Dream Street

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RPF Fandom
Name(s): Dream Street
Scope/Focus: RPF fanfiction written about the musical group Dream Street
Date(s): band active 1999–2002; fandom active 2000-2008
See also: Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, O-Town, Aaron Carter, Play, Jump5, Jesse McCartney, Broadway, RadioDisney, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon
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Dream Street (often incorrectly spelled 'Dreamstreet' due to its similarity to Backstreet Boys) is a boyband composed of Chris Trousdale, Greg Raposo, Jesse McCartney, Matt Ballinger and Frankie J. Galasso. Despite being unaffiliated officially with popslash, Dream Street was the third most popular Music RPF category on Fanfiction.net until RPF was banned in September 2002.[1] It was notable for the young age of its members: McCartney was 11 years old at the time of the group's founding with eldest member Galasso aged 13; when the group dissolved, McCartney was 15 and Galasso 17.

In Fandom

Because of the young ages of the band's members, Dream Street was largely ignored by popslash fandom and instead cultivated a fandom referred to as teenipop or bubblegum pop, associated heavily with Disney Channel and Nickelodeon (as opposed to MTV or TRL). Closely associated acts were 3rd Faze, Aaron Carter, Play, Jump5, O-Town, B2K, Lil Romeo, Katie Cassidy, and Solange Knowles. Dream Street performed on Nickelodeon's Slime Time Live, the teenipop equivalent to TRL, in October 2002. Their primary single, "It Happens Every Time," peaked at #1 on the RadioDisney Top 30 chart in 2001.

Aside from Fanfiction.net, most Dream Street RPF was posted on individual Angelfire and GeoCities fansites or private domains.

BNFs for Dream Street were V. Arrow (as Hayley), Kimberly Kaplan, Kelly Carey, and Danielle Manning (who later went on to marry band member Matt Ballinger). ShineOn Media began as a fansite for teenipop and was named for the Dream Street song "Dream On."

From One Bare Shoulder by V. Arrow in 2008:

"Teenipoppers themselves never forgot the ideals that had helped to see them through the turmoil of Columbine, Y2K, and September 11, nor did they forget the band that they say "shaped who they are". Participating in the fandom of Dream Street during the crux of adolescence, a time for forging self in itself, helped teenipoppers to create both coherent ideological identity and sexual identity, paving the way towards self-empowerment. As fan Jacee Sellers recalls, 'Dream Street was not just a boy band, but a way of life, an era.'"

Fanfiction Archives

Sugar Rush Zine

The Best Thing Zine

Run by Laurie.

Anything But Ordinary Zine

A Dream Street/Play zine run by Kendall.

The Sweetest Thing Fanfic Awards

The Sweetest Thing Fanfic Awards were hosted in 2003, after all of the Dream Street fanfiction on Fanfiction.net was lost in its RPF purge. Therefore, it is not truly representative of the most popular or highly-read Dream Street fic in the long run.

Fanlistings

Role-Playing Games (RPs)

Dream Street, along with other teenipop acts such as Aaron Carter, Play, Dream, No Secrets, Jump5, etc., were very popular to RP on Xanga and LiveJournal. As of January 2021, one of the only RPs of the time that is still accessible online (although inactive) is LJp0serz.

Band Members

Chris Trousdale

Chris Trousdale was the most popular member of Dream Street and portrayed The Heartthrob boy band archetype. His career began on Broadway when he performed as Gavroche in Les Miserables in the same production in which Ashley Tisdale portrayed Cosette. He was the first boy cast in Dream Street in 1999 when his neighbor, band producer Brian Lukow, heard Trousdale singing in the shower through their shared apartment wall. As the centerpiece of the band, Trousdale starred in the vanity film The Biggest Fan in 2002. Subsequently, Dream Street disbanded. Trousdale featured on two teenipop singles in 2002 and 2003: "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Play and "You're The One That I Want" by Nikki Cleary. Trousdale auditioned for The Voice in 2014. Trousdale died of COVID-19 on June 2, 2020, days before his 35th birthday. In honor of his passing, the remaining members of Dream Street reunited to sing an acapella version of "It Happens Every Time."

Frankie J. Galasso

Greg Raposo

Jesse McCartney

Main article: Jesse McCartney

Matt Ballinger

Ballinger started his career on Broadway, where he most notably played Kurt Von Trapp in the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music (featuring Rebecca Luker as Maria Von Trapp). He was the second-eldest in Dream Street and portrayed the All-American boy band archetype, frequently wearing football jerseys from the cities at which the band was performing. After Dream Street, he attended Tufts University and formed a band called The Juice. After college, he returned to Manhattan and was the lead vocalist of Open Till Midnight, which achieved minor local chart success in New York City. The Open Till Midnight street team was run by Jess Bianchini and V. Arrow (as Hayley). In 2014, Ballinger married Dream Street BNF and fansite webmistress Danielle Manning. They have two children.

Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "It Happens Every Time" (2000) - (#48, U.S. Sales-Chart only)[2]
  • "I Say Yeah" (2001)
  • "Sugar Rush" (Valentine's Day Limited Edition - 2001)
  • "With All My Heart" (2002)

Compilations

Videos

  • Dream Street LIVE [Video/DVD] (2001)
  • Dream Street Live at Criterion Theatre [Video/DVD] (1999)

Movies

Links & Resources

References

  1. ^ Fanfiction.Net Music Groups Category, Archived 2 August 2002, Archived version
  2. ^ [Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002]
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