When it comes to the greatest selling albums, which one comes to mind? Is it Back in Black by AC/DC, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, or Thriller by Michael Jackson? What’s the best song of your entire lifetime? Highway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin or Hotel California by the Eagles? What about Purple Rain by Prince (the album and song)?
What’s the first album you ever bought? For me it was a CD and it was Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morrissette. I just mentioned some of the best records of all time. For my generation, that was one of the best. But our opinions differ.
24 years ago this month, the Backstreet Boys released their second album Millennium. They already had success with their self-titled debut and hits like “As Long as You Love Me” and “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”. So I was sure this new one would be a hit and surely, it did not disappoint. I bought both albums in January of 2000 and quickly became turned on to the boy band craze.
Hits like “I Want It That Way” and “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely” got lots of airplay in 1999 and 2000 and stayed on the top 100 charts for many weeks. For me, it was my senior year and these were my jams. For those of you who grew up in the 80’s you had Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul, and in the 70’s you danced to the tunes of the Bee Gees and KC and the Sunshine Band. When I graduated high school and was off to college, these became my hits.
The music videos were always fun to watch (back when they were a thing). God I miss the old days of MTV and VH-1 when they played videos. Proud to be coming of age during the B-94 days (pre-2004) and was stoked when it temporarily came back in 2007. When I left for college in August 2000, I had Power 99.1 in Johnstown to keep me entertained. Even though pop music is long outdated like disco, I still enjoy it.
Say what you will, the Backstreet Boys are the greatest boy band of all time (apologies to all you N’Sync and Justin Timberlake fans) and Millennium is one the best selling albums of all time, if not the greatest.
Oh, and they released their first Christmas album last fall, “A Very Backstreet Christmas”. It’s worth a listen and it has one of the best covers of George Michael’s “Last Christmas”.
Check out my blog post later this week when I talk about my favorite music genres.
Stylish 🍒 