Blog | Backstreet Boys: A personal connect

There comes a time in each person's life, mostly in the teenage years, when he begins to understand the world around him. And things he encounters during these wonder years have a superb capacity to leave a mark since these become reference points in his experience of life.

For me, this phase hit in the dying years of the 90s and at the dawn of the new millennium. India was almost 10 years into liberalisation and the growing democratisation of commodities meant that 'English' music was no longer the preserve of those few who could source it from abroad and then feel smug about it.

Maybe this is how I 'met' the Backstreet Boys.

Their end product was super-smooth. The chorus was perfect and their physiques Greek God-like. They soon became my first reference point for adulthood. For a 13-year-old kid who did not perhaps even know what heartbreak was, lyrics like 'Show me the meaning of being lonely' felt like an excuse to brood and pretend to have emotions 'just like' adults. 

There is something in the emotion of longing that gives ample fodder to an imaginative mind. The endless possibilities in this realm must have seemed tempting as it blossomed. 

Backstreet Boys were kings of their genre. They did have formidable contemporaries like NSync, Blue, Boyzone etc who made (sometimes major) waves but there was something in BSB that kept them a little ahead in all the competition. The old guard bred on Classic Rock and smoothest of Jazz will forever deem boybands of the 90s subpar and 'too manufactured'. But even they would agree that it was a decade that had an enduring love affair with them.

These were the years when parents in middle-class Indian homes were hawkish about Western music videos showing 'forward' activities. Backstreet Boys' songs were 'clean' enough and nicely filtered through.

Perhaps I was not alone. Manufactured or not, their music resonated with a generation trying to gain a foothold in an adult world. BSB members were ideal templates for many of them. And this was quite visible in the demographic present for their concert in Gurugram near New Delhi in India. 

There were no teenagers crying for their stars like in a K-Pop concert, but an arena full of adults just trying to capture some yesteryear magic. Some of them even had their kids along. And from what I gathered from those who attended the concert in Mumbai, the situation was the same. 'Full Nostalgia' was the verdict.

The BSB concerts in India underlined their ability to sell out arenas three decades after their prime. I am just a music fan and no expert. I wouldn't certainly know for sure but I guess not many A-listers can boast of such a feat. Maybe some have and it's just a fanboy in me giving some extra marks to Backstreet Boys, but the fact remains that they are still a major crowd-puller.

To use a horrible cliche, there are many who still think Backstreet Boys' music would not 'stand the test of time' and so on. But what all the naysayers in the world perhaps can't deny is the band's prime place in the Hall of Fame of trends that defined most of a decade not-so-distant in the past. 

(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)

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