Miriam Longino - Staff Saturday . February 19
The Beatles didn't do it. Neither did Elvis, the Rolling Stones, any act ever on the Motown label, Michael Jackson or the star-studded halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIV. When the lights go down in the Georgia audience than at any other indoor pop concert in Atlanta's history.
The attraction? Five singing-dancing-sultry teen heartthrobs known as the Backstreet Boys. The squeaky-clean pop group from Orlando is not only the country's top-selling music act, it has broken Dome attendance records by selling more than 70,000 tickets to today's show, a feat that industry pros such as promoter Peter Conlon say is "unheard of."
"I don't know of anything featuring one headline act that has ever had this many people," he said. "For Atlanta, it's a hands-down record."
For people disconnected to the MTV generation, the frenzy over the Backstreet Boys can be puzzling. With hit tunes as light as cotton candy and choreography that often looks like cheerleader routines, older baby boomers raised on the hip aloofness of Dylan and the Doors often write the group off as cartoonish lightweights. But consider this:
The group has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide in the past four years and was the best-selling act of 1999. "Millennium," released in May, set a record for highest-ever first week of sales and has surpassed 11 million copies sold in the United States.
When tickets to the "Into the Millennium" tour went on sale, the Backstreet Boys sold out all initial ticket offerings in the nation in 60 minutes.
At a reported $60 million, the act's recent contract with Jive Records is one of the largest record deals ever negotiated, putting the Backstreet Boys in the same financial league as Prince, Michael Jackson and the Rolling Stones.
The Boys won artists of the year, album of the year, single of the year, best video, best dressed and best tour in Rolling Stone magazine's 1999 Readers' Poll. They were also voted band of the year, although they are not even technically a band (they play instruments infrequently).
The show is getting rave reviews, primarily for its larger-than-life special effects. The five group members, for example, enter the arena suspended from the ceiling riding neon boogie boards --- a heck of a long way from Elvis Presley opening his jeweled cape to the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey."
To American preteens such as 10-year-old Olivia Bigner of Conyers, the Backstreet Boys have achieved the kind of popular superstardom that rivals any of their parents' musical heroes. The show is her generation's first defining musical entertainment moment --- the Beatles at Shea Stadium meet the Ringling Bros.
Attending tonight's show "is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me," she squealed. "It's more exciting than Christmas, or my birthday, or even when I got my little orange and yellow kitten, Gobie."
Olivia, wearing a Backstreet Boys T-shirt, will be in the fifth row of the Atlanta show, thanks to her mom, Tracy. The 34-year-old Girl Scout leader won last-minute tickets to the concert Friday morning after hearing a contest announcement on Top 40 station Star 94. She concedes that she likes the Backstreet Boys as much as her daughter, a cross-generational appeal that may explain why the group can fill the Dome.
"I'm a product of the '70s and '80s," Bigner said. "I loved Donny Osmond and Shaun Cassidy and Andy Gibb, but it seems to me like rock really kind of got weird after that, until now. I enjoy listening to this music. I'll admit that I crank the Backstreet Boys up in the car even when (Olivia) isn't there."
With their stylized good looks, precision choreography and the kind of pulsating dance tunes that sound like the start-up of a carnival ride, the Backstreet Boys have become a favorite guilty pleasure for the over-20 crowd.
"Hey, they're not so bad," said Rob Thomas, lead singer of million-selling rock band Matchbox 20. "To me, the Backstreet Boys are like going to see a Broadway show. When you're 13 years old and you see these guys come flying in over your head, you're onto something."
Nigel Dick, who has directed two Backstreet Boys music videos, has been so fascinated by the boy band phenomenon that he recently directed MTV's first original movie, a parody of the trend called "2ge+her," which airs at 8 p.m. Monday. He says he believes the secret to the Backstreet Boys' success is, indeed, its mother/daughter appeal.
"If you're 40 years old and you've got kids who are 10, you most likely grew up on the Monkees or the Bee Gees, and you totally understand what's going on," he said. "The music brings back memories of an experience you've had, or wished you had. When I was a kid and really wanted to see these groups, there was no way my mom or dad were going to go. They grew up on Glenn Miller."
At the heart of it all is the music, which many consider better than standard teen idol fare.
"When people only look at the visual attraction of it and the teen orientation, they fail to realize that there are some brilliantly crafted pieces of music here," said Mark Shimmell, chief operating officer of Atlanta's LaFace Records. "When you listen to the songs, the songs really hold up."
Tonight's show will feature 20 songs, 10 backup dancers, a six-piece band and, for most of the young concertgoers, a scrapbook full of memories.
Staff writer Russ DeVault contributed to this article.
