BSB Meme Days 1 and 2
yanked from trumpeterofdoom
Day 1 - How Did You Become a Fan?
Oh wow... this goes back, waaay back. All the way to late '95 to '96 actually and I was around 14. Back when I was living/schooling in Sri Lanka I had a friend who was very into the pop/music world. Well not so much a friend as a classmate who kinda rode with me in the same van, and she'd bring magazines sometimes, or talk about music. She started talking about BSB around the time "We've Got It Goin' On" reached our airwaves. I think she showed me a Smash Hits magazine with them in it one time. Gods, I miss Smash Hits. At the time I think I'd already heard WGIGO in passing, but didn't know who sang it, and I looked at the picture, and at the time was like, "oh... cool."
I knew vaguely of KNOTB and Take That from an older friend who was kinda into them, but they never got me hooked since I didn't think much of their music. I figured BSB was just like them too. WGIGO just sounded to me at that time like another upbeat pop song.
I was kinda going through a rough phase at that point of time. Being 14 and with all the hormones and emotional imbalances that age brings with it, I also had to deal with bullying in school, taunting from other classmates because I was mixed-race, my dad had to return to S'pore cos his visa expired and he couldn't extend it, my mom had enough stress of her own.
So for the course of 2-3 years I just bottled everything up. I didn't have any friends at that time, and people I thought were my friends ended up stabbing me in the back (caught them talking behind my back when they thought I couldn't hear). Talking to my mom was out of the question. You know how it is: talk to mom, mom confronts the bullies, and you just get bullied even more. So I kept it all to myself and kept taking the abuse. Yes I was horribly shy and scared then; not as semi-outspoken as I am now.
What's this got to do with BSB? I'm getting there... See, all that torment eventually got to a point where I started to feel like I was absolutely worthless; that nothing good was ever going to happen to me, and that it would just be better if I died. Then I'd be happy and everyone else would be happy and no one would really miss me. Yep, woe is me of the angst and emo XD.
We went to a local mall one day, it was a weekend I think - mom and I, and two of her friends. And I think mom and I argued over something and that was the last straw at the time. I was convince NO ONE CARED. They went into a store, I was standing outside. We were up on the second or third level and I remember standing at the railings and looking down and thinking that I should just throw myself over and let it be the end... and I remember gripping that really tight and starting to lean over.
And then a song played from behind me. I think it came from one of the shops... "I'll never break your heart, I'll never make you cry, I'd rather die than live without you, I'll give you all of me honey that's no lie... and I just stopped and took a step back. Cheesy and corny as it sounds, those were the words that I needed to hear - that someone still cared, nevermind if it just came from someone's radio, I just needed to hear something positive for once. So I stopped and went into the store to listen to rest of the song.
Later I found out it was a Backstreet Boys song from said classmate mentioned earlier, and I asked my dad to send me the album, which he did. Listened to it, was hooked by Quit Playing Games amongst others, and the rest is history. I don't know why that chorus played when it did, at that point in time, but I'm glad it did cos I'm still here. Their music kept me going for the next couple of years, through everything, till I finally got stronger and found myself and my confidence... and it still does.
Thanks, Boys.
Day 2 - Favorite Member
Always has been and always will be Howie. When I saw that first picture of BSB in that Smash Hits magazine (did I mention I miss Smash Hits?) I was instantly drawn to Howie. Sure all the other girls like Nick, and some liked AJ the badboy, or Brian the angelic one, and Kevin the tall dark one... but for me it was Howie.
I think it was because he was known as the sweet one, the one who's always nice, and he was mixed too! Puerto Rican-Irish. In a way it was like we had something in common. To teenage me at the time, while I was being bullied for being mixed, here was this awesomely cute, sweet guy saying it's okay to be mixed, that you could be mixed and still be liked and popular and talented.
10 years later, when I got to meet Howie in person for the first time on the Never Gone tour, and he helped me take a picture with him... yeah... I was glad he was my favorite, and would always remain my favorite.
day 03 - favorite album
day 04 - favorite song
day 05 - favorite video
day 06 - favorite lyrics
day 07 - have you seen them in concert? how many times?
day 08 - have you met any of them?
day 09 - favorite tour
day 10 - favorite tv appearance
day 11 - favorite era/year
day 12 - favorite backstreet moment
day 13 - favorite performance
day 14 - favorite dance routine
day 15 - favorite backstreet wife/gf
day 16 - favorite picture(with 5 of them)
day 17 - favorite picture(with 4 of them)
day 18 - favorite bsb relationship(between the guys)
day 19 - least favorite song
day 20 - favorite solo song
day 21 - favorite quote(from any of them)
day 22 - a song that makes you happy
day 23 - a song that makes you sad
day 24 - a song that brings back your childhood (if you liked them then)
day 25 - have you turned other people into fans?
day 26 - biggest backstreet fan you know
day 27 - a picture of your backstreet related room (if you have/had one!)
day 28 - last.fm(if you have one!) backstreet count?
day 29 - highest song play count on itunes
day 30 - why are you a fan?
day 31 - Ask me a question