antiReviews:
Backstreet
Boys – Black & Blue
CD Review by antiGUY
Backstreet Boys
– Black & Blue Label: Jive Release Date:
11/21/00
Tracks 1) The Call
2) Shape Of My Heart
3) Get Another Boyfriend
4) Shining Star
5) I Promise You (With Everything I Am)
6) The Answer To Our Life
7) Everyone
8) More Than That
9) Time
10) Not For Me
11) Yes I Will
12) It's True
13) How Did I Fall In Love With You
When my editor handed me this CD and asked
me to review it, I thought he had been smoking crack. It’s no secret to
frequent visitors to this site that I loathe pop music, especially boybands.
Using the word band is a misnomer, because these are not really bands but
vocal groups. True there have been worthy artists like the Temptations
who were singing groups and didn’t play instruments. However, they had
Smokey Robinson writing a lot of their hits, which is something that the
Backstreet Boys or their cookie cutter counterparts don’t have. If they
recorded a song like “My Girl” or “Just My Imagination” perhaps I might
give them some credit, but so far that hasn’t happened, as this album is
more of the same thing we were subjected to with Millennium and their self-titled
debut. In fact, the music of this group doesn’t even measure up to The
New Kids on the Block.
It’s no secret why this group is popular;
it’s marketing baby. Everything from the band member public personalities
to the insipid puppy love songs are focus grouped to insure that they elicit
the proper response from Jr. High School girls, making them want to spend
their parents money on everything from CD’s to hamburgers. It’s an old
formula we’ve seen time and time again; so far it hasn’t failed to rake
in the bucks.
What about the actual music? I did force
myself to sit through this entire CD and it did not change my opinion of
this group. The songs are corny at best, most of them deal with you guessed
it, puppy love. Even the upbeat songs like “The Call” and “Get Another
Boyfriend” come across as the ultimate in cheese. Aside from the computer-generated
accompaniment, something that isn’t anything new to pop music, the vocals
are over processed and produced. The overuse of studio effects on the vocals
is easily apparent to anyone who has ever been in a recording studio. Any
sound engineer will tell you that with the proper equipment you can make
even Roseanne sound good.
But the music is catchy with lots of hooks!
That is true and it was produced to be that way because this “music” is
really nothing more than commercial jingles designed to sell product. The
product is the boys, not the music. It’s ok for what it is, but I wouldn’t
go as far as to call it legitimate music. Think of it as three minute jingles
pushing the product called the Backstreet Boys and you will have this group
nailed. As far as taking them serious as artists, I still contend that
to do so is an insult to serious musicians out there trying to make honest
music.
Posted by Backstreet Rocks:
Well I Happened on this site by pure chance, and the idiot that reveiwed this CD ~Well It's almost 4 years since Black and Blue was released And Guess what idiot? BSB Are STILL together, just had a sold out tour of China Japan And Mexico And ARe ready to release another CD /Single soon.
So I guess your put down of them as a "Boyband" has fallen flat on it's face because they still have a huge fan base. Sorry To disappoint you but it's quite obvious that you have no ear for true talent.
You are into "Music snobbery" only if a group writes their own music,plays heavy rock, spits on a couple of ppl and breaks a couple of giutars are they worthy to be called music talent. GIVE ME A BREAK. It's quite apparant that you didnt even read the sleeves of all their previous Cd's Because if you did you would have realised that BSB have written songs from the Very Beginning SO If you care to remove your head out your butt you would realise you have made a huge mistake in your reveiw. BLack And Blue Is An excellent Cd As their new one will be.I Look forward to hearing their music for years to come.
Posted by Backstreet Rocks:
Well I Happened on this site by pure chance, and the idiot that reveiwed this CD ~Well It's almost 4 years since Black and Blue was released And Guess what idiot? BSB Are STILL together, just had a sold out tour of China Japan And Mexico And ARe ready to release another CD /Single soon.
So I guess your put down of them as a "Boyband" has fallen flat on it's face because they still have a huge fan base. Sorry To disappoint you but it's quite obvious that you have no ear for true talent.
You are into "Music snobbery" only if a group writes their own music,plays heavy rock, spits on a couple of ppl and breaks a couple of giutars are they worthy to be called music talent. GIVE ME A BREAK. It's quite apparant that you didnt even read the sleeves of all their previous Cd's Because if you did you would have realised that BSB have written songs from the Very Beginning SO If you care to remove your head out your butt you would realise you have made a huge mistake in your reveiw. BLack And Blue Is An excellent Cd As their new one will be.I Look forward to hearintheir music for years to come.
Posted by Backstreet Rocks:
Well I Happened on this site by pure chance, and the idiot that reveiwed this CD ~Well It's almost 4 years since Black and Blue was released And Guess what idiot? BSB Are STILL together, just had a sold out tour of China Japan And Mexico And ARe ready to release another CD /Single soon.
So I guess your put down of them as a "Boyband" has fallen flat on it's face because they still have a huge fan base. Sorry To disappoint you but it's quite obvious that you have no ear for true talent.
You are into "Music snobbery" only if a group writes their own music,plays heavy rock, spits on a couple of ppl and breaks a couple of giutars are they worthy to be called music talent. GIVE ME A BREAK. It's quite apparant that you didnt even read the sleeves of all their previous Cd's Because if you did you would have realised that BSB have written songs from the Very Beginning SO If you care to remove your head out your butt you would realise you have made a huge mistake in your reveiw. B7B Is An excellent Cd As their new one will be.I Look forward to hearintheir music for years to come.
Posted by Kidd:
Perfect one!
Posted by backstreet boys:
what up backstreet boys
Posted by 80's equivalent of a BSB fan:
Yo man, listen up you jacks$$es. New Kids on the Block have talent. They have wonderful voices and they'll be around forever. They're TRUE ARTISTS. They can sing and dance and write songs. You people say that they're just a fad, well you're wrong. They're the best and they will stay that way. Your bullsh*t lies don't change that. NKOTB foreva!
Posted by Mr. huh? saying, "My Generation Sucks!":
Ya'll are stupid dorks. BSB are silly, trite, soulless, mindless music. No depth or creativity whatsoever. You want good, upbeat songs that sing about love. Nothing wrong with that. But demand some depth and creativity at least. Bands like Train, Barenaked Ladies, Matchbox 20, and Savage Garden make love songs with actual substance to them. Just listen to Savage Garden's Affirmation album or Matchbox 20's brilliant debut Yourself or Someone Like You. Don't listen to this mind rape.
Posted by freak:
ya'll are freaks..
Posted by cybernut:
This freak doesn't know how to write a review. BSB music is great and their voices are brilliant and they care about their fans. It's not just marketing. They are geniuses, that's why they're on top. I Love the Backstreet Boys. Their songs are the best. They are the best thing that happened to the music world. Thank you BSB for all you've done and for all your wonderful music and songs.
Posted by Hellsadvocate:
True, this review covered all my thoughts, perfectly corrosponding with that crap boy band. There actually nothing, its the computer generated jingles and their "love" songs. WIthout any beat, they try so hard to act like their punk. They have nothing. Sadly, it seems id rather suffer through Nsync or maybe britney spears then listen to this slow whatever.... Im sorry im a total rock/alt nothing else comes close. Tough on these guys? what are you kidding? there songs are worthless! jeez, they have so much multimedia power they have got a fcking 13 year old singing out there and he's actually selling. His music sucks if he gets into rock it may be good. Rest assured music is to slow to soft, i bet my mother would enjoy something like this... Wouldnt yours?
Posted by BooGirl:
This CD was alright, you guys are definitely tough on then though! what kind of music DO you like?!
Posted by joey jol:
all you gies out there this C.D. is has the best songs ever I'm a big
fan of the backstreet boys I love them you shood by this C.D. you
will love it you can here it 100 times and will not get sick of it strust me.
from:joey
Posted by 09Lauren:
The Black And Blue CD was great! I don't believe this crazy review by antiguy. tealangel is right, the statistics speak for themself, and hopefully they will win a Grammy for "Shape Of My Heart" off this Black And Blue Album at the 2002 Grammy Awards in Feb.! Good luck- we are with you Backstreet Boys!
(This CD is Grammy Award material, that's how much antiguy knows.)
Posted by tealangel:
This stupid review reminds me of why unauthentic music critic's review's are WORTHLESS to the general public and to be taken with a GRAIN OF SALT. While some of their original stuff may be cheesy, each of them have true talent in the own right- the staistics speak for themself. These guys sing their butts off, have stayed together for 8 years and deserve our respect and support. The boys and their music have matured this past year if all goes well we should bee seeing even better from them.
Posted by aG:
How can you review the music when there isn't any "music" to review?
Posted by LILGOLDENRING:
BOYBANDS SUCK.. ALL THEY DO IS SING ABOUT LOVE 24/7. LIKE THEY BE LIKE I SO WANT WANT U BAD. THAN THEY WILL BE LIKE DESTINY'S CHILD AND SAY... BYE BYE BYE. THEY SO PITIFUL.
Posted by BSB Fan:
You are so closed minded! You listened to the CD with an attitude thta you were going to hate the CD. If you were a good critic you would of sat down and heard the boys true talent. After all they are the only singers I've heard thta can sing well live!
Posted by An Intelligent Fan:
Yes, I am a fan. I somehow got into this site because I was looking for lyrics. I didn't find this review very good at all.
Not only did you come into this review ready to completely hate the CD, but you didn't even review the important part of a CD, THE MUSIC! You reviewed their "hype" and the public portrayal of the whole "boyband" and pop phenomena.
I didn't consider this an "expert" review, but when do the critics actually give an honest review, right?
Posted by koolest dood:
Huh?? That review totally stinx! Get another boyfriend and everyone are 2 of the best ever pop songs to be released! This album totally rocks.. or shall i say pops.
As a proud owner of the cd, i highly recommend it to anyone!
Posted by schpanky:
Whats worse is 10-year-old boys who are doing the same thing BSB is doing...Dreamstreet.
schpanky@safeshots.com
Posted by Janae:
Kelly is a real @$$hole. she doesnt know real talent when she sees it. black and blue is a phenomenal album. she is probably a dumb blonde. BSB rocks, and nsync sux. and they do not lip sync. they write songs, play their own muzic, and make wonderful albums. and to mo gardner, people can like punk rock and pop too. if u listen to some of their songs, they sound just like rock too, so u can just SHUT UP AND GO TO HELL!!
Posted by LightRage:
'me' and 'dntbthtgrl' are such idiots writing an essay on them on an anti site. :)
Posted by me:
Okay, where does everyone get the idea that the BSB aren't a "real band"? It's my opinion that they work as hard as other bands, and that they do have a lot of talent. Sure, they aren't very good writers (a lot of it is WAY too sappy), but they can sing. How can people say they have no talent?! I mean, LISTEN to them without denouncing their songs as produced crap; I think they sound pretty good. Isn't that the point? And, why does everyone assume all BSB fans are crazed teenyboppers? God, every single argument against the BSB includes, that only "little girls" like them. I suppose I could count as a teeny myself, but I don't think it's dumb, immature thing to be a fan of the BSB. And what's wrong with the fact that the BSB have a lot of younger fans? I'm probably gonna like the BSB as much when I'm twenty. Oh, and by the way, I went to a concert of theirs a couple months ago. It was actually really good (aside from the cheesy clothes), and didn't sound very computer processed or fake to me. I was pretty anti-boyband then, but I had gotten the tickets awhile ago when I was into BSB. I went to the concert, and it totally changed my opinion of them. Shouldn't that say *something*? IMHO, nobody should just jump to comclusions about any band. I don't denounce bands of other genres, or say their fans suck, so maybe anti-boyband people could just lay off and give boybands a chance. *shrug* They're not just a produced, money-sucking boyband, they're people and they worked hard to get where they're at; as hard as any other band. You can't just say it's all marketing; if they sucked at singing and were a bunch of UNtalented jerks they wouldn't have this many fans. Oh, and regarding "Christina rapes kids" comment: Can we just stop being jerks, please? Everyone has their own opinion. Again, let's not diss certain genres cause of stereotypes. Sorry, that was sorta long winded wasn't it? =) Anyways, I personally liked the cd, even thought some of the mushier songs made me wince ^_^ My fave song on the album was probably Answer to our Lives, I loved the beginning.
Posted by Christina rapes kids:
Christina... rock singers scream in the mic? You ignorant piece of sh!t. You've obviously never listend to a rock cd in your life. I mean, bands like Radiohead, Headstones, Orgy, Incubus...
Posted by dntbthtgrl:
My comment is on behalf of all music lovers. I myself comes from a family of music makers, from my uncle who is not in a boy band, but a GROUP (what's the difference??) to my grandfather who sang jazz in Las Vegas. All I have to say about these people who are bashjing Backstreet and boy bands and all pop music, DON'T LISTEN TO IT!! My boyfriend thinks just because he's in love with Pearl Jam and they're "the best" that he has to bash NSync and everyone else who doesn't sound like PJ. Um, Pearl Jam is cool, but they're a whole different type of music.
Pop is pop. Rock is rock. Rap is rap. That's why there's different GENRES of music. For people who don't like "processed" music (synthesizers, music machines, blah blah blah), there's the bands that PLAY live. I say more power to BSB and all the bands out there like them because they're making their money, and if it were me, I wouldn't care what other people thought. Most guys are just jealous because their women would leave them in a heartbeat for any one of those guys. Anyway, my main comment is quit trying to bash pop because it's not going to go away and
who cares if someone was put together as a band or not. Most people never have the opportunity to have that option, and if it were you, and you had a million or so dollars guaranteed to you, you'd do it too!!
Posted by aG:
Christina by definition Vocal Groups ARE NOT bands! The word band refers to a "Band of Musicians". Adding an ohh or ahh to a lyric does not make you a composer. Let's not begin to talk about how computer processed their vocals are. I gave these clowns the credit they deserve, when you grow up you'll understand that! You accuse those of us who dislike this preprocessed pop music of not giving it a chance and then in the next breath make an ignorant statement like all rock singers do is scream into a microphone, if you listened to enough rock you would know better and would see why rock fans find these marketing devices called boyband so laughable. But hey there is a sucker born every minute and Jive Records is counting on that fact to make them rich!
Posted by Christina:
The boys never really get enough credit...All of them play instruments, in fact all of them play more than one. In addition, they all wrote on this album. Who are you to say what music is and isn't? I'm sorry to break it to you but "vocal groups" are bands. And if you'd listen close enough and get your head out of your ass, you'd realize the songs are NOT about puppy love. Answer To Our Lives, Time, Everyone, those are just a couple that have nothing to do with love at all. If you'd listen to these lyrics you'd probably find something meaningful, but appareantly you are unwilling to see the good things about them. And BSB was nopt brought together by a record producer, they got together and then went to a producer to get a deal. And what does rock music take in the means of talent? You have to be able to scream into a microphone...other than that, they are no better than bsb. Bsb writes, plays instruments, th eonly thing they dont do is burp into the mic...Hmm...where is the talent? Gee, I dunno...
Posted by Mo Gardner:
I got another thing to say to add to my other entry. That person who is HOTTIE02 is a dumbass... Rock bands have been together almost their whole life unless they got a new member. The BSB were brought together by a record producer (am i right or is that every other boyband ever made) Well they cant do $hit except become as popular as possible. The reason why they are at #1 almost every moth is because they have so many viewers out there who spread the news. I am a fan of real music and not that poser gay ass stuff that is made but other people like Phil Collins who sells it to the BSB and Nsuck. Thats what i got to say eh?
Posted by Mo Gardner :
Boybands are a waste of money. They have no musical talent besides singing and dancing. Real music is Punk Rock and Rock music back in the day or today. They have some real talent that can only be accomplished through time and practice. Boybands are corny. If they actually played their instruments i wouldn't really mind them. But as i see on tv they can't really do anything except look desperate to girls. I saw that one show on the O-town thing or whateva of making the band and one of them played guitar but only knew like 4 chords. It also isn't hard to make your voice better. You get voice lessons. But i'm still sticking to what i have to say that the real true artists are the ones who perform the music live and not lip synced like n'snyc.
Posted by Bob Joy:
THIS IS THE BEST CD EVER!! The other ppl like Sherry and Kel are deaf!! See I am not o fan of BSB but of their music!! It is awesome and i recommend everyone but it!!!
Posted by Sherry: The backstreet boys are the epitome of
pop culture in the 90's. The lack of intelligence and creativity in our
genre is a tragendy. The backstreet boys sell their music and do not make
it. The BSB regurgitate and reprocess the same song over and over. Music
was once about conveying a message through the use symbolism and lyrics.
Great music sounds like poetry. It uses symbolism and makes references
to politics, books, etc. Now the only thing that sells are lyrics that
we can take at face value, with no depth behind it.
Posted by
Kel: bsb's black and blue album is frikin horrible,
how can people call that music?, and to take the name of the album of one
of the best bands, rolling stones, is soooooo frikin messed up, bsb wishes
they could have the success of the rolling stones, fortunatly the bsb will
NEVER come close to the success of the rolling stones and other REAL bands.
Posted by
Kelly: bsb, true artists??.HAHA!!...its alot
harder for a musician or band to write songs, play songs, and sing songs
then it is for bsb to dance and sing, which they usually lip sync...soo
a true band or artist is one that writes their own music and and can actually
sing withour some back up singers singing for um
Posted by
Hottie02: Listen jacka$$, BSB has a talent, they
have wonderful voices that are probably better than yours! I want to see
your dumba$$ go up in front of 10,000 people a night and preform 22 songs.
You have no taste once so ever because Black and Blue is a wonderful cd.
The reason why fans buy so many of their items is because that support
bsb, unlike some pople like you. and, they are TRUE ARTSITS. they can sing
and they do make good songs. why the heck do you think that they are always
at #1? answer that. and trend? please, they are the best group and it will
stay that way. plus, they have been around for almost 9 years. ok? thats
pretty long, and you are stupid for all of your bull$hit lies that you
have printed. and i had to force myself so sit and read that bull$hit that
you wrote. next time, think before you speak a$$hole. and to all of the
ppl that agree with me. you rock! KTBSPA! Thanks for the comic relief. BSB Artists? That's a good one. I don't begrudge stupid little girls for liking these clowns but lets be honest it has very little to do with what they try and pass off as music. -aG
