It really seasoned us to come back home, to really be ready for America.' The U.S., a market the group once referred to as 'No Fan Land,' would eventually catch BSB fever. I think it was meant to be that way, looking back on it.

'That's where your pride is, you know? It was so crazy how it happened everywhere else first. 'As little kids growing up, you always hope to have success in your home country,' Dorough told Billboard in 2017. Still, it was the internationally released Backstreet Boys, which shared a handful of tracks with the U.S.-only version of the album, that made them global stars before they even shared their music stateside. audiences, though, primarily recognize Backstreet Boys' second eponymous album, released in 1997, as their true debut.

In 1996, the group released Backstreet Boys in Europe, where it became an international chart-topper across the continent as well as in Asia. It wasn't long until fans felt like they knew BSB's Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson. Helmed by then-rising producer Max Martin, Backstreet Boys helped turn the fresh-faced newcomers, who were just between the ages of 15 and 24 at the time, into megastars nearly overnight. Just as the grunge scene was phasing out, the group ushered in a new era of radio-friendly pop that would span from Hanson to Britney Spears-except Backstreet Boys initially did it from overseas.įormed in Orlando by the late record producer Lou Pearlman, Backstreet Boys emerged in 1993 and began working on their self-titled debut album in Stockholm two years later. The first ones to lead the charge? Backstreet Boys.Īt a time when there was a gap in mass-market bands catering to teens, the music of Backstreet Boys, referred to as simply BSB by loving fans, was somewhat of an experiment. While the inception of boy bands had come long before the era, bringing along electric fandoms decades before, the '90s were really the first time when the boy band craze peaked.

There are a few specific motifs that come to mind when reminiscing about the '90s: grunge, Spice Girls and, of course, boy bands.

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