By Heather Svokos

Lexington Herald Leader

Published: June 17, 2001

Hey, is that an 'N Sync? No, it's a Boyzone a BBMak! Look! Over there an LFO, a Five, a Take 5, 98 Degrees, O-Town ...

Before you can say ``Ooo baby'' in five-part harmony, another guy group might just spring from the ground. (Or Orlando.)

That's not even counting 2Gether, the group fashioned for MTV's boy-band parody show.

Arguably, the granddaddy of this current wave is the Backstreet Boys, who come back to Rupp Arena on Thursday.

Speaking of granddaddies, the group's elder statesman, Lexington native Kevin Richardson, is pushing jinkies! 30.

The pop quintet, which includes Kevin's Lexington cousin, Brian Littrell, formed in Orlando in 1994, well after New Kids on the Block had been booted out of the 'hood.

That's two years before rivals 'N Sync formed, making BSB the aging vets: Kevin turns 30 in October, Brian is 26; Howie Dorough, 27; A.J. McLean, 23; and Nick Carter, the baby of the bunch, is 21.

To top it off, Brian and Kevin are now both old, married men.

How long can boys be Boys?

One fan, 18-year-old Morgan Kearns of Lexington, is somewhat conflicted.

``You can only be in fame for so long,'' says Kearns, who'll be a freshman at the University of Kentucky this fall. ``Kevin wants to start a family, and I'm sure Brian does too.''

Then again...``Chris from 'N Sync, he's 29 he's old and no one really thinks about that. You just don't really think about their age,'' Kearns says, then adds: ``Well, I did when I had crushes on them `Oh, he's only 27, Mom!'''

As the boy-band trend starts to fizzle, will BSB be sucked down with the rest of the backwash, or will they evolve with the music market and continue to croon into their golden years?

Fan migration

This is a group that has sold more than 60 million CDs worldwide and one that continues to set records on MTV's Total Request Live: Their Shape of My Heart video was at No. 1 for 61 days longer than any other video. As of press time, their video for More Than That was at No. 2, having just relinquished the No. 1 spot to 'N Sync. Host Carson Daly sometimes refers to the No. 1 spot as the Backstreet spot.

But there are signs that the ranks of the BSB fan base are beginning to thin out a bit. While the group sold out two Rupp Arena shows in November 1999 about 21,000-plus seats this week's show will be lucky to sell 13,000, Rupp officials say.

Another chink in the armor: When BSB's latest album, Black & Blue, came out, the industry and fans alike watched to see whether it would break 'N Sync's first-week sales record of 2.4 million. It fell short, selling a none-too-shabby 1.6 million copies.

In the crazy world of the boy bandwagon, though, that statistic also might have signaled the beginning of the end.

``Unless it was the most spectacular group of lads ever, (a boy band) would be an imprudent signing,'' A&M Records president Ron Fair told Entertainment Weekly. ``The stock boy band assembled by a guru and groomed...that whole trained-seal act, that moment has passed.''

Edgier music

That's not the only moment past its prime, says Amanda Freeman of Youth Intelligence, a New York firm that tracks youth trends.

The guy-group craze is part of a larger trend: bubblegum pop your Britneys, your Mandy Moores, your Aaron Carters (little brother to Backstreet's Nick).

``(Teen pop) was a sign of the times, of optimism,'' Freeman said. ``Everybody had money especially youth. They grew up really not knowing a poor economy or being deprived,'' which can steer people toward light, cheery music.

``But all of a sudden,'' Freeman continued, ``they were being exposed to some maybe not-so-positive forces.''

One of those forces is the great dot-com bust.

``For a while...teens were starting their own Web sites and making money from them, like Napster. Now they're looking at all these people who failed.''

To reflect those harsher realities, young people, like 18-year-old Kearns, are starting to tap into edgier music. Kearns still calls herself a Backstreet fan, but the poster is long since off her wall.

``I'm not as hard-core as I used to be. I still like them, and I think they're very nice-looking, but I've gone more towards hip-hop,'' Kearns says, citing among her favorites Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and 112.

This time around, Kearns will likely skip the concert.

``I would rather have the 80 bucks,'' she says. ``I'm going to college, and I need the money.''

What this all portends for Backstreet Boys is uncertain.

Growing pains

Clare Boyd just knows it's not the end.

``I guess you lose people (fans) all the time,'' said Boyd, a 15-year-old dyed-in-the-wool fan. ``I think that the Backstreet Boys are kind of moving on, out of the boy-band thing.

``Their (style and music) are not totally different, but they wrote a lot of stuff on Black & Blue...and, well, Kevin's hair,'' she added, giggling.

The Lafayette High School student was referring to the young men stepping out of the dress-alike, clean-cut vibe and into a looser, slightly scruffier look, complete with longer hair.

``But I don't think they're trying to change completely,'' Boyd added, ``just grow a little bit.''

Several of the groups rue the boy-band label. As Boyd suggests, it's evident that they're trying to break from the shackles. The new 'N Sync single, Pop, has the guys in full-on defensive mode, asking: ``Why you wanna try to classify the type of thing we do?''

And with the release of Black & Blue, not only did the Boys sport a less-polished look, they aimed for the same in their songs, as in The Call, an out-and-out cheatin' song.

Black & Blue also features seven songs co-written by band members, an important step for the group.

``It frustrates me sometimes that we don't get critical acclaim,'' Kevin told Hollywood entertainment columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith in May.

``And sometimes people in the media just run their mouths and say stupid things, and so do other artists. People think that we're told what to do, and we're just a bunch of mannequins or puppets, and that's not true at all.

``Every video that we do we're either writing the treatments ourselves or collaborating with the director. We write songs, produce our vocals. We're musicians, artists ...''

That's not to say they never second-guess themselves. When a reporter on CBS' The Early Show asked A.J., resident bad boy, if Black & Blue was musically all he had hoped it would be, he spoke up.

``No,'' A.J. said. ``Black & Blue didn't live up to expectations that we thought it would. Millennium, I think we can all agree as a group, is our favorite album we've done so far.''

The future

After the Black & Blue tour wraps in the fall, the group is headed back to the studio to start another record.

From there, time will tell. As a group, Backstreet Boys could evolve into a Boyz II Men-type outfit, one that has shed the bubblegum rep and gained more adult acceptance.

That's possible, because BSB is no one-hit wonder, said Youth Intelligence's Freeman.

``Gen Y kids are savvy they're going to weed out the talented ones, and the others will fade, like New Kids on the Block and Menudo did.

``There are new boy bands coming out every day, so the ones surviving have something.''

('N Sync, which played Cincinnati recently and comes to Louisville in August, will be tested in July, when its newest album, Celebrity, hits stores.)

And jobs beyond the Backstreet days? Oh, they're on the horizon.

A.J. already has tested the solo waters with a persona he calls Johnny No Name, a British rocker who sings cover songs.

``I think some of us will start solo careers,'' Kevin told the Orlando Sentinel in November.

``It will be a part of our lives for the rest of our lives, whether it's solo careers or writing and producing for other artists.''

Fan Stephanie Miller, 15, a Tates Creek High student, polished off her crystal ball.

``I can see Brian doing a Christian album, A.J. doing a Johnny No Name album,'' she said.

Kevin has said he'd like to try producing, she said, adding that she could see Nick and Howie getting their acting careers off the ground.

``But no matter how much they branch off and do their own things, they'll always be the Backstreet Boys,'' she said.

``They'll probably be the ones to do the reunion tours that sell out in 10 years.''