In The Beginning...
© 1997 variety14@aol.com
*It's no secret that the Backstreet Boys are the most happening band in
America right now. But it took us more than two years to catch up on
what the rest of the world had already figured out - that these five
singing harmonies could be not only gorgeous to look at, but sing
like angels.
Of course, that means we've got a lot of catching up to do.
Backstreet is definitely back in the US now. They've toured, just
astounded fans all over with their show, and their album and the
Quit Playin' Games (With My Heart) single have both gone platinum,
a good indication that this country is finally ready for them.
But it wasn't always that way. When the guys first put it all together,
America really wasn't interested in them (foolish us). That was in
1993. Back then, it was alternative that was huge. Sure, Boyz II Men
could score hits, but New Edition, New Kids on the Block and Color Me
Badd, who all used harmonies, had folded. The closest anyone came
to what the Boys were doing was in R&B, which was very separate
from the pop field.
What mainstream radio wanted at the time was alternative. It
had broken through in 1991 with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and
it was still going strong, and, of course, Michael Jackson could
do no wrong in terms of sales. Which isn't to say pop music wasn't
around; it was, and always will be. But there was no big, big band
that teenagers could identify with. Pop music wasn't getting respect,
and it wouldn't until the Spice Girls came over to America and gave
the country a kick and Girl Power.
It was an idea whose time had come again. After years of angst and
gangsta rap, America was ready for pop music again. There was
Hanson, and now, even better, there are the Backstreet Boys.
In the rest of the world, though, pop music had never gone away.
Alternative had come and gone, and made its mark, as had hip-hop,
and dance music. But they shared the charts with pop. Maybe it's
the difference in attitude, but most places didn't have the same
stuck-up attitude toward pop. As long as it was good -
like Backstreet - people wanted to listen to it. And that's
the way it should be. Quite a few years ago, George Michael
had released an album called Listen Without Prejudice, which
was some very sound advice, and that was what America
needed to do, to copy its cousins around the globe.
Once that finally started to happen, mostly because people
realized that teenagers wanted to hear music, too, the
success of the Backstreet Boys was inevitable. They weren't
rock stars in leather, doing drugs, or rappers killing each other.
They were genuine, nice guys, the kind your mom would be
glad if you brought home. They dressed like regular guys,
and looked like them - no weirdness. And that, ironically, made them stand out.
It's taken a long time, and a lot of work, but America understands
the Backstreet magic now. But let's see how the whole story unfolded...
A.J., Howie, and Nick were the first to meet one another. The three
of them all lived in the Orlando, Florida area at the time. A.J. and
Howie coincidentally (or fatefully, depending on how you look at it)
shared the same vocal coach. The voice coach introduced them,
probably because these two boys were about the same age, had
similar sounds, and liked the same kind of music.
The three guys were also individually making the rounds of local
auditions at places such as Universal and MGM Studios, so they
would often run into one another there. They started to talk and
pass the time together while waiting for their turn to be called. It
was then that these three realized they had a lot in common - namely,
music.
So one day while they were hanging out, they decided to try singing
together. They harmonized to a song by the Temptations and liked
the way their voices sounded together and thought, "Hey, why not
form an a capella singing group?"
Kevin Richardson had recently made his way south to work in Disney
World. In 1991, he was living at home in Lexington, KY, dreaming
about getting into big-time entertainment. Luckily, Kevin didn't have
to stray too far from home to check out showbiz. Because a lot of
television and movie work was starting to become available in Orlando, FL,
at that time, Kevin didn't have to relocate to NY or Los Angeles to try
making a go of his dream.
Not too long after Kevin got settled, a friend of his heard him singing
and thought he had a great voice. The friend asked Kevin if he
wanted to try singing with some guys he knew who had formed
an a capella group. Guess which group that was? Yup - A.J.,
Howie and Nick's group. The trio met Kevin and dug the way
his voice blended with their sound, so they asked him to join
up.
Then came a big opportunity. The guys saw an ad in the local
newspaper looking for those who were interested in forming a
boy band. The ad was placed by Louis J. Pearlman, who was
starting a record company.
Louis Pearlman hired 2 talent agents in FL to hold auditions for
performers interested in forming a "boy band." The ad was put
in local papers and auditions were set up for 50 hopeful
candidates, four of which were none other than A.J. McLean,
Nick Carter, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson.
The four nailed the audition but all agreed they needed a fifth to
round out their sound. That's when Kevin called up his cousin
Brian Littrell back home in Kentucky and convinced him to come
down to audition as well.
Brian flew down the next day you audition in hopes of becoming
the fifth member. The combo of their five voices worked like -
you guessed it - magic. A group was born.
Once the five guys joined up, they needed a name -
something catchy, yet something that told where they
came from. In Orlando, there was a flea market called
the Backstreet Market which was a local hangout
for teens. So the group adopted the name "Backstreet"
and added "Boys". Thus was the creation of the Backstreet Boys...
Soon the Boys secured a manager, Donna Wright, and
started getting bigger deals at theme parks, fairs and
music festivals throughout the US instead of the usua
l high school and club gigs. The Boys' fan base started
to grow and they soon became the opening act for
another teen sensation - Brandy.
Their first single was released on an independent label titled
Tell Me That I'm Dreaming but didn't get much airplay. They
desperately wanted a record deal with a larger company. But
Donna knew exactly what to do. During one of their live
appearances, she called up a friend at Jive Records, held
up her cell phone and let the execs hear them perform
along with all the screaming girls in the background.
Jive liked what they heard and the Boys' wish came true -
they were immediately signed with Jive Records.
.
By early '95, the Backstreet Boys were ready to release
their first single under the Jive Record label. We've Got It
Goin' On was soon recorded and was released simultaneously
in both the US and Europe. Since the American music scene
was still into grunge at the time, the single only made it to #69
on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart.
Even though America wasn't ready for the Boys sounds, the
single became a hit in both the United Kingdom and Germany
where boy band like Take That and Boyzone were topping
the charts. The single went into heavy rotation and Smash Hits
magazine gave it a five-star rating. By the time the Boys held an
official launch party at Planet Hollywood in London, there was
already a big frenzy about this new pop sensation from the US.
The Boys started making the first of several appearances on British
TV. In the summer of '95, the Boys started touring Europe with
Duncan and PJ, giving great exposure to the group. Soon the
Backstreet Boys were an instant success in the U.K.
I'll Never Break Your Heart was the second single released.
It climbed the English charts to become the group's second
hit. Once again, the Boys earned critical success by Smash
Hits earning the title of the Best New Tour Act of 1995. German
fans soon jumped on the Backstreet bandwagon. The single went
gold in Germany and hit #1 in Austria. VIVA even voted the Boys
the number one boy band.
Canada - even though it was a wide trek from Europe and the UK -
wasn't far behind in catching on to the Backstreet sensation.
By Feb. '96, the INBYH video and single were in heavy rotation
in Montreal. Over 3,000 fans came to see the Boys during thei
r first visit and during their return, they had an audience of more
than 65,000 fans! All this success and the Boys had yet to
release an album.
In April '96, the successful singles were followed up by the release
of their long awaited debut album Backstreet Boys along with
their 3rd single Get Down (You're The One For Me). It seemed the
Boys could do no wrong. Both raced to the top of the charts.
By summertime, fans were clamoring for a concert tour and the
group was more than happy to oblige. Their first major tour was
a sell-out with 57 shows throughout Europe.
Meanwhile, the Boys were awarded with honors of
"Best Newcomer" by VIVA and the prestige European
MTV Viewer's Choice Award. Backstreet soon became
the fastest selling new group in Southeast Asia w/ its
debut album selling over 600,000 copies in just 10 weeks.
In Nov. '96, their fourth single Quit Playin' Games
(With My Heart) was released. A month later, the
Boys embarked on their 2nd European tour which
included stops in Canada. The Canadian concerts
sold out in less than 20 minutes and drew as many as
70,000 screaming fans.
Soon screaming fans were following the Boys everywhere.
In Jan. '96, 35 girls collapsed at a performance in a Montreal
shopping mall. In Hamburg, Germany, police had to be called
in to control the crowds.
The BSB released their second international CD in Europe in
Sept. '97. By year's end, the album had gone sextuple platinum
in the Philippines, quintuple platinum in Malaysia, triple platinum
in Taiwan and Indonesia, double platinum in Singapore,
Thailand and Hong Kong, platinum in India and gold in Japan
, Australia, Israel and Korea.
With the huge success overseas, the Boys were anxious to
see what would happen in their home of the US. The
Backstreet Boys debu
t album was released in the summer of '97 including all
the hits from their first European album.
The first single Quit Playin' Games (With My Heart) was
released on June 10, '97 and would soar up the charts
to become a Top Ten smash.
Word about the BSB spread fast and soon the Boys were
featured in all of the biggest teen magazines including 16,
BOP, Teen Beat and Tiger Beat. Girls just couldn't get
enough of their fave Boys.
.
Now the Boys were back in America. Although the BSB
have become international superstars, it was almost back
to square one. Even though their debut album Backstreet
Boys had gone double platinum in the States, they were still very
far from the superstar status they enjoyed everywhere else.
The Boys had to be willing to start from scratch and let the BSB
momentum build. By Jan '98, they made several TV appearances
including MTV Live, Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno and even
the prestigious American Music Awards. Over the next
few months, the Boys popularity would only increase
and they soon became on high demand. They continued
on to make appearances on Ricki Lake, Rosie O' Donnell
and even a guest appearance on the popular teen show Sabrina
the Teenage Witch. It was all the exposure they could've
hoped for.
But Europe was calling, yet again, and this tour would be the big
one! Nothing but the largest venues, taking them across the
Continent over the course of four weeks. This tour would
include two massive shows in Dublin, Ireland followed by
two sell-outs at Wembley Arena in London, England.
From there it was Scandanavia - Denmark, Sweden and
Norway - and Germany where the guys would perform an
"unplugged" show for some very lucky fans. After Germany,
the Boys were headed off to Sweden, Holland, Belgium and
France finishing April 13 in Madrid, Spain. After Europe, it was
back to the US to perform in their hometown of Orlando, Florida
at Disneyworld's Magic Kingdom Grad Nights.
So where does it all go from here? Only bigger and better. In America,
people now know how the Backstreet Boys are. Their album has
reached over 7x platinum and is currently ranked #3 in the Top
Selling Albums of '98. During the summer of '98, the Boys headlined
their first major US tour selling out venues all over the States
. A new home video A Night Out with the Backstreet Boys was
released internationally as well as the States as a follow up to
their first smash video All Access. Right now the Boys are busy
working on their second US album which will be released in
the Spring of '99.
One thing no one can deny is that the Boys have worked very
hard for their success. They've earned it. Each of them came
into this with a dream, and they found that by working together
they could make it into a reality. Perhaps none of them expected
it to take off the way it has, that they'd be posters on countless
bedroom walls or such huge international superstars - dreams rarely
go quite that far. But it's happened, and the Backstreet pride is
going to be alive for a long,
long time.
.
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*Excerpts are © Copyright of Givin' It Their All: The BSBs Rise To
The Top by Sherri Rifkin
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