From Tracie: What I Meant to Say About....The Backstreet Boys

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

What I Meant to Say About....The Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys??  What?
Here is the set up!  My husband, Thomas, is a music lover.  Long before we knew each other, he discovered this group that he just thought was so cool...the Backstreet Boys.  This is a point of contention because I have one story that I tell whenever I hear someone mention them.  When they first came out I remember sitting in my friend's car and listening to this song that kept saying "Backstreet's back...alright!" and all I could think was, "Back?  Back from where?  This is your first time here.  Where are you back from?" and they were forever put in the category of my mind where I place silly music groups and then ignore them.
     What I meant to say about that is....that song should have been reserved for a "ten years later comeback" album.  Really.  Wait until you have left and gone somewhere for a long time before you announce to me that you are back.

Also, I can't tell them apart form N*Sync.  I just can't.  They are the same....a bunch of guys who sing and do choreographed dance moves....and come back from....somewhere.  I made the mistake of telling this story to Thomas one day years ago and he was very sad.  He keeps trying to explain to me how they are so different, and the Backstreet Boys are real musicians, and how they are awesome, and he is convinced that I just haven't really heard them.  That is the set up.

This morning I was taking a short nap, and Thomas called me from the laundry mat to tell me to turn on the tv because the Backstreet Boys were on! -At this point I would have been annoyed, but how can you be annoyed at your man when he is doing the laundry for you?
      You just can't get annoyed in that moment, so what I meant to say about that is...Thanks for rocking the laundry Thomas! 

So I turned the tv on and watched this.......




I really wish I had a recording of Thomas on the phone explaining to me how awesome they are right then, but I don't...but this is the highlight of the conversation.  I am trying to be nice and not crack jokes about how they are back from somewhere (because the man is doing the laundry y'all!  The Laundry!) but the moment came where I had to say something.  They did the thing where they are singing along and then randomly point the microphone at the audience and say "let me hear you sing it" and then the audience sings a bit while the guys on stage stay quiet.  That drives me crazy!  Why do musicians do that?   I don't want to hear the audience sing!  So I point this out to Thomas and he agrees with me and tells me that he bought some group's live album (I don't remember who it was....I was napping, my brain wasn't fully functional) and when you listen to the cd they do that several times and Thomas said that he always wants to say to a band that does that......
          I want to hear you sing the song, not the audience!  I know what other people sound like because I hear them all day when I sit in traffic! 


 




Do you have anything that you meant to say this week, but didn't?  Angel wants to hear all about it!  She bought WIMTS from Chief to benefit Mission Monkey-how cool is that?  So go show her some love and play along.  It is fun!!

19 comments:

  1. roflmbo ok I have to confess I had a crush on a few of the members Like Brian Litrell who is a local grown boy who has made good and now does gospel ..

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  2. LOL! Ahh Backstreet Boys and N'sync those were my highschool days. I had no idea Backstreet Boys were still together.

    I agree with the band having the audience sing, I don't get it

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  3. I always had a crush on AJ. But also, they were back. They came out in the US and no one liked them so they went to Europe for a few years and everyone loved them so then they came back to the US and that's why backstreet was back. And they are VERY different from NSync. So much so. Also I had every album and piece or merchandise that was possible to have of BSB in highschool.

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  4. How are Backstreet different from nsync? Vocal polyphony is the term. nsync's harmonies feature a single solo voice (use to be JC because he has the better voice, but changed to Justin due to the PR blitzgreig of the Justin/Britney romance) backed by barbershop fourpart harmony. Backstreet's harmonies (at least when there were five of them, not so much now with only 4) were far more complex. Sometimes two solo voices backed by 3 part harmony. Sometimes 2 dueting voices with a solo voice. Sometimes all 5 voices break apart and just sing each their own way-yet achieving a COMPLETE HARMONIC WHOLE-which frankly sends chills up my spine. Beautiful! And they do it live. JC from nsync admitted in an interview early on that nsync sang to prerecorded vocals during their live shows because they wanted to concentrate on their dancing, Backstreet cut back their dancing so they could sing LIVE in order to set themselves apart from the lipsyncers. So yes-nsync's live performances were a Mickey Mouse's dream of "perfection" onstage, whereas Backstreet's live performances had the REAL flaws of the occasional weak vocals, off tone, whatever occurs when the artists actually SING. To make it easy--Backstreet=harmony and ballads, nsync=beat and dance.

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  5. LOL Some days.....I'm grateful I only like country music, and have no idea what you are talking about. :D

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  6. Aren't they getting a little old to refer to themselves as 'boys'?? I can't stand them or NSync.

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  7. I cannot STAND the Backstreet Boys. When I hear one of their songs it annoys me. It must be what my mother felt like during the New Kids On The Block years.

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  8. lol i used to be in love with backstreet boys and nsync ummm when i was like 12 LMAO i didnt know they were making a "comeback" yeah ill pass hahaha

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  9. I think its hilarious that your husband is so into them! I used to listen to them all the time in high school, but I honestly didn't know they were still together! lol

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  10. LOL I couldn't tell those two groups apart, either!

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  11. Wow your man does laundry?!? I'm sooo jealous! I don't think I wouldve made fun of him either...not until the socks were folded anyways lol.

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  12. I think I love albalass.

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  13. Oh my! I can't tell the groups apart either.
    but i remember the song...:)

    Great WIMTSW post! :)

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  14. I agree with the audience singing thing. Hate it. They did that yesterday or was it monday -when they were on the CBS Early Show. the boys still got it though :D

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  15. Shit. I'm a dinosaur. Couldn't tell you what they sang. Do you like - err., the Beatles?? I did read a disturbing article in Vanity Fair about their manager trying to rip them off....

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  16. I hate the Backstreet Boys a LITTLE less than NSYNC.
    But only a little.

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  17. I think it's HILARIOUS that your hubs is the one who loves the boy bands. I cannot tell the two apart either.

    And for the record, one of the goose pimply moments of the U2 concert this year was when Bono starting singing, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and he asked the entire Soldier's Field in Chicago to sing the first verses, it really was over the top cool. I think it's an ego thing.

    I always ask my husband who sings really loudly over the song, "Who sings this?" and when he tells me, I say, "Well, why don't you let THEM sing it."

    I am so mean.

    Hey, I'm a Florida girl, too. Tampa Bay Area.

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  18. Oh the good old days of Backstreet boys! It seems like just yesterday I was listening to them!

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  19. Your confusion over your husband liking BSB is like my confusion over mine liking Enya. Boggles the mind.

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