James Corden's secret obsession: boy bands

NEW YORK — Boy bands aren't a guilty pleasure for James Corden. They're kind of a passion.

While the Into the Woods star was never that into the 1990s-era Lacheys-laden 98 Degrees, otherwise "I love them all, man," the British actor says. "I love even the ones that no one else loves, like I love O-Town."

Corden is pals with One Direction, and even wrote the music video for the popular UK group's hit Best Song Ever with his friend, director Ben Winston.

"I feel like they've changed boy bands forever now. I'm very proud of them for that," says Corden, though he admits that his favorite boy band of all time is Take That, the English ensemble that kicked off the career of Robbie Williams.

His fandom goes deep, even to the American groups — Corben can name all five members in the original 2000 incarnation of O-Town without a Google click.

"Dude, O-Town were ridiculous," he says. "If we were making a mockumentary like Spinal Tap about boy bands and we sat down and started to write it and said, 'Let's call their first single Liquid Dreams,' we'd go, 'It's too much.'

"No one would believe a boy band would bring out a song about wet dreams. It's amazing to think they even got away with it."

His main O-Towner? "I liked Dan (Miller). I liked his vocals on All or Nothing." Though Corden acknowledges that Ashley was popular among the female contingent. "His name was Ashley Angel. Again, too much, guys! Just ramp it back a little bit."

Corden adored boy bands so much that he actually had one as a teenager while at his Buckinghamshire school. They called themselves Insatiable "because you just can't get enough," he says proudly.

He and his mates would sing Take That medleys at gigs — the biggest crowd they ever had was around 70 people — and Corden co-wrote their original songs as well, including Girl, Are You Ready.

A sampling from the chorus: "Girl, are you ready/Just tell me when you're ready/Girl, are you ready/I ain't gonna rush you."

"Which we thought was amazing," Corden says with a laugh, "but now in retrospect feels a bit Cosby."