Backstreet's Back…Alright?

My first album was Backstreet Boy’s “Backstreets Back.” As soon as I would hear “Everybodaaaaayaaa, rock your bodayaaaaaaaaah” I would feel chills down my spine. I was in love.

It was the 90s and before the Internet and pirated downloads we actually had to pay for music (I know, as if!) 

If I wanted "Backstreets Back", mum's order was that I had to "save up". 

Usually, I only got CD singles which were $5, and just had a single song (as well as its various remixes). But I was hell bent on owning this album, and to have it I was going to have to “earn” the $30. But at 7 years old my only way of “employment” was mum handing me $2 a day, so it was going to take about 2 weeks (and a day).

By day 6 my patience had run out! I wanted Backstreet’s Back! I begged and pleaded, offered to vacuum, keep my room clean, cook, do all my homework, ANYTHING! I sang, danced, threw tantrums...

After school on day 7 mum took me to Sanity Music, reached up high (because it was #1 and all the way at the top) and grabbed the musical accolade that would become the soundtrack of my childhood. I was in awe. There it was, beaming in all its glory. The Boys looked so cool on the cover, leaning just perfectly against a warehouse wall in their oversized jackets. My “favourite” was Nick. He was the “baby” of the group and so cute!

 I opened my Velcro pink wallet and spilled out all the $2 coins on the counter for the salesman. Mum paid the remaining $18.

My memories of that night are clear. I got home and played the CD over and over and over again. Every song. During dinner, while doing my homework, all night. Even the shitty ones that are never released. I listened to them on repeat anyway.

These were the days before YouTube, Vevo, Channel V and mainstream cable TV (so no MTV), and watching video clips meant waiting for the weekend so that we could turn on Video Hits and watch music countdowns. Backstreets Back was in the music charts and I wanted to learn the steps that Nick, Brian, AJ, Howie and Kevin jammed out in the haunted house...

…and that is what I did. When relatives and friends came over I would force them to give me "ticket money", to watch my Backstreet Boys dance-a-long concert. I even dressed up as the “mummy”, hoping that I would emulate “Mrs Mummy” and be Nick Carter’s corpse bride.

In 2000 my sister and I got our 1^st computer. It was a bulky Windows 98 but the detachable side speakers made it super-duper cool! I had a stroke of genius to put the CD in the disc drive, just to see what happens. All of a sudden, the screen went blue, and the backstreet boys were invading. I had the option not only to hear their songs, but to see them sing, dance, and even watch bits and interviews from their global tour whenever I wanted! I was in heaven. The obsession only grew stronger.