New Backstreet Boys' release may prove staying power of boy and girl bands

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Nov 24, 2000 Source: Toronto Star Submitted By: at http://kiss.to/tightiewhities Written by Betsy Powell ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER It's not just the core demographic - girls eight to 18 - anticipating today's release of The Backstreet Boys' Black & Blue CD. Many in the music industry, where sales have been propelled by cute boy and girl bands, consider the CD a barometer of pop's staying power. Already this year, previous chart-topping acts such as Aqua and Hanson released albums that failed to extend their brief superstar run while Britain's Spice Girls also appear to have lost their sales gusto on this side of the ocean. Forever, the new album from Posh, Baby, Sporty and Scary, debuted at No. 7 in Canada last week after selling 17,000 copies - exactly half of the sales across the entire United States, where it debuted at a paltry No. 39. Even the album's producer, Rodney Jerkins, admits he's ``totally disappointed'' with sales, accusing the record company, Virgin, of not doing more to promote the first single, ``Holler,'' in America, according to Reuters news agency. If pop's bubble is about to burst, it's not a moment to soon for some. ``People are sick to the teeth of processed and hyped pop bands. It's crap. They want something real again,'' U2's Bono said recently while promoting the Irish rockers' new CD. ``Every act has its day, and we very well may have seen Backstreet Boys ride its crest,'' Billboard magazine senior writer Chuck Taylor told Teen People, which featured the group on its December cover. Others caution against trying to pre-judge the public's appetite. ``I think maybe sometimes people wish for things,'' said Andrew Pollack, music retailer HMV's vice-president of marketing, ``and we don't see it slowing down at all.'' He predicts Black & Blue - the same title as a Rolling Stones' 1976 album - will be ``huge.'' ``We've been hit with a tidal wave of interest in the album already. I would have to say my expectations are that this will be the biggest album of the year 2000.'' With Christmas coming, the timing is right. A blockbuster is also just what the music industry ordered after a year that has seen sales dip 5 per cent from last year, said Brian Robertson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association. There's little doubt the Boys, on the heels of three CDs since 1996 that were million-sellers in Canada, will come storming out of the gate. That's a feature, said Pollack, of ``better handling'' and marketing strategy to keep and expand the audience. Compare the record of the Backstreet Boys, for instance, with early '90s teen sensations New Kids On The Block, who sputtered out after just one album. ``They know how to get not only the kids but the moms into these things,'' Pollack said. Laura Bartlett, president of the Boys' Canadian label Zomba Records Canada, agreed. Hoping to build on their image as more than a teen-dream group, the quintet opted to put out an album with no pictures on the front cover. ``They want people to judge it on the music, that's what they've certainly said,'' Bartlett explained yesterday. They also had more creative input on the disc, including several songwriting credits. Still, the U.S. label, Jive, is leaving nothing to chance. The singing and dancing fivesome - Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean, Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough - are in New York today to announce tour plans after a whirlwind, 100-hour, round-the-world promotional tour, during which the band stopped in Sydney, Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro. But will the promotional push be enough to topple rap star Eminem, whose Marshall Mathers LP is the year's top-selling disc so far in Canada, with 590,000 copies sold? Stateside, all eyes will be on the charts to see if the Backstreet Boys will muscle their way past boy band rivals 'N Sync, which sold a whopping 2.4 million copies of its No Strings Attached in its first week of release, shattering U.S. sales records. ``I bet we can break their record and our record combined the first week out,'' Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean boasted to Teen People. Newsday noted that would require a 3.5 million sales. It's a different story in Canada, where the Backstreet Boys retain the top-seller crown. The group's last disc, Millennium, entered the Soundscan charts at No. 1 and sold 192,000 its first week out in May '99, compared with No Strings's 105,000. Indeed, the record to beat here is Céline Dion's. The Quebec singer raised the bar back in 1997, when her disc, Let's Talk About Love, sold a record-breaking 230,212 copies in its first seven days. Comment on this item. 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