Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life

Backstreet Boys in Las Vegas

I did not plan to create this post but due to the Backstreet Boys getting a residency in Las Vegas, I believe I need to create one, something to celebrate their success, to cherish whatever memories I have of the world's best selling boy band, to relieve the greatness of '90s music. The title of the post is so fitting as it is the banner of their residency run at The AXIS at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino which is scheduled to start next year. So if you are planning to visit the world's gambling capital in 2017, make sure you don't miss out their performance.

It all started in 2001

It was in 2001 when I first learned about the Backstreet Boys, when my brother was humming to "Shape of My Heart". I was a new listener to Westlife then and "If I Let You Go" was my first ever LSS. I remember telling him not to sing that song in the house. I did not listen to the boys from Orlando until a few months later.

At my high school's intramurals, the faction I belonged to field in a dance team to compete for the modern dance competition. Their music: "We've Got It Goin' On" by Backstreet Boys. The other two factions dance to A1 songs.

One second-degree relative lend me her Millennium

cassette tape. I was grateful for her for introducing me to many Backstreet Boys songs. Later she would lend A1's The A List album.

Around the Halloween period, I went with my cousin to his place to pay some relatives a visit. There he played Backstreet Boys music in their Sony bookshelf CD player. It was euphoria.

At Christmas, my mother would gift me a cassette tape of the band's compilation album Greatest Hits – Chapter One. My sister received Westlife's World of Our Own.

That time then, my favorite Backstreet songs were "Larger Than Life", "Get Down", and "Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely". I used to dislike their hit "I Want It That Way", which is now one of my four most favorite songs from the group.

Next year (2002), an ex-classmate would give me an old music magazine, which featured an interview of the Backstreet Boys on their then upcoming magnum opus Millennium. And in summer of that year, mother returned home with the year's edition of the Guinness World Records, which included the band as record holder of the best-selling boy band album.

From 2002 to 2004 I heard nothing of them. No new material. Then in the summer of 2005, I was surprised to hear them with a new song, titled "Incomplete", but was shocked at their musical shift, gravitating to a more pop rock sound. That song was in the VCD given to me by my former college crush who turned down my offer of love. It was the first of two gifts she gave to me.

One morning in 2007, my sister tuned in to an urban station that played "Inconsolable", a song that highlighted the Backstreet Boys' return to pop. They were minus one member.

In 2009, I stumbled on Channel V the music video to "Straight Through My Heart". It was one of the best songs I heard in my first year in the city.

In 2013, just weeks into my new job, the Backstreet Boys returned as a five-piece band with a new single "In a World Like This". The sun dawned on me, telling me music will return to how it was then.

Forward, Backstreet Boys

I am happy to hear about musicians from the glorious past still playing music to fans who will never forget them. Some bands and soloists have called it quits, but the Backstreet Boys is just one of those who decide to keep playing and defer disbandment or retirement to a far later time. God knows what happen when they disband.

Whatever, my memory of the Backstreet Boys will live on.

“Welcome to The Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance (2006)

10th anniversary of The Black Parade

By writing this post, I celebrate in advance the 10th anniversary of the release of My Chemical Romance’s third album The Black Parade. The band will be releasing a reissue to mark the occasion. Titled The Black Parade/Living With Ghosts, the compilation album includes 11 demos and live tracks and will hit record stores on September 23, just one month before the 10th year anniversary of the album’s release October 23, 2006).

The Black Parade happens to be the band’s most recognizable record and it was hailed as one of the best albums of 2006 by Rolling Stone, Spin, Wizard, IGN, and Entertainment Weekly. Indeed, it is one of the most important records of 2006 and of the first decade of the 21st century.

It's hard to believe 10 years have passed since the release of My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade. It's hard to believe rock music has become almost non-existent. It's unbelievable that thugs and whores have taken over music.

2006: A most memorable year

The Black Parade is one of the albums that impacted music in 2006, a year that definitely belonged to My Chemical Romance. If memory serves right, it was one of the best years for emo and alternative rock.

I was a college student then when The Black Parade was released. The lead single “Welcome to the Black Parade” was soon played by the urban city station that used to give equal playing time to rock, pop, and hip-hop. In the station’s weekly top 30, the song reached #2. "Welcome to the Black Parade" was my defining track of 2006. Next year, it would be "Famous Last Words", another track off The Black Parade.

2006 was the year when I was overdosed with infatuation. It was a year of unrequited love, a year lost to an obsession. On the domestic side, family and money problems mounted at home and the family almost broke apart. Yes, 2006 was a year of worry and anxiety, a time of pain, a period of depression and devastation.

But it was not a year ‘wasted’. It was a year well spent and well lived in the other departs of my school life, my young adult life.

Memory of a former classmate

Imagine how one song helped me remember two persons from my past: A former object of my infatuation and a former classmate.

While writing this post, I began to remember one classmate, who helped me get through the hard times of the half of 2006. He offered no financial help but companionship, advice, and other forms of non-financial support. He gave me reading materials that only collected dust at his home. He gave me lemonsito (Philippine lime) so I can make juice to cure my coughs. Back then, I was a mobile phone-less lad, so he let me use his without charging me.

Too bad my classmate left before Christmas. He had to return to his girlfriend (his future wife) so he can start building his family with her. One time she sent him a picture of hers, and he showed it to me. She’s a pretty woman of Filipino-Chinese stock. I don’t know why my classmate fell for a woman who’s a bit older than him. But God bless him and his family wherever they are now.

To my classmate, thank you very much!

10 years later

In 2007, Kanye West and 50 Cent competed against each other in the battle of the best-selling hip-hop album. In 2008, the global recession occurred. In 2009, the King of Pop Michael Jackson passed away and Wonder Girls sparked the Korean Wave with their hit “Nobody”. In 2010, Kobe Bryant won his second NBA Championship without former teammate Shaquille O’Neal.

In 2011, Lady Gaga released her controversial single “Judas”. In 2012, the London Olympics took place and Barack Obama won a second term as U.S. president. In 2013, the Backstreet Boys returned as a five-piece band and typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) wreaked havoc in the Philippines.



In 2014, Germany won the World Cup, defeating Argentina in the process. In 2015, idol Rena Matsui of SKE48 and Nogizaka46 graduated and AlDub became an Internet sensation and social media darling. In 2016, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie called it quits after 11 years, thus ending ‘Brangelina’.

As of this writing, the video for “Welcome to the Black Parade” on the band’s official YouTube clocked 57,054,244 views after being uploaded in September 28, 2006. In contrast, Kanye West got 59,015,375 views for Bound 2, one of the worst music videos I have ever seen.