Making Noise With The Backstreet Boys

seventeen April 1998

Backstreet mania knows no bounds. There's the time two girls hid in a storage space of the tour bus. And the time European fans actually climbed over a barbed-wire fence just to get into the Boys' dressing room. But no one can one-up the girl who gave A.J. McLean, 20, two diamond rings that he later found out were her parents' wedding bands. Don't worry, he doesn't wear them. They're in a safe-deposit box should the fan—who must have been grounded for life—want to get them back from him. Ah, the life of a Backstreet Boy….

“Some of these girls do crazy things,” says A.J., the Backstreet Boys' unofficial spokesman (aka the one with the hoop earrings). “They even go up to our hotel rooms after we check out and grab socks or boxers we accidentally left behind. Then they'll whip out our underwear [at a concert or an in-store appearance] and ask us to autograph 'em; and we're like, ‘How did you get these?’”

Hunky guys who sing about the L word in ways that “real” guys can't even express have always inspired fierce fanatical behavior from girls. Plus, with this bunch, there's a type of boy for every girl: Brian Littrell, 22, is the jock; Nick Carter, 18, is a baby-faced Leo look-alike; and Kevin Richardson, 26, is the dark, mysterious one. Howie Dorough, or Howie D., 24, lends a Latin groove, and A.J. provides the crucial hip-hop vibe.

The Florida-based group—which had been breaking attendance records in Europe and Canada for a couple of years—finally hit the big time in the United States last summer with the hit “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” and more recent songs like “As Long As You Love Me” and “Backstreet's Back.” Now they have one of the nation's top-selling albums, Backstreet Boys; a recent sold-out tour; a Thriller-like extended video for “Backstreet's Back” on MTV; and plans to publish a Backstreet Boys-inspired comic book by late summer or early fall.

“It won't be totally wack,” promises Nick, the comic's creator. “It's going to be dark and Spawn-like,” explains A.J. He also hints that they're hoping to drum up big-budget movie interest in the project by contacting directors like Tim Burton (Batman) and Steven Spielberg.

In the meantime, the Backstreet Boys are writing and producing songs for their second album, and learning how to play instruments (Brian and Howie, guitars; A.J., bass; Kevin, keys; and Nick, drums). What about girlfriends? “We don't have them, because we don't have the time,” says Nick. Looks like that's not going to change anytime soon.

-Susan Kaplow