Backstreet vs. Beatles
Source: Calgary Sun
It's rather symbolic that the latest Backstreet Boys opus, Black & Blue, should hit music store shelves today, a mere week after the release of The Beatles' 1.
Consider it a passing of the torch from the original boy band to a musical group that can be called, without hyperbole, absolutely the greatest band ever to grace this planet with the word "Backstreet" in their name.
Though the debate has raged long and passionately from both sides of the fence -- pitting father against daughter, mother against daughter, brother against daugher -- now, with these releases fresh in our collective consciousness, is also the perfect time to revisit the question of which band is, indeed, better: The Beatles or The Backstreet Boys.
THE MEN: Let us for a moment put aside the fact there were only four true Beatles (John, Paul, George and Ringo) and there are five Backstreet Boys (Kevin, Howie, AJ, Brian and Nick), meaning by simple arithmetic that the Boys are one better than their elders.
Let's take a good look at who these men are, or more importantly how they look.
The Beatles were all over the map, changing their styles more often than not: Respectable suit-wearing young men, dirty filthy hippies, dirtier filthier hippies.
Facial hair not included, The Backstreet Boys have remained true to their style and themselves -- no Nehru jackets, no skinny ties, no au natural bed-in looks -- just the Boys.
Past the looks, you can tell a lot about a man by what he says.
Who could ever forget John Lennon's shameful proclamation: "The Beatles are better than God, so worship us, you ugly peasants" -- or words to that affect?
Contrast that with the attitude of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, who writes in the liner notes to Black & Blue: "So ... God, Jesus, I've got nothing but love for You. You're the bomb."
The subtext of Nick's respectful shout-out to the Lord is obvious: No man, no matter how well groomed or how many albums he's sold at Wal-Mart, is bigger than the big man upstairs.
THE MUSIC: People will put forth that other than their first record, which was half covers, The Beatles mainly wrote their own music, while The Backstreet Boys rely predominantly on other songwriters, including the inimitable genius of Dan Hill on their latest release, so the nod must go to the Fab Four.
But let's get past that insignificant, somewhat petty argument and look at the music.
While throughout their career, The Beatles were scatter-shot in their influences and song stylings -- pop, soul, psychedelia, East Indian -- the Boys prove on Black & Blue how focused they are, keeping their formula simple (white-bread R&B ballads + white bread R&B dance songs = a hit record) and sticking with the wonderfully North American credo of: "If it worked the first time, it'll darn sure work the fourth."
Lycially, if you listen to 1, the songs are childlike in their simplicity, and subsequently the words don't stand up to much scrutiny, let alone interpretation: Help! is about a guy who needs somebody (not just anybody) to help him; Paperback Writer is about a guy who wants to be a paperback writer, Ticket To Ride, I Want to Hold Your Hand -- it's all too obvious.
But the Backstreet Boys on Black & Blue -- wow! Talk about a Rubik's Cube of insight and wisdom. The title itself, though previously used by such musical footnotes as The Rolling Stones and Jimmy McGriff, is only the beginning of the enigma that is The Backstreet Boys.
For example, look at the song Get Another Boyfriend. Do they really want her to get another boyfriend or is there something darker at work here? Is the man she's dating "just another player, playing in the name of love?" It's left up to us to decide.
Or what about the song Time? I don't think it would be overstating the point by saying that when the Boys offer the rather Taoist observation "Time is what it is, come what may," it is one of the finest moments of introspection in the recorded history of mankind.
THE LEGACY: But perhaps we should leave the last words to people who know better than you or I.
In the liner notes for the Beatles' 1 album, someone named George Martin writes: "These four men, John, Paul, George and Ringo, broke so many records and so many barriers and they will be remembered for being the most significant music creators of the twentieth century."
Lofty praise from Mr. Martin. But it pales in comparison to the words of eloquence from a mysterious wordsmith writing under the name bstreetluvrgrl in one of the many chat rooms devoted to the magical troubadours.
She writes: "The backstreet boys are the raddest and cutest groop ever in the werld, especially brians butt, and I love them more than nsync."
I think that answers our question once
and for all.