Pop music is a very essential part of the music world. It provides light antics, the sweetest and most sentimental balladry, and so many groovy dance tunes. Why would anyone disagree? Before I go on into a rant, I will calm down before I hurt someone. I guess I’m just writing this for the fun of it. Sometimes people don’t realize the lengths fans will go to for the BSB. I can’t say the same for Britney’s fans, Christina’s, or even Nsync’s fans. Backstreet fans will do some crazy shiznit.
My own personal experiences include:
·Driving from Eastern North Carolina (30 miles from the beach) all the way to mid-Arizona for a concert.
·Missing a week of school to go to that Arizona concert (this resulting in my going over the max limit of days you can miss school. This can lead to failing the grade you are currently in. Luckily, my mother signed a parent waiver).
·If the BSB happened to be playing in NC or surrounding areas, and we had tickets, I would choose it over school. This being regardless of tests, exams, reports, etc.
·Attending 6 concerts, a 7th coming in a few weeks.
·Driving through the flood waters (some to the depths of 3 feet.) that resulted from Hurricane Floyd to get to my FIRST Backstreet concert.
·While on a family trip in Orlando, Florida, searching the city for their homes. We were completely unsuccessful, they really know how to hide.
·Mother finding property tax records of Howie’s parents on the internet, therefore finding his parents’ home address. I swear, I’m not joking.
·Paying from $20-$75 for merchandise at stores and concerts.
·Having enough BSB shirts, bandanas, pants, etc to wear at least one Backstreet article of clothing with the rest of my ensamble each day for a full week.
·Painting my face and arms with BSB sayings.
·Using shoe polish, balloons, and pictures to decorate cars for the concert.
·Paying up to $575 for six concert tickets (four were sold to friends who are also going with us).
·Alone we’ve paid up to $400 for four tickets.
·Hanging around the Charlotte Colisseum four hours too early for the concert, resulting in admission to a fan conference. Therefore, I met my idols and spent two and a half hours in the same small room with them.
·Leaving school instantly to go to Wal Mart or Target to buy a new album (Millennium - May 18, 1999; Black & Blue - November 21, 2000).
·Memorizing every word to every song, including soundtrack songs, imports, and songs that were never released on albums.
·Memorizing names, birthdates, wives & girlfriends names, house addresses, cars, family, favorites, etc.
·Seeing nearly every award show or program that they appeared on (MTV Video Awards, Men Strikes Back, Divas Live [presenters], The Grammys, etc).
·Requesting and voting for their songs as often as possible on both TRL and local radio stations.
·Making sure to vote in any online polls where they are up against other artists (Nsync...hehe).
·Owning seven CDs (domestic albums, imports, singles, and interviews), four videos (A Night Out W/ the BSB, All Access: Backstreet Boys, For The Fans: Burger Kind video [performances from the Millennium tour], and Homecoming in Orlando), seven posters, dozens of magazines they are featured in, over 500 concert pictures taken by myself, five t-shirts, one sweatshirt, one concert program, one fake backstage pass, five pins, five gel pens, two pens, one jumbo pencil, one Brian mini puzzle (given to me by my best friend, also a BSB fanatic), a pair of custom BSB pants, and I’m sure there’s more I just can’t think of it all now.
·All the love, devotion, admiration, and RESPECT you could possibly ask for.
Whoa, girl
Yes, I know I’m fanatical. All this has just been growing gradually since I was about ten years old. I’m not a stalker or anything of the sort, but when a group is so heavily involved in your life, it almost consumes you. It’s hard to explain it. They hooked me! It was though at ten years old, I was a little fish wading in a big pool of people, and happened to find the Backstreet bait. At that point, I caught the hook and I haven’t loosened myself free, or have wanted to for that matter.
Of course, I have a life outside the BSB. I have friends, school, sports, writing, jobs. But it seems as though the group of guys I so adore wheedles its way into every aspect of my life. I have friends who share my obsession, at school I’m popularly known as ’’Backstreet Girl’’ (or in shorter terms, Miss BSG), my writing is heavily dosed with everything Backstreet, and I’m working to get a job at a local newspaper with one of my articles interviewing Howie’s niece.
Poem
Here’s a little poem that I feel sums it up.
I know as well as you do
That you feel I’m some sort of fool
However I know as well as you do
That you are the one who has no clue
I know as well as you do
That this is the way I grew
I also know as well as you do
That this isn’t like a disease, or the flu
I know as well as you do
That it’s as if you’re in a rendezvous
I know as well as you do
You lived this crazy teenage life too
In Conclusion
All I can really say is, I hope I can become MouthShut.com’s Resident Backstreet Fan, always through and through!
©Cindy Park - 2001