1998 was here. Boyz II Men were still the biggest selling R&B group ever, the biggest selling Motown act ever, had received countless accolades, were very much respected, and they were still in their now mid-twenties. Award show season pretty much came and went for the fellas since they only one a few, but they still won some awards. In January of 1998, Boyz II Men attended their fifth American Music Awards show. They had never lost an award at the previous four shows, and 1998 was no different. Amongst little controversy, Boyz II Men won Best R&B Duo or Group, making that their 9th AMA! But, that little controversy was the fact that many thought that Dru Hill should have won. Boyz II Men never talked about that, they even said Dru Hill deserves the award during the speech. The AMA's are voted among by the people and record sales matter a bit also. Since the people vote, Boyz II Men are almost always a shoe in to win any AMA that they are nominated for. A month later, they were honored by the NAACP Image Awards for Best Group, winning over Dru Hill yet again. A few weeks after that came another award show where Boyz II Men had been successful at before. The show was the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards where the people vote. Boyz II Men easily won the Best R&B Duo or Group category. At that award show, they unveiled their new clothing line, formally known as GTP, Groove. More of Groove will be coming soon in this bio. In September, Colin Powell presented Boyz II Men and other artists an award, but I forgot what it actually was. Probably one of the biggest honors of 1998 for Boyz II Men was being inducted into the BET Hall of Fame on October 23, 1998. Previously, Babyface, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston were inducted. Boyz II Men marked the youngest artists and only group to be inducted so far. Boyz II Men also made appearances at the 40th annual Grammy Awards and 12th annual Soul Train Music Awards. They lost at both. It was Boyz II Men's second time to be shut out at the Grammies, and first at the Soul Train Music Awards.
Now that the awards are out of the way, here is how 1998 went for the fellas. It started out with Evolution now being out of the top 50 of the Billboard Top 200. But, by the end of January, Boyz II Men were being seen by over a million people. This appearance was at Super Bowl 32 in San Diego, California. They performed during the special Motown's 40th Anniversary half time show. They were the headliners, so they performed at the end. They came out from under the stage and did the chorus of "Motownphilly," lip-synched though. Then they threw a curve ball by singing some of "A Song for Mama," something you'd never hear during the Super Bowl. Then the rest of the Motown half time show performers came out and sang "Dancin' in the Streets." This appearance, and at the American Music Awards moved Evolution all the way back to #30, it wouldn't stay there long. February of 1998 included many television appearances. They appeared on such shows like Rosie O'Donnell for the second time, the Regis & Kathie Lee Show, Nickelodeon's All That, a VH1 R&B Groups special, a Motown 40th Anniversary special and more. The Motown 40th Anniversary special was yet another blow to Boyz II Men and Motown's bad relationship. As you all know, Boyz II Men are the biggest selling Motown act ever, no one has beat them in sales on that label. So, you would think Boyz II Men would have at least a 5 or 10 minute segment on this 6 hour (I think) special. They only got one minute and a half devoted to them, which was just the "End of the Road" video, more unfair treatment from Motown.
By March of 1998, Boyz II Men had a new video out for one of the Puff Daddy tracks on Evolution, "Can't Let Her Go." It was Shawn's idea for the video to basically go back to basics. The video was similar to New Edition's "If It Isn't Love" from the 80's. The video is described as being gritty and dirty. It takes place in an abandoned place, that's dirty. It was basically a rehearsal video where they rehearsed with their dancers, lifted weights, and even got water poured on them. The video was directed by Paul Hunter. It never really took off since the single was never released by Motown/PolyGram, and MTV only played videos with albums or singles in the top 20 of the Billboard Charts, so the video was only played a few times. Also in March, a poll was taken by the class of 2001 about how things would change or stay the same in the new century. One of the questions was which group or artist will be just like the Rolling Stones by still be successful after being in the music biz for over 30 years. One of the choices was Boyz II Men, of course. Boyz II Men and the Dave Matthews Band tied for being able to stick around long in music without ever slowing down. This looks to be true, so far. In another poll taken by People Magazine subscribers, Boyz II Men were voted as their 3rd favorite music group. Alabama was number one, and the Beatles were number two. Alabama got 4.1% of the votes, the Beatles got 3.9% of the votes, and Boyz II Men got 3.8% of the votes. They were also the youngest group on the entire list. VH1 held their first annual Viewers' Vote show, and Boyz II Men were voted as favorite R&B artist by VH1 viewers, and were the first men to win the VH1 award.
In June of 1998, the last video from Evolution premiered. The song was "Doin' Just Fine," one of the favorites on the album. The video was directed by Christopher Erskin. It was made in Jamaica while Boyz II Men were there for MTV's Spring Break. Like the "On Bended Knee" video, each member had a scene with a girlfriend, but when they broke up, the Boyz went on with their lives, unlike the "On Bended Knee" video. Like "Can't Let Her Go," "Doin' Just Fine" was never released as a single in the United States of America, so it was never a big song like it should have been. Fortunately, in a few months, Boyz II Men would not have to deal with the lack of promotion that Motown/PolyGram had given them for the past year of their career.