"It was kind of funny," said Nick Carter, "because we had talked to the record company about it, and at first they were like, 'Oh, I don't know,' and 'Well, we'll talk about it later,' and all this kind of stuff. And we had this idea for the video in our heads. It took a while, but we eventually got them to do it. Then [the record company] came back later and thanked us because it turned out to be such a great video."

For the concept behind "Everybody," the Backstreet Boys claim that the large dance spectacles and horror show imagery weren't modeled after Broadway shows such as "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" or "Phantom of the Opera," but was instead patterned after a classic video from an artist that's received his fair share of VMAs.

"It was just really creative," Carter continued, "and what we wanted to do was take the Michael Jackson 'Thriller' video, but make it a little bit different -- more of a '90s feel. And, of course, we had a little bit lower budget than that video. Add the five guys with the monster characters and have them dancing. It was really fun."

The Backstreet Boys have also recently enlisted the remix team of Soul Solution for a new dance version of the Backstreet song, "I'll Never Break Your Heart."

Soul Solution has previously re-worked the Boys' "As Long As You Love Me" and Celine Dion's "Titanic" smash, "My Heart Will Go On."

The Backstreet Boys tour will roll into Indianapolis on Thursday and Detroit on Friday.

The Boys' video for "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" will be up for Best Dance and Best Group Video when the awards are given out on September 10 at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.

- MTV News Gallery

July 22, 1998