Every New Zealand #1 single…
8
End of the Road by BOYZ II MEN
Topped the NZ chart: from 18 October 1992 for 7 weeks.
Philadelphia vocal harmony quartet Boyz II Men were successful on the New Zealand single charts during the 1990s. They enjoyed the third-most number-one hits (4) of the decade, behind Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson.
They formed at Philadelphia High School in 1985, originally known as Unique Attraction. The four members adopted unique personalities. Wanyá Morris was known as “Squirt” and Shawn Stockman was “Slim”. Michael McCary was nicknamed “Bass”, and Nathan Morris took the name “Alex Vanderpool”. The four became co-lead singers, trading lines.
Boys II Men signed to Motown and enjoyed immediate success. Their 1991 debut album contained the hits ‘Motownphilly’ and a cover of G.C. Cameron’s ‘It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday’. But ‘End of the Road’ took them into pop music’s stratosphere.
‘End of the Road’ is a lovelorn ballad. It’s harmonically sophisticated, co-written by Babyface. The group are traditional – it’s closer to The Temptations or the Delfonics of the previous generation, than it is to Color Me Badd or Salt-N-Pepa.
There’s some magic in the chorus harmonies, where the distinct voices of the individual members in the vocal blend give ‘End of the Road’ personality. Dropping the instruments out for an a cappella chorus is often a cheeseball move. Here it’s justified by the group’s vocal prowess – it’s the song’s best moment.
My main objection is the monologue in the third verse. Delivered earnestly by Michael McCary, it’s a drag. The song’s already slow, and adding the monologue makes it outstay its welcome.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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While I tend to feel lukewarm about most boy vocal bands, I have to admit Boys II Men really are great vocalists and this is a pretty good song.
Yup, it came out when I was 13 and listening to the radio a lot. I got a bit sick of it, but there’s a lot to admire.
It’s a sweet song, but I grew to resent it when it spent a record-setting 13 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, only to be bested by their hit “I’ll Make Love to You”, which spent 14 weeks on top. Their heartwarming duet “One Sweet Day” with Mariah Carey (which I love) spent an astonishing 16 weeks at #1.
I got pretty sick of it. I’ll Make Love To You is nowhere near as good IMO.
I got very sick of it, and I agree that “I’ll Make Love to You” is pretty mediocre. Despite great acts like Nirvana, Oasis, k.d. lang and Sheryl Crow, the 90s were the WORST as far as I’m concerned.
I think the 1990s get a bit overrated by history, but lots of good stuff, like any decade.
I think the ’90s were a real recovery for Rock music after most of the 80s. And it was the Golden age of electronic and dance music. Although in different parts of the decade really.
I love a lot of underground-ish stuff from the 1980s – the This Band Could Be Your Life kind of bands, and indie stuff like The Go-Betweens and The Chills. I don’t like that much mainstream rock after the 1970s really.
They are sweet sounding and I love the harmonies…. I like hearing them…I never bought anything because it wasn’t any need to because they were played so much.
I burned out on the song when it was on the radio a lot. But I like it when I hear it occasionally now, except the monologue.
None of these boy singing groups were nearly as good as the old ones like The Spinners or Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes or The Stylistics or The Delfonics or The Drifters. They weren’t even as good as New Kids on the Block.
The vocals? The songs? Both?
Mostly the songs, but really it’s just that the musical style of vocal groups had changed so much into that cheesy 90s sound. But those groups I named were all from the Golden age of Philadelphia vocal groups in the early 70s, so I guess they had an advantage. Except for The Drifters. I don’t know where the hell they were from and they were 60s.