A quintet of hunkalicious singing studs, the Backstreet Boys are, on the surface at least, walking the well-trod path of teen-dreamdom that was last notably traversed by Beantown's prefab fivesome. And just as the New Kids eclipsed the superstardom of their predecessors — Svengali Maurice Starr's previous charges, the members of New Edition — the Backstreet Boys have had little trouble surpassing vocal outfits like Color Me Badd and Shai, which served as inspirations for the Orlando, Florida, fivesome on its way to world domination. The group is even co-managed by a former NKOTB road manager, fer cryin' out loud.
On the other hand, the Backstreet Boys have been relatively sedate in terms of charting on police blotters and newspaper scandal sheets — at least thus far. They've set no hotel rooms on fire; had no charges levied against them that they don't actually sing their own vocal parts; and, as for exposing themselves à la almost-New Kid "Marky" Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights, well, they're still young. Give them time.
The B-Boys gelled in 1993, in Orlando, Florida, where high school students A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough, and junior high student Nick Carter frequently ran into each other at acting auditions. They began hanging out, started singing, and eventually brought in two additional members, Kevin Richardson and his Kentucky cousin, Brian Littrell. The band's initial local gigs ranged from high school-gymnasium dances to Grad Night at Sea
World. But eventually, with the inclusion of smooth R&B-pop numbers like "Tell Me That I'm Dreaming" in their act, the Backstreet Boys heated up the local teens sufficiently enough that a cell-phone call placed to a Jive Records executive during one of its pandemonium-inciting gigs resulted in the group scoring a recording deal.
Though their eponymous debut album has by now sold more than three million copies in the U.S., the group was anything but an overnight success on its home shores. The quintet's 1995 single, "We've Got It Goin' On," fizzled after climbing to No. 69 on Billboard's Hot 100. It hit hard in Germany, however, and the band soon found itself in the middle of a European Boysapalooza, along with other teen-scream bands like Take That and Boyzone that were then dominating the notoriously fickle Continental market. "Over there, they had a bunch of what's called 'boy groups,' so we had a ready-made market," explains Littrell, apparently fully aware of the musical implications of supply-side economics. "But since we were Americans, we were a fresh new sound for Europe. We had more of an edge, and unlike a lot of those other boy groups, we were more than just a bunch of pretty guys. We could sing."
Whatever the source of their appeal, the Boys' record sales were real, as they succeeded in ringing up more than five million in unit sales outside the U.S. They also nabbed the viewers' choice award at the MTV Europe Awards in 1997, and caused a panic in the streets of Madrid during a staged meet-and-greet affair that eventually had to be canceled. All in a day's work, it turns out. "In Europe, there's no walking — anywhere — without a bodyguard," Dorough told Teen People in March of 1998. Security head Lonnie Jones added, "When teenage girls all push in a group, you can't stop them."
Predictably, there have been several Beatlemania-like breaches of security. According to Seventeen magazine, two fans once hid in the storage hold of the group's tour bus; and one European admirer scaled a barbed-wire fence to get into their dressing room. Topping the list, though, was a particularly gaga young woman who gave McLean two diamond rings — they turned out to be her parents' wedding bands.
But of course, it's always lonely at the top, and none of the five currently has a serious girlfriend. "People say, 'Who cares?, You're loved by thousands of screaming girls'," Littrell recently lamented to Teen People. "But it's not like there's somebody I can call anytime and say, 'This is how I feel.' There isn't someone who knows me inside and out." Pitiful as his admonition sounds, a wealth of fun facts can be gleaned from a rip through the myriad of fan-maintained Backstreet Boys Web sites: When Nick goes shopping, relates one, he loves to buy sneakers and gold jewelry; Brian's favorite food is macaroni and cheese, and his favorite cologne is Safari by Ralph Lauren; A.J. likes girls with nice eyes and long hair; Howie is most likely to "invite you for a moonlight walk along the beach"; and Kevin "spent eight years of his life living in a log cabin, and he's also a qualified ballroom-dancer instructor!" Don't ever let it be said that they'll never make Monkees out of these guys.
The group's redoubled efforts in America have begun to pay off — their debut album was released domestically in August 1997, and has spawned a number of hit singles, including "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," "As Long as You Love Me," and "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)," all of which have done well across several radio demographics. So, in addition to being young, good-looking, rich, and successful, the Backstreet Boys have established what looks to be some staying power.
Still, there's that little bit of lingering doubt: "When you think of a teen sensation, you think of the past and how this is just another one to come along," Carter admitted to Billboard in 1997. "We realize that people are talking about that, but we take everything with a grain of salt. We know it's going to take a lot of proving."