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BACKSTREET BOYS
RATING: 7
PLAY THESE: I WANT IT THAT WAY, AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME, SHOW ME THE MEANING OF BEING LONELY
SKIP THESE: EVERYBODY (BACKSTREET'S BACK), I NEVER BREAK YOUR HEART, GET DOWN (YOU'RE THE ONE FOR ME)
Before you judge me, please give me a chance to explain what's going on here. I don't normally review "boy" bands, but I'm making an exception this time because my little sister Shari - the world's biggest Backstreet Boys fan - is a loyal reader of my reviews, and she has asked me to review a couple of their albums. I've been putting off reviewing them for about a month, now but my heart has softened and I will now give them a try....
Like all of you, I too have a dramatic story about the moment I first heard a Backstreet Boys song. It was sometime in January 1996, and I was backpacking across Europe with a couple of friends, Andrew and Jessie. While in Budapest we spent an evening watching Hungarian TV, and lo and behold there appeared on the screen a music video by an American boy band that we had never heard of before. The music was painfully cheesy, and to make matters even worse, the video featured a group of clean cut young boys in trendy Gap clothing frolicking in the snow with their friends, much as gays would do. "Stupid Europeans," I sneered, as I changed the channel, "they'll buy anything American - even crappy American music that Americans don't even listen to." We then proceeded to spent the next few minutes poking fun these "Backdoor Boys," as we oh so cleverly called them. Imagine my surprise when I returned home a few weeks later, and there was this same band on the Canadian version of MTV, Much Music. How could this be?
The reason for this phenomenon soon became clear - teenage girls loved them. And whatever teenage girls love, teenage girls get their parents to buy, which meant that the rest of us had to put up with the Backdoor Boys on the charts and on the radio for the next couple of years. However, it has now been about ten years since the boys first came onto the scene, and with the modest success of the "comeback" album Never Gone comes the opportunity to re-assess the band. Here it goes...
I'll begin with the positives. Firstly, the Backstreet Boys are great role models for gay youngsters in an age when....err...just kidding....Contrary to popular opinion, none of the Backstreet Boys are actually gay, at least officially Most of them are now married, and some even have kids. Heck, the "baby" of the group, the immortal Nick Carter, has turned into a modern day Caligula of sorts, dating a a number of celebrities of questionable character, including Paris Hilton. He has even reported to have slapped Paris around a few times, and for that he has my full respect. My second positive comment relates to their musical ability. They are all very good singers. None of them has a truly remarkable voice, but they sing well together, and their harmonies are very good. In addition, their songs are generally well-written pop, and when compared to similar artists in their genre, they are at the top of the class. I realize that few Backstreet Boys songs are actually written by the band members themselves, but they are very good at finding new material that plays to their strengths, which is more than you can say about their main boy band competitors, 'N Synch, who are basically just retards with expensive haircuts.
Now let's address the negatives. The Backstreet Boys are the quintessential boy band, which is to say that they look completely manufactured, at least at first glance. Just like any other boy band, they have a "fat" one (Nick), a "bad-ass" (A.J.), a "cute" one (Brian), a "ugly" one, (Kevin), and a "boring" one (Howie). The shocker is that they are not actually manufactured, at least not in the conventional sense. The band was already together, singing and performing, long before their manager entered the picture, and in that sense they are no different than any other group out there. The main problem, however, is that they look very fake. The fact that they don't play instruments or write their own music doesn't help, and when combined with the reality that their music is very "pop" adds up to a very huge credibility problem (and we didn't even address the choreographed dancing problem). The credibility issue will continue to dog the Backstreet Boys until they prove otherwise, but so far there is little to suggest that this will happen. They are good at what they do, but they question remains as to whether what they do is any good. Only time will tell.
As for the album, The Hits - Chapter One is the only Backstreet Boys CD you will never need to shoplift from the library. Encompassing the group's big run in the late 90's, this low priced compilation has all the essential songs, plus a few that should never have seen the light of day (let alone places where the sun don't shine). The ultra-catchy 'I Want It That Way' remains the group's best song, a pop gem that will guarantee the Backstreet Boy's rightful place as a footnote in music history. The feel-good anthem 'As Long As You Love Me' is almost as good, while the depressing 'Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely' is high quality pop balladry, and even comes off as being sincere. Less intriguing, however, are the group's ill-advised forays into the world of dance music, with the obnoxious 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back)' representing one of the lowest points in recent musical history ('Larger Than Life,' while better, is only slightly more tolerable). The final verdict? The first half of the album is (gulp!) quite enjoyable, but the second half runs the gamut from bad to worse. Seven out of ten. Which isn't a bad rating, really.