JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
'Crazy Boyband Rules': Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and New Edition Members Recall Experiences Of Performing With Their Bands
The latest Paramount+ documentary Larger Than Life chronicles the history of boybands while exposing its dark side. Former members of hit bands like Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and New Edition opened up about the “crazy” rules they had to follow. Deets!
Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and New Edition members are exposing the dark side of being part of the world’s biggest boybands. NSYNC alum Lance Bass, New Edition’s Michael Bivins, Backstreet Boys member AJ McLean, and others weighed in on the “crazy” rules they had to follow to maintain their pristine image.
“You have to remember with boybands, it’s a family audience,” Bass said in the new Paramount+ documentary, Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands. “And, because of that, there were some crazy boyband rules,” his former bandmate Chris Kirkpatrick added.
According to Bass, the record label management would warn them against doing something often using references to members of other groups, like New Kids [on the Block]’s Donnie [Wahlberg] did this, hinting that it shouldn’t be repeated. “And so you knew you were being told not to do this,” Bass recalled.
To maintain their image, the members were forbidden to indulge in drinking or smoking cigarettes even when they were backstage. There were other unnecessary prohibitions, such as the prohibition that one can not ride a motorcycle, which Kirkpatrick gladly broke. “Nobody can ride motorcycles. Boom! I bought a motorcycle and brought it on tour with me,” he recalled.
However, the rules didn’t end there because Bivins claimed in the documentary that restrictions weren’t limited to morality or their musical performances but physicality as well. “They would say, ‘Hey! Shave your mustache. Hold on to your youth,’” he recalled. “We can’t be Fatstreet. That is not cute,” Backstreet Boys alum McLean added.
Bivins unveiled another irrational rule that boyband members had to follow: the “no girlfriend” rule because it would break fans’ illusions and snatch away their dreams. The documentary, helmed by Tamra Davis, chronicles the history of boybands and their crazy fandoms. In addition to the ones mentioned before, the boybands mentioned in the film include the Jonas Brothers, One Direction, Jackson 5, and The Beatles.
The documentary will feature stars like Bass, Kirkpatrick, McLean, Bivins, Donny Osmond of The Osmonds, Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees, the Hanson brothers, and Vernon and Hoshi of Seventeen. Larger Than Life is streaming now on Paramount+.
Latest Articles
