So Shoot Me!
... I can't help being a Backstreet Boys fan.
If there were any dogs in the auditorium, they'd be dead by now. No, we're not talking about one of those fabled Ozzy Osbourne detroy-these-puppies-or-I-won't-play edicts. This canine killer is the five-alarm shrieking in Seattle's Key Arena as the Backstreet Boys close a live show with their top five bump-and-grinder "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)."When Nick Carter - the youngest, blondest, and most yelp-inducing Boy - blurts out lthe ludicrous line "Am I sexual?" hordes of 8- to 15-year-old girls clutch their throwaway cameras ans scream their braces off. Another night, another 10,000 sexual awakenings. To be a 12-year-old female Backstreet Boys fan is to say it loud and proud with BsB signs, pinups, and silf-screened pillowcases of your favorite Backstreet crush: Carter, 18; AJ McLean, 20; Brian Littrell, 23; Howie Dorough, 25; or Kevin Richardson, 26. The rest of us, however, must lead more clandestine existences. "Oh, that's the one who looks like Marky Mark," we shrug when BRian appears, even though we know that he likes to be called B-Rok or just Rok for short, since Rok is what you call a basketball and B-Rok really really loves to play hoops except for when he had to take two months off this spring to have surgery to fix a hole in his heart. We shield their CD sleeve and mutter, "Uh, the Pumpkins" if someone asks what's in the Discman. And we never admit that we've watched their 78-minute behind-the-scnese Backstreet Boys All Access Video. Twice.

Granted, it's reasonable to blush. After all, the Boys, who formed in 1993 in Orlando, Fla., didnt write any songs or play instruments on Backstreet Boys, their American debut; their manager is the same guy who put New Kids on the Block in teenage bedrooms (and on critics' worst list) worldwide; and from the looks of their videos, they've never met a full-body shave they didn't like. In other words, you won't be partying to Backstreet Boys music unless you're at Chuck E. Cheese.

Yet for a group easily dismissed as a flash-in-the-pan teen act, the Backstreet Boys ave managed some impressive feats: 22 million records sold worldwide and 4.4 million in domestic sales make Backstreet Boys 1998's third-best-selling album so far, behind the Titanic soundtrack and the unofficial Titanic soundtrack, Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love. Their breakthrough U.S. pop singles - "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" and "As Long As You Love ME" - were even bigger hits on the older skewing adult comtemporary chart. Their North American summer tour should draw a half-million fans and gross $10 million plus. Even the craky Village Voice gave the Boys a thumbs-up. Behind these fresh-scrubbed faces and slippery torsos are five surprisingly capable vocalists.

Fittingly, Euro-kids, out-of-the-gate advocates for prefab pop ventures like the Spice Girls, were the first to take the Boys. "We'd have tons of fans at the airport when we'd leave Eruope, and back to America, there'd be, like, nobody," says Howie, backstage beofer the Aug. 14 Seattle gig. "It was humblizing."

"Humblizing?" says Nick, pelting Howie with grapes from a fruit basket. "Howie's making up his own words!"

Better than the unprintable words some throw at the Boys. "I was checking my messages last night," says AJ, "and some guy was going 'You suck!' There's even girls that don't like us."

Which is fine by them. While the Boys won't utter words "New Kids" in an interview, they sprinkle converstaion with homeboy signifiers like "dope," "phay," and "wack." Curiously, though they've sparked deafening global hysteria the likes of which Boyz II Men and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will never know, they covet the "props" amle listeners afford such urban guy groups. But admit it, fellas: Backstreet bedsheets don't exactly scream street cred. "That was all from the merchandising company," Brian protests. "When we saw it..."

"We freaked out," says Nick.

"We were like, 'We didn't approve that,'" seconds Brian.

Grousing about respect from the top of the charts isn't goig to earn much sympathy. But since the Boys are so inclined, why do they think the mas macho audience has eluded them? "'Cause we're not talking about sex and drugs," says Kevin. "We're talking about love, partying, having a good time - maybe that's too soft for them."

"The wanna hear Onyx or something," AJ pipes in.

"Maybe it's the fact that we're five white guys," Howie offeres.

"If we were five black guys, we woulnd't have this scruntiny," Kevin repeats. "It's the truth."

Backing away from the touchy thesis, Nick shrugs: "People have their own taste. I mean, I wouldn't listen to the Spice Girls."

Hey, Nick - at least the Spice Girls have songwriting credits. But soon, so will the Boys. The next step in their teenyboppers-be-gone image makeover will be the fritening task of picking up instruments and penning tunes for their next American CD.

Maybe that record will be "dope" enough to draw us silent BsB fans out of the closet. Maybe, too, it'll disenfranchise those pigeonholing fans who have made the Backstreet Boys... stars. In any case, the Boys are determined to give it their chest-flashing all. "Whenw e were in L.A. last week, I got a chance to talk to some older friends I play basketball with," Brian says. "And they were like, 'I don't listen to that kind of music.' But I got 'em a ticket to the show just to open their eyes. Afterward, they said, 'I still wouldn't listen to the music, but you guys are really talents.'" He sits back and smiles. It's a review worth a million screams.

- Entertainment Weekly, Dave Karger

September 4, 1998

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