How many of you have been called "brainless" or worse because you like popular music? I know I have. I think of how many times strangers on the net have thought me to be brainless because of my love for the Backstreet Boys. I know I'm not brainless at all. Just devoted to the Baackstreet Boys and I don't think that there's anything wrong with a little fan worship as long as it doesn't get in the way of your everyday life.

I talk about the Backstreet Boys almost constantly but for that I've been called "brainless" or just "dumb." Or even worse. However, being called a brainless dumb-f--k is not the end of the world and it doesn't really bother me. I would just like to say first and foremost that I am NOT using this forum as an excuse to write about the Backstreet Boys.



A.J. McLean




Nick Carter with Hit List Canada hosts Danielle and Rob

People can think what they want about the Backstreet Boys. It's not as if I'll listen to anyone who tells me to grow up.

How did the Backstreet Boys change my life?

Well, quite simply put the fact that I discovered them when I had just turned 20 years old was a happy little accident but I found it to be one of the best accidents I ever discovered. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm 30 now and I still see things in them that nobody else really sees.
At first I thought: "Oh here comes a bunch of New Kids On The Block Wannabes! Here today and gone tomorrow." But after I had started really listening to their music I found that the opposite was true.



Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell: Kentucky's Finest Cousins

I suppose I couldn't help but be intriuged by them. I mean who wouldn't be intrigued by them? I think that the thing, for me, was that I was looking for something to believe in. I couldn't believe that I found what I was looking for 10 years ago.



Howie Dorough

The so-called "brainless" factor doesn't even come into it for me. For me it was a year since Take That broke up and two years since the New Kids On The Block broke up after their final album together bombed.
I couldn't quite figure out what I was going to do in my life. I had to figure it out for myself. That was when I started really listening to BSB and what they've stood for all of these 13 years. I didn't just decide that I liked the Backstreet Boys. I had a reason for liking them that really didn't have anything to do with them being a bunch of cute and squeaky clean guys.
I think it had something to do with their music and how it made me feel. Their music made me feel like there wasn't anything that I couldn't do.



Young Backstreet Boys singing acapella

Their Music.

Their music is the most important thing that I could talk about. The five part harmonies and the smooth vocals are what made their songs so likable to me. I think that what attracted me to their music is that after Backstreet's Back they started writing some of their own material and started writing about things that are important to them such as losing a loved one, Kevin and Howie both lost people who were very close to them, Brian's heart surgery etc.



A behind the scenes picture of a makeup man touching up Brian's make up.

I love the song Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely just because I related to the song a lot. I blubber like a baby everytime I hear it for some unknown reason. Let's just say that I have a lot more in common with Howie Dorough than anyone can ever imagine.

Backstreet on TV.

The Backstreet Boys have been on TV in real-life and in cartoons. I guess you could say that some of their animated debuts have been some of the best that I have ever seen in my life and the live-action stuff is even better. Some examples of these great works are:

Sabrina The Teenage Witch
Date aired: 08/12/01
Network: WB
Summary: Howie Dorough guest stars as a brainless musician named Douche. Sabrina writes an unflattering article about Douche and now he wants her fired. But in exchance for not getting her fired she must be a part of his stage show. So Sabrina casts a spell on Douche in order to teach him a lesson about being humble.

Static Shock: Duped
Date aired: 04/27/02
Network: Kids WB
Summary: A.J. McLean is in Dakota and is busy helping Adam Evans get signed to a record deal while his talentless rival and former business partner Marvin Roper aka Replikon tries to steal all of the glory for himself.



A.J. gets animated on Static Shock

Arthur: It's Only Rock N Roll
Date aired: 09/02/02
Network: PBS
Summary: The Backstreet Boys are coming to Elwood City and Muffy wants to be their manager but Francine thinks that the Backstreet Boys are nothing but a bunch of pretty boys and intends to prove that they're a bunch of one trick ponies by rivaling the Backstreet Boys with her own band U-STINK.


Sesame Street
Date aired: 12/12/03
Network: PBS Kids
The Backstreet Boys sing One Small Voice with Elmo.

Dora The Explorer Christmas Special
Date aired: 12/25/05
Network: Nick Jr/Treehouse TV
Summary: Dora and Boots are trying to deliver a present to Santa Claus while trying to dodge Swipper the Fox. Howie Dorough guest stars as a spanish speaking Santa Claus.



More Howie Dorough


The Sisterhood

Backstreet Boys fandom is just like a sisterhood in a convent or in a sorority. The way I see it is that you either like them or you hate them. But BSB fans are a strong united front that cannot be broken down for any reason.

I guess there's another reason why people like them is because they have such a strong voice for their generation.

There's nothing in the "all male vocal group hand book" that says you need to be a teeny bopper to like pop music. Most adults I've met online like BSB too.



Howie and the gang surprise A.J. on the Oprah Winfrey show and talk about how his chemical dependency almost destroyed everything that BSB worked so hard for.

So why are we brainless for talking about the music that we love?



Nick Carter from his solo album cover.

It could be a lot of things that make us female BSB fans so brainless. Maybe it's the fact that we scream our heads off everytime we see the Backstreet Boys. Or it could be that some of our minds are occupied 24/7/365 with the Backstreet Boys.

I just know that I love the Backstreet Boys and it doesn't matter to me what anybody says. I'll always have a place in my heart for them.



Cowboy Kevin

So the next time you're online and someone calls you "brainless" for liking the Backstreet Boys you can tell them that adults like them too.


A Howie promo pic

Thank you very much for your attention.



Kevin and Brian are playing video games