Backstreet’s back, alright! It was only appropriate for the boy band that shook the world in the late ’90s to be a part of the craze that started it all, and the Backstreet Boys (minus Kevin Richardson) fit right in as they celebrated the pop culture delight that is (or rather, was) MTV’s “Total Request Live” last week. The Backstreet Boys, busy jet-setting the nation on their current string of tour dates, took time out of their exhausting schedule to perform at the “TRL Finale” last week, making the now-20-something women’s eyes mist as nostalgia took over when the quartet performed their early hit “I Want it That Way” for the energetic crowd.
Last week’s “TRL Finale” marked the end of a 10-year domination of pop music on air that all began with the growing teen pop craze of the ’90s, launching the careers of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. “TRL” was one of MTV”s most influential franchises, bringing in celebrities and fanatic crowds alike, and the show’s finale included many of those stars in the hours-long performance, making the program go out with a bang. Celebrities like Eminem, Beyonce, Kid Rock, Justin Timberlake, Diddy, Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Fall Out Boy and more were all present at the MTV bash, and former VJs like Carson Daly, Vanessa Minnillo and Hilarie Burton were all brought back to help host the program’s very last show. The only star from the “TRL” era missing at the show seemed to be Britney Spears, whose video “…Baby One More Time” will forever be considered a “TRL” commodity.
Emerging in the overwhelming tidal wave of the teen pop era, the Backstreet Boys blew up “TRL” request lines in 1998 with songs like “Quit Playin’ Games (With My Heart)” and “As Long as You Love Me.” The incredible boy band started with cousins and Kentucky natives Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, who practiced Boys II Men-type songs before meeting up with the Orlando-hailed Howie Dorough and A.J. McLean and New Yorker Nick Carter, inking a deal with Jive Records in 1994. The Backstreet Boys tested their very new boy band approach in Europe before coming back over to the U.S., releasing their debut album Backstreet Boys in 1997. From this point on, the Backstreet Boys were huge. Selling millions of copies of all of their albums and selling out Backstreet Boys tickets to screaming throngs of teenage girls across the nation, the five-piece boy band saw dozens of platinum hits, reaching number ones on the Billboard charts with close to every song they released in the late ’90s and early ’00s including “I Want It That Way,” “Shape of My Heart” and “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely.”
The boy band craze of the teen pop dream eventually died down, but the Backstreet Boys persisted through it all. Despite lawsuits over royalties, Littrell undergoing heart surgery, McLean’s stint in rehab and Richardson quietly stepping away from the group, the Backstreet Boys still continue to pull their dance-pop thread through the needle of changing times, releasing Unbreakable in 2007 and thereafter embarking on a national tour. If you missed your chance to see these energetic heartthrobs take over the stage in the ’90s, get concert tickets from http://www.stubhub.com/backstreet-boys-tickets before it’s too late!