YMMV / One Direction

• And You Thought It Would Fail: Many people expected them to flop badly in the U.S. and be completely irrelevant in the UK by no later than 2013. Boy, were they wrong.
• Covered Up: People nowadays think that "One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)" is a One Direction original, when, in fact, it's actually a cover of the same song by Blondie, which was released in 1978. The altered lyrics to include "teenage kicks" near the end also do not help.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
  • Using "OD", "One D", or any other shorthand form of their name besides 1D is a clear sign you're not a hardcore fan. And never put a hyphen between the 1 and the D. Also, it's not a good idea to completely refrain from using the shorthand.
  • One that has come and passed was the issue of "Best Song Ever" ripping off "Baba O'Riley". Fans of The Who were less angry than annoyed, but Directioners were ballistic over the offense to such an accusation.
• Fandom-Specific Plot:
  • Self-Insert Fic in which a character's parents sell them to live with One Direction is so infamous, it's become a meme on Tumblr and Twitter.
  • There's an interesting Wattpad genre of Real-Person Fic in which the band exists in The Purge Universe. This can manifest in ways such as one of the boys being a criminal, the boys using the purge as an excuse to get away with illegal but righteous acts of justice, or a crossover with the typical "living with One Direction" Self-Insert Fic.
• Fan Nickname: The most famous is by far their acronym, 1D. Other well-known nicknames include "Hazza" for Harry, "Daddy Direction" for Liam, and "Tommo" for Louis.
• Friendly Fandoms: In Brazil, One Direction fans also tend to be Restart fans.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Despite the previously unremarkable track record of British boy bands trying to break America, they became just as popular, if not even more so, than at home. The level of success they have achieved in the United States is unprecedented for a U.K. boy band. Not since The Beatles has any boy band, let alone a British one, had such an explosive rise to the top (*NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys took about a year to build their popularity).
• Harsher in Hindsight: The title of Four, after Zayn's departure left only four of them.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The pre-chorus of "Up All Night" mentions Katy Perry being on replay at the boys' party, with the final line being "I'm still wide awake". Coincidentally, Katy would release an album featuring a song of the same name (which eventually became a single) four months later.
  • This post made in reaction to the band's hiatus feels downright prophetic; sure enough, every member of the band has released solo work, Harry is arguably the most successful of them overall, and his somewhat camp stylings have earned him a massive LGBT Fanbase. The joke about Louis dropping off the map completely turned out to be off the mark, though, as he's still releasing music and relatively popular in his native U.K.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • This remix of "What Makes You Beautiful" comprised of laughter is frequently used to react to funny situations (often as a form of mockery).
  • The Fandom-Specific Plot of a teen girl's parents selling her to live with One Direction is infamous on sites like Tumblr, leading to parodies such as characters being sold to other musicians, and even off-brand merchandise with quotes like "You think your life is bad? My parents sold me to One Direction."
• Signature Song: "What Makes You Beautiful" for the group together, but in terms of solo work:
  • "Pillowtalk" for Zayn.
  • "Slow Hands" or "Nice To Meet Ya" for Niall.
  • "Kill My Mind", "Walls", "Two of Us", or "Back to You" for Louis.
  • "Sign of the Times", "Adore You", "Watermelon Sugar", or As It Was for Harry.
  • "Strip That Down" for Liam.
• So Bad, It Was Better: Those who grew up with the likes of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC dismissed 1D's lack of crazy clothes, over-the-top ballads, Totally Radical/cheeky attitudes and heavily choreographed performances, disappointed that it was just five guys singing and nothing more.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus of their music, outside their fandom and hatedom. They're catchy and non-offensive, but nothing horribly impressive in terms of musical talent.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • To nineties boy bands such as *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.
  • In particular, as a five-piece British boy band who trade heavily on a Nice Guy image and boy-next-door appeal (as well as a fair bit of Ho Yay), they have a lot in common with the previous biggest British boy band of all time, Take That (Band). In hindsight, it's very easy to read them performing alongside Take That during the 2010 X Factor final as a Passing the Torch moment. And then, the circumstances of Zayn's depature and the band's subsequent split a year later took this into fullblown History Repeats territory.
  • Their sheer cultural impact and solo success of every member lead many to think back even further.
• Suspiciously Similar Song:
  • The comparison between "Best Song Ever" and The Who's "Baba O'Riley" struck a Fandom-Enraging Misconception on Twitter among Directioners. Pete Townshend debunked claims of his band pursuing any legal action against 1D, and claimed that he enjoyed the boy band's single and was happy that they were influenced by the Who, just as Townshend himself had been influenced by Eddie Cochran.
  • "Change My Mind" sounds identical to Maroon 5's "Daylight", especially the choruses.
  • "Rock Me" to Queen's "We Will Rock You", particularly due to both using the clashing hand claps and drumbeats.
  • "Midnight Memories" isn't too far off in melody with Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me".
• Tear Jerker: "History", the final non-bonus track from Made in the AM can be seen as this, especially for people who believe it will be their final album. The track can be seen as trying to give the fans hope that they'll be back in the future, which may not be easily believable.
  • Louis' song "Just Hold On", written for his mother. He performed it live for the first time on the X-Factor UK finale, the day after his mother's passing.
    • Also Louis' "Two of Us", written after his mum's passing. It talks about his loss, grief, and determination to keep going despite that, and his resolve to make his mum proud. Made significantly more painful due to the death of his eighteen-year-old sister days after the song's release.
      "I promised you I'd do this, so all of this is all for you"
      "Oh, I swear to God, you're living through everything I'll ever do"

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