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Pop
Music Backstreet Boys
By ROBIN TAYLOR
When I was in seventh grade, there
were three fantasies that controlled my romantic daydreams. There was the
future husband fantasy, about a man with gray eyes who would play the piano,
belong to Greenpeace and love Jesus.
Our first meeting would be in a college marine biology course. We
would fall in love and spend our lives studying dolphins and whales in
never-ending marital bliss. Then there were the boys I had crushes on: Fred and
Malcolm, Rudy and Kevin. I ranked them in my journal, and updated the list
frequently, crossing out the names of those who were mean to me.
Both those dreams were mild, though, compared to my famous
actor/singer reveries. I just knew that if I met pop idol Shaun Cassidy in my
hometown, that he would love me. He would see beyond my awkward 12-year-old
exterior and recognize the beauty I had inside.
Todays teen girls arent so different from those of 20
years ago. They look for love around them, and turn to the beautiful and famous
when those close to home disappoint. Sometimes I think the sole purpose of that
strange musical phenomenon, the boy band, is to give girls hope that someday
they will find someone to love them, someone not afraid to show his feelings.
Its not adults, after all, who are the primary fan base of
these groups, or teen boys, who run screaming from mushy love songs. No. Girls
are the power -- and money -- behind the boy band movement.
One of the hottest boy bands today, the Backstreet Boys, does
little to differentiate itself from the romantic crooners I loved when I was a
teen. Sure, they sport updated clothes and hairstyles, and their songs pound
with a 90s edge, but the lyrics havent changed much. Love songs
seldom do. Why mess with success?
Their latest album Millennium debuted at No. 1 on the
Billboard charts, breaking a previous first week sales record held by
Garth Brooks. Nearly five months after its release, its still No. 2 on
the Billboard charts. Their Millennium tour sold out in one
day, most of the concerts in less than an hour, setting speed sales records in
many venues and causing 13 additional concert dates to be released. Not
surprisingly, some teen fans camped out for days in hopes of getting
tickets.
No matter that the groups oldest members are long past
boyhood and too old to be logical objects of adolescent fervor. They sing a
good love song. This alone will keep them going strong, at least until the
early part of the next millennium.
There are five boys: Kevin, 27; Howie D,
26; A-J, 21; Brian B-Rok, 24; and baby Nick, 19. In
Millennium theyve made a pleasant album, with a nice mix of
fast and slow songs and an abundance of soaring, passionate harmonies. There is
nothing discordant, disturbing or jarring here, nothing not to like. Sadly,
there is nothing especially inspiring either.
The albums first single I Want It that Way
topped out at No. 6 on the Billboard charts with a lyric line
thats pleasing but predictable. You are my fire/The one
desire/Believe when I say/I want it that way. Of course fire
would rhyme with desire. Just as try and
goodbye go together in Back to Your Heart, which says,
Its not that I cant live without you/Its just that I
dont even want to try/Every night I dream about you/Ever since the day we
said goodbye.
All the songs run along this predictable road, with familiar
themes and word combinations. Other offerings include I Need You
Tonight, Dont Wanna Lose You Now, No One Else
Comes Close, and The One, where the boys take on God-like
properties. Ill be the one/Who will make all your sorrows
undone/Ill be the light/When you feel like theres nowhere to
run/Ill be the one/To hold you/And make sure that youll be all
right/My fear is gone/And I want to/Take you from darkness to light. No
self-esteem problems here. Its a catchy tune, one that almost forces you
to dance. And isnt this what everyone wants? Someone to be the one,
the light in their lives? Except thats what Jesus is supposed to do
for us. Maybe the Backstreet Boys can, too, since they are so cute and
90s hip.
None of the songs on Millennium veer far from the
formulaic. Perhaps the closest is The Perfect Fan, co-written by
group member Littrell, because of the songs intended recipient. Unlike
every other piece on the album, which is sung to some vague you
girl out there, its focus is a boys first love, his mother.
You showed me/When I was young just how to grow
Everything that I
should know
Just how to walk without your hands/Cause Mom you
always were/The perfect fan. Isnt that special?
Another current album single Larger Than Life
acknowledges the groups fan base with a strange sort of tribute. Even
though the boys may be surrounded by security guards and unreachable, even
though they run and hide/When youre screamin my name,
they want the girls to know that their loves affecting our
reality: Everytime were down/You can make it right/And that
makes you larger than life.
The boys themselves are feeling larger than life now, if the
rambling thank yous in the CD liner notes are any indication. Howie
D cites the dictionary definition of millennium and then says
that in their case, the word takes on a new meaning which I define as:
the coming of the new Backstreet Boys album to the world. To be heard for
another thousand years to come, God willing, since it is He who gave us our
talents to spread peace and happiness to everyone through the harmonies in our
music.
Somehow, I doubt this. Which doesnt mean that the boys
arent talented or nice guys. Four of the five make religious references
in their thank yous. A.J. thanks Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior. Brian
quotes the Psalms and thanks JESUS for MERCY and GRACE.
Howie mentions his Heavenly Father, and Kevin says the album is a
blessing. It also doesnt mean that their music isnt
likable. Its a fun listen, good for dancing or driving or cleaning.
Its just not millennial material. When the year 3000 rolls around, the
Backstreet Boys wont be on the critics best of the ages
list; theyre not even there now. Folks will forget about them, just as
theyve already forgotten about that earlier boy group sensation New Kids
on the Block.
One of the good things about getting old is gaining perspective on
current fads. You remember when you wore bellbottoms and orange. You remember
when you loved Barry Manilow and Air Supply with the same fervor that
todays fans bestow on the Backstreet Boys. If I were 12 today, Im
sure Id love Nick and Howie D, with his pretty eyes. Thankfully, Im
not. Truth be told, I think A.J. looks weird, with his earrings, sideburns,
thin beard, dark glasses. Kevin looks overly serious, even threatening. None of
the boys smiles in the jacket pictures. Which runs against the how I love
you, girl current in the songs. If you love me, sweet Backstreet Boy,
cant you smile, just once?
It would be nice if the music of the next millennium brought us
something new. It would be even better if girls of the future had different
dreams from the ones I had as a teen, where something more than marketing and
the right look determined who they fell in love with, where their hopes were
set on Jesus, the ultimate reality. Dont bet on it, though. As long as
young girls dance alone in their bedrooms, groups like the Backstreet Boys will
rule the airwaves. When they fade, another group will take their place.
This, then, is one certainty of the new millennium: The way the
world is now, fantasy man will be part of it. He dies hard. Sometimes, he lives
forever.
Robin Taylor writes from Salt Lake City.
National Catholic Reporter, November 5,
1999
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