Pop sensation Menudo was the first Latin group to achieve international success. Formed in 1977 from the Melendez brothers Carlos, Oscar and Ricky, as well as brothers Nefty and Fernando Sallaberry, the teenage band managed to stay forever young by giving the rotating cast of band members the boot once they reached age 16. Long after the original members were replaced by younger Puerto Rican talents, Menudo made waves in the American pop pool with their 1984 LP Reaching Out, containing English-language versions of their greatest hits. Although Menudo's success in the States was short-lived, the group remained at the top of the pop charts in Central and South America.

Menudo survived throughout the 1990s with around 30 ex-band members, including the most famously ousted member Ricky Martin, who achieved international solo success post-Menudo. The band switched names to MDO in the late ‘90s with a current Menudo incarnation that was comprised of members Alexis Grullon, Abel Talamántez, Didier Hernández, Anthony Galindo and Daniel Weider, and did not include any Puerto Ricans or any members under age 16.

The enduring Latin pop band resurfaced in late 2007 with a reality television series called "Making Menudo" on MTV. The premise of the show was to recruit five members out of 15 contestants to become members of the new Menudo. Back to its original name, the band reintroduced an age limit, 20 years of age this time, and was composed of Carlos Olivero, Chris Moy, Emmanuel Vélez Pagán, José Bordonada Collazo and Monti Montañez.