Backstreet Boys: The Official Book

Why has this collection of scads of photographs of the Backstreet Boys proved so insanely popular? It is filled with intimate revelations about the band, but then, so is What You Wanna Know: Backstreet Boys Secrets Only a Girlfriend Can Tell, by Brian Littrell's first love, Samantha Stonebraker, and this is clearly the book that fans prefer. My theory is that the official book replicates the experience of reading your high school yearbook. The format resembles a yearbook, and it basically consists of excellent, colorful photos of the Boys at play (Nick putting chopsticks in Brian's hair in Tokyo, Brian demonstrating Nick's ticklishness on a tour plane), at work onstage, or hanging with diverse celebs (Tiger Woods and Prince Andrew, the Fonz, Hulk Hogan, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Baby Spice, Metallica, and many more). Each picture has a caption with one of the Boys' reminiscences, as if he had inscribed a photo of himself in your yearbook. The book also gives fans a Hard Day's Night-like sense of what it's like to be a small-town kid conquering the world overnight. The Boys' shrieking fans shut down Times Square during their MTV appearance for Millennium--the photo puts you on the scene, and the caption puts you in their heads. Such nice Boys, too, not like that Eminem. Brian poses with his mom onstage while singing "Perfect Fan," and confesses, "I wrote the song for her." Kevin captions one photo, "With my mother onstage in Lexington, Kentucky. I am trying not to cry too much." One photo shows AJ holding a large plastic bone and shaking fans' hands while seated on the shoulders of his "close personal friend Big Bob. I usually hop on his back. This way, I can get near the fans without getting maimed." But with this book, there is no Big Bob standing between you and the Boys of your dreams. --Tim Appelo