YMMV / Backstreet Boys

• Awesome Music:
  • Play "I Want It That Way" at any karaoke bar or party and see what happens.
  • "The Call" is one incredible song! With a really great video to match as well.
  • As proven by the Fluffy Cloud Heaven Dance Party Ending of This Is the End, this list wouldn't be complete without "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)".
  • "Larger Than Life" is also nothing short of epic. It doesn't just thank the fans for their support; it empowers them, and it definitely shows.
    • Moreso as a Metal Song (care of Jonathan Young and Lee Albrecht)
• Best Known for the Fanservice: "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" is primarily remembered for the music video featuring the boys in Sexy Soaked Shirts, which doesn't occur until two minutes and fifteen seconds into the video.
  • The Animaniacs reboot even had Yakko crack a joke about Nick's notability compared to the others, especially at another groupmate's expense.
    Yakko clone: I call Nick Carter!
    Yakko: Which one am I?
    All four Yakko clones: Howie D.!
    Yakko: AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
• Fandom Rivalry: Although the Boys did feel betrayed when they first learned of *NSYNC, the two groups eventually formed a Friendly Rivalry and are friends off stage. That did not stop the vicious fandom wars back in The '90s, especially when it came to Total Request Live. A prime example of this is Tiffany, a diehard Backstreet fan who threatened Carson Daly after she lost a trivia game to a *NSYNC fan.
  • The fandom rivalry still goes on to this day... not helped by the fact that Joey Fatone once made a joke at Backstreet's expense that the fanbase did not take too kindly.
  • Buzzfeed held a user-ranked poll for the 25 greatest boy bands of all time, in which *NSYNC was voted the winner, with Backstreet at #2. Cue the accusations of cheating.
  • Then again, both fandoms put aside their differences to glare enraged daggers at everyone when both BSB and *NSYNC were knocked out of MTV's Boy Band Battle in the first stage.
    ONTD comment: in what world does westlife and one direction beat nsync and bsb.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Insanely popular in East Asian countries like Japan (as seen in the video for "Bigger") and Vietnam, even after all those years. Even their latter albums sold well enough to earn gold and platinum sales certificates even when they stopped selling as much in other countries.
  • In fact, this very trope is part of the reason they became such a phenomenon. At the time they released their first album, they weren't exactly well-received in the US, but turned out to be huge in the UK and Europe, where their kind of pop music was considered more mainstream (the fact that they really sang live while every other local act used playback helped a lot). It wasn't until acts like the Spice Girls and Hanson became popular in America that the Boys began sweeping the nation for real.
• Harsher in Hindsight: "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" becomes more heartbreaking following the death of Nick's sisters Leslie and Bobbie in January 2012 and December 2023 respectively, and brother Aaron in November 2022.
• Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Frick & Frack for the Brian and Nick friendship, as well as Letterboys for the RPS ship of AJ/JC Chasez, due to the fact that both went by their initials.
• LGBT Fanbase: Pretty much comes with the territories of being both a late-90s pop act and a boy band.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" has become a Fountain of Memes of sorts. If you're not convinced, look at all the MikuMikuDance videos featuring that song.
  • "I Want It That Way" is also quickly gaining meme points due to being featured in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as well as this oft-copied tweet: "Here's a grammar lesson: they're = they are; there = place; your = belongs to you; you're = you are; my fire = my one desire; believe = when I say; I want it = that way".
    • The song's music video, with the band dressed in white as they dance at an airport hangar, was memetic back in the late 90s. It's been famously parodied by blink-182 for their "All the Small Things" video.
    • As for the lyrics, the third "tell me why" in the chorus is more often than not replaced with "Now, number five" due to its memetic status above.
    • It also spawned this popular joke: "Doctor, I'm afraid of the Backstreet Boys!" "Tell me why."
• Nightmare Retardant: The music video for "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". Sure, it is based around a haunted house and monsters, but the video is so over-the-top and the song is so simultaneously awesome and catchy that it's pretty hard for the viewers to be legitimately scared.
• Popularity Polynomial: While there was a time where they were considered a punchline, nowadays people are no longer ashamed to admit they like them, and they still regularly tour arenas. Even jokes about how out of style they are have become out of style.
• Refrain from Assuming: "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" is helpfully titled in this format, as "Backstreet's Back" can be easily remembered as a recurring phrase in the song.
• Retroactive Recognition: One of the female judges in the "As Long as You Love Me" music video is played by Marisa Ramirez, who would later become Detective Maria Baez on Blue Bloods.
• Signature Song: They've had so many well-known hits under their belt that it's hard to call which would be the signature song for the group. "As Long as You Love Me", "I Want It That Way", "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)", and, in some circles, "Larger than Life" are the leading contenders.
• Tear Jerker:
  • "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely". Even worse when you recall that it's inspired on Howie D's dead sister. The video adds other lost loved lost ones, including AJ's ex-girlfriend, Kevin's deceased father, and their ex-producer Denniz Pop.
  • Play "Shape of My Heart" in a room full of 90s kids and watch the tears flow.
  • "The Call". In the second verse, the protagonist regrets making the phone call where he lied to his then-girlfriend. She found out that he cheated on her, and now he's got nothing to show for it. In the video, the guilt is personified by a woman who chases Kevin with accusing words written on the walls.
  • "I Want It That Way" tells the story of a man solemnly accepting the fact that he and his lover's relationship is falling apart, and nothing he wants is anything she wants, yet he still refuses to let go of the fact that she was the one who brought happiness into his life in the first place.
• Values Resonance: "As Long as You Love Me" emphasizes the reciprocity of a relationship, as its chorus has the singer not caring about who their lover is, or even their origins or previous actions. With the recognition of LGBTQ+ rights in recent years, the chorus really ages like fine wine.

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