news archives

June 27, 2005 - Lindsay Lohan and the Backstreet Boys visited 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' on Thursday (June 16) at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. Check out pictures from WireImage.

June 27, 2005 - Jamie Gumbrecht of the Lexington Herald-Leader reviewed the Backstreet Boys' latest effort, 'Never Gone', giving it three stars. Gumbrecht writes, "The Backstreet Boys' new release, 'Never Gone', isn't bad. And for a boy-band comeback, it might be stellar. The Boys avoid the worst possible scenario: cover songs, remixes of old material, and teen-idol tracks that should have been on discs produced back when they were teenagers. Instead, 'Never Gone' matured just as the Boys did, without straying too far from the genre that sold 73 million albums worldwide." Read more.

June 27, 2005 - Anonymous writes "Darryl Sterdan from The Winnipeg Sun posted her review of Backstreet Boys' "Never Gone" album. Sterdan writes: "What it does have are overwrought vocals, overdone harmonies, and repetitive lyrics about change and growth and new beginnings and 'crawling back' to a lost love (hint, hint). What it does have are songs so tepid and gloppy that even Velveeta peddlers like Bryan Adams and Jon Bon Jovi would reject them as hokey and insipid. And all that is something we cannot forgive." Read more."

June 27, 2005 - Adam Graham from The Detroit News reviewed Backstreet Boys' new album "Never Gone" giving it a D grade. Graham wrties: "Whenever fading pop stars grossly overcompensate in their album titles - think the Spice Girls' 'Forever,' or Michael Jackson's 'Invincible' - you know trouble lies ahead. Sporting a neutered rock sound that makes Matchbox Twenty sound comparatively edgy, the Backstreet Boys attempt an ill-fated comeback, showing time has not only passed them by, but has left them looking immensely stupid. Save for one co-writing credit, the Boys didn't write any songs or play any instruments on the album. On par with albums from 'American Idol' also-rans, 'Never Gone' is proof the Backstreet Boys should have never come back." Read more.

June 27, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys attended the Teen People magazine Listening Lounge on Wednesday (June 15) at Canal Room in New York City. Check out pictures from WireImage.

June 27, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys made an appearance to sign copies of their new album 'Never Gone' at Virgin Megastore in Times Square, New York City on Tuesday (June 14). Check out pictures here.

June 27, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys performed their new single 'Incomplete' on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' on Thursday. The guys also performed their 'I Want It That Way' as part of the 'Today Summer Concert Series'. Watch both performances, and an interview with Nick Carter and AJ McLean, at NBC.com.

June 27, 2005 - Jay Leno joked during his Tonight Show monologue on Thursday night, "Let me tell you something about the Backstreet Boys. These guys made it in the music business the hard way, without sleeping with Paula Abdul. Huh? How about that? ... It was almost five years ago when they were here last. They took a five-year break. You know, normally, performers are rusty after a five-year break. But I was watching them in rehearsal, and they were totally N Sync. I mean, I couldn't believe -- The first rule of comedy, do not piss off the crowd. Threw that out to see if you were paying attention."

June 27, 2005 - The New York Daily News reports Nick Carter made out with a woman who was not Brittny Gastineau at the Backstreet Boys' 'Never Gone' release party at Suede. Carter later hit Cain with bandmate Kevin Richardson. There, Carter dispatched his bodyguard to comb the club for girls. Though he apparently was impressed with Keith Richards' daughter Alexandra, she was with her boyfriend, deejay Nic Cohen.

June 27, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys kicked off 'The Early Show's Summer Concert Series with 'Incomplete,' off their new fifth album, 'Never Gone,' and their smash hit 'I Want It That Way'. Watch the performances, an interview with Rene Syler, and their chat with CBSNews.com's Janie Ho here. Additionally, photos are available from RexFeatures.

June 27, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys visited 'Total Request Live' on Tuesday (June 14) at MTV Studios Times Square in New York City. Check out pictures here.

June 27, 2005 - Anonymous writes "Ryan Peterson from Star-Telegram reviewed Backstreet Boys' new album 'Never Gone' giving it a D- grade. Peterson writes: "Mostly, 'Never Gone' is an uphill climb, with little to speed it along. Songs such as 'Crawling Back to You' have a slow-burn to a gigantic hook. Unfortunately, the sugar has been replaced with aspartame and, like Diet Coke, the substitute's just not as good. Clearly, the quintet has a lot to offer lyrically. 'Lose It All' contains the highly revelatory phrase, 'If I lose it all, I'd have nothing left to lose.' Clearly, the band needed some help here. And if they keep putting out albums like 'Never Gone', it won't be long before their fans stay gone." Read more (subscription required)."

June 27, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys performed live on the Plaza at Rockefeller Center as part of NBC's 'Today' Show Toyota Concert Series in New York City on Friday (June 10). Check out pictures here.

June 27, 2005 - Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter attended the opening of Marc Packer's Bolzano's on Thursday (June 9) in New York City, where he posed with Brittny Gastineau. Check out pictures from WireImage.

June 27, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys's new official fan club has now opened. The fan club offers a message board (where the group members will chat on occasion), special backstage videos shot by the Boys themselves, photos, news, concert ticket pre sales, and much more! The website to join is BSBWeirdWorld.com.

June 27, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys recently dropped by WBLI in Long Island to promote their new album 'Never Gone' with Wendy Wild. They talked about what the guys had been doing during their five year break, nerves about the new album's release, their move away from Euro-pop synth to real instruments, serious topics addressed on some of the album's songs, and more. Download and listen at RadioactiveWendy.com.

June 27, 2005 - Smile writes "Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys are involved in two movies showing at Urbanworld in New York City these next few days. Kevin's production company, called Red Ronin, produced or arranged most songs on a soundtrack for a movie called "Rize." Those movies times are here. Howie briefly acts in "Constellation," has a credit as music supervisor, and wrote a song used in the movie. The movie times for that are here."

June 27, 2005 - The Mirror reports that Javine Hylton wasn't interested in a long-distance romance with Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter, and has instead moved on to 'The Salon' star Paul Merritt. "They had a drink and swapped numbers," a source revealed. "They exchanged text messages then bumped into each other again last week and went on a date. They've been on a few dates since and things are going really well. Javine has only ever had one serious romance - she dated her ex Tony Chorale for seven years." Read more.

June 27, 2005 - J. Freedom du Lac of the Washington Post reviewed the Backstreet Boys' new album 'Never Gone'. He writes, "After nearly five years of radio silence, Backstreet's back and on a serious power-ballad trip that strongly suggests Richard Marx as the Boys' answer to the ever-pressing question of 'Who's your daddy?' Frankly, we do not need one Richard Marx, let alone a bunch of Marxist clones. But life is funny like that." Read more.

June 27, 2005 - Smile writes "The Backstreet Boys are back on top of the Billboard album charts debuting this week at #3 in the United States. Worldwide, 'Never Gone', is topping the album charts with #1's in Japan (on the international chart), Germany, India, Chile, and Korea. 'Never Gone' debutes at the Top 5 in Canada, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Mexico and Brazil. Tickets are on sale now for the Backstreet Boys U.S. summer tour dates. Following that tour the group will embark on international dates taking them through Europe, Asia and South America. More information can be found here."

June 27, 2005 - Brian Littrell spoke with USA Today about the Backstreet Boys taking four years off before coming back to release 'Never Gone' last week. "Our success had gotten so big that our sense of the business and real life had become really jaded," Littrell said. "We needed some time to miss what we had worked so hard for, and to recharge our batteries as individuals." Read more.

June 27, 2005 - Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter spoke with Radio 1 about his unlikely solo collaboration with Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. "I remember when I was a little kid, my older half sister used to listen to the Crüe the whole time and I remember the song 'Shout at the Devil'. I was like 'Oh my God, what is this? I'm so scared'," Carter said. "I remember seeing the front cover and thinking 'these guys are so scary!'. Tommy's a friend of mine, we write music, it's not rocket science, it's not that hard. We write whatever comes out, no boundaries, no whatever. That's the way I live."

June 18, 2005 - BadAss4Backstreet writes "Richard Paton of The Toledo Blade reviewed 'Never Gone' and says that the disc shows that the Backstreet Boys have matured and that they still have their place in the industry. Check out the review here."

June 18, 2005 - John West didn't realize the power of Backstreet Boys fandom until he took his daughter to a Backstreet concert in Canada in 1996. Overwhelmed by the crowd's energy, the Canada resident promised to help create a Web site, which grew into Backstreet.net, thought to be the oldest and largest BSB fan site left. "I was in Web development, and for every hit my sites got, my daughter's site was getting 500," West tells Jamie Gumbrecht of the Lexington Herald-Leader, claiming the site peaked in 2001 with 30 million hits a month. "It's fun to tell your buddies at work you got 10 million page views last month, but I was competing against 16-year-olds." Read more.

June 18, 2005 - Anonymous writes "Howard Cowen of The Miami Herald gave the new Backstreet Boys' album 'Never Gone' a low rating of only 2 stars. Cohen writes: "For the Backstreet Boys' first studio album in nearly five years, the once-hot boy band chose the song 'Never Gone' as the title track. More truthfully, the Boys should have chosen another cut as the title track, 'Crawling Back to You'. Without one distinctive voice among the five singers, and no subtlety or nuance to the performances, an entire album starts to feel sound-alike and tiresome, losing flavor as fast as day-old bubble gum." Read more (registration required)."

June 18, 2005 - StrippedMusic.com is offering an online listening party for the Backstreet Boys' new album 'Never Gone' ahead of its release on Tuesday (June 14). Listen to the album in full here.

June 18, 2005 - The artwork for the Backstreet Boys' new album 'Never Gone' has been posted online ahead of its release on Tuesday (June 14). Check it out at JustBackstreet.net.

June 18, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys performed their new single 'Incomplete', their smash hit 'I Want It That Way', and 'As Long As You Love Me' as part of the 'Today' Toyota Concert Series in New York City on Friday (June 10). Check out what they had to say about being back together on the 'Today' blog and watch their performance at MSN.com.

June 18, 2005 - Billboard reports that Clear Channel Music Group, suffering from a slump in the concert business as fans rebel against forking out hefty sums for nosebleed seats, is teaming with the Backstreet Boys and AOL Music to offer two-for-one tickets for the group's summer amphitheater tour. Read more.

June 18, 2005 - Smile writes "The Backstreet Boys Summer Tour will begin on July 22nd in West Palm Beach, FL and end September 2nd in Portland, OR. Their new album, 'Never Gone', will be released June 14th in both a regular and DualDisc format. An exclusive digital version of the album including the 'Incomplete' video and a digital booklet will be available for download at iTunes beginning on June 14th. For the rest of the tour dates and more news click here."

June 18, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys, Beverley Knight, Charlotte Church, Estelle, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, Javine Hylton, Natasha Bedingfield, former S Club star Rachel Stevens, and Usher were on hand for the 2005 Glamour Women of the Year Awards on Tuesday (June 7) at Berkley Square in London, England. At night's end, Carter and Hylton were photographed entering the back seat of a car together to head out to the Funky Buddha. Check out pictures here.

June 18, 2005 - The Mirror reports that Eurovision flop Javine Hylton was whisked off her feet at the Glamour Women Of The Year ceremony by Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter and left hand-in-hand to spend the rest of the night making out at London's Funky Buddha club. "He went up to Javine and said that he couldn't keep his eyes off her and had been watching her all night," a source revealed. "He told her she was the most beautiful black girl he'd ever seen and asked if she was a singer. She introduced herself and he said: 'I've heard of you!' Javine thought it was hilarious. He then said he wanted to meet her for a drink later on and go on a date." But later at the club, a source said while Hylton wasn't looking, "there were loads of admirers around him and he started kissing a blonde" and Carter "had his hand up her top." Read more.

June 18, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys made a guest appearance on MTV's 'Total Request Live' in London, England on Monday (June 6). Check out pictures from Abaca.

June 18, 2005 - Smile writes "The Backstreet Boys are set to make an appearance at the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life in Jefferson County, TN on Friday, June 10th. They will participate in Relay For Life as members of the Provectus Pharmaceuticals team in support of Victoria Culpepper, an 11-year-old brain cancer survivor. For more information click here."

June 18, 2005 - XY.tv recently caught up with the Backstreet Boys, except for Kevin Richardson, in the VIP celebrity lounge. The group talked about the new album 'Never Gone', what they've been doing the four years since their previous album, the recording process and how tracks get approved for the final product, and more. Watch the interview here.

June 7, 2005 - Backstreet Boys, Gavin DeGraw, No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani, Jesse McCartney, Lindsay Lohan, Simple Plan, The Pussycat Dolls, and Tyler Hilton performed at the Y100.7 FM Vera Cadillac Summer Splash Concert on Tuesday (May 24) at Office Depot Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Check out pictures here.

June 7, 2005 -  The New York Post reports Nick Carter was ignored by Gwen Stefani and her Harajuku girls at Mansion in Miami after he tried to sit with them on a platform in the middle of the dance floor.

June 7, 2005 - Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys was on the phone with Radio Now 93.1's Morning Mess on Monday. Carter talked about their new single 'Incomplete' and album 'Never Gone', how things are different with the group, going to the new 'Star Wars' film, repeating his denial of hitting ex-girlfriend Paris Hilton, the situation with his family, and more. Download and listen to the interview here.

June 7, 2005 - Backstreet Boys star Nick Carter phoned into the Y100 show in Miami, Florida on Monday (May 23) to promote their new album 'Never Gone', due June 14th. Carter talked about why the group decided to get back together, being happy people are still interested in their music, bloopers on the DualDisc album, and more. Download and listen to the interview here.

June 7, 2005 - Anonymous writes "Rolling Stone magazine reviewed Backstreet Boys' upcoming album 'Never Gone' giving it only one star. Barry Walters writes: "'Never Gone' never attains the dizzy heights of previous hits and never reaches far enough toward new territory: The lead single, 'Incomplete', borrows enough from Coldplay's piano atmospherics to be both halfway decent and disturbingly crass, and Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik contributes 'Weird World', which suggests Ben Folds without the wit." Read more."

June 7, 2005 - Backstreet Boys were photographed at the airport in Cologne, Germany the other day. Check out pictures from Clasos.

June 7, 2005 - As the Backstreet Boys prepare to release their comeback album 'Never Gone' on June 14th, a source tells The New York Post that Jive Records are having difficulties planning promotion. "We are marketing them to a mostly Latino crowd right now because they still have a good fan base there," an insider said. The Post adds that the group are planning tour dates in 16,000-seat amphitheaters.

June 7, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys performed in concert at the E-Werk in Cologne, Germany on Tuesday (May 31). Check out pictures here.

June 7, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys were photographed outside Viva studios in Cologne, Germany on Monday (May 30), where they signed autographs for fans. Download and watch the clip at LiveDaily.com (other download links are deeper in the thread).

June 7, 2005 - BadAss4Backstreet writes "Not-like-you.com has video of a German TV Special from last weekend featuring the Backstreet Boys performing 'Weird World', 'I Still', and 'Climbing The Walls', in addition to the current hit 'Incomplete' and the old classics 'Shape of My Heart' and 'I Want It That Way'. Download and watch here."

June 7, 2005 - In returning, the Backstreet Boys tell Steve Hochman of the Los Angeles Times that they wanted to avoid contrivances such as New Kids on the Block's comeback a decade ago with a calculatedly updated sound and a shortened name, NKOTB, to downplay the "Kids" aspect. "All we care about is making good music, and the whole baggage will still be there," said Nick Carter, the youngest member at 25. "We're not trying to break away from it, not trying to say we're all grown up. People were saying we should change the name to the Backstreet Men or something. The Beach Boys never changed their name. We're not going to change." Read more.

June 7, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys were photographed arriving in Cologne, Germany earlier this week for the boy band's first concert in the country in five years. Check out pictures from Clasos.

June 7, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys visited 'TV Total', where they performed their new single 'Incomplete', an a capella version of 'Quit Playing Games With My Heart', and spoke about their 4-year break, Nick Carter's solo project, their tour plans, the response they've gotten from fans, how they communicate with screaming fans, and the new album. Watch the interview and 'Incomplete' performance.

June 7, 2005 - The Backstreet Boys performed on Germany's Viva on Monday (May 30). Download and watch their performances of 'Climbing the Walls', 'Incomplete', and 'Shape of my Heart' at not-like-you.com.

June 7, 2005 - The Sun reports that the Backstreet Boys started the lone European date of their comeback tour in unfortunate fashion this week, by running over a fan outside the Dusseldorf Airport where the boy band was mobbed by admirers. "We are so sorry for what happened. We'll make up for it," Nick Carter said. Read more.

June 7, 2005 - RTL's Boulevard profiled the Backstreet Boys return, showing footage from one of their first radio interviews and the group today. Watch the segment, featuring remarks from Brian Littrell commenting on fatherhood, the band talking about their charity work, acting, Nick Carter talking about his solo project and relationship with Paris Hilton, AJ McLean talking about his relationship troubles and being off drugs, and more at RTL.nl.

June 7, 2005 - Germany's Blitz has a clip profiling the return of the Backstreet Boys, and a pair of female fans looking forward to seeing the group perform in the country that kick started the boy band's career. Watch the clip, featuring remarks from Kevin Richardson and concert footage from their show in Cologne on Tuesday (May 31), at sat1.de.

June 7, 2005 - Lindsay Lohan and Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter were photographed hanging out at Mansion Nightclub after the Y100 Summer Splash concert on May 24th in Miami Beach, Florida. Check out pictures from WireImage.

June 7, 2005 - Though the Backstreet Boys would like their new album 'Never Gone' to debut at No. 1, like its last few releases did, but they are realistic. "If our album doesn't enter at No. 1, are people going to think we're off the mark? Well, no, because people had written us off anyway," the group's manager, Johnny Wright, tells Billboard. "That's the beauty of this record. It can't underperform because we don't have any expectations." Read more.

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