Backstreet Boys 'As Long As You Love Me'

Chart Peak:
YouTube

'As Long As You Love Me' is the American combo's 6th big British hit since August last year... It was a Top 3 smash in October '97.

Fascinating fact I've just read on Wikipedia: apparently the number of female models used in the video for this song was deliberately different from the number of Backstreet Boys so that nobody would think they were "paired up". Presumably this was intended to give the illusion of availability to female fans although as it turns out one of the models did subsequently marry Brian Littrell (he's the one who looks like a rebellious character from Grange Hill). Fascinating insight into boyband marketing there anyway.

In the past couple of days I've surprised myself by being quite positive about some boyband singles. Tjat stops here because, even though it's Friday, I can't muster anything good to say about this rather slushy effort with its mid-tempo beat and flamenco guitars, adorned as if it's scared to actually be anything. Backstreet have always been one of the least appealing boybands because they always seemed to lack any sense of fun. There's a classic mixed metaphor in the lyric "People say [...] I am blind, risking it all on a glance", but that's the only thing classic about it. If anything I might even prefer the Justin Bieber song of the same title. Sadly, Boyzone were listening to this and topped the chart with a very similar template the following year.

Also appearing on: Now 35, 36, 37, 39, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51
Available on: The Essential Backstreet Boys

Backstreet Boys 'The One'

Chart Peak: 8

YouTube

The Backstreet Boys recently added another awar to their ever-increasing collection, when they scooped the "favourite musical group" at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards... And band-member Nick has been doing his bit for charity by auctioning three sections of his couch for the Tampa Children's Hospital!

Presumably they'd somehow calculated that three thirds of a couch would fetch more than an intact one. As I mentioned the other day, the Backstreet Boys were well ahead of *NSYNC in the UK market. This was the eleventh of thirteen consecutive Top 10 singles for them here, and by this point they seemed to have hit the sort of rich seam where they could have a major hit with just about anything. 'The One' is a song I only half-remembered at best, and was apparently chosen as a single after a fans poll swung by the casting vote of Nick Carter (the blond one). The song's as generic as the title.

The most memorable part of the video is the odd decision to dub a screechy audience over the soundtrack, which fits with the stadium footage, but obscures the music - it's not a live version, just the album cut. If the song was any good that would have been a loss.


Also appearing on: Now 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 51
Available on: Millennium

Backstreet Boys 'Anywhere For You'

Chart Peak: 4

YouTube

Due for release on 17th March '97, 'Anywhere For You' is the follow-up to 'Quit Playin' Games'... It is surely destined to give the American harmonisers another British hit.

You can feel the enthusiasm dripping from that note there. This is one song that I genuinely didn't remember at all - I didn't just not remember how it sounded, like the Boyzone track yesterday, I didn't even remember that it existed. Of course I remember the band (indeed, they're still going now) and many of their songs. They were were particularly notable as one of the few US boybands to be really successful at the time, although they'd yet to conquer their home market at this stage.

Despite making the Top 5, this ballad passed me at the time, and it has again now. I noticed when I was searching online to make the links for this post that autocomplete tailed off after the band name, which implies that not many other people remember it. And yes, I'm aware that I've written a lot in this post without saying much about this song, but it really is utterly featureless. Even other slow Backstreet songs tend to have choruses that stick in the head but this is quite possibly the least distinctive track in Now! history. And that's quite a claim, believe you me.

Also appearing on: Now 35, 37, 38, 39, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51
Available on: Greatest Hits - Chapter 1

Backstreet Boys 'Larger Than Life'

Chart Peak: 5

YouTube

Well, you can't accuse them of underselling it: especially not in the video, where it's almost a minute in before the song even starts. But after the last few tracks, it's certainly a relief to run into something upbeat, even if overblown. Lyrically, the boys are showing commercial nous in praising the fans who, after all, paid their wages.

At the time, Backstreet seemed to rank among the most annoying of boybands, and their ballads are still pretty sick-making. And of course this is a pretty blatant re-hash of 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back)'. But this probably scrapes by as a job well done, if you're prepared to meet it half-way.

Also appearing on: Now 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 45, 46, 48, 49, 51
Available on: Greatest Hits: Chapter 1