I want to go camping one day.
I've never done it before. I want to do that.
Whoo hoo!
Can you imagine playing paintball up here?
It'd be hard.
If you tripped and fell down this hill,
You're donezo.
Oh, god... oh, god.
What the hell?
Did they take with the group, guys?
Come on, A.J., you can do it.
All right, A.J.'S coming.
Yes, it's gonna take me a minute.
This is really shitty for my knees.
Backstreet boys!
From 1999 to about 2002, we were unstoppable.
I mean, we're the biggest band in the world.
We dreamed, but nobody thought it was gonna be
As big as it was.
We sold over 130 million albums worldwide.
Then kinda out of nowhere, it just stopped.
Once radio and mtv
And they think that you're over,
I mean, they're gonna just scratch you.
You can get so much criticism being in a boy band.
The beginning was manufactured.
There's no doubt about it.
But it's like pinocchio. He was manufactured.
But he turned into a real boy.
They are the best-Selling boy band in history,
Celebrating 20 years of music-- The backstreet boys.
Kevin is coming back!
What do you do when you're a full-Grown man
In a boy band?
I don't know, let's see.
Come on!
Thank you.
Don't give up!
That's it. Keep it going.
Hey, hey, hey, hey!
Yeah!
Pass it, brian.
We need you, come on.
2006, i quit the group.
I wanted to just be a normal guy for a while.
I didn't feel inspired as much as i used to.
I didn't love it.
I didn't have the passion that i used to have,
And therefore i left.
Oh!
I had this idea to go to london just to get away,
Just the five of us, bring everybody together,
'Cause we hadn't seen each other in forever.
And, you know, to record an album.
No families, no girlfriends, no-- Just us.
Never, ever played, and not too bad,
Not too shabby.
Howie, twinkle toes.
Not bad.
I like golf way better.
Yee!
- See, i remember that. - Hey, don't get used to me bringing you tea.
Oh, you've seen "drive," right, the movie "drive?"
Uh-Huh. - Yeah, buddy.
I'm so happy right now.
Oh, my god, you're so--
- Nicole got it, made for me. - That is hilarious.
How dope is this shit?
Come on, man, you know it's dope.
Good, give me a line. Give me a line.
He doesn't say anything, like, the entire movie.
Well, give me the look.
You got to put the jacket on.
Okay, wait, wait, wait.
- Man, don't-- - I can't look at you.
You're not-- You're not gonna be very good at acting
At this point, okay, cool.
I feel that.
That was the look?
You don't have no words?
He really didn't say shit the whole movie.
So we finally got to the top of the hill.
Ten years ago, everything was so fast-Paced.
You didn't have time to rest.
You didn't have time to think.
You didn't have time to eat.
Crazy kid.
Everybody was sick of each other,
And everybody wanted to do their own thing.
We're all older now. So much has happened.
We've seen the best and the worst of each other
For 20 years.
My whole mantra coming into this
Is i just want to be proud of the music that we're making,
And the shows that we're putting on and have a blast.
Enjoy it.
One, two, three--
We don't have a record deal. It's awesome.
It's like starting all over again,
Having the freedom to create something from scratch.
This is something that we felt like
We wanted to do ourselves.
It's our money.
So this new chapter that we're embarking on
Is, to me, exciting,
At the same time, crazy and scary.
It's a big year for us,
Kevin's back.
We have an album that we got to release,
20th anniversary, brand-New tour.
It's huge.
We used to show up and they'd say,
"Go in and sing this,"
And you'd go in and sing it.
The producer would make it sound magical,
And the record executives picked the singles
And there was no decision making.
When we were kids, it was different.
We were told were to go. We were told what to do.
We were told what to say.
And now it's like, you know what?
I do have a voice. I want to think for myself.
I want to make music for me.
You know, i want to make music for our fans.
I want to make everybody happy.
I've been in this band for more than half of my life.
I am the first, the original old school backstreet boy.
I met lou pearlman in 1992.
He was probably one of the wealthiest men
In orlando at the time, an entrepreneur.
You know he was just an all around wealthy,
Wealthy man.
You know, lou had seen the success of boyz ii men,
Jodeci, new kids on the block,
And i think once that got in the back of his head,
He was like, "well, i can do this."
I can put together a group--
Five pretty faces that can sing and dance.
And that's exactly what he did.
Lou was giving us a $75 week check,
And i still have it in my mom's house framed.
It was the first check i ever got.
It was like a per diem,
And 75 bucks for a 14-Year-Old's a lot of money.
I'd been working on a solo career
Since i was 6 years old.
It was definitely better than working at universal studios
Or disney's back lot, you know, or mcdonalds, that's for sure.
I really had this choice between being a mouseketeer,
$50,000 contract, or doing this thing with lou pearlman
And the backstreet boys.
My mother gave me the choice.
I don't know why she left that decision
Up to an 11-Year-Old child, but it just kind of happened.
I didn't want to grow up and be a backstreet boy.
I told my mom when i was a little boy
That i was gonna grow up
And play for the university of kentucky basketball team.
I was working in orlando, florida, walt disney world.
I was a ninja turtle, aladdin, played goofy,
But dreamed of being a recording artist.
So this was a huge opportunity for me...
a shot, a chance.
Lou owned some warehouse spaces out here
- In this industrial park-- - He was leasing them.
He was leasing them, that's right.
Which we're gonna try to see if we can manage to find.
Um, it's been many years ago.
- We're gonna try to find them. - Almost 20 years ago.
This one.
I think it was on michigan, guys.
- No, i think it's-- - I think it's this one.
All i know is i got lost coming here the first time.
I almost didn't get in the group because of that.
So maybe don't ask me.
Hi, guys.
I remember this area, though. I remember that church.
It is down on this road, i'm telling you.
Then we trust his memory and none of the old guys.
Yeah, this is it.
- Holy crap. - This is it.
It is.
We're here now. 26/42
We were busting our fucking ass in this warehouse here,
Day in and day out all day long.
It was like a wood stage that we put up.
We had a bunch of mirrors. It was hot as hell.
It was a constant work in progress.
We had to be worked on.
Oh, oh, yeah!
We put in some crazy hours in the early days.
The backstreet harmony, the blend,
It was always a work in progress.
You know, it was something that
We had to, kind of, find.
I remember howie in the very beginning.
He was pretty much the lead singer.
And then brian came in.
He had a great voice.
Without him, you know, the blend wouldn't be the same.
The voices are five.
They create a chemistry, a sound
That is unlike any other.
You just knew it, like this makes sense.
This works. Our voices blend perfectly.
I think i'm getting stronger.
You know, i think i'm getting better.
You know, i think you've helped me a lot
Which has been good.
You get this jaw working a little bit.
And you let your jaw hang down and back.
The blessing that we're gearing up for a tour,
And, you know, the backstreet boys' world
Is, you know, about to explode again.
You know, but yet it's still pressure.
- You know because it's this anticipation of... - Right.
You know, brian's got to be brian.
You know, i wish there was a magic wand
That just could--
Not with these mind/body--
Not with these mind/body connections
Which is right where, you know, right where the problem lives
Is right in between the nervous system
And the mind.
Just breathe.
La la la...
uh-Huh. Let it go.
You know my voice is, you know, it's my life.
You know, we take it for granted,
- Because it's just something that's given. - Right.
And... and for me it's, um,
It's not a given right now.
It comes and goes.
It's hard for me to talk about to be honest with you.
Um... i try to...
i try really hard to be optimistic about it,
Um, but i'm faced with it every day.
Um, the doctor mentioned
Vocal tension dysphonia,
Which is the tightening of the muscles
Around the vocal chords
Which 'causes the vocal chords not to work correctly.
It's frustrating. It's very frustrating.
Because i want to you know, i just want to be me.
I want it to be easy.
And i want to have the carefree attitude,
You know, that i had years ago.
Here we are with the backstreet boys.
- How old are you anyway? - I'm 16.
- And how old are you? - 19.
- And? - 20.
- And?
- 14. - Ooh!
Lou pulled every resource he could with this
And pulled as many strings as he could
To get us to be as big as we could be.
He had all these things
That a rich billionaire entrepreneur should have.
We're a bunch of young guys that's like,
Going into a frickin', like disney world.
I mean, every time we all would hang at lou's house,
It was a different adventure.
He had this unbelievable, like, arcade/movie room.
That had a cool pool table,
One of those old-Fashioned coke machines.
It was the best damn tasting coke you've ever had life
In your life.
It was so good, in these glass bottles,
But it was like, an old-Fashioned one.
And then he had this-- The original darth vader mask.
At the end of the night, we'd pull out one
Of lou's porns and we all watched those every so often.
The first time i'd seen two girls even kissing each other
Was on one of lou's videotapes.
And i was like, "what is this?"
I'm like, "my eyes are gonna burn."
I can't even tell my mom about this.
Hi, lou. - Wow! I'm on candid camera.
Hello.
Hi.
Lou was big papa.
He was like another father to a lot of us,
Like kevin, especially.
You know, because kevin was the only one, at that time,
That didn't have a father.
He allowed me to quit my two jobs and pursue my dream,
And i'm very appreciative of that.
We all claim to know everything about each other,
But there's still so much left unsaid,
So much left unlearned
So while we were in london making the record,
We talked about doing these little hometown trips
To really kind of go back to our grass roots
To kind of see where everybody really came from.
See these places, experience it together,
And get that bond tight again.
We gonna party tonight! Come on, y'all should stay!
That's what they say.
And they're hauling butt in that thing.
I'll do it.
All right, this is where i grew up.
My father was the manager of this camp,
And we lived on the property year-Round.
I would look out at this grass right here
And up at those trees and envision a crowd,
Like an arena, and like i was a rock star,
And i'd have a broom in my hand
And play air guitar and just imagine like the trees
And the grass is like--
Yea-Ea-Ea-Ea-H, ooh!
I lived here until
I left for florida in 1990.
We lived in this house right over here.
This is like where my dad, you know,
Kind of spent his final days.
When i was living in florida,
My father had had a-- Was diagnosed with cancer,
But they didn't tell me and they said
He just had a little surgery,
Something was up with his stomach.
They didn't want to worry me.
A couple of months after that my mom called me
And said that, "you know that thing that we told you
Your dad had a little problem with his stomach?
Well, we didn't want to worry you,
We didn't, you know, want you to worry,
But it was cancer, and it's come back
And it's not doing very--"
I know what you went through, bro.
So i came back home
And my father had been in that bed for,
I don't know how many weeks, and i pulled up...
pulled up in my car
And he hadn't been out of bed in weeks,
And he didn't want me to know how bad he was doing
So he met me at the front door.
Yeah, so anyway, that's just my dad,
You know, he didn't want anybody to worry about him.
He wanted me to go back to florida
And do what i was doing.
He didn't want me to stay up here to watch him die.
Uh... so anyway, i spent some time with him
Went back home, got my stuff, moved back up here
And shortly after he passed away,
But my father's all over this place.
Uh, great memories living here.
Come on down this way.
I used to come in here and sing.
We didn't have a ton of drama in our household.
Mom and dad, they supported us in everything that we did.
So not a whole lot of turmoil in the home,
Just a lot of love.
This is pretty isolated, right?
So it was me and my two brothers.
In the winter, it can get a little dark and gray up here
And get a little depressed, but music, you know,
I would hole myself up in the house,
And it's so cold you can't go out
And play music and that was my window to the world,
And i couldn't wait to leave this place.
I was like, god, i want to get out of here
And travel and see what's out there
And experience other places and now that i've done that,
And i come back here, and i see how beautiful it is
And i realize what a special place
And what a special, unique situation it was for me
To grow up in a place like this.
A lot of it really came into place
When lou brought in johnny wright.
And johnny wright was a road manager
For the new kids on the block.
So here's somebody that has experience.
And said, "i got this thing
That i want you guys to go out on--
Esm high school tours."
High schools and middle schools all across america.
We hopped on a winnebago
With nobody knowing who the eff we were.
I don't know if it makes sense
But we're gonna go out there and give it a big shot.
We went all over the country--
Arizona, pennsylvania, texas, nebraska.
I'll never forget we did a show in a school
That was 75% black, 20% hispanic, 5% white.
It was like a real inner city high school.
Here we come, a bunch of corn fed, like,
Middle america, straight off the farm boys.
And our damn p.A. Went out.
Music is like...
we had no music and it got out of hand.
I'll never forget there was a group of guys
In the far back.
They started booing us.
"Get off the stage, white boys."
You know, throwing stuff at us.
Boo!
Uh, new kids, wannabes, new kid wannabes.
And we're up there on stage, like,
Now what the fuck do we do?
And brian was like, "all right, everyone shut up!
Shut up, shut up!
And let us just do what we came to do,
That's sing for you."
I turned around, look at the guys,
And they were giving me that look like deer in headlights.
Like, holy-- Boop!
We did every a cappela rendition of every song that we knew.
Those guys shut up.
The girls were kind of going crazy,
Which was kind of cool, i thought.
I was like, "wow, this is kind of interesting."
And even a bunch of guys were like--
"Yo, man that was a great job, man.
Lou, much respect."
And i was like, "wow!"
You know, we did our job.
We are a vocal harmony group.
We can sing without music at the drop of a hat.
We're the harlem globetrotters.
Hey, where's-- Do we have any publicity pictures?
- Yeah. - Go get some.
I want you to go sing something.
What are you gonna sing?
Don't ask me.
Five, six, twelve, eleven,
What you looking at?
Backstreet boys--
I ate a muffin and i got heartburn.
It was an unspoken bond that was created
Because of lou.
You know, nick and brian,
Back in the day were inseparable.
I mean, they were like the bopsy twins
When it came to, like, harmony and just being clowns
And pranksters.
I felt like nick was the little brother
That, you know, i never had.
We'd always be on the basketball floor.
We'd always lose 'cause we were short,
But you'd always find me and nick
On the basketball court, that's just where we were.
21 to 13, that's a big gap there.
You know, i was always the little brother
In my family, and now i had four.
It was like a continuous summer camp.
It was just fun. It really was fun.
Make some noise for the backstreet bo-O-O-Ys!
We thought we were superstars.
You know, there were people at our shows?
Well, they weren't even paid shows,
They were just free shows.
But, again, we thought-- We thought we were stars.
Let's go.
Yo, let's go.
Let's go. They're waiting.
We'll catch up. Let's go.
Welcome to tate's creek!
- Keep it down, howie. - Okay, sorry.
Welcome to kentucky.
When i was doing wrestling, we'd have practice right here.
My teammate he was on my back,
We had to run these hills here, and it sucked, man.
You'd get sick and you'd vomit.
You'd be like...
how do you run down the hill with somebody on your back
As steep as it is without falling forward?
You have to sit-- You have to sit--
I could see going this way, but that way?
- Let's try. Oh, dear, god. Not with you.
He already blew it out once.
I'd like to see that right now.
A.J., dude, you're gonna blow your knees out.
Yee-Ha!
Now wait... and now i'm gonna turn around go back up.
- My underwear. - Come on!
- And the best part--
What do you remember about performing here, though?
'Cause it-- Remember our suits?
I remember you had a burgundy suit,
Green suit, black suit,
Gold suit, purple suit.
And i had a horrible caesar haircut.
Yep, you did. - Brian: and curls.
- You did. - It was bad, dude.
We had a lot of good memories here. It was fun.
I say, that's really nice.
Oh, okay. Good shirt. How much are they?
- $7 $7. All right.
How you doing, sir?
- I'm good. - It's good to see you.
- You doin' all right? - I'm good, i'm good.
Come... all this was outside.
Oh, okay.
It was seventh grade-- This was the first day,
I remember, that you and me got a chance to meet.
It was day one. He hits a note on the piano.
He just tells everybody to start singing so we do that,
And then he said, "okay, i want y'all to stop singing.
And he just kept whittling through everybody
Until he got to myself and three or four other young ladies,
'Cause i was sitting in the soprano or alto--
- Alto section. - Alto section.
So i was--
Me, me, me, me.
And he says, "okay, ladies, i want you all to be quiet."
And then he said, "you, sir, you know, go!"
And i sang it, and i was a nervous wreck,
And he looks up at me and he said,
"You can make a lot of money with that gift that you have."
Like embrace it, you know what i mean?
'Cause you don't-- As kids you don't know--
You don't know the talents that you have
Or how you can touch people's lives
If you don't have instrumental people
That help shape your vision of what you want for your life,
And you did that and in that one statement,
And it's been with me for over 20 years now,
To be where i'm at, and i appreciate you.
Is that right?
It was just a clear, very pure heavenly sound
That you don't hear that often coming out of a youngster,
But i knew his voice was gonna change,
And i had to be extremely careful about the direction
That i was gonna take him in, so it wouldn't ruin him
'Cause you can actually destroy that,
You know, that sound.
Sometimes it comes out...
and sometimes it doesn't.
Ouch!
You drawers just went down.
I can't throw that that flat ball far!
Why not? Yeah, you can.
- Oh, dear god. - Oh, that's for--
You gotta go, dude!
Here you go, ready? Repeat.
Well, that was fun.
Ow.
It is very important you guys work the stage,
Connecting with the audience,
Because i think it's important
For your 20th anniversary tour right?
I'm just saying, commend yourselves
'Cause we're working hard.
I mean, we fucking did that routine almost 15 times.
You know what i mean?
We're working it. We'll keep doing it.
You got to remember when you get out...
nick farted, ladies and gentlemen.
It was him. It was him. He did it!
Thanks, bro.
God almighty.
Bring the shotgun!
- You see you don't-- - You're on the other note.
This is ricky. Listen to this.
Listen to this, hold up a second, do it again.
Nick, don't, don't, you're not helping.
You're making it worse.
The music we were making in orlando was sub-Par.
It was not good.
So 1995 we finally got a record deal
With jive records.
The very first producers they set us up to work with
Were denniz pop and max martin.
They had a lot of success in europe.
They produced and wrote most of the ace of base album,
And i had that pumping in my car every day.
It was our first time out of the country ever.
I was almost 18.
So my mom wasn't with me.
I mean, it was just the coolest thing.
You walk into the studio and you look at the wall
And you see platinum records with ace of base,
And robin, abba and all this stuff,
And you're like, "oh, shit.
This is like the real thing."
Lou always talked about it. Johnny talked about it.
Never did i think this was gonna happen,
And then it fucking happened.
Here we are.
We're in stockholm, sweden.
We're actually, like-- We're making a record.
From the studio experiences in florida,
It was completely different.
Because max and denniz had this sound
Where it was like, a eh eh sound.
Just this like eh... eh eh.
His drums and his baseline, i mean,
That shit was funky.
Almost old school like parliament funk type sound.
I dug it. I was excited.
It had edge. It had balls, you know.
I was like, "just put me on a song.
I just want to sing on something and i'll dance to it."
That was my take on things.
He had a sound that was definitely,
Um, i can be honest, not exactly the howie d sound anymore.
Nothing like anything we had ever done before.
Released "we got it goin' on"
In the u.S.
I think it peaked at like, i don't know, 60-Something,
But it didn't really make a dent.
Ahhh!
All right, give it up for the backstreet boys.
Five young fly f-To-The-L-To-The-Y guys.
They're from florida. Check 'em out.
You guys are definitely destined
For some big-Time stardom.
Thanks a lot.
At that time, radio was playing nirvana
And snoop dogg, and dre.
So there was no room for boys like us.
Johnny wright said,
"I think you guys should go to europe.
There's this boy band kind of movement
That's going over there."
We show up in usa hockey jerseys like,
"We're from america. We can save you."
And it's like this huge arena.
That's... packed.
Our take was these bands are all lip synching.
Everyone is lip synching.
Let's go on stage, sing for real,
Let's show them something they've never seen before.
We hit that stage and they went nuts.
We were like, "oh, yeah, here we go, boys."
Put your hands up and sing!
It was just a full-On head spin.
It just became like this whirlwind.
We would get on a plane go to a country,
Do a performance, that same day hop on a plane,
Go back to another country do a performance there,
Get maybe like four hours of sleep,
Wake up the next morning, do a morning show.
That was the schedule for years.
We're now in hamburg.
This is munich by night.
Berlin by night.
The first three years we were there so much
That after a while, we ended up having german girlfriends.
That means "it's so good to see you."
Howie b. That's me, that's me.
If we wanted to communicate
The international language of love,
We had to learn some words really fast.
That's "will you give me a blow-Job?"
We could not go anywhere,
Could not go out by yourself.
Police escorts everywhere,
Even if you just want to go out to dinner.
Yes, can we have a table for 400, please?
I mean, it was-- It was chaos.
Oh no, she's on top of the roof.
No, no!
My car!
Oh, my god!
Uh, i guess we're taking her with us to munich.
Uh, five hour drive.
Don't do that, man.
Hey, this is gonna happen in the states, too.
In europe, we sold 14 million albums off of our first cd,
And it never came out in america.
You know, you're telling your friends and family
"Yeah, we're huge in europe."
Really?
I mean, i've been in this business for over 30 years.
I grew up doing modeling and acting and stuff.
I just wanted to perform on stage for people,
Any way i could.
This has been a lifelong dream, and here i am
Still making music with the backstreet boys.
You know, everything starts somewhere.
I would say everything for me started right here.
- Hey! - Oh, how are ya?
I'm good. How are you?
I'm good.
My very first acting job when i was still going here
Was at little palm.
I did snow white, but they picked me to be dopey,
Because i had two speech impediments
And dopey's-- And dopey was an actual mute.
So i just had to learn like little like rain and cold,
But i couldn't talk,
'Cause i had a stutter and i had a stupid lisp,
But, you know, i finally got rid of it.
I still have the stutter every so often.
- When you get nervous? - Nervous or if i'm telling a lie, usually.
Oh, yeah.
Both of you.
- Mwah. - I love you.
These are my two other mothers, literally, literally,
Growing up, i mean, yeah.
You still remember your monologues?
- I still remember-- Do one for us, A.J.
With the accent? Okay.
"Many moons ago in a far off place,
Lived a handsome prince with a gloomy face,
We did not have a bride.
Oh, he sighed, alas,
And he pined, alas,
But alas, the prince couldn't find a lass
Who would suit his mother's pride.
For a princess is a delicate thing,
Delicate and dainty as a dragon fly's wing.
You can recognize a lady by her elegant air
But a genuine princess is exceedingly rare."
Bravo, bravo!
Bravo!
I look very much forward to working with you
In the near future.
Thank you.
I swear, he is-- You've used that to hit on girls.
Yes! I was just gonna say you don't know how many girls...
your whole life!
How many girls i've used that with
I would literally hang out with a bunch of girls
And i'd be like,
"Hey, do you guys want to see something?"
And i would stand up on the bed or on a chair,
No wonder you remember it so good.
You're busted.
I'm like, no, i was gonna call myself out.
The dainty thing. I totally remembered that now.
It's never gonna go anywhere.
He still says it to this day.
How do you think i got my wife?
By '97, "we got it going on,"
"Quit playing games"
All became hugely successful in canada.
And then all of a sudden,
It just kind of rained backstreet boys on the u.S.
Fans call in, "play backstreet boys,
Play backstreet boys."
It went from like zero to 60,
I wouldn't say overnight, but damn near close.
We were coming out of the gulf war,
America kind of needed something
That was a little bit more uplifting.
I think people just wanted to feel good again.
America, at that time, was open to the idea
Of fresh-Faced young boys
Who could dance and sing.
They were okay with turning the radio on
And just listening to it without a care.
That video, we looked like a bunch of beefcakes.
We were wet and had our shirts open and everything.
I'm like, "i don't know-- Not i don't know.
I know that's not the first impression i want to make
In the u.S.
But it worked out.
Some of us bought their first houses,
Some of us changed cars from honda civics to mercedes.
You became a rock star.
You were living that rock star lifestyle, you know.
I'm still a teenager 18, 19, like living the dream, dude.
I'm having a fucking blast!
Don't block the door, please.
I was gonna make me a cup of coffee.
What if you-- What if you did that as a tag,
Like after the chorus?
That's cool.
Put that down 'cause that's--
That's a better second line, i think.
It needs to be, uh, heart wrenching,
Or it needs to be dark.
Or it needs to be-- I don't know.
But then that contradicts if i'm in the spotlight
And then you're waiting in darkness, no?
No, because the darkness isn't necessarily the light.
The darkness is the emotion.
Waiting in darkness, i stood with sadness.
That's how-- That's how i take it.
You know what? I like the--
Like sing it more like off the fuckin' beat.
- You know what i mean? - That's a good idea.
- Something like that, yeah. - Uh.
But i mean, we're naive to think we could come here
In three weeks and cut an album.
Yeah, i know.
I felt like we we were going in circles.
We were optimistic-- - I don't think we were naive.
I never in a million years thought that was--
- You're optimistic. - Don't get me wrong,
Guys, we're one week in and how many songs do we have?
Five almost.
- That's what i'm saying. - It's not bad.
- Let's-- - No, i know--
It's a shot. Let's just keep--
I think we're getting the cart before the horse here.
All right, let's join hands. We're gonna have a blessing.
Come on. That's good.
Really, for real. Come on.
Good to bless the food.
Oh, dear lord, thank you for this day.
Thank you for the blessings that you blessed us with.
Thank you for this circle.
We ask that you bless this food
To the nourishment of our bodies
And bless this record, hallelujah.
In christ's name we pray. Amen.
- Amen. - Amen.
Let's toast. Here's to another 20.
Yep.
And this is ours. - Howard.
When the group first started,
I was doing a lot more of the leads.
And little by little, when we got with max martin,
Our sound changed, so throughout the years
I really had a hard time, i struggled with that.
I resented the situation.
I always feel like why am i always having
To be pushed in the background?
I wanted to have my voice heard just like everybody else.
Perfect.
I got a little two in my heart
On that one part there.
With the new record and the new dynamic
I told them, i said, you know what?
In order for me to feel comfortable
Being a part of this,
I really need to be able to not be in the back.
I need to be up in the front with you guys.
You just gotta it twice and you're done.
You're butter.
That's how you do. That's howie d.
At least my toes look somewhat presentable today.
Normally, they're too long. I could fucking climb a tree.
It's very embarrassing.
Crap! Sorry.
A.J.?! I'm howie.
I'm singing all the leads on everything for this record.
It's gonna be a great record, don't worry.
It's the best ever.
Hello there, my friend. How are you doing?
Good, i'm good.
Do you remember who this is?
This is little howie.
Yeah, howard from down the street.
I used to have his mom going, "howie, howie."
Yeah, come in, come in.
Take care of yourself. Welcome back.
When i was born, we had no central heating here.
I sweated my butt off.
So the first thing i did when we made a little money,
I put central heat and air in this house.
I was tired of sweating.
Dude, look at this.
- Did you write that? - I did. Me and my dad.
- Hoken howard-- - Hoke d. Howard.
Hoke d-- I think i got a little crazy.
I decided i wanted to do my autograph on everything.
Well, that's crazy, i lived my whole life in this house.
It's been a part of my life for 39 years.
And to actually stay here with you.
I know you have. You have.
Down the street, actually, um, was one of my first kisses
Was his cousin, chelsea.
- My niece, my niece. - Your niece.
- Thank you, sir. - Thank you, kevin.
As a little kid back here,
I had a bunch of rabbits.
It started off with like one
And then i think we had another one,
And then like the next year we had like 45 of them
'Cause you know they get busy.
My dad called me out here and said,
Got to finish off the rest of the rabbits.
So i didn't know what he was talking about.
Oh, no.
So i got my first true experience
Of having to kill a rabbit.
Oh.
I went after the one that was the meanest one,
The one that i hated the most.
He had like a snaggle tooth
And i hated that black rabbit so much,
I'm like, if i've got to kill one of these things,
You're the one that's going, so i'm like trying to hit him
And he's like jumping all around.
I'm like-- I'm trying to hop all around,
And this poor little rabbit's-- I couldn't do it.
My dad's like, get in the house, son.
And he'd knock 'em out and just kill it.
Dude.
- It was-- It was - Soak 'em in salt water?
- It was back-Woods style, dude. - Your mom fry 'em up?
Yeah, and i couldn't eat it.
I couldn't eat it 'cause it was just like--
It was too hard going down.
I was 12 years old, and we had to, you know,
I'm sure being in the country
You probably know how you take care of your own animals
And stuff like that and i'd never experienced that,
But my dad was from georgia,
And him growing up, that's what you did.
You know, the animals--
What are you saying? I live in georgia.
I ain't skinned a rabbit... yet.
That's crazy, though, man.
In the beginning,
I was hanging out a lot with howie.
I would come over and stay at his house here.
- Which is kind of ironic-- - 'Cause you liked my niece.
That's because i liked your niece,
No, but brian and i, we used to go play basketball a lot here.
Um, that's back when he had this truck
That we called the bleeding banana.
Me and him drove down from kentucky in that thing.
No shocks, my knees were in the dashboard.
It was like...
dude, i had the speakers in the back.
He was blowing it, man.
I was a thug...
there was one time that we left out of lou's house,
And it was like a friday night,
We had all been playing and whatever.
I had my girlfriend, and brian had his girlfriend,
And we hauled butt out of lou's house.
The next you know, we saw these lights
Come up behind us and we're like,
"Oh, man," and we were going fast.
It was fast, like kind of like
You would have gone to jail for fast-Wise.
All we did, we said we were at lou pearlman's house,
And we got off.
I knew at that point, that's when i realized
How powerful lou was.
In the area, yeah.
He doesn't have those connections anymore now.
Uh, no. That's for sure.
Around 1995, i came off the road
And lou said, "come here i want to show you something."
He showed me a vhs tape of this group.
They didn't have a name at the time,
And i didn't know but it was a showcase
That lou had financed,
And lou had been working with them.
It was almost like a betrayal.
You know, when we started out
We're like, "yeah, we're a team,
We're gonna take over the world.
And there's, you know, there's nobody like us."
Then you find out,
Well, actually, there is somebody like you.
We're molding them in your image,
That's what they told us.
Damn, dude, i guess one wasn't enough
So now you got to have 15 boy groups.
Next thing you know, it's like, if we got tired and didn't want to tour,
Didn't want to do a certain tv show or whatever,
Boom, n-Sync was right there picking up the pieces.
Then, next thing you know, jive records signed n-Sync.
Lou basically created our competition.
Thank you so much
For allowing me and the fellas to remain at number one.
By 1998, we'd sold millions of albums.
We'd been touring nonstop.
We'd been playing in stadiums,
Yet, our bank accounts didn't...
make sense.
Lou's excuses were, "i spent a million dollars
To break you guys.
I have to recoup that."
Okay.
"I am your manager. I get a management commission."
Okay.
"I'm a one-Sixth member of the group,
So i get one-Sixth of whatever you make."
It's illegal. You can't do it as a manager.
There was a definite fog screen that,
Once it lifted,
I think that's when everybody raised the eyebrow, like,
"What the hell's been going on?"
There's a lot of memories in this one particular area.
Lou's house is up here.
We had A.J.'S birthday party there.
My birthday party, too,
My 21st there.
- To the right-- We're going to the right.
I went to him after rehearsals one night,
And i-- I mean, i begged him,
I basically begged him to make it right.
We were being taken advantage of,
And, you know, nobody was looking out for us.
Nothing was the same after that meeting.
For any of us.
We filed the lawsuit and that was the beginning
Of the end of our relationship with lou.
In 2007, lou was arrested
For running a big investment scheme,
One of the biggest ponzi schemes in american history.
And to find out he's been a con man this whole time,
Makes you think, was anything ever true?
Anything you ever said to us or did for us
Was ever-- Was it all really true
Or was it half and half or was it all bullshit?
This is where lou lived when he went to prison.
When the bank possessed the property
They sold everything in here probably to pay back--
I mean, $300 million i think he owed,
He stole or was missing.
So i'm sure they tried to sell
And scrape up anything they could.
Yeah.
So anyway, this is where the old bastard lived.
- Yeah. - Right before he went to prison.
Now he's in a what, 4x6 whatever they have in jail?
So how did this all go down?
Did the cops just show up unannounced
And just take him straight from here or what?
No, they didn't get him from here.
They found him in freakin' indonesia somewhere.
I don't really want to go in.
Hi, kitty, kitty, kitty.
Howie, get out of here.
Come on, brian, come on.
Want to go upstairs?
- Want to? - Yeah.
Which way, this way?
Hey, lou, are you here?
We're here, lou. Where's our money?
Wow.
I hate it. I got to get out of here.
I don't like this place.
I know, right?
I mean, how can it hurt but then you still feel sorry
At the same time, it doesn't--
You feel sorry for the guy,
But he had every opportunity to make it right...
and he didn't, you know?
He didn't do that.
That's... that's probably what hurts the most.
You've created a circle
Of people you believe is gonna protect you
And then all of a sudden it comes crashing down
And you're like, who can i trust?
The reality's saying draw the line.
Personal business, that's when we learned.
We eventually bought him out.
It was something like 27 million dollars
That we had to pay him, but to be rid of him
And to be able to have what we have now
And that freedom and to not have potentially lost everything,
Was it worth it?
Yes, it was worth it.
Backstreet boys released
Their second album "millennium" today.
And, my, oh my, this is crazy.
The day that we released "millennium"
Was a mind-Boggling day for us in history.
They shut down times square
5,000, 6,000 kids out in front of "trl."
It was nuts.
Incredible. Amazing.
That album was huge for us.
At the time,
It sold 24 million copies worldwide. We were on fire.
Record-Breaking one million-Plus sold the first week out.
The north american leg of the tour
Broke even more records.
All the tickets went on sale the same day
And quickly ran up a cool $30 million.
Are you ready to party?
Whoo, yeah, baby!
It was off the rock.
I mean, we were gods in a twisted way.
As a 17 year old, i was just like,
"This is dope. This is great."
I can get any girl i want. That's all i care about.
I can get any girl i want.
I was just enjoying this momentum.
I was enjoying this euphoria.
I mean, it was-- It was unlike anything we had ever felt.
Everything was going so fast.
It was kind of like a blur.
The winner is-- - The backstreet boys!
- The backstreet boys. - The backstreet boys.
Backstreet boys.
"Millennium" was hit after hit after hit.
We were unstoppable.
We just broke every record in the world,
Practically for album sales and tour sales
And touring and the record label knows
That a young teenage female can change her mind pretty quick.
They wanted to strike while the iron was hot
And, you know, sell another 20 something million albums
As soon as possible.
We came straight off the road
And then we were right back in the studio
For our next album.
We shouldn't have done that.
We should have stepped back, recharged,
Got some perspective, got some inspiration,
And then gone into the studio.
In our rise to fame
I had open heart surgery at 23 years old,
You know, in 1998.
We-- We didn't even, like, cancel tours.
It wasn't about me as a person in my health.
It didn't matter what i did.
It didn't matter which verse i sang.
Now with your eyes only come up to me.
Yeah, crawl on up...
we were a big stack of cash.
That they were gonna have a piece of
At the end of the day, and go do it.
We're going on a plane. This is the plane.
We love the plane.
We did this around the world trip
In 100 hours.
Nick, i love you!
As a $4 million promotional thing,
It was brilliant, but, you know,
There was a lot of money being spent.
I remember feeling a little overwhelmed,
Like, how long can this last?
Is the bottom gonna fall out?
O-O-O-H my god!
For "black and blue,"
We got an offer, a certain amount of shows,
$100 million.
I mean, we were all like, "holy shit!"
That's a lot of money.
It was so extraordinary and so over-The-Top
That i don't know i could really comprehend it still,
To this day.
From like '94 to about 2002 was just nonstop,
Album after album tour after tour--
That was nine years straight of touring.
We were done.
One, two, three, four...
- oh! - Thank you, thank you, thank you.
'99 to 2000, this was my haven.
Because i could do whatever i wanted,
'Cause we pretty much ran orlando.
Everything was comped, comped everywhere we went.
Yeah. I mean, free liquors, free everything.
- We've been best friends now for what, 15 years? - Yeah, 15.
This has got a lot of history for me, good and bad...
- yeah. - With you.
We had topless bowling. That was fun.
The girls, remember the girls on the ball returns?
- Aha, straddling the-- - Just bowling and--
Yep, we would just call the girls over afterwards
And they'd come by, and they'd just strip.
And do a little bit of that
- They would do that, but-- - Prettier.
Prettier and with giant boobs.
Whatever!
You don't have big boobs, so it doesn't work.
Whee! That's super fun.
You know, like those claw vending machines,
We won a britney spears doll out of there.
- Well, i won. - He won it and then--
You probably spent like $100 on it.
I spent a dollar and i won it.
And i wanted to bowl him for it.
And i got you annihilated by the fifth frame.
'Cause i can't drink and bowl.
- It's the only thing that's-- - And i had a shot
And i kind of threw up a little bit back in the cup
But i still finished it with a little bit of puke
And because of that,
He could never do shots ever again.
- I threw up. - You threw up later.
No, no, no, i threw up in the cup, and you drank that.
- Oh, is that what it was? - Yes, that's what--
If it was just you puked then i could then-- That's fine.
- Oh, sorry. - I threw up in the cup
- And that wasn't-- That was-- - That's a twist.
A.J. Wanted to be this bad boy so badly.
I think in his own mind, he thought he was rock and roll
Not realizing he was in a boy band.
How's everybody right down in the front?!
To me that was the only tour
I ever drank on stage during the show
I was at my worst at that point.
You in the--
I think he was rebelling against this facade
That people thought we were and thought we had to be.
I lost sight of myself, which is very easy to do
When you're in a group.
You lose yourself. You lose your identity.
In boston, in 2001,
We were supposed to do the first pitch
At this softball game, or baseball game
Um, and sing the national anthem.
I get a call from our road manager
That A.J. Is not coming.
I was in what people in the drug world
Would call a coke coma, 'cause i'd just been up
For days on end and i just needed to sleep.
Kevin, in kevin's kevin way did not like that very much.
He won't answer his phone, he won't answer his door.
So i backed up and...
busted it open, i was as mad as hell.
Kevin came to the other door which was double bolted
And i tried to bust that thing in
And i couldn't get in there.
Uh, but i'm glad that i didn't.
I'm glad i didn't 'cause i was mad.
I was about to beat the shit out of him,
But i was mad.
To this day, i will forever be grateful to kevin
Being the reason why i even went into rehab.
You know, he's the one that made that intervention.
He's the one that broke down my hotel room door
And exchanged the words that we exchanged
That were not nice.
You know, i mean,
I'll never forget him saying, "you are dead to me."
That was it.
I got A.J. Over here next to me
Pulled up in is hot rod.
He thinks he's a rapper, i think.
And...
straight line.
Hey!
I'll be in the line behind A.J. Right.
- Take a mental note. - I'm trying to get there.
You know, nobody tells you what to do
When you get to the top.
Everybody is so quick to push, push, push,
To get you there,
But they're not quick to hold you there.
They just wanna you know what?
Next.
You know, after we lost kevin,
Everybody thought it was over,
Even though the four of us kept going.
We did two albums. We did three tours.
But for me, personally, it was just never the same.
Looking down the line on stage,
You see just three other guys, it was just never right.
Yeah, go to the rhythm.
Obviously, there's always gonna be doubts and fears.
I mean, this is not just a regular tour.
This is a big deal.
Now that wasn't right. That right there--
Bringing back some of the old choreography
We haven't done in 15-Plus years.
You know, it's nerve-Racking.
I can't even remember the beginning formation.
Right here. - Yo, man.
You... out.
We got it.
Don't worry, i'll be sweet with you,
But i got to be hard with your daddy, okay.
You guys, any questions before we move on?
Yeah. It's just little details.
Kevin hasn't been on stage with us in over seven years.
I've had two knee surgeries.
And then dealing with probably the biggest issue now,
Which is brian.
But we don't like to talk about it.
And i don't think he likes to talk about it very much.
We're talking about taking this thing around the world.
It's not just 30, 40 shows and that's it.
I mean, this is gonna be 80 to 100-Something shows overall.
We've done tours before in less amount of time.
But for some reason, i'm a little scared myself
That we'll still behind the 8 ball.
Time-Wise, are we behind right now?
Are we on par the way you guys are?
I'm not gonna, you know, sugarcoat anything.
- We are behind. - Okay.
We only have 14 days of rehearsal left.
I'm here to fucking rehearse whatever.
- Okay. - All right, baby?
- All right. - I'm here.
Just making sure because we're fucking losing time.
Look, i'm here, baby. I'm here.
Wait, wait, hold on, listen.
Rehearsing saturdays, every saturday.
Like, we were gonna have weekends off,
Now we got to rehearse every saturday.
I was already prepared for that.
We're so far behind, it's not even funny,
And it's disappointing and it's frustrating
And it pisses me off, and it stresses me out.
We'll make it simple.
All of them, that's a double cd. We're done.
Okay, no, let's not try to dwell on songs unless--
'Cause we could be on one song for an hour
And we have limited time.
Define what not dwell means.
There's no time limit, just don't dwell
All right, play "be your soldier."
The chorus just doesn't do it for me.
- The song is great. - But as a subject matter,
I like what the song is saying, like--
It doesn't do it for me.
I disagree, i think the chorus actually is good.
I actually like the verses.
I hear what you're saying on the chorus.
- Just that one little-- I hear you, i hear you.
That's the only thing that bothers me.
But i think it's a great song for the album,
- Because i love what it says. - I think it's definitely a contender.
I can sing this with conviction
Because it means something to me.
I'm not comfortable with changing the chorus
Of this song.
No, no, no, don't-- You don't have to like do that to me.
Just calm down. You're getting flushed.
Nick's getting red.
- It's going up to here. - I'm telling you, i'm telling you
That this is a big song.
People get-- Fucking, if it's not on a record,
We could be regretting it.
My point is is i still don't like it.
Whether you change it or not, i still don't like it.
- I've heard your point. - I know, and we see your point.
All right, next song is
"Show me what you're made of."
Should we talk about the song a little more?
No. Move on.
- Look at you. - You look the same.
I look the same. Oh, thank you.
- How you doing? - You look absolutely gorgeous.
- Thank you. - You look beautiful.
Thanks, sandy. This is the backstreet boys.
You were singing with your local singing teacher
And she said, "i've got this great kid.
We need to get him dancing 'cause he's got a great voice."
And i said, "okay, bring him over."
And i said, "nick, right leg."
The left leg, i put the left leg out.
Okay, nick, left leg, and then he did the right leg.
He still does the same thing.
Come on in and say hi.
They're gonna go crazy.
- We're going in. - Let's do it.
Come on in.
I've been dancing since i was, like, four years old,
- So i-- - Really?
- Ballet for eight years. - Good.
- Jazz, tap. - We couldn't get him in ballet.
We tried.
- You did ballet? - Eight years of ballet.
Okay, it was the weirdest thing i had tights and everything.
I was the only boy in my ballet class.
So my mom ended up putting me into tap
After eight years of ballet 'cause i was like,
"I feel a little weird in tights.
I'm a little boy and i'm skinny.
Hey, it takes a man to do it.
This is our senior dance company.
Hi.
You want to back up a little bit so they can see you?
I don't know about now i might actually
Come on, do it!
Perform, please.
If i rip my pants, i'm blaming you.
Come on.
Oh.
Whoo.
You're gonna pay for that tomorrow.
Oh!
Don't get me started.
He never done that with us in 20 years!
- That's interesting. - You guys know the "backstreet's back" dance?
Anybody know that?
- Ah, see, i knew they didn't know that. - Too young.
They weren't born yet.
Five, six, seven, go!
They got it already.
Yeah.
Good job, buddy.
- Shut the fuck up and let me talk! - You shut the fuck up!
Listen-- Guys!
You shut the fuck up. You shut the fuck up.
I swear to god, don't fucking talk to me that way.
I'll talk to you however i want to talk to you.
You don't get respect out of me that way.
Don't be a fucking dick like everyone knows you are.
- You don't want to hear it. - You understand what i'm saying?
Don't be a fucking dick. Don't be a dick!
Trust me, you don't want it from me, baby.
- Trust me. - Like i'm shaking.
I'm not afraid of you anymore.
Dude, what-- You were afraid of me?
No, i'm-- He knows what i'm talking about, dude.
What about fucking vocals on songs?
Are we gonna talk about that?
Are we gonna talk about the fact that
You don't necessarily sound as good as you used to?
- The demo voice-- - Are we gonna talk about that?
Are we gonna talk about that?
And we'll talk about when we get in the studio
And producers come to us and tell us
That they got problems because of your fucking voice.
Yeah, 'cause i can't do your job anymore.
Oh, no, no, no, no! This is the truth.
How about speaking from a place of love
And not a place of anger?
I'm not angry. I'm fucking being real.
Because everyone else wants to sugarcoat it.
Everyone wants to sugarcoat it.
Let's fucking bring it out in the open.
You know what?
When producers come up to me-- Stop!
When producers come up to us and are saying,
"What's wrong with brian's voice?
What's happening with his voice?"
And then you want to sing on the records, dawg,
And you sound great on records,
'Cause you can do a fucking little bit of editing,
But when got to go on stage and sing that shit
And we got to go do world tour,
I mean, this is the kind-- This is all i'm trying to say.
But you take the good and the bad, dawg.
- No, because-- - You take the good and the bad.
- We're a group. - Can you sit down for a sec, nick?
- No, i don't want to sit down. - Well, here's what i think.
I just want someone to really talk about what the fuck
- Is really going on! - But time out. Sit down for a second...
- no! - And show some fucking respect.
How about respect me and let me stand up?
I respect you. Stand up then.
You're getting two different arguments here.
You've busted your ass. I appreciate it.
We all appreciate it.
Somehow it got blown up into an argument
Between you and brian and a competition
Over lead vocals.
And there's a lot of baggage here
From the fucking past 20 years
That is coming out now, and, yeah,
We need to talk about brian's vocal issues.
We need to talk about that.
We need to find a way to make it work.
- And that's what we're trying to do. - All i'm saying--
They look nice with those jackets on.
Great.
I want to be as supportive as i can.
I mean, not only are we group members
And business partners, but we're family.
And, uh....
so i have your back and i want to have your back
And i want to be supportive.
I think personally, i'm a little frustrated.
Because i feel like um, i don't know where you're at.
What-- What has happened lately with your therapy,
And i know you're living it,
But not a day goes by that i don't think about you.
And here's my thing.
You know, i think we should put the brakes on.
But i don't want to stop the train.
This is the thing. This is a huge year for us.
And i have to be in tip-Top shape somehow, some way.
The frustrating part is, is i'm the one
That has to live with it, and i'm the one
That has to hear it each and every day.
You guys, i could talk to you till i'm blue in the face,
And you'll never understand it.
I don't expect you to understand it.
We're not trying to do an intervention on you.
But it's almost like you-- Like, in like a person
Who's going into rehab where you almost need
To really like possibly have-- Take this really serious
And have somebody working with you, like, every day
Let's stop performing live until some of this shit,
We get it worked out.
Let's let you do your therapy.
Let's let you experiment with whatever the doctors say.
To be honest with you, let's face it.
It's the pressure that i put on myself
Of what i was, what i am, and what i'm gonna be.
Because the wait for me at the beginning
Was i had to fix it for you and for you
And for you and for you and for you and for you.
Then i woke up one day and i thought,
"Damn, you know i really need to just fix this for me."
Yeah. - Because you can't fix alcohol abuse for me.
- Right. - It's for you.
I apologize that if my bad performance
Takes the stock down, which is true,
But i can only do what i can do to be best for me right now.
I haven't heard nick say anything.
I've heard everybody else talk.
When it comes to your point of view
On for yourself, i completely accept that,
And i-- That is-- That's you it's what you got to do.
I think that there is a 50/50 thing here, though, as well.
I've gone through this before in this group, all right?
When i was overweight, when i was drinking
And doing drugs, when i was being a maniac,
It affected the group.
And i got confronted by you guys.
Everybody docked thousands of dollars
For not showing up on time.
I had to get better for you.
A.J. Did, too. - A.J. Had to as well.
We've all had to in different ways.
And i'm passionate about it 'cause i'm still pissed off.
But, nick, it starts with you, period.
- It starts with you. - Of course it starts with me.
Yes, it's reflective, but it starts with me.
So this shit happens to be about me.
- So let it start with me first... yes.
And then let it filter.
I want you to get better. I really do.
I genuinely want you to get better.
All right? I want michael jordan back.
I really do.
I always felt like it was jordan and pippen
In this group, and i really did,
And i thought you were michael jordan.
And i miss that voice again. I miss it.
And i believe you can have it back.
I believe you can. I believe you will get it back.
And i believe us as a team we-- The five starters
That we can do it but we need michael
And i know it's gonna happen.
I used to play in this, well, not in it,
But i would go underneath here.
I would go crawl all the way underneath there
Back there there was this alligator sitting on--
On the shoulder or whatever, and he was like hanging there
Sleeping, like, sunbathing.
I grabbed some rocks and i started throwing them at him.
I had this other kid with me, alligator got pissed,
And he started chasing us, came after us.
I jumped up on top of this like retention thing
And i just went, oh, down, fell in between it,
Came home, i was crying. My dad stitched me up.
Your dad stitched you up?
Yeah, he didn't want-- He didn't believe sort of
In like hospitals and stuff, so he kind of
Just butterflied that thing all up.
And that's why it's all torn up.
See that orange pumpkin place?
That's my house.
- Right here? - That orange thing.
- 216? - 216.
It was just like-- It was a house full of fear for me.
We would be little kids and we would hear mom
And dad, like, screaming at each other
And they would just constantly be drinking
And fighting and we'd hear guns go off the window.
You know, out the window, shooting,
And-- Not shooting at each other,
But they always fought over money.
And i wanted to bring my family to a whole 'nother level.
I want to take them out of here,
Give them bigger houses, better things,
And all these, you know...
i mean, how much can you give?
Are you looked at as a dollar sign now?
Are you looked at as... you know,
What are you looked at as?
And that's what sucks because before
I was looked at as a sibling in my house.
I've actually been estranged from my mom and dad
For a while.
I haven't seen them in maybe seven, eight years.
It just-- You see where you came from.
You see where you've been, and... you question things
And you wonder where you're going...
and... i don't know, man.
Most of the kids that i played with on this block,
Most of the people that i tried to fit in with,
Now are either dead
Or serious drug addicts or in prison.
I would have totally ended up like a lot
Of these kids out here.
I haven't been here in, i don't know,
17 years or something.
I'm, like, nervous.
Oh, my goodness.
Do you remember this?
This is crazy!
They got it set up.
- Oh, jesus. - The front row!
Who's that boy?
There is is. You see him?
I always thought she was super pretty.
She was.
And then i-- I was the biggest nerd in school,
Like this was the only way that i could get attention
- From anybody. - Boy, did you.
Because when i would walk down these halls.
I would get picked on a lot, and people didn't like me.
I know.
I was just the weird kid in the school, you know, but...
i've had this for... 22 years.
And it means a lot to me that you've come back
And you've recognized your teacher.
Absolutely.
- You know i still love you. - I love you, too.
She honestly was one of the most influential--
I mean she kind of recognized me, so...
thank you.
And we put it in a format so you could see it now.
Maybe someday for your grandchildren?
- Yeah. Thank you again. - You're welcome.
I have no idea why i'm crying.
I think it has a lot to do with...
all the bad stuff that i had gone through.
And there was only like a couple of lights
And whenever i'd get on stage,
It was a way to get away. It was a way to escape.
It was a way to get away from all the stuff
That i was going through.
And you know, i'm so...
i've only got, like, a couple of things to hold onto
Over the years, and this is one of them.
And when i see-- When i see that
And when i see that video...
it was, like, reminds me
Of sort of, like, the good times
And then...
i don't know, i tried everything i can
To block out things and just eliminate
She was, uh-- She was my escape,
And she recognized me.
And i really... i'm just happy
I got this right here, that's all.
Just happy i got it.
Ready on one, two, three...
we're gonna look right over here.
Are you ready?
Thank you.
It's weird.
These desks are still the same.
Still the same.
- This is my class. - Yes.
Too much emotion, got to roll.
- Are you ready? - Yeah, let's go.
One, two, three...
kids, i tell you.
Yo, look out the window.
There was a lot of groups that came and went
While we were doing our thing.
We never went anywhere. We just kept on going.
20 years is along fucking time for anybody,
Let alone-- Five bunch of dorks jumping around onstage
Singing and dancing.
This is the first single off of the brand-New album.
This is called "in a world like this."
A.J., tell me how you're feeling about the trip
Up the hill?
That's as far as i'm gonna go.
Whatever!
Dude, do you think we should not do this maybe?
What are you talking about?
It's pretty tough.
You want me to go up first and show you?
Did i just tell you how silly you look?
And that was almost my face, but it's totally worth it.
We didn't have ropes when we did it.
Oh, my god.
- Good job, d. - Holy crap.
Hoo whoo!
- Good job, camp. - Good job, rock.
Good job, man, hey,
- Everybody, good job. - We did it.
- Whoo! - We did good.
And you know what, guys?
I think we owe it all to the fans out there
For all these memories.
We hope you guys have created memories, too
Along with us.
Y'all ready to party like it's 1999?
Yo, jump!
Keep workin'!
Good god!
Hey, fellas, happy 20th anniversary.
Thanks, bro.
Happy 20th, guys.
- Come here-- - Oh, god!
Who would have thought 20 years ago
When we began this journey together
That this would be a stop along the way.
Backstreet boys! Backstreet boys!
Let's go now!
'Cause you know that--
Way back y'all.