The new Netflix true crime docuseries Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam chronicles the filthy antics of Lou Pearlman, the man behind the creation of the 90s boy band craze. Pearlman was responsible for some of the decade’s biggest acts, including the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and O-Town, which produced stars such as Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Aaron Carter.
In Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam, one of the now-adult boy band members credits Pearlman for creating a cultural touchstone in music history. However, this is not why many feel he should charged with crimes against humanity. (Even though we all agree, this should be added to the list.) Pearlman was behind the worst Ponzi scheme in American history.
Netflix’s Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam Review and Synopsis
Netflix’s Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam chronicles the incredible rise and lightning-fast fall of the godfather of boy bands. As the story goes, Lou Pearlman turned a blimp advertising business’s profits into a boy band empire. As the story unfolds, director David Terry Fine reveals the eye-opening ways Pearlman imploded businesses to move on to the next scam.
This puts a whole new spin on the term “catch me if you can.” Pearlman is the first cousin of Art Garfunkel, a world-class artist with a reputation for turning remarkable profits for his investors. Remarkably, without getting into details that will spoil the true crime experience, it is estimated that he stole over 500 million dollars from his investors, and only 10 million have been recovered since.
Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam’s Subject’s Lack of Humanity
Netflix’s Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam is a three-episode series that can be riveting or even shocking. The filmmakers do a strategic and impressive job revealing how the subject’s business set up the following scheme, including making multiple boy bands and lying about competition being good business.
However, you may be struck by the utter lack of humanity of not just Pearlman, who died in 2016, but the creators capture the lack of humanity of the majority of the victims from the subjects. Many look back at Pearlman fondly if a strange tweet from Justin Timberlake appears, where most absolve Pearlman of his crimes.
Is Netflix’s Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam Worth Watching?
That’s not to say Netflix’s Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam is not worth watching. The series is very engaging, surprising, and suspenseful. However, many who worked for Pearlman—former friends, secretaries, and nurses—talk about Pearlman with some sense of reverence. Yet they all defend themselves as if they had nothing to do with it, even if they suspected something.
One even says Pearlman didn’t hurt anyone, then laughs about how the common working man and woman were defrauded. (None of them look like they are hurting for money, either.) The only person who seems to have any guilt about being unwittingly involved in a scam that hurt so many is Natural’s Michael Johnson, and upset about it.
The series is a classic Netflix offering for anyone who enjoys the genre. However, for the majority, the series seems to highlight people defending Pearlman and justifying his actions. Maybe that’s an honest opinion from the people answering questions, but it’s the filmmaker’s job to note the difference, which they fail to do here most of the time.
The whole series was screened for review. You can stream the true-crime docuseries Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam on Netflix on July 24.
6/10
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