Hype in New York City is a dangerous thing. And it happens all too often. I don't even really understand how it happens, but before long, you've got Hollywood celebs visiting these places while they're taking meetings in New York City and then it becomes a self-perpetuating disease you can't stamp out.

I was 14, and it's probably one of the biggest songs of my adolescence. And I don't even like it. I'm talking about "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys.

Here it is:

Excerpts, apropos of nothing (or everything).

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. 
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

It’s opener there in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. 
Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. 
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don’t. Because, sometimes, you won’t.
I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. 
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. 
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! 
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? 
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And if you go in, should you turn left or right … or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? 
Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place …  for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

No! That’s not for you!
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. 
You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. 
With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! 
Ready for anything under the sky. 
Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. 
Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.
All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.
And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul. 
On you will go though your enemies prowl. 
On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. 
Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. 
On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.
You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. 
You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. 
So be sure when you step. 
Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. 
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)
Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, 
you’re off to Great Places! Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So … get on your way!

One of my favorites. That Dr. Seuss was a genius.

Today is our day, so let's get on our way.

A New York Times article from November 9, 1997 that I saved because a classmate was quoted in it. Months later, I'd cherish it because it contains a breakdown of the teen pop phenomenon that was beginning to unravel. Note the photo of the Backstreet Boys on the lower right.

[I'm considering this, though not 100% relevant, Part II to my first blog entry on my awakening to pop culture, which I wrote back in March and have meant to follow up on ever since. The period I am most nostalgic about begins not long after the cutoff year of that entry, which was about 1995.]
I've been seeing a lot of articles about nostalgia around lately, mostly prompted by the return to '90s programming on Nickelodeon after hours. Until recently, I felt that those (without sounding like Sarah Palin) "elite" and "liberal" publications were always a step or two behind the times on pop culture and trends, but since the "advent" of Justin Bieber, a lot of them have been really on the ball. Sometimes a little too much, to the point of basically throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks.

In any case, the author of the New York Times piece on Nick's programming is 25 years old but has the voice of a 50-something. Is it really that shocking that 18-to-34 year-olds are nostalgic? The second I left high school I was nostalgic for high school. And as I grew out of pop music and whatever was on the Top 40 Countdown, I grew nostalgic for "when music was good." I was maybe 20 years old. Plus, what do you call the whole NKOTBSB tour? One huge nostalgia trip, come on.

I've always sort of lived in the past, and my friends will tell you that I wasted a good amount of my time in college wishing I were still a high school student and it was still the '90s. (But that's a story for another day.) I can't say all of this nostalgia is 100% organic. I was in my late teens when September 11th happened. I think after that sort of trauma, everyone reaches for something comforting. I don't know if the generation before mine was as quick to be nostalgic as mine was, but hell, I remember a 2006 Gilmore Girls episode when someone threw a 2002-themed party. At the time, I shrieked with amusement and wanted to throw one of my own, featuring Nelly's "Hot in Herre" (2002's greatest achievement, of course). As far as I was concerned, music and pop culture took an odd and unwelcome turn in 2003 when the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton came on the scene.

So ... I'm one of maybe 50 people in the U.S. who still owns a TV with a built-in VCR that works. I love this thing. It's been with me since before I went to college and has remained extremely faithful to me. Not to mention, all the good stuff is on VHS. It just so happens that I accidentally pressed eject on this TV's remote the other day and had to push the tape back in. In doing so, I thought, "let's check out what's on this tape." I'd used it in the past year to tape some music specials, but after that program ended on the tape, I found myself in a time warp. Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century! Total Request (before it went Live)! And other goodies, like MTV's 1999-2000 New Year's Eve party, a 1999 Top 100 Songs countdown, etc.

This prompted me to break out The Stash. Between 1997 and 2003, I tried to tape every Backstreet Boys television appearance. I have Backstreet Boys Tapes 1-11 and I think I stopped numbering them after that, but the number probably comes in at about 13. (This does not include any official VHS tapes I purchased.) Aside from BSB appearances, I sort of got distracted by other sparkly things, like MTV Diary and Britney Spears, so I have a lot of that junk on tape too. You might know where this is going ... I've been looking for indications of Joey McIntyre and Jordan Knight's solo careers. Because I remember them but have no physical documentation. So far, it seems like any time I've come close to an NKOTB mention or Joey/Jordan mention, I stopped recording or taped over it with something else. I do, however, have plenty of Leif Garrett material. Go figure.

The sacred, but poorly kept, Backstreet Boys binder.

I also broke out my old Backstreet Boys print stash. I guess I might as well tell you my BSB story right now, maybe in photos. I first heard of them sometime in 1995 or 1996, in Girl's Life magazine. The photo creeped me out a little bit, so I turned the page ...