of the Pops’ fans were offered the Irish equivalent of Take That, in the form of Boyzone, conceived by the formidable reality TV star, Louis Walsh.

 In 1993, Boyzone comprised of six members, including four long-standing members, Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Shane Lynch, and Keith Duffy. Whilst these names might ring bells as the celebrities playing Prince Charming in your local pantomime, there was a period where Boyzone was undefeatable, gaining thirteen No.1 singles across the UK and Ireland combined. In fact, the origins of Boyzone were similar to that of One Direction, with the members following an advertisement in Irish newspapers calling for auditions to form a new Irish boy band. Boyzone: No Matter What opens by introducing this element of chance, showing grainy clips of the members singing George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” in order to secure their position. It was indeed a matter of fate.

Now estranged from the band, Walsh’s demeanour is admittedly the documentary’s most unsettling and damaging element

However, after the footage of joyous concerts and budding stardom, the magic of chance begins to peter out following the unnerving arrival of Louis Walsh, the unexpected omnipresence of this documentary. Walsh set his precedent by immediately cutting two of the original Boyzone members, replacing them with Mikey Graham, who remains distanced from the other members during the talking heads segments. Walsh’s initial cutthroat attempt to secure stardom brought an immediate sense of competition, seeing Keating emerge as the frontman and explicitly marked as Walsh’s favourite. 

Now estranged from the band, Walsh’s demeanour is admittedly the documentary’s most unsettling and damaging element. His persona is defiantly callous, going to astonishing lengths to maintain their spotlight. Brazenly put as wanting to keep them “hungry”, his cheer is beyond problematic, especially regarding his ruthless relationship with the tabloids. From the 1990s, the tabloids ran pop-culture, seeing nationally beloved icons smeared by the headlines, with The Sun and The Daily Mirror vying to get the most provocative front page. As a keen watcher of tabloid-slamming documentaries, I was surprisingly left speechless at Walsh’s measures, with his most shocking admission being that he sold a fake story to the press claiming Boyzone had been involved in a plane crash in Australia, all whilst their families worried for their safety. “They believed their own publicity. They forgot I wrote it,” admitted Walsh, a true example of the puppeteers that shaped the music industry.

It is hard to move past the sombre moments of Boyzone: No Matter What

There is something immensely heartbreaking and undoubtedly poignant in the scenes regarding Stephen Gately’s sexuality. Gately, who passed away in 2009, speaks only through archived interviews, but his presence within the band is incredibly prominent. When Gately came out as a gay man at the age of 23, it was clear that this move was both a significant deal and a distressing sign of the times, particularly regarding the fervent presence of Boyzone’s female fans. As Keating struggles with reading The Sun headline after Gately’s coming out, he reflects on Gately’s evident anguish at being forced into such a situation. Walsh blatantly replies, “he got the front page”, a genuinely bleak moment in the band’s history. The documentary highlights the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights, especially for current-day viewers, but it remains concerning that celebrities can still be forced to come out against their will. Surely, the legacy of Gately’s situation will set a precedent today.

It is hard to move past the sombre moments of Boyzone: No Matter What. As Lynch, Keating, and Duffy enjoy pints together in their local pub, Graham remains ostracised, vowing to never return to the band. However, it is equally difficult to forget the incredible successes of the boy band across the globe. Whether the reduced trio of Keating, Lynch, and Duffy will make a reunion is left for the viewer to guess at the close of the documentary. But nevertheless, Boyzone’s legacy will endure, unlike Louis Walsh’s reputation.