Back in the 1990s, the whole of humanity only really stressed about one thing. One very important thing: choosing between Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC. Everyone had to pledge allegiance to one boy band, and one boy band *only*, because liking both was simply impossible. One had to be more superior than the other. Even the group themselves knew it, because *NSYNC just admitted that they thought they were “better” than the Backstreet Boys.
Because both pop quintets’ successes happened concurrently, the fans have always thought there was an ongoing boy band bloodbath behind closed doors. It turns out, we were all wrong. In an interview with Billboard for the band’s 20th anniversary, the *NSYNC boys debunked that speculation and revealed that there was barely any beef between them and BSB.
There was a little friendly competition, sure, but that was all there was to it.
"My perspective was, 'All right, they got it first, but that doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, as long as you can back up what you do.' So our goal was, 'You gotta be good,'" JC Chasez explained. "We can’t control how people are gonna take it. All we can do is control how we give it. The doors are open — we just focus on making our shows good, making sure we sound good, and making sure the records were good."
While it’s nice to know that our ’90s pop idols weren’t at each other’s throats back in the day, Joey Fatone admitted that they thought God must have spent a little more time on them because they were the better boy band.
"It created a friendly competition. There's nothing wrong with friendly competition — even though we are, of course, better than any of those boy bands. Maybe not right now, a little rusty."
Now before you BSB fans lose it, *NSYNC had to be better.
You know, so they could be on an equal footing with the Backstreet Boys, who had entered the American market way before they did.
"To us, there wasn’t a competition. We just thought we needed to be the best," Chris Kirkpatrick said. "To them, there was, because they came out and we came out, and they’re like, 'Man, we have to be better than them!'"
Two decades later, both bands are now really good friends, and would even pop a cold one together. “I think boy band fights are in the same realm as hockey fights. You fight when you’re on TV, but then when you’re not, you get a beer together,” Fatone revealed. “Now we’re really good friends.”
Hey boys, if we can’t get a boy band reunion, can we at least get an invitation the next time you grab a beer? Thanks in advance.
