Backstreet Boys: Standing the test of time

The boys were having dinner at famed Nobu restaurant in New York City when the idea of the album title hit Brian Littrell. “All four of us were there and we were talking about the music industry, the record label and how we felt about everything — the songs on the record and all the stuff,” he says.

“I am kind of the motivator (of the group). That’s my role and I was kind of giving this pep talk speech about how we’ve been together for a long, long time and we need to focus on just us four and working on our core… we needed to focus on being unbreakable because people come and go all the time. AJ McLean bumped me in the elbow as I said that and he said, ‘that would be a great album title.’”

“There are just so many things about our career that are unbreakable,” he continues. “AJ (is) sober close to five years this October and he is bettering himself everyday. I went through a heart surgery nine years ago. We did lose Kevin (Richardson), you know, (but) — we are here to stay, unfortunately and fortunately for the naysayers and for the people that like us. We’ve stood the test of time and we are unbreakable.”

Kevin officially left the band in June 2006 to pursue other interests.

Instead of finding a replacement for Kevin and renaming the band to just plain Backstreet, as what others suggested, the boys opted to stick together and keep the Backstreet Boys brand and headed back to the recording studios in late 2006 to start their follow-up to their 2005 hit album Never Gone sans Kevin.

“We are gonna stay with four,” says Brian. “We didn’t wanna replace Kevin. We said that we would always be the Backstreet Boys. Kevin left the end of 2005 and we are happy about him moving on with his life. We respect his decision (and) I think he is really happy for us really wanting on to continue making music. The door is always open if he decides to come back in the future.”

Kevin’s departure is just one of the hurdles the boys have faced over the course of their 15-year career. They became the biggest-selling boy band of all time. They have performed before millions of fans in sold-out arenas all over the world. They have likewise been involved with a nasty legal battle with their former manager. They had to deal with AJ’s addiction and Nick Carter’s failed attempt at a solo career. In 2002, the future of the group was in limbo when they all went their separate ways, prompting others to say that they have likewise suffered the same fate that has befallen their contemporaries like NSync and 98 Degrees.

In 2005, however, the group surprised their fans — and detractors, when they regrouped, released the Never Gone album and toured the world again.

“One of the biggest things we’ve always talked about is longevity,” AJ says. “I think we’ve already accomplished that. We are here to stay whether you like it or not. We are not going anywhere, even if all of us go off and have great successful solo records and tours, it doesn’t matter because we’ll always come back as a group.

“We’ve got each other’s back and we look to emulate people like the Eagles, the Stones and all these bands that have been around for 30-plus years. We’ve made it this far there is no reason why we couldn’t do it for the next 15 years now.

“We’ve been on this band for more than half of our lives,” AJ further adds. “We’ve spent the prime years of our life in this band. It’s like, instead of hanging with my buddies in high school, I was hanging out with these guys traveling the world and going to school out of a hotel room. We’ve been through hell, literally, and back again as a group, as friends, we’re family! These are my family, I am an only child and these are the brothers I’ve known.”

In those 15 years, Nick grew up from a pimply 12-year-old adolescent to a mature man of 27  years old. And while AJ and Howie Durough have remained single, Kevin and Brian got married and have kids now.

“When I was growing up I wanted to take a wife and have a family. Those were my dreams — that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to provide for my family, work hard just like my dad taught me to do. I am a southern gentleman and I am old-fashioned,” Brian enthusiastically shares. “It’s awesome! I never dreamed in a million years that I’d grow up and be a pop star. That’s not something that I wanted. I didn’t think that was achievable.

“My little boy loves the entertainment business, he loves the stage, he’s gonna be five in November and he knows that I am recording and all the stuff and he’s trying to decipher between my solo stuff and the group stuff,” Brian continues. “It is a life-changing thing, it’s made me a lot more selfless versus selfish. I have a lot more reasons to go to work everyday and be passionate about my music because I know how it affects about my little boy.”

He adds further, “For me, there’s always been life outside of this. Sometimes we get so consumed about recording, promotion and touring that we give up so much of our lives to do this and we do that willingly, and, at the same time, I’ve always stressed to the other members that when you go home, you have to be happy with just you. I worked really, really hard in my family life to love going home. Backstreet Boys still can last forever but life can last forever as well so it’s like I always focus outside the group. This means the world to me but it is not everything to me. My everything is my wife and my son.”

Their new Sony BMG album Unbreakable, released Oct. 30, contains familiar tracks that would make their fans excited about their favorite boy band again.

“I think they are gonna expect to hear Backstreet Boys as “Backstreet Boys” as we’ve been known (for) great harmonies, great melodies, great lyrics — just good pop songs,” AJ says. “Never Gone was probably the furthest departure we’ve ever taken… everything about Never Gone is like driving down a road and having a blow-up on your car and veering down to the side, fixing the tire and getting back on the road again.”

They consider their first single Inconsolable the “great bridge” back to their signature sound. It is a ballad that would remind fans of the boys’ huge and soaring classic songs like Shape of My Heart.

“It is a familiar sound from us as a group. We have a lot of the dance records that are great reminiscent of record like Backstreet’s Back and Larger Than Life. We’ve got the kind of sappy love song ballads like Hopeless When She Smiles and Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoons that are kind of like I’ll Never Break Your Heart.  If you think about it, this whole record is like a montage of Millennium, Black & Blue, a little bit of a rock edge like Never Gone. I think our fans are gonna really enjoy it. We don’t even think that Inconsolable is the best song off the record — there are even better songs,” AJ says.

Brian  hastens to add that they made the conscious effort to give the record a little bit of life because the Never Gone CD was geared more towards the rock aspect they were doing in 2005. “The Backstreet Boys are not rock vocalists — we are not a rock band, we’re not R ’n B singers, we’re not hip-hop artists  — you know, we are the Backstreet Boys and I think over our careers we have embraced that title and really kind of hone in on what we’re hopefully good and that’s making good songs.”

AJ considers the song You Can Let Go one of his favorites. “It’s got a great groove to it, almost Ben Folds a little bit,” he explains. “You can’t help but bow your head and get in the zone with it.” His other favorite is a song that he wrote with former NSync member JC Chasez called Treat Me Right. “It’s a great up-tempo dance record that everybody sounds great on, everybody sings their butt up on it.”

Brian’s favorite record is Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon. It’s a duet between him and Nick. “It’s unique in its own right. If you listen to the whole record, this one stands out. It is a very artsy, very grown-up kind of Backstreet Boys where we are headed,” he says. “You have songs of where we came from that are on Unbreakable and there are songs of where we are at now and there are songs of where we are going. It has a dark and happy emotion about it.”

While the boys acknowledge that they are not as popular as they were during the height of their reign, they still believe that their fans would still embrace their album, continue to flock to their concerts, and know more Backstreet songs than the boys themselves.