Boy Band Series: NSYNC, Part 1

That iconic NSYNC pop sound didn't just happen on its own; it was built, starting with the FOMO that Chris Kirkpatrick experienced when he missed out on auditions for Backstreet Boys. 

Welcome back to the next installment of our Boy Band Series, where we 90's/ early 00's international phenomenon, NSYNC.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we delve a little deeper into the individual members lives. 

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Transcript

Intro Singing And Series Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:02

You're all I ever wanted, baby. You're all I ever needed. Yeah. So tell me what to do now. Cause I want you back. I have to do that every time. I was just gonna let you do it alone because I felt like if I did it with you. I would mess it up. And that was very good. I did a job. You're too princess to do a brat brand. Yeah, it's not for me. That's not for me. It's not for you. It's okay. That's okay. That's okay. I appreciate the sound effects. Well, yes. I gotta bring something. Hello, everyone. Hello. Welcome to Generation in Between a Xennial podcast. I'm Katie. I'm Danny. And you probably figured it out from our little singing, singing intro there that you are back on our boy band series. And today is part one of In Sync. Yeah. And this is uh the last one. This is the last one of our series. Yes. It's so much. It's so much. Although I found something in my research today, like that I'm gonna present today, that I'm like, we might need like one more episode to watch something that I found. Oh, okay. To discuss. Or maybe we'll do a bonus or just like a quick little whatever. If it's just watching, great. And just chatting. And it honestly probably has a lot of what we've already researched in. Okay. But we'll get to that. All right. Um, if it's your first time here, welcome. If you found us because you love in sync, uh, so do we. Well, so do I. I mean, I like them. I saw them in concert back in the day. Yeah. But I as a, you know, back in the day, it was you were either Backstreet or in sync. You had to pick one. And we know where I went. Yeah, which is why Danny did the research for Backstreet. And I still like them better. Do you? Yeah, I was watching all the clips and stuff, and I still just I like them better. I like their their harmonies better. I just like their vibe better. That's fair. I just do. I think I still like in sync better, but as you'll see when we get into this, InSync's reign as InSync was very short. Oh, yeah. Compared to these other boy bands who are still going in some way, shape, or form. In sync was like three or four years. But you know, I think it's because J Tim took off. It's both. It's it's a few things. Yeah, yeah. Everyone likes to say it, but it's more than than just that. But we'll get into it. Um, but yes, if you're joining us for the first time, we talk about Xennial things here. I gotta fix my chick. She's gotta fix her chick. I feel like I'm staring at the side of my head and I don't like it, and my neck hurts. I don't want that. See, our necks hurt sometimes because we are 80s babies, and maybe you are too. Or we have a lot of younger listeners who um like our first hand accounts. First hand accounts, cabbage patch dolls, and all sorts of things. That's the one example I can give you. Wow. All right, well, but today, today is in sync. So we'll talk a little more about our personal connection, but first I have some trivia for you. I'm ready. I'm okay. I can do okay. These are all similar questions to the other boy bands. Okay, okay, okay. All right. What year was InSync formed? Um, well, I know they were formed to compete with Backstreet Boys, and Backstreet was it was when they were in Europe. So I'm gonna say, was it 97? 95. Oh, 95. Okay. I'm just because they were in Europe. Okay, yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know where they were formed. In Orlando. Yes, O Town is back, not the boy band. Not the boy band. What are the band members' names? We got Justin Semberleg, JC Chazet, uh Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, and there's one more who I'm forgetting. Oh, Joey Fatone. Yes, my husband is always blessed, always says Joey Fat one. And I'm like, can you not say that? He's not even if he wasn't leaving about it. I know, but I like it. Like as a joke. I know. And he wasn't my big fat Greek wedding. Oh, yeah, he was really funny. He was really good. He was funny in nomination. All right. How many albums have they had? I don't know. Five. Yes. Okay, go. I found it. Because they had a Christmas one. There's a Christmas one, there's three that were in the US only, and then there was one that was Europe only. Look at me. And then there have also been three compilation albums since that are just repositioning songs they already had. Ah. So I guess eight, but only five studio albums. Five of them complete. And they have not released anything new since 2002. The compilation things came out after that. Later. But nothing new. And they didn't record anything. It was just like it was all stuff they already had. Like greatest hits or whatever. It was greatest hits, and it did have a few things. There was one that we'll get into that was released not too long ago, a couple years ago, that um had things that weren't on anything else before. And so like fans loved it. But it wasn't recently recorded, it was just like older. Oh, it was like an like a B side. That being said, they did record a song for the second Trolls movie that Justin Timberlake was in. So we'll get into that too. But album-wise, okay, nothing since 2002. Do you know how they got the name in sync? No. Okay. Two reasons. First is Justin Timberlake's mom commented on how in sync the group's singing voices were. Cute when she heard them for one of the first times. Cute. But also the group's name is a play on the last letter of each of the initial members' names. Justin, Chris, Joey, Jason, and JC. Okay. Okay. So we'll get into that. Well, there's no L in there. Being named after a flea market in Orlando. I think so too. I thought it was funny that it was the last initial names, but I but it does work.

unknown 5:48

Yeah.

Concert Memories And Backstreet Debate

Ticketmaster Monopoly And Price Rants

SPEAKER_00 5:48

And they do sound in sync. They sound great when they sing together. Did you watch the their first performance that I sent you? That was crazy. Hilarious. So you already talked about how you saw them in concert. You saw No Strings attacked? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I saw too. I have my tickets somewhere. I just didn't have time to look at it. That's all right. I don't have mine. Okay. I remember my mom got them, and my mom's not like a big like pop music person or whatever, but I just remember, I think maybe through her work or something, she got three or four tickets. So me and some of my friends got to go to Chicago to see them. I'm trying to remember how I oh, I fell into those tickets. A friend of mine from back home, um, like somebody in her family grant or something had bought a bunch of tickets and they had an extra one. And she was like, Oh, do you want to come and see NSY? And I was like, Okay. Because I was not trying to I liked NSync and I wanted to go see them, but I was not waiting in line like I did for Backshaw Boys. That's fair. That's totally the tickets, I think, were the same amount. I'm sure. Yeah. But they and my seats were probably terrible. I don't really remember. Yeah, my seats were pretty bad. Yeah. Speaking of, let me do a pause real quick because I was like on my way here. I was listening to NPR's podcast, The Daily. It always has really good like current event news. So remember how two years ago, when we recorded our our concert episode, we talked about all the litigation against Ticketmaster. Yes. That has still been happening. Ticketmaster and Live Nation about them being in a monopoly. Well, one of the court one of the court cases has been resolved and it is established that yes, they are a monopoly. Wow. And now it's very, very complicated because it's like um there's all these different levels of of when cases got dismissed, and now it's like an individual state thing, but it's a pretty big deal. So crazy. What what I got into, I didn't get to finish. They were talking about what what does that mean for the consumer and ticket prices, and they were like, well, probably nothing because I know we say that this doesn't matter, but it does. It's really up to the performers how much they charge for their tickets. And if somebody is willing to pay a thousand dollars to see Beyonce or Taylor Swift today, they probably will still pay it. It's just where that money goes to. Right. Right. So I don't think it's gonna change ticket prices much. I I remember when we talked about that too, we said, well, let's say Taylor Swift. Well, could she just not sell her tickets through Ticketmaster? But the problem is, right, they have all these deals with locations. Well, and they uh what I've realized is Live Nations and Ticketmaster are like bullied locations and performers. So anyway, go look it up NPR the Daily and listen to it because it was interesting. I was like, oh, we were just talking, and it was on my way here. I was like, oh, I gotta bring it up. Yeah. So one of so they it legally they're getting some ramifications. I think now they're trying to decide what what penalties does that look like for the company. Right. What does that even mean? And what and like you said, what will it mean for the consumer and the artist? Probably not much for us. Yeah. It's just gonna be different on the business side, like and what are their it's are they gonna dissolve the company? What's gonna happen? But guys, we live in a capitalistic nation. We're not gonna benefit. They'll figure something out for themselves, of course. I'm sure. Okay. Somebody's had to say that quick old lady rant. I also have been going off lately about how the electric company is a monopoly. Oh, it's true. Like they they just feel like charging you whatever. Well, actually in deposit all of the utilities. There's nothing you could like, at least for internet, I have a couple things I can pick. For my cell phone carrier, I have a couple things I can pick. Now, water, same thing. You can't really pick because it's your jurisdiction. But electric, it's like it's FPO. That's it. Like, I cannot, the only thing I could maybe do is somehow invest in solar power, but even then you have to go through their grid.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Uh-huh.

Chris Kirkpatrick Builds The Band

First Performance And Europe Breakthrough

SPEAKER_00 9:30

And I'm like, this, and there's like they'll just be like, well, that's fine. We'll just turn your electricity off. Well, and they raise rates without telling you. Yeah. And you'll just get a ladder and be like, oh, by the way, our rates are up. And it's like, what the hell? How by the way, you owe$700 more doll for your deposit because your deposit's gone up. It's due next week, or we're turning your electricity off. I'm like, how do they get away with this? You know why? I do know why. Capitalism, guys. Yes. Anyway, that was my old lady rant. That's not old. We're not old. Middle aged. Actually, you know what? I saw something. That four. That 40 is not middle-aged. They were saying 35 is middle-aged. Oh, I thought you were gonna say it was older. Uh, I mean, I guess, but people aren't dying at 70. They're dying later than that. I know. That's what I said too. I said that's wrong information. I think so too. But whatever. I don't care. Doesn't matter. I like my 40s so I'm in I'm in that bracket no matter which way you look at it. And anyone's on 50, I'm past middle age. Yeah. I'm probably not gonna be 100. Happy anniversary, by the way. Oh, thanks. 21. 21 years. I saw it on Facebook. My marriage was old enough to drink, guys. So you guys can have a drink later. I have rehearsal. So nope. We're going out tomorrow. Tomorrow. That's right. You're going to Howie's restaurant. Oh, I hope he's there. He won't be. But that would be all amazing. So fun. And you know damn well I'd be like, it's my anniversary, Howie. Sing me a love song. Goat. Goat. Also listen to my podcast. Mostly that. Mostly that. Okay. But back to the group at the other end. All right. So, like we just said, so And Singh and Synx, an American boy band formed in Orlando in 1995. It launched in Germany, which is going to be a similar story to what we went through with the Backstreet Boys. And at its height, when it was actually released in the US and they actually had albums, it was Justin Timberley Timberlake, sorry, JC Chase. You really don't need to ask me how to pronounce name. I think that's how you said it. I always say Chazay, but that's the one. Yeah, you're right. It's hard to say. How do you spell it? C-H-A-S-E-Z. Chase. What nationality do you think that is? I have no idea. No clue. Okay, now it's time for me to ask you questions. But I might but I might know that by next week when I'm gonna do it. Well, all right. I've done a little bit of that, but I had to focus on it today. T B D T. Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, and Lance. Yay. Who was your favorite back in the day? Um, I liked Lance. Oh, you do? And you know we have the same birthday. I know. That's crazy. Yeah, it's not the same year, though. No, he's a little bit older than you. But yeah, we have the same birthday. I liked him. All right, so here's how all of this got started back in 1995. Chris Kirkpatrick is the reason InSync exists. Okay. He was a classmate of Howie Duro of Backstreet Boys. Valencia College. Shout out to community colleges, all right? Howie came to class and was talking about how he was chosen for Backstreet Boys. And Chris hadn't even knew known that there were auditions. So the lore is that he said to Howie, Well, I would have made it over you. So there's I didn't think they knew each other. Yeah, I guess they were in class together. And then um Lance was on an interview in 2023 talking about it. So somehow Chris tracks down Lou Pearlman's company and cold calls him. Whoa. I don't remember this from the Dirty Pop doc. It's weird, right? It's I don't think they talked about it. But I found it in like three sources, and one of them was they just said that they invented in sync. Well, apparently they met for coffee. Oh my god. Him and Lou Pearlman. Because back then Lou was not known as, you know, the sleazy person he not became, but was the sleepy. So they met in 1995 in Orlando. Okay. And Pearlman told Kirkpatrick if he could find the other young male singers, he would finance the group. So Kirkpatrick was already friends with Joey Fittone. They met at Universal Studios working there. Yes, at Theme Park Connection. So then the two of them were like trying to come up with ideas. Some of their friends were already in Backstreet Boys. So they went back to Lou Perlman and they started um soliciting agencies, kind of like they had done for Backstreet Boys. And they started looking through tapes. And one was Justin Timberlake, who had already been on Mickey Mouse Club. But they sent in like a tape of that or his resume or something like that. Now he was already back living in Nashville at this time because Mickey Mouse Club was over. But he sent it in because he had an agent in Orlando and all the things. JC Shaze was also a cast member on the Mickey Mouse Club same season. Yeah. So same thing. After Mickey Mouse Club ended, they had both moved to Nashville together to pursue singing, performing careers. So they both sent in for InSync. Okay, best. And then they got a call to come down for that. Well now wait, when you said they were going through people like Ru Perlman's agency was doing Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. So by this point, they took over. Yeah. So we just had the two, Chris and Joey. Chris and Joey. And then they're like, oh, like, how do we find people? And they had successfully done this for Backstreet Boys not very long before this. So they started doing the same thing. So that's how they stumbled upon those two, um, JC and Justin. So then they decided to recruit a friend, Jason Galasso, who was a friend of Joey Fatone's. They went to high school together and he was going to be their bass. His dad, Jason's dad, was Joey and Jason's chorus teacher. Cute. Yes. So they recruited him. And he came into the group, but he didn't stay in the group because when he finally got a look at the contract from Lou Perlman and his family, and like other people looked over it, he decided it didn't it didn't sound on the up and up. Oh, and it wasn't. And Backstreet Boys wasn't huge yet. Right. Right? Like when all this is happening. Well, no, they were in Europe. Right. And Sync got bigger here first. Yeah. Yeah. Well, actually. We'll get there. Yeah, we'll get there. We'll get there. But but fast faster than Backstreet Boys. But they still started overseas. Right, right. So actually, so this is what I was going to tell you about. There's a new documentary that only came out on April 13th on ID called Boy Band Confidential. Oh, and it's lots of different um, I think that was Anthony. Was it Anthony? I think it was. Lots of different boy bands and different things. So that's what I was thinking. Maybe we should just watch it and just kind of talk about it. Okay. But this Jason guy was on it. And he was quoted as saying, I had no idea it was going to happen. I was a stupid kid. I had never seen a music contract before, but I was smart enough back then to take the contract to lawyers. And they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, lose a member of the band now. So they saw it. So apparently, at the same time, this Jason guy also had an offer to join an RB group called Unreal, which apparently is just that. They never released anything. But he did have a contract with them. So he compared both contracts with his family and with a lawyer. And they were like, This Unreal one is a standard industry contract. This other one's not on the up and up. So he backed out of in sync. But then Unreal never happened. I mean, but on the flip side, like good, we didn't have to get into the tangle, man. Yeah. And and there's been stuff over the years. Like, I guess Joey was I mean, you know, they were young, but Joey's really unhappy with them when he did it. So then they didn't talk for several years. And then of course it like InSync becomes this like global phenomenon. And then he's like regretting it. Of course. But in the end, he went to college and he is a mortgage industry professional. Okay. And has been for all these years. But I guess they um and Joey at some point like reconciled and the other people in the band too. And they were all just like, like you were right about Lou. And also, how could you have known? And also we were like 17. Yeah. So we're teenagers. I mean, um, right. But so he was the original member. Okay. So this documentary that I just mentioned features NSYNC's manager, Johnny Wright, who explained, which you already mentioned in the last episode, but I'll repeat it quickly here. In sync and the Backstreet Boys had a contract where, yeah, in addition to being their record label and manager and getting 51% of earnings for doing that, Krullman was also the sixth member of each group, right? Garnering him one-sixth of their 49%. So he didn't just do a batch three, he did it in sync too. Correct. Yeah, correct. So Ari said Falasco became a mortgage professional. Oh, I have my papers again today. I know. In case, well, okay, if you're not watching us on YouTube, Katie has papers, not a computer. I do. And she looks very neutral. Like I'm ready. It is great. And the font isn't even that big. No. I know. Are my eyes getting better? I don't know. I was like, wow, that's like to be fair. It's still like 14. Okay, it's not like 10. Was it like I need it? Biggest. Biggest. Biggest than this. Biggest fonts. So, okay. So Timberlake called his vocal coach, okay, who suggested a different student of theirs, a 16-year-old from Mississippi. Well, yeah, named Lance Bass. So Bass flew to Orlando and auditioned. He was immediately accepted, but his mom was skeptical, just in jungle, not necessarily of Lou Perlman, but just like, like, what is this? A boy band, what's happening? You're 16, that sort of thing. But after a few calls back and forth and like getting to know the other guys in the group and the manager and like feeling like it's a legit thing, she agreed to let him join. They nicknamed him Lanston. Why? L-A-N-S-T-E-N, so they could keep the name in sync. Because the N was the end of Jason's name. No one calls him that Lanston. Yeah. Lanston. Oh, Kerr. That's funny. Okay. So here's a quote of me, once he was added to the group later, Lance said this in an interview. When I was 16, I had a girlfriend at the time. I was getting ready for my homecoming parade. I got home from helping build the float. And my mom was on the phone with Lou Perlman and Justin Timberlake and Justin's mom, Lynn. They'd found me through my coach for another show choir that I was in. And they were putting a band together and they wanted to see if I would be the bass singer. Let's go. Yeah. So with that, here's who everyone represents in the group. JC is tenor and lead vocals. Justin Timberlake is tenor, lead vocals, and beatbox. Right. Do you remember that clip that they have of him beatboxing on the NCV music wars and Brittany's in the audience? It was like afterwards. Oh, like eye rolling. Like she well, no, she's not. She's trying so hard to not let her face reveal. But you can totally see. She's like, Jesus Christ. Yeah. Yeah. It's so uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable. Joey is baritone background vocals. Chris is counter tenor background vocals. And Lance is bass background vocals. So yeah, there's all these arguments, not arguments, but heated debates among in sync stands who's the better singer, Justin or JC. Well, if you notice in their early stuff, they have JC in the front more, but later it shifted. Yeah. I think JC has a better voice. I think Justin can do a lot of things with his voice. Like JC can sing falsetto too, but Justin's got that very like distinct falsetto plus the beatboxing and all that. Um, but if you just listen purely on like tone, JC's a better singer. Okay. I think he is. I think the reason why Justin stuck out more is because he's got more like swag. Oh, definitely. And he you know what I mean? And that's uh like and he he's younger, right? Yeah, he's a little bit younger. Yeah, he's got that like mischievous kind of feel too. And he's got great hair, amazing hair. Not like that matters, but it's a boy band. So it is. I mean, it it stands out. JC is a little more like um boy next door, yeah, like someone you would know, but Dustin doesn't really seem that way. They're all great singers, in my opinion. But yeah. So, all right. So they signed with Pearlman's label transcontinental. And they were set up in a house in Orlando, Florida. I Googled where it was and I couldn't find it. But they rehearsed constantly, learning dance routines and vocal parts. So it's like exactly the same. Exactly the same. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh Johnny Wright, who was also the manager of the backstrop, a backstreet boys, was hired by Pearlman to manage the group. And they ended up going to his house a lot because he lived in Orlando, him and his wife Donna, and their home had a dance studio, a two-lane bowling alley, and a sound system. Yeah. So they would go over there to like practice. How do we have friends like that? I know. I'm gonna make our friends to sound like that. Tommy and Donna invite us over. We're not too far. We're over here with like 80,000 wires. Yeah. Can we come record in your two-lane bowling alley thing? Oh no. It would be great. Um, so all of this rehearsing fed into their first public performance. Okay. Which was October 22nd, 1995. Oh. And this was at Pleasure Island. Pleasure Island. Which is now Disney Springs. Right. They've changed the name, but that's where it was. It Pleasure Island was originally just like adult entertainment, right? It was nightclubs, restaurants, bars. And now Disney Springs is like more well, and it was downtown Disney for a while. It was downtown Disney. After it was Pleasure Island. Correct. And then it was Disney Springs. Yes. Because now it's like shopping and restaurants and activities. And I don't know why they changed it from downtown Disney to Disney Springs. Capitalism, because they wanted to expand it and make it more. Because remember, it didn't used to be like tons of shopping. No, it was smaller. Yeah. I mean, I moved to Orlando in 2007, and it was still downtown Disney then. Yeah. And it was much smaller than it is now. They just keep adding more to it. Because they Disney. I know. I know. As much as I want to hate them, y'all know I'd be loving it. So look that up, guys. I can put it in the show notes too. Because they they sound really great. They just sounded so 90s. It's so 90s. It's so 90s. And and girls are like scream for it in the background. Yep. And they sang a lot of covers, but they did sing their original song, I thought she knew. Do you know that one? I thought she knew. I thought she knew. I didn't watch their whole performance. Around her. That one. It became really popular later. I've never heard that song. Oh. Well, I'll sing more when we get to it on the albums. Never heard it. Oh, it's really pretty. Okay. So from there, the group signed with BMG Ariola. Ariola. That's crazy. That is a typo. It is? What's it? Oh no. That's why I'm worried. It's not the way you would think. Ariola. It is spelled different. It's okay, y'all. It's A-R-I-O-L-A. Yeah. We're just gonna say B M G Munich. After I already said it. Is it is that a German word for something? I'm sure it is. Hopefully for Ariola. Get out of here. Oh my gosh. So that even compute when you were typing it. It did not. I know. And then I started trying to read it out loud. I was like, wait a second. Uh oh. I know. I do that all the time. Oh, Ariola. Okay. Okay, so Munich, here we go. They were sent to Sweden to begin working on their debut album, same as Bad Street. Well, listen to these names that help produce Dennis Paul. There we go. Max Martin and Andreas Carlsen. There we go. So their first official lead single was I Want You Back. That's the one we sang in the intro. And it was released in Germany on October 7th, 1996, and it entered the top 10 there. All right. So now they had a record deal finally secured. They began touring first in G German-speaking countries and then other European areas. And then their self-titled debut album, InSync, was initially released May 26, 1997, in Germany. So in the dirty pot, did you finish it? Yes. So you know that the Baxtery Boys talked about that, how they were like basically NSYNC's right behind us, doing exactly working with the same people, doing the exact same thing. Like, what the hell? And it all the people who are in charge of Baxtery Boys are in charge of theirs too. Honestly, it's all the same thing. So there was all this. Whenever they were both big, they were like, Oh, there's competition, but the same people are making money off them. They were making money off that topic. So it's interesting to just hear because they did basically it's like, well, this formula works. Let's replicate. Copy and paste. Yep. Exactly. Going to Sweden, dropping an album in Germany, Dennis Denis pop. Dennis Gunn's. Um, so the album did really well there and also Switzerland and Austria. It didn't sell over a million, it sold 820,000, which is still kind of a lot. That's a lot. Um, for new. And then they released their next two singles there, Tearing Up My Heart and Here We Go. And those reached top 10 in different European countries. Um, so this guy, Vincent De Gregorio. I don't think we've heard from him. De Gregorio. Why does that sound like something in a movie? Gregorio, it is something. Is that in on Wedding Singer? No. That stinkso. And Julia Goulia has never been kissed. No, Julia Gulia is wedding singer. It is. I do, I do love Drew Berry. I'm getting her mice to address it. Yeah, because she's marrying Glenn Goulia. Oh, that's right. I don't want to be Julia Goulia. And she starts crying at her wedding address. Poor thing. Um Adobe Sandler says, Julia Goulia, that's funny. And Glenn says, Why is that funny? I love that movie. We're gonna have some. Um, so anyway, he saw them perform in Budapest. Okay. And he was a US record executive. So he got them signed to an RCA record in the US in 1998. All right, which is when we start to see quite a few years later. Yeah, 95 they started, and 96 they dropped an album in Europe. So they're out there in that Europe area for quite a bit. That Europe area. You know, it's a really small part of the world. Maybe you've heard of it. Um, so they ended up adjusting the tracks for the US release, just changing it. But then for Backstreet for Backstreet. Um, but they did have still the first single was I Want You Back, which debuted in December 1997. So that doesn't make sense. Oh, yes, it does. Yes, it does, because they their album came out in 98, so that's what he signed them to. And then the whole album dropped in March of 98. Okay. So tearing up my heart. You remember that was tearing up my heart when that with you. A lot of them do sound a lot alone. When we are a part, I feel it too. And no matter what I do, I feel the pain with a without you. That one also has a lot of things. It does. It does. Like, I started to forget them words. I had to look at Kenya and do improv skills. Like, do you have you ever done that when you're doing singing improv and like you have to like figure out and you have to watch their mouth so you can see what they're about to do? Yeah. Literally, how to just do that. That's so hard. That's a life job. You did it. I was like, I don't remember the word. Oh, there it is. The lips are forming the words. Um the second song, I just want to be with you. I don't really know that one. Here we go. You remember that one? Here we go. One more time. Everybody's feeling fine.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

It's not you can't do singing.

Disney Special Sparks US Fame

SPEAKER_00 29:34

But that's a maze ball. I remember that one. For the girl who has everything, I do remember that one, but off the top of my head, I can't remember the two. I don't remember any of these damn songs. You don't remember this one. God must have spent a little more time on you. God must have spent a little more time on you. Which was originally an Alabama song. Alabama the Panama. Maybe that's why I know that my mom loved them. Yeah, that they redid back in the 80s. And then eventually, like sang with them on. What a weird song to pick. Yeah. They sound great on it though. I know, but like Alabama? Yeah. That's a country group, but they're from like uh not Alabama. Timberlake's from Tennessee. Like Mississippi. Also Alabama. I know, but they all listen to country music. All of those people. Wow. I mean, you're not wrong. Probably back then, too. Their moms are listening to making all these snap drone rents. I just say it. Lynn Timberlake, she's listening to Alabama when he was growing up. Lynn, come at me if I'm wrong. Lynn, come on. I mean, my mom listened to all that nonsense, which is probably why I hate country music. It was like shoved down my brain. Maybe. Yeah. You rejected it. I can't. You rejected it. Okay. You got it. I don't remember that one. I need your love. That says I need love, not yours. Oh, you're right. Look at that be bug on our notes. See, you can see it. I know. Um, I want you back. Radio edits. I guess that's the one we are. You just have less. Probably has more. Probably have more. Everything I own. I don't think we are doing terrible. Oh, thinking of you, I drive myself crazy. I drive myself crazy. Wanting you like I do? Something like that. Okay. Okay. Then, not to be confused with crazy for you. Don't know that one off the top of my head. Sailing. Sailing. That one? I think me away. Yeah. Who uh somebody originally sang that? Yeah, it was a cover. Was it um fuck? It'll come to me. And then giddy up. What? I don't remember that one at all. Well, we're we're um about and it's funny when I was doing it, I was like, I just need to re-listen to these. They're gonna come right back. But I didn't really up. What you did it instead? Oh. I didn't re-listen to the ones I wasn't sure of. No. Listen, maybe that's why it took me so long with Baxter Boys research, because I like would listen to a few seconds of every song on every album and until I got to the ones I didn't know. And then I was like, and I'm done. And we're done. And I'm done. But giddy up. All right. Hit it. All right. So that's yeah. You have no medley to sing of Gideon. I have no medley of Giddy Up. But don't worry, there's a part two guys. Who knows what I might come in on to come up to come the next week. Let's do it. So album sales in the US were actually pretty sluggish. It debuted at number 82. I have a backstreet. Remember? I remember. But the Disney Channel aired a concert special at July 18th. So, like three months after it debuted. It was first offered to the Backstreet Boys, but they had to back out due to member Brian Latrell needing heart surgery. They're already on tour. Yeah. Yeah. So they, I guess probably because of they have the same management and stuff, they're like, well, we have this other group. But it worked because five weeks before the concert, the album sat at 82. Three weeks after the concert, the album reached number nine. Well, because part of the shtick with boy bands is their visual allure. Yeah. So you put them on Disney Channel, we're little preteens and early teens. Well, they're good dancers, which you don't see when you're just listening to it on the radio. Okay. Like all those things. So then their profile continued to rise with the subsequent single release, Tearing Out My Heart, which became a hit on pop radio. And according to me, H1, was one of the 100 greatest songs of the 90s. Tearing Up My Heart. I love that song. And then they actually began touring on Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope Tour. They opened for her. Interesting. That was December Lake and Janet having an early connection after their drama. Nipplegate. Nippleging of Ariolas. Oh wow, I was surprised it took that long. My comedy skills are coming in hot yeah. You're on fire. I guess. Except you couldn't figure out the one song. Well, that's okay. There was nothing I could do with that. You didn't even have like an inkling. I thought that was hard. They also did television spots on shows like Tip Serena the Teenage Witch. And everybody was on that fucking show. I know. I think it was the timing of it. And she was a teenager and she was a teenage witch, guys. She was a teenage witch. And so you had to have all the teen boys singing on this show. Show always be Clarissa to me. I did love Clarissa. Clarissa explains it all. Um so eventually, after all of this, it was certified Diamond for shipments in excess of 10 million sales. Damn. Yeah. So that's what I I looked that up. Diamond is 10 million. Okay. Yeah. So then that same year, November 10th, 1998, they re released their holiday album, Home for Christmas, which again, following, well, a lot of groups lead, but certainly Backstreet, like within the same year of their album. Now they've got a Christmas album the same year. And it sold two million copies. And so they had two albums in the Billboard top 10 at the same time. And I did write all the tracks on that one. I mean, the one everybody knows is Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. I love that song. Oh, it's a good one. And I mean, and then there's, I'm not going to read all of these because some of these are like Oh, holy night. Like they're just normal Christmas songs. You can sing Oh Holy Night if you can. I love that's one of my regret songs. That is one of my favorite songs to sing at Christmas. It's beautiful. It's so funny. It's so pretty. But I won't sing it now, maybe at Christ Christmas. We'll just have a whole episode of Katie singing all her girl songs. And in the background going rare now. You can beatbox. Will you beatbox your knee on whole holy? Absolutely not. But I will shake a tambourine or something. You know, we should do play handbells. We should do a Christmas album. Why not? Oh, Katie. Why not? Katie. It'd be a comedy of errors. Oh boy. I'm gonna start thinking about this. Okay. So, but on this, they also had God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You, the remix. On their Christmas album? That's what it says. Are they singing to Jesus? I'll get that joke. I mean, I get it. It took me a second. She looked at her paper. It was like, huh? No, that was a very um that was a that was a cerebral joke.

unknown 36:14

Yeah.

No Strings Attached Sales Explosion

SPEAKER_00 36:16

Jesus is the son of God. He is. He is supposedly. So yeah, maybe they're singing to the baby Jesus. Just kidding. I was just they're the five wise men. That joke didn't land as well. So anyway, Christmas album, Oh Holy Night, coming to you sometime this year from me. All right. So then a week later, okay, they released the winter album in Germany. In Germany only. And one of the songs on the album, You Drive Me Crazy, was a major hit in Spain. Okay. Peaking at number four. Why is it a winter album? Which is what it's called. They singing in the bleakman winter. Oh, no, I don't think that's a song. You need to sing that too. I love that song. And I'll just ring a bell. Get you on some triangle. In the bleak man winter. I love it. You have to have the you have to have the accent instruments. Otherwise, it won't be. Actually, that song's like a cappella, isn't it? It might be. Parts of it are. And then a random bing. Yeah, a cappella except for your bell. Or triangle. Triangle. We'll decide. Oh, I meant to say triangle. I said bell, right? I can't imagine big bell. You need like a like a timpani, like those big drums. Bum bum bum bum. Like thunder underneath. In fact, we're just gonna teach you all the percussion instruments. We'll get Amelia in here. It'll be easy. No problem. All right. So that that winter album happened. Wonderful. They made some money on that. It was never released here. Oh let's see. Blah, blah, blah. Okay, so then that's Christmas time 98. All right. Now we're in 1999, and this is when everything starts to hit the fan with Lou Perlman. Right. This publicized legal battle. Um, in sync followed the footsteps of Backstreet Boys, sued Perlman, and his record company, Transcontinental, for defrauding the group of more than 50% of their earnings. What did that rather than his promise of receiving only one sixth, which was similar to the Backstreet Boys, almost exactly the same. The group threatened to leave and sign Majive Records, but then Perlman and RCA countersued in sync for like breach of contract or whatever for$150 million. So lots of legal back and forth here. Eventually they settle out of court and they're allowed to leave the label. So financially, what all that meant, I don't know. Um, so they ended up going over to Jive Records at that point. But the Jive is who Bashir was with, right? Didn't they move over to them also after leaving Luke Pearlman? They were with that record label at the same time at the same time. That's interesting. Maybe. Um, but whatever they settled with Pearlman, it it didn't happen until December of 99. So almost a full year. Yeah. Um, they were allowed to release future albums on Jive Record. Okay. So um after all of that, the single is gonna be May. Uh she's been waiting, you guys. I know, to say because it is almost May. It is. And wait, this will come out this will be our last one before May. Because this comes out the 27th. We need to do a clip of us. We do. We'll do this, we'll do that today. That would be great. It's gonna be May. And if you're listening, you've probably already seen the clip because we probably already released it. Or not. But anyway, we probably forgot. That's probably what's okay, one or the other. And so they released that in January 2000, and then they released the full second album, second album here. What is the name of the song? It's gonna be me. Um yeah. Okay. It's gonna be May. May and their second, so this is their second studio album, if you don't count the holiday album. The winter German one. Okay, right? They had InSync Regular, Christmas, Winter, German, German winter, German winter, bleak midwinter in Germany, and then no strings attached, March 21st, 2000. Now, these songs I'll probably remember. It sold over one million copies in the first day. Wow. And 2.4 million copies in one week. Whoa. Yep. Whoa. And that was a record in all recording industries that they held for about 15 years. Okay. Yeah. So among the group singles, let me just read all the tracks. Because we're gonna sing them anyway. Yeah. First ones bye bye bye bye. Bye bye bye. Do you remember the dance? Um parts of it. We gotta record dan. I remember some of them. Yeah. It ain't no lie, baby ba ba. I love that. That's where it. Yeah, like the hands. It is, they do that. It's this, right? This because that's like a bird. Because they're waving.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

Oh. Katie's going like a ha ha.

Celebrity Era Tours And Hiatus

Breakup Theories And Mixed Feelings

SPEAKER_00 41:21

And that's like a pity. We're doing bye-bye bye. Maybe it is like that, but I feel like it's a wave. A wave would wave by more sense. Katie's been tweeting all the time, making a hand pump of it. 2000. Since 2000. Maybe that is what it is. We're gonna look it up. We're gonna look it up, but I bet you're right. No wait makes way more sense. All right, it's gonna be mean. It's gonna be me. What are the other words? Um, when finally, finally you get to guess what? It's gonna make me I don't know. Oh no, all that I do is not enough for you. Don't wanna lose it, but I'm not lying. When finally, finally you get to, I don't know. Guess what, guess what? It's gonna be May. Why did he say it like that? I don't know. I'm glad he did. I don't know. I'm glad he did forever and ever. You know, Brittany says that like that too. True. Just saying. She probably hold that a button. He says it on um well, that's how she says everything. Yeah. But she says May, May. Well, they're both southern. So I guess maybe she can't claim it. Hmm. Side eye. Um Space Cowboy. Space Cowboy, yippee IA featuring Lisa Left Eye Lopez. Yeah, I'm trying to remember how that went because I did like that song. I remember the video too. Well, I thought we would know all these songs anymore. Me too, just got paid. I vaguely remember that one. Uh never mind. I'm I'm not gonna remember all these. It makes me ill. I remember that one. I can't remember how it goes, but I remember it's like more up. I remember that one. Kate. I remember that. I remember that. Says nothing. This I promise you. Okay, another boy group sang that too. I feel like 98 degrees. I think it was 98 degrees. Yeah. And the producer on that track was Richard Marks. Okay, Richard Marks. No strings attached. I remember that. It's like I'm trying to remember how to go, no strings attached. And then that's all I remember. All right. We got this. We're doing great. We're doing so bad. I shouldn't get down. This is why I we should never say, Oh my god, we're gonna do so good. Because every time we say that, we fall on our face in the mud. I should have just listened to more. That's all. I am surprised you didn't. She sent me messages at 4 30 this morning and clips to watch. As I see them at seven, I was like, Okay, she was up early. I was. I was finishing this. Finishing this. Well, I don't know. Okay, so digital get down, bringing denoise. DA Dunnoise. That's when I'll stop loving you. I think good moment that one. I'll be good for you. And I thought she knew. That's the one you said you don't think you know. Yeah, I absolutely normally they perform at a cappella and it's a cappella on the album. And it's um, I thought she knew my world revolved around her. My love light burn for her. She's been waiting all morning to do that. I have. I don't know who's part of it. She had a hand, she had a Vita hand ready. I was ready. I love that screen. If anyone would ever like to sing it to me for my birthday, Brant, take note. Please do. You don't listen to our podcast. Friends, listeners, just make me a little recording. I love that song. Friends are listeners sing Katie a love song for her birthday. I thought she knew it's a sad song, though. It's not an I Love You song. It's uh She Left Me because I didn't tell her I loved her. Oh, ow. Yeah. So sing it for me. Okay. So that's that. Okay, wow. I don't remember two songs. Three. Three from that. And then they have like a huge tour that went with that, which is the one we both saw. Yeah. So then their third album, Celebrity, was released about a year later, July 24th, 2001. And this is their last album. Is this a Dirty Pop? Dirty Pop. Yes. Dirty Pop. And it had like so much, so many sound effects and like cool things they did. So beatboxing. Yeah, and beatboxing. Pop was their actually girlfriend. Do you remember that? Sing it. Um Nelly was in it. Sing it. Would you be ma girl? I love that one. Don't know that. You know, oh, how else does it go? And and and Nelly like drops, you don't love you like I love you, girl. Oh my god, can you go with Nelly? I that's all I know. I don't remember it. Oh wow. Okay. It's like that music that goes, dun, dun, uh, he's my fan sky. You can keep on. I'm not gonna. What we need to do, okay. Here's what we need to do once we make it through research. We make it through. We are going to pause, see how much time we have left, and then we should record us looking up some songs. That's fine. And we can just put it at the end of the episode. Yeah, so stick around. So if we have time, that will happen. But considering how it's going, don't we'll probably save we'll say bye. We'll do our outro. But if you still see like six or seven minutes left, then don't leave us. Don't leave. If you don't see it, well, empty promises. Empty promises. Uh Celebrity. I vaguely remember that one too. I'm just gonna read them all. The game is over, girlfriend. The two of us, gone. Remember that? No, I'm literally not remembering. Baby girl, you're my favorite thing when Katie sings these pop songs is she can't help her like beautiful Disney princess voice. I'm so sorry. And so that one is slow enough. I know, I know. So I want it just in my comments. So she gets the princess voice singing Nelly and it's uh Macy. Wait till you hear Nelly. It sounds nothing like just really nothing like Katie. I love it. It's so pretty. She can't help but be melodic, guys. I can't help it. I can't help it. We're gonna see. All right. So then the next songs on the list tell me, tell me, baby, up against the wall. Oh, up against the wall. I do remember that. Oh, look at you. Good job. See right through you, selfish. Just don't tell me that. Something like you, do your thing. These are kind of big song titles. I'm thinking of something else. I'm thinking of some song that says, Do your thing, I'm gonna do your thing. That sounds like a good idea. That must be up though. No, that's something else. Okay. Unless they sample it from that song. Yeah, maybe. So it sold, I don't have the exact number here, but essentially, essentially, if we round up, because that's a long number, 1.9 million copies in its first week, making it the second fastest selling album in sound scan history at the time, only behind its previous album, No Strings Attached. So to promote the celebrity album, the group embarked on a four-month stadium tour, and that was called the Pop Odyssey. Four months? That's what it says. Pop Odyssey tour. But they earned over 90 million on that tour. And they were one of the biggest tours, one of the biggest tours of 2001. I think we know who one of the other ones probably was. Uh, and then they promoted their album further by embarking on the celebrity tour. So that's what it was. They c um that was the next year, 2002, and they earned another 30 million for that. And following that tour, the group went on hiatus. Yeah. It was meant to be temporary, but the group has never recorded music or toured together again, which we're gonna talk about a little bit. But yeah. So that's it. Okay. Now they have performed together occasionally here and hair. Their history is way shorter than Backstreet. Yeah, because what did we say? 98? Yeah. Yeah. To 2002. Yeah. Well, I mean, Baxter is still together. Exactly. They broke up and then might perform together here or there or appear together, but they are broken up. Yeah. Like they are not a group any longer. So let's talk about the band's breakup a little. Okay. It started with this temporary hiatus. So you mentioned this in the opening. General consensus of the public is that Justin wanted to go solo, and then kind of once he did, nothing ever got back to where it was. Which is true. But there's a little more involved in it, different things. I read different articles and I went down a few Reddit rabbit holes. It is, it is. I know. It's so interesting. It is. And once I start reading, I can't stop. I know. Even if I'm like, there's no way some of this is true, which I didn't put that up on the case. But then you look, but then I look that up. And then sometimes it is. I know. I know. It's crazy. So apparently, Joey and Lance filmed the movie on the line in early 2001, which was during downtime between the No Strings Attached tour and the Pop Odyssey tour time. And it actually made the other band members upset because they were all very in it to win it within sync at that moment. Justin especially was perturbed by this because he wanted to just be focused on the music and what they were doing as a group. So JC, who is arguably like closest to Justin still today, said in a 2004 interview that it was actually Joey and Lance that were the first to break away from InSync, not Justin. And Alex G, who was one of their record producers and a close friend and songwriting partner of JC's, has also corroborated this in other interviews. So that was the beginning of the rift. Apparently, Justin and maybe Chris and um JC as well, just thought, like, why are you guys going on your own to do something? We're a unit. So that's how it started. So later, Timberlake said of his decision to leave the band. This is a quote, it started as a fun snowball fight that was becoming an avalanche. I was growing out of it. I felt like I cared more about the music than some of the other people in the group. And I felt like I had other music I wanted to make and then I needed to follow my heart. So there you go. Um, Joey, Lance, and Chris have offered a different perspective on Insync Split, indicating that there was a lack of transparency that left them unprepared for the prospect of a breakup. So, in a nutshell, they did all think it was just a pause.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 51:57

Oh, hold on. We have a hacker. It's probably something live stream. Sorry, might be that was easy. That was a viral. That happened to us last time, too. I'm a little worried now. What's going on in the computer? Uh oh. No, we're good. We're viral. We're still here, guys. So essentially, the group really did think they were just taking a little break, and then nothing else ever happened. And the four other members, not just in Timberlake, but everybody else, said they waited. They turned stuff down, movies, music, whatever. And then it was two years or so before they were all sort of like, oh, we're not getting back to this. Yeah. Which isn't dramatic. Really, Timberlake's fault. I guess maybe it's the record label's fault. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 52:46

Who knows?

Later Releases Trolls And Legacy

SPEAKER_00 52:47

I don't know. But there's definitely lots of layers there. There's let's put it this way, today, at least forward-facing, they all get along fine and they are supportive of each other. They appear in things together. A couple times they've appeared without Justin Timberlake just because he's had other things happening or movies he was filming or whatever that he wasn't there. But at least forward-facing, they all get along. Yeah. And like support each other and still love each other and all that stuff. But there's been a lot of like tension over the years, especially when Justin kind of blew up so big as a solo artist. And I think that realization, oh, so then later, like JC came out with an album and things like that. But um, so there's different levels of how people have talked about this. So in 2019, Joey Fatone was in an interview and he said, listen, um, he said at the time, he said to himself, listen, I'm all good with everybody doing their own shit. I'm totally fine with it. Just let us know next time. Meaning, I could have done a lot more shit than sit around waiting for your dumb ass while you're going out on tour. I could have, honestly, because the minute we parted our ways in the sense of a group, I went and did Broadway. I did rent on Broadway, I did a little show. We still do Broadway. You just did Angelette. Yeah. I started doing things at first. I was waiting because I know that when you do an album and you're doing stuff for the group, it takes a long time. It's a process. So it was interesting. I was just like, dude, just let me know next time. Because next time I waiting for nobody. Hey, I feel that. It's true. Yeah. Just, I mean, do you know something that I thought of, and I think of this often. This is gonna make sense. Stick with me for the story. Last year, when I was in that British force, right? It's all about like everybody's behind each other's backs and not miscommunication. Yeah. Cooper said the thing that was so annoying is that everything could have been fixed in that show if people would have just communicated. Yes. Cooper. I was like, honestly, that's such a life lesson. There are so many things. If you would just communicate it from junk, if your feelings are hurt, if you're pissed at somebody, if you're having an issue, like just say it. Don't just sit around and stew about it or bitch to other people or be like, I don't know what they need. Ask them. Yeah? Ask them. Say it. If you want to go off and be doing your stuff, then just fucking tell everybody. All right. So they can move the fund on. I agree. I also think they were young, and how do you how do you prepare for that level of fame? So there's that. And that hindsight, like when I was young, I was not this way. And and also like you're part of this worldwide international phenomenon. Like maybe, maybe you don't even know that you're not planning back. You know, but I but what you're saying is true. When you feel something, like like later interviews, he says, I I cared more about the music and I wanted to do more. So say that. Say, right? So say it. Say, like, I'm gonna go this way because for my path, this is what I need to do. And look, even if you're worried about people taking it wrong or whatever, well, that's fine. That's better than not saying it. Right. Right. That's better than not saying it. A hundred percent. Um Lance Bass has talked about the band's breakup several times. Um, in 2004, now he's got he's mellowed a little bit um kind of in his stance sense. But in that interview, when someone asked him if NSYNC was getting back together, he said it all depends on whether Justin wants to do it, and he doesn't. Oh well. I mean, well, now was 20 years. But something years ago, 2004, he's uh yeah, yeah. 2004, yeah. Yeah. So in his uh 2002, um, in his, I'm sorry, the 2002 hiatus in his 2020 memoir that Bass wrote, he said that um his quote in there about the breakup was me and the guys were never on bad terms. It's just life goes on, and you know you have more interests, you have to focus on your career, and it's great. The thing that I was most disappointed in was not just Justin leaving the band, it's that our whole team, our record label, our management, everything like that, they all knew. They all knew it was over for three years before they told me. Three years is a long time. It's like as long as they were famous, right? Right? Like doing their thing, like double that time. It's a lot of wasted time and opportunity for somebody. He said he turned down a sitcom, um, stuff he wanted to do because his first commitment was in sync. Right. I mean, that's a lot of wasted time and opportunity. I hate wasted time. I hate it. Do not waste time. Especially when you're young and right, you have at the height of your world of your security. Yeah, yeah. So, and Chris Kirkpatrick has a similar stuff that there was some animosity and anger, but it's all kind of mellowed over the years. Um, and that even over the years, they've just never gotten back together. And even as recently as I think it was earlier this year, um, Joey said something to the extent of we talked recently about reuniting and we're not going to. Okay. So he's just like, for whatever one reason or another, we're just gonna all keep doing our own things. Okay. So on July 29th, 2014, a compilation of InSync's hits and unreleased songs titled The Essential InSync was released. And the guys actually didn't have a lot of prior knowledge of this happening. However, they were happy about it. They got paid for it somehow. Okay, okay. But they didn't necessarily like go through and approve or whatever. But in some ways, they were hearing some of the music for the first time on they said on iTunes. That's crazy. Yeah. But um Kirpat Chris Kirkpatrick said of the album, it's great to release some of the songs that never had made a record before. I'm glad our long time fans have some new music. So they were okay with it. Like I said, I think they got paid for it. Uh Joey said, Pretty interesting. This album comes out, which I really had no idea. And it's at the top of Amazon and iTunes. We owe it to our fans, thank you. Jeez. Be like, oh, look, we're hit. We're a hit. I didn't even know. Like you get a text. Oh, I love your new song. Oh, what? What new song? Hello. So they received a ha star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April 2018. They weren't all there. What did you say? I said they received a uh I don't know why. I thought you said an aha Hollywood star. I was like, what is that? I stuttered. I stuttered. That's okay. Sorry. I thought you were saying like a special kind of star. I'm like, what's an aha star? Alma one. I want the two. Maybe our Christmas album will earn that swat. I cannot wait. I cannot wait. Oh, ugly sweat. I'm thinking of ladies. We're not looking at Christmas skips where they say what's on the album. We should just do that. Like just do a promo for the album that we have. And then every song I have a different backup instrument. And you're like holding Luigi for one. And we're like drinking eggnog for another. We're doing this. And then we have to have someone come in as a rap guest. Okay, you know who would film this for us is Patrick. Oh, definitely. Patrick. Let's start planning now. All right. Okay, so they received that regular Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2018 and they've performed together sporadically. The last time they performed together live as a group was 2023's MTV Music Video Awards. Okay. Because they sang the song Better Place, which they recorded together in 2023 for Trolls Band Together. Cute. Never saw it. I never saw that one either. My daughter Erin likes the troll movies. Troll movies. Yeah, she loves them. And then they also recorded a track as a group titled Paradise for Timberlake's sixth solo album, Everything I Thought It Was, which was released in 2024. So they have a song on there. Um, okay, so here's the quote that uh Fatone said recently, Joey said, because he's actually, I don't know if I said this earlier. I'm sorry if I didn't. He's the producer of the documentary, the ID documentary. Oh. The band confidential. Joey is? Mm-hmm. So he's been doing the rounds. First hand account. First hand account. And I guess there's like a clip of him and the Jason guy hugging because they were friends. Oh, the OG guy. So he's been making the rounds. So I found a lot of like media on him because just this month he's been on like podcasts and like different magazines. It just came out. But he told page six about the group getting back together. That's a publication. Probably not flat out.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

It's not a person.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

It's a publication, guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:21

You've heard of page six. Well, it's kind of a weird name.

Live Listen Singalong And Rankings

SPEAKER_00 1:01:27

It's not like that was funny. Okay. It's a publication. Yes. Listeners, if you didn't know, um, and he said we got together as a group and said, Hey, did we see anything happening in a couple of years? And the answer was no. So there you go. So did you ever have any? We talked about this with new kids, how we had some of this. Any merch were in sync? No. I don't think I really did either. I did not. I feel like maybe I had a t-shirt, but I don't know. You know what though? I didn't have Backstreet Boys merch either. Yeah. I didn't even think I bought. And I guess it's because I was older when Backstreet and New Kids came out. Yeah. Like I was 18, 19, and I was like, I mean Backstreet and in sync. Right. Sorry. And we were younger with New Kids. Right. So we would want the dolls and the pillowcases and I feel like maybe I bought something on the Millennium Tour, but I can't remember what it is, and I definitely don't have it anymore. Yeah. I don't know. They had all sorts of merchandise, board games, microphones, lip balms, books, keychains, betting. They had dolls too, I remember. Yeah. Video games. Video games. I think I have the name of it in here somewhere. Yes. I will get to it. They have they're in the Wax Museum, Madame Tussauds in New York. All five five members. Really? Stupid. I think they're fun. I think they're such a money grab. And it's like and it's not the real person. It's weird. So it's kind of strange. I've got the one. I'm like, why do I spend money to do this? I think I would like to go to one that was specifically like haunted or something. Oh. Where it was like a scary one. No. Like Jack the Ripper or something. All right. You go have I would go to that, like a themed one. But to just be like, here's Rihanna, here's Michael Jordan. Here's Princess Diana's Oprah. Yeah, you know, like it's kind of I I've done the one in Orlando. It's like, okay. They have one in Orlando. They do. It's by the Orlando Eye. The Fair Swheel. Which one on terrified height? That Fair Swill's team. Yeah, no. Thanks. I went on the one in DC and panicked. So oh yeah. Oh, I could see that. I feel kind of panicky thinking about it, actually. So they had a deal with McDonald's, which included commercials featuring the group and Britney Spears, along with a CDM video that featured behind the scenes footage. Oh, so Backstreet had a Burger King deal. They had McDonald's. Love it. Um, they had a deal with Chili's Grill and Bar, in which the numbers appeared in commercials. Y'all know I love Oh, did they sing the rib song? They did. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Y'all know I love me at Chili's. And Chili's sponsored uh their No Strange Attached tour. Did they? Mm-hmm. Okay. A video game was released based on the band by Info Games for the Game Boy Color titled InSync, get to the show. And InSync, get to the show. No. It was released in 2001. That's hilarious. I know. For Game Boy Color. Oh, I got it. So funny. And then in April 2018, a free limited run shop called Dirty Pop-Up centered on InSync opened on Hollywood Boulevard. That's fine. Yeah, that's really fun. I like those pop-ups. I know, they're fine. They're cool. All right. So, other than obviously the Lou Pearlman controversy, and then kind of like, why did we break up? What really happened? Controversy. And then the individuals will have controversy. When we talk about them, don't you worry. JT has got some kind of recent stuff that we're going to talk about. I feel bad for him with the DUI side. I do too. I really do. I feel bad because nobody wants one of their worst moments videoed. I don't. But I mean we fought to keep it not released. But then again, you're not neat, you don't get special treatment over anybody else. You know? I don't, I don't. Well, we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it next week. All right. So there have been some sexual misconduct allegations. Nobody named specifically, but Lance Fast revealed on the Merit of VR show that he was inappropriately touched at the age of 16 or 17 by someone they worked with whom he identified as a pedophile. It wasn't Pearlman, but it was like someone on the inner circle. Um, Chris Kirkpatrick stated in the documentary Dirty Pop. I don't know if you remember this part, that Pearlman that he felt there was some grooming from the adults, that he asked them to show their abs a lot. Yes. Other artists managed by Pearlman had similar things to complain about, such as Otown's Ashley Parker Angel alleged that Pearlman created inappropriate. Sexual circumstances to lower their guard. So that's gross. He also they talked about in their documentary that I watched The Bachelor Boys. They like he would let them watch porn at his house. That's weird. And our teenage boys. Yeah. Like, just let them find their own. And it wasn't like he didn't like go into it. He just it was just a comment he said, like, oh yeah, we got to go to his mansion, and that's the first time I saw girls' boobs was like watching porn at Lou's house. Oh, weird. And I was like, and the way they just kind of threw that in there, I was like, it it kind of lends itself to what you could imagine is a bigger culture surrounding all of that. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there hasn't both of those things are terrible that I just mentioned. Yeah. But there hasn't been anything like beyond that to indicate assaults or anything like that. Thankfully. Um that doesn't mean it's not out there, but yeah. That's kind of the extent of it. And and just general creepiness. You know? Which is not great. Yeah. It's not great. That's all I really had on the controversy surrounding them though. No hotel fires that I found. No hotel fires. So there we go. So I just kind of have a summary of all like that big success fuck successful time. They've had five nationwide concert tours, sold over 70 million records. But they are the fifth best-selling boy band in history. That's probably because they didn't have as much stuff as everybody else. Well, and they have less time. Less time. Right. I don't have the top five. I really should have. We should look into that, but I assume it's in there somewhere is New Kids on the Block. Yeah. Backstreet Voice. Maybe. But all time, that could go way back to how far we've gone back? Beatles? Beach Voice. I mean, anybody. We're like Beatles. Beach Voice. We went, we went way back. That's it. That's as far back as we go. That's all we know, guys. Um Justin Chimberlake went on to become one of the world's best-selling music artists. He's sold more than 32 million albums, 56 million singles. We'll talk about him more next week. And in addition to tons of Grammy Award nominations, they've performed at the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and they've sang or recorded with Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Michael and Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Phil Collins, Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Nellie, as I so famously uh demonstrated for you. Lisa Left Eye Lopez, Mary J. Blige, Alabama, and Gloria Stefan. Maybe known people. They'd be known lots of people. That is for sure. And Entertainment Weekly ranked and synced as the best boy band of the period, late 90s, early 2000s. Alright. And editor Madeline Bornman stated the group has a spot in pop history more than a decade late. What? Why did you even put that in there? What does that mean? They must have named must have named them that later. Yeah, okay. So it was a 2010 article. So I guess they said, Well, we're 10 years too late. Anyway, what? It's like, what are they talking about? That's when they were famous. Um, the Washington Post has stated that they are one of two boy bands that dominated the late 90s and early 2000s. The other one was Backstreet Boys. Billboard reports, No Strings Attached, was a top album of the 2000s. Yeah. With the independent listing it among the albums that marked the decade. And Billboard also ranked the group at number four on their list of biggest boy bands. And that they have a period of time for theirs, 1987 to 2012. That's a long time. I'm wondering who would have been in that like latter period. Would One Direction have been together by then? I bet they're one. Um and they did that based on chart performance. I don't know. They're not even later on that. No, they're on the way past us. And Billboard, in one of their articles, has the quote Despite having one of the most short-lived boy band careers, InSync was arguably the most famous. Several other artists have cited them as an influence in their own music, including Kelsey Ballerini, Selena Gomez, Megan Trainer, and Haley Williams. Yeah. So that's all I thought for them as a cruise. I kind of, I almost got way convinced. And then I was like, I'll just tell her person. Well, part of it is that like they had last year. I know. Like if I had if I had to go from 2002 till now and list way more stuff, and then they went did this cruise, and then they were in Vegas, and then they had 15 more albums. We would have been here a long time. But I was like, I kind of got off. We're still our lucky. I still kind of got off lucky. It's coming next week, though, man. These guys well, some of these guys. It's coming. Well, anytime you research one person, there's so much. So much. So much. And I'm still like a pretty big in sync fan. I think oh, well, we're gonna, if we have time, we're gonna pause it. And we're gonna continue. I think we have time. Let's just pause it really quick and don't go anywhere, guys. Stay. Stay. Hold on. So since we failed miserably at knowing songs uh from pretty much any of the albums, we are going to do a live listen and sing along to certain songs here that we can do. So let's pull up the first. Oh my god, hello picture. That is so funny. Oh my god, I love it so much. Okay, uh it's not gonna show. I would show you guys on YouTube, but it's not gonna matter. Okay, we are too, we know, okay. What is you got it? Let's see. That one we weren't sure of. Oh, that's wrong one.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:38

Oh, oh, I like that. Okay, hello, long ass intro. Do we know that? It is not coming back to me now.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:00

We don't know that. All right, sorry to disappoint you all. Um failing. Wearing the that let's see if that's what we think it is. All right.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:10

No, sir, wasn't it? Oh, how funny.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:15

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:19

All right, where are you? I didn't know that one. Mimi, go ahead. Tell me another one we wanted to look at. Giddy up. Oh, giddy up. Let's go. Oh, okay, record. I'm just gonna.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:32

Oh, I do kind of remember that. Was this fair song? I feel like. I think so. Hold on, let me get to the We said we're gonna sing along, but we sure are. Sure, don't know this one. I think it's pretty easy. Giddy up, giddy up now.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:59

Giddy like dance-wise and harmony-wise, that's a that's a good one. Okay, all right. That's that's that album. That's all we wanted to look at. Um, probably. All right, cool. So the next one. Guys, we've sang nothing. Oh, you want to do Christmas? Yeah, let's do it. Well, you know what? Just fresh fresh hits and giggles. Let's do the one we know. Okay, then we can sing.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:23

Oh, I love this. Merry Christmas. Happy holiday. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday. Okay, Harmony.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:42

I took the bass part. We did it right this time. It only took us the final group to realize our strengths when we're singing bass.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:52

And that's all we need to do from that.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:54

Everything else is just Christmas songs, guys. Okay, so this is the album we thought we knew. No strings attack. Yes. So uh we no, all right. What is the Space Cowboy song? I feel like when we start playing it, we're gonna know this. I think so too. All right, here we go.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:14

Are we gonna get in copyright trouble? No, we're okay. We gotta have less nice first. Yeah, nobody nobody cares about this. Nothing against that. I feel like I've never heard that in my life. I remember that part. I didn't.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:49

Okay, I remember that part. All right, well, remember the yippee yay yay. That's good for us. Um just got paid. I feel like I would remember that. Just got paid for. Oh, there it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:02

Oh, and I'm speaking.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:08

Got paid. Money, money, money. Hold on. I don't wear save money for a while. Well, they just got paid.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:36

I'll cover that.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:40

Oh my god. That's awesome. Okay. Was there anything else? You say no strings attached, a little bit. Digital get down. What's happening there? I I feel like as soon as I hear it. Are they having cybersa?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:55

Oh, that's who they are. I can see that. Yeah, they're on the fan. Yeah, that's that. Oh no, let's gotta get better. Get together on the digital screen. Okay. Hey, y'all didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:32

Inceive had a cyber sex song. Is that what that's called? I don't know. I don't remember what it's called. I think so. Well, they can't get together naturally. They y'all get down digitally. Yes. Okay. I'm gonna leave that alone. Um, can I read two more of these lyrics though? Because I'm looking at any more. Um God. Really? I'm gonna, I'm gonna. Uh it's I don't if I could sing it, I would, but I'm not gonna say it, right? Every time I'm sitting home alone, girl, I can't wait to get you on the phone, girl. So pick it up, babe. I can see everything you do bouncing me from satellite to satellite. I love the things you do for me so late at night. Oh, excuse me. Cyber sex song is. Alright. Katie's like, please move on. I'm like, well, she's so uncomfortable. That was that.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:30

That's what we need.

unknown 1:17:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:34

Okay. Uh, do you need do you need to hear? I thought she knew. Wait a minute. What album are we on? We're still in the same one. Oh. I thought she was. Oh, yeah, that's what I tried three times. And then you were like, I don't know. You can sing this one. Yeah, they always sing an a cappella. You may skip ahead.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:54

The lyrics aren't going.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:59

Oh, I hold it down here.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:09

It's good.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:10

I should know. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:21

It's just a one Katie one shot of thing to her guy. Yeah. That weird through. Come on, guys. Oh, just bring me in for the dude.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:35

Okay. Yeah, okay. Does it ring a bell though? Negative. That's crazy. Okay. Negative. We should move on to up dirty pop. Dirty pop. I just want to hear that real quick. Me too. It's right at the beginning. I know. Dirty pop!

SPEAKER_01 1:18:54

One, one, two. You just wanted to beatbox. Yeah. Like not beatboxing.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:03

You know what that is? That's just throwing in. I love a um, what do they call it? Uh I was gonna say an explanate, but that's wrong. It's just an exclamation, and so on, so they're like, one, one, two. Or like, uh, who's that guy that always goes, oh, 21 Savage? He's always like, 21. Or what does he say? Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Okay, anyway. That's funny. All right, celebrity. Do we know that one? Yeah. Celebrity.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:30

Would you be so nice to me? Didn't have cheese like every day. Would you still wanna be with me? Okay, but I remember that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:38

If I didn't okay, you gotta turn on girlfriends. You gotta hear Nelly. Oh, right. Okay, we're ready for this. We're gonna come. I'm so ready. What is it called? Girlfriend. Is it on there? Yeah. Okay.

unknown 1:19:55

Would you be girlfriend?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:57

Oh listen, and then here it comes.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:00

Oh, I have a girlfriend.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:02

Would you be my girlfriend? Yeah. I don't know why that just left my brain. I mean, I used to love some melee too. He had this on his album as well. I don't need to find the I don't remember that. We're not about this album now.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:41

Because I feel like he's at the beginning of the film. I'm trying to see. Yeah, maybe they have this one on their album and then he must I don't know where he's. Yeah, he must have his own. The remix. Alright. The two of us. I don't really know that one. No, wait, the wall. When I said up against the wall, that's all I know. Let's see if I'm right. Let's see if you're right. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:07

Let me see you up, up against the wall. Hello there. Where are you? Have we got to get the wall? Starting grinding. Yes. Up against the wall. That's the part I remember, guys. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:56

You were right. You were right. Grinding up against the wall. Come on. Gone was the one I tried to sing. It's another slow one. What's up with all the records in the beginning?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:25

I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:31

Okay, I remember. See, I remember the exclamations. That's pretty much. The ex not the expletives. Well, those two. But um, I don't know what else on here is even worth even worth adventuring. I don't know. It it they did come back a bit. Yeah, some of them did. They did come back a bit. So I'm glad that we did that so that we have at least a little something. There's like a real in sync stand. Because I don't know if I am one because I didn't know enough songs. I don't think you are. I don't think you're I think you're an imposter. I think I like them, but that's not the same. So what we learned from this episode is Katie is not a tried and true diehard. She's just I'm not a fan. I'm a fan. That's fine. And I do find this whole era too with the boy bands, particularly Backstreet Boys InSync, and then what came after, like O-Town and even like Up to One Direction. I do find it all super fascinating. It is how it's all put together. The psychology of it all is interesting. Yeah. I think it's really interesting. Are you still in sync over Backstreet? I I am swaying toward Backstreet. And I think it's partly because of everything they've done and continue to do that I just think is so great. I think Backstreet Boys is better musically. I don't know. I mean I like the way the InSync guys sound together. I mean Backstreet Boys sounds great too. But there's something more engaging to me about the InSync from that time. But as a group, I think I like Backstreet Boys better. Yeah. I like them better. Okay, though. Well then, so we've done four boy bands. So rank them. That's hard, yeah? That's really hard. Because I I I don't preface by saying I like them all. So even my number four is like one that I really, really like. But honestly, probably new kids would be my number four. Because I think I like new kids probably in sync at three, probably backstreet boys at two, and probably voiced men at one. Mine's so opposite. Really? Because mine, I would I would give new kids my number one, Backstreet my number two, then I would do in sync, and then voiced men. And not because I don't like voiced men, but I'm just ranking them in the order of like how much I know their music. Yeah. That's fair. So, and new kids will always be number one for me because that was like and I love the kids. So on Bo and Yang, Bo and Yang and Matt Rogers podcast, Last Culture Aces, they always ask their guests, what was the culture that made culture for you? Like, you know, the one thing in pop culture that like drew you, like the first thing. And everybody has such interesting answers because it's such an abstract question. It really is. Mine is new because on the block. Every time they ask somebody that, I'm like, I would say nuke is on the block. I don't know what mine would be. I would say it'd be new kids. Yeah. Probably new kids on the block. Like, new kids on the block was my like intro into pop culture world. Or John Hughes movies. Because I've watched some of my. That's a good tea. Yeah. Because that's like the I mean I watched Annie as a kid a ton. But I would say I don't I guess that was a popular movie in the 80s, but I don't I wouldn't even know if I liked that kind of pop culture. I just like the music. But as far as like at all. Probably E.T., where it was like, oh, there's like this whole world of like celebrities and cool things people do on film, you know, like that kind of like awakening into that. Whereas Annie was kind of just an extension, probably, of like the the cassette tapes I listened to with children's. But honestly, that's a good answer too. Yeah. Because I always thought I was gonna whenever they asked that before, I was like, oh, feather on the roof was like my intro into musical theater. I was like six. And I used to obsessively listen to that sound, which is so weird. Like such a weird choice for a six-year-old. Like, but like, but then that that was like one. But then I'm like, no, but with pop culture, it was nuke. I mean, I was obsessed with them. That's what got me into listening to the radio all the time. You know, that I'm pretty sure that was my first album, like a real album. I had like kids' records and stuff like that. That was just mine, and it wasn't my sister's. Right. Anyway, right. Okay, well, there's our ranking. Awesome. All right, well, but we're not done yet. Not done yet. We'll be back next week for um all the individual knowledge on these in syncers. We're gonna have to see. And we might have to watch that documentary. We'll see. We can always switch stuff stuff around, yeah. We can. We'll see. We can do whatever we want. We actually can do that. We actually can. So we will see you next time for part two on generation in between. Bye! Bye bye bye.