Boys To Keep Their Faces Off Cover Of 'Black And Blue'

(10/30/00, 3 p.m. ET) - The Backstreet Boys are known to millions of fans for their boyish good looks, but don't expect to see their faces on the cover of their new album, Black & Blue, due November 21 from Jive Records.

As Brian Littrell tells LAUNCH, the quintet felt that it was time to try something new. "The album is titled Black & Blue, and it's just gonna be half black and half blue, with the words 'Black & Blue' on it," he says.

"We decided not to go with the picture on the cover just to kinda differentiate ourselves once again from the normal picture on the front. You know, even alternative groups and rock groups now are doing their picture on the front. And so we'd like to try to something a little different."

"Shape Of My Heart," the first single from Black & Blue, climbs nine spots to Number 15 this week on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles