we've been waiting so long
a veritable mismash of notes, because structure's hard for me right now.
I know a lot about boy bands. Otherwise, I wouldn't be Out Here posting my irregular, sometimes strongly held takes about them for all to read. My specialty lies in late '90s/early 2000s groups, specifically the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, since they were the groups of my era. With that said: I did NOT know that the Backstreet Boys were on Soul Train in 1997.
I found this out recently, from r/BackstreetBoys and had the same reaction that I did when I read the New Kids on the Block biography and found that they performed at Showtime at the Apollo: WAIT, WHAT?! If you aren't familiar with either of these shows, I will try to explain: Soul Train was started in 1971 by Don Cornelius, and hosted the hottest R&B, soul, and hip hop acts. Showtime at the Apollo was one part talent show1, one part showcase for upcoming and established acts2. Both are legendary for Black Americans of a certain age. Though BSB and NKOTB are both well known as pop acts, their earliest work was influenced by Black groups—Backstreet by Boyz II Men and Jodeci, and New Kids by New Edition.
So while it initially seemed foreign to me, personally, that they made it onto these shows, it makes sense. That was their early sound, and it makes sense that the Backstreet Boys' management team figured that their R&B leanings would give them crossover appeal. I mean, Jon B. was doing his thing in '97. And, well, in 1999 Backstreet performed on the Apollo stage for their Disney Channel concert.
Another thing I was reminded of from the BSB subreddit:
Twenty-five years ago, this was the cover of Rolling Stone. It was BSB’s second RS cover in a year. The first was a few weeks before Millennium came out in May. This one was something of a victory lap, since the album was the top seller of 1999, the Into the Millennium tour was one of the highest grossing of the year, and they were going into 2000 with the tour on a second leg.
I looked through my journal from that time (a blue, holographic spiral bound book bought from Claire's), trying to see if I'd chronicled the first time that I heard about or saw this photo. Was it on TRL or Entertainment Tonight? Did it make it onto Backstreet.net, which was THEE fansite for all the scoops? Somehow, I didn't write anything about it! However, I do remember that I was faintly scandalized by it. Such was the duality of being fourteen years old and steeped in churchiness. My hormones were coming online in ways that made me think that dick jokes were sometimes funny, but any allusions to sex could still make me feel uncomfortable. The squeamishness faded just enough for me to be unfazed that a full-sized poster version of the cover photo became available months later. I wonder how many of those sold in comparison to the enlarged editions of Britney's famous first RS cover.
But really, this year is about two other boy band anniversaries. The first is the fortieth anniversary of the term boy band first reaching the "paper of record" (alias The New York Times). And, well, in a little over a month, *NSYNC's No Strings Attached celebrates its silver anniversary. I'll probably talk about that period at length in a few weeks (I have SO MUCH DOCUMENTATION; would you want me to share journal entries from that time?).
One of the most enjoyable moments I've had so far in this wretched year was telling some fellow writers from my local writers' workshop about the trial that preceded the album's release. These women are in their twenties, meaning that they were literal babies when this happened. They're more likely to associate "Bye Bye Bye" with the opening credits of last summer's Deadpool & Wolverine than associating it with being something of a kiss-off to Lou Pearlman. The way they reacted as I told the story made me decide that if I manage to make something of myself and Comedy Central brings back Drunk History, that should be the pop culture tale that I should tell.
In the meantime, news from The Hollywood Reporter came out about a proposed *NSYNC biopic, focused specifically around the time of NSA's release. Someone on the *NSYNC subreddit mentioned that part of why this project hasn't gone forward is that Lance Bass wants his production company to work on a similar thing. In the same post on Reddit, someone pitched Mike Faist3 as a fantasy cast for JC. This note had me, as fandom internet says, gnawing at the bars of my enclosure.
To close, I'm going to go across the pond with a group that I've always been vaguely familiar with, but never got truly invested in. I first heard about Boyzone on Nickelodeon, specifically during the Kids' Choice Awards sometime in the mid '90s. The show had a recap of winning acts from around the world, and they played a clip of the group. They tried to make inroads in the US after 1997. They sang backup for U2 in "The Sweetest Thing", and their song "No Matter What" got some radio play for being on the soundtrack to Notting Hill. On BlueSky, a friend reposted4 this article about the three-part documentary that Sky TV recently released about the group. Somehow, someway I want to watch it. I'm always down to learn about a group that I'm familiar with but don't know the whole story of.
Except for Westlife. I just can't bring myself to look more into Westlife. Will explain at a later date.
The Amateur Hour was ruthless. If the audience didn’t like you, they would BOO YOU OFF THE STAGE and a guy called The Sandman would emerge holding a hook to get you off. Luther Vandross and Lauryn Hill were booed off of the stage at the Apollo!
One of my favorite performances: Lisa Stansfield.
Last year he co-starred in Challengers with Zendaya, but I first saw him in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Faist is a musical theater guy at heart, and though I’ve only seen two of his movies, I love his energy—he manages to look like he can’t decide if he wants to throw hands or fight tears.
I'm sorry, I cannot make myself say or type reskeet!