And it's not like Backstreet Boys aren't actively courting their audience, marketing the group via sampler cassettes distributed in Bantams teen-oriented "Love Stories," book series and JC Penney's Kaboodles makeup cases.

But mention the teenybopper orientation to the Boys - whose ages range from 17 to 25 - and they act like offended artists.

"We try to stay away from that as much as possible because of the fact that we concentrate on our music," explains Brian Littrel, AKA B-Rok, 21. "We don't concentrate on an image. It's important for us to stick to our music."

Adds Kevin Richardson, 25, "I think just as far as the comparisons... the New Kids [on the Block] were incredibly successful, although there was a lot of controversy surrounding their success and their vocals and stuff. But the Spice Girls, you know, they're very successful as well. It's a compliment to be compared to their level of success.

"But we feel that our music, out influences and what our group is all about are totally different. The Backstreet Boys are just about music."

To their credit, Backstreet Boys are no overnight success. The group came together five years ago in Orlando, Fla., where all five members were either acting or auditioning with the Disney and Nickelodeon studios.

AJ McLean, 20, Nick Carter, 17, and Howie Dorough, 23, started out as a trio, which was signed by the local Transcontinental Records label. The three subsequently added Richardson and his cousin, Littrell.

The quintet released its first single, "We've Got It Goin' On," in 1995, and it eked to just No. 69 on the Billboard chart.

"I think at the time... the scene wasn't exactly right for a style of group like us," says Dorough. "Grunge was still heavily going, rap was really hard and the pop scene wasn't really in phase at the time."

At least not in the United States. In Europe, they went razy for Backstreet Boys. The "Backstreet Boys" album sold nearly 5.5 million copies abroad, and the group became a Beatles-style phenomenon in coutries such as Germany and France. Its success in the latter earned an audience in eastern Canada, which in turn spread the Boys' music to the rest of the country.

The United States thing is last abroad the bandwagon, but it's certainly making up for lost time, embracing Backstreet Boys like the second coming of, well, New Kids on the Block.

We know about their hobbies (Carter likes and draws comics), their families (Carter's brother recently signed a recording deal in Germany) and about their favourite rides at Disney World - Space Mountain for McLean and Littrell, Splash Mountain for Dorough and Richardson.

Meanwhile, "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," has sold more than a million copies and reached the Billboard Top 5, and the "Backstreet Boys," album has sold more than half a million, earning a gold record.

The Boys say they'd all like to get back into acting, but they're eschewing movies for the time being to - you guessed it - concentrate on music. And it's clear the group has some taste in that regard, the album features a cover PM Dawn's "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss," which was produced by the hip-hop act.

"We don't really consider ourselves just to be a pop group," Dorough says. "WE consider our category to be the pop-R&B, meaning that we have a lot of RB influences in our music."

Mostly however, the group is well aware of the teen act stigma and hope to silence the skeptics through the strength of their live performance.

"Backstreet Boys only sing live and do five piece harmony, a capella," McLean says. "There's been groups in the past that haven't. We just want to make everyone realize that we are real, there's nothing fake and, you know, we are seen 100 percent live."

- Yahoo News

October 15, 1997