Reason for Listening:
I was playing a song guessing game with coworkers and I was feeling nostalgic for music from the 90s - in particular for some Backstreet Boys. Out of their various albums, I decided to listen to Millenium.
I wonder how many times I might have listened to various tracks on this album. Unfortunately this was before last.fm. I actually might have an old record of this somewhere as I tried to keep track to song count back when I used iTunes.
Released 19990518.
12 songs. 48:11. Millenium (1999)
Wikipedia
Notes:
--20220823--
First listen.
--20220902--
Second listen.
I like "I Want It That Way" much more than "Larger Than Life"; both had a "3" and so I moved "I Want It That Way" to a "4". Actually... I feel like it'd be the song I most associate with them (it might be their most popular song). I'm going to move it to a "5". [It is in fact their most popular song on Spotify, with "Larger Than Life" sitting down at position 6.][Looking though their songs, I find that their catalogue includes "All I Have to Give" which for sentimental reasons I would rank higher than "I Want It That Way".][20220903: the Wikipedia page says "['I Want It That Way'] is one of the Backstreet Boys' most commercially successful songs and is often regarded as the group's signature song."]
Looking at the number of plays is interesting as two songs I know well, "Spanish Eyes" and "No One Else Comes Close", have less plays total than "Don't Want You Back", which is a song I don't even recognize; they have 6.8M + 8.7M plays vs. 18M plays, respectively); listening to "Don't Want You Back"
Moved "Back to Your Heart" from a "1" to a "2".
--20220903--
Looking at the ratings, "I Need you Tonight" was by itself at "1", but was probably as good as the songs listed under "2". So I felt the thing to do was moving everything greater than "1" down by 1.
4: "I Want It That Way";
3: "The One"; "No One Else Comes Close";
2: "Larger Than Life"; "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely";
1: "It's Gotta Be You"; "I Need You Tonight"; "Back to Your Heart"; "Spanish Eyes";
0: "Don't Want You Back"; "Don't Wanna Lose You Now"; "The Perfect Fan";
Summary:
The album is filled with familiar pop songs and that familiarity makes it hard to give the album anything less than 5.0. At the same time, I think the particular sound from that time is no longer one that I favor. As an observation, the majority of pop music I listen to nowadays feature vocals by a female artist (e.g., Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Ariana Grande). As such, I couldn't qualify giving it a rating higher than 5.0.
Overall Rating: 5.0/5
Favorite Song: "I Want It That Way"
Billboard 200
Peak Date: 19990605 | Peak Position: 1 (10 WKS)| Weeks on Chart: 93 | Debut Date: 19990605
Interestingly, at the time of this post (20220903), despite their popularity, the band has never had a #1 hit single. Looking into the situation, apparently their most popular single "I Want It That Way" could have theoretically made it to #1 (on the Billboard Hot 100) if it had been made commercially available at the time of its release (as a single for radio play). Instead, it was withheld from commercial release in order to push album sales (since in the pre-digital era, physical sales were important). One article notes that Billboard had only just started allowing non-commercial singles on the chart several months prior to the song's release (making the change in 199811).
I was playing a song guessing game with coworkers and I was feeling nostalgic for music from the 90s - in particular for some Backstreet Boys. Out of their various albums, I decided to listen to Millenium.
I wonder how many times I might have listened to various tracks on this album. Unfortunately this was before last.fm. I actually might have an old record of this somewhere as I tried to keep track to song count back when I used iTunes.
Released 19990518.
12 songs. 48:11. Millenium (1999)
Wikipedia
Notes:
--20220823--
First listen.
--20220902--
Second listen.
I like "I Want It That Way" much more than "Larger Than Life"; both had a "3" and so I moved "I Want It That Way" to a "4". Actually... I feel like it'd be the song I most associate with them (it might be their most popular song). I'm going to move it to a "5". [It is in fact their most popular song on Spotify, with "Larger Than Life" sitting down at position 6.][Looking though their songs, I find that their catalogue includes "All I Have to Give" which for sentimental reasons I would rank higher than "I Want It That Way".][20220903: the Wikipedia page says "['I Want It That Way'] is one of the Backstreet Boys' most commercially successful songs and is often regarded as the group's signature song."]
Looking at the number of plays is interesting as two songs I know well, "Spanish Eyes" and "No One Else Comes Close", have less plays total than "Don't Want You Back", which is a song I don't even recognize; they have 6.8M + 8.7M plays vs. 18M plays, respectively); listening to "Don't Want You Back"
Moved "Back to Your Heart" from a "1" to a "2".
--20220903--
Looking at the ratings, "I Need you Tonight" was by itself at "1", but was probably as good as the songs listed under "2". So I felt the thing to do was moving everything greater than "1" down by 1.
4: "I Want It That Way";
3: "The One"; "No One Else Comes Close";
2: "Larger Than Life"; "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely";
1: "It's Gotta Be You"; "I Need You Tonight"; "Back to Your Heart"; "Spanish Eyes";
0: "Don't Want You Back"; "Don't Wanna Lose You Now"; "The Perfect Fan";
Summary:
The album is filled with familiar pop songs and that familiarity makes it hard to give the album anything less than 5.0. At the same time, I think the particular sound from that time is no longer one that I favor. As an observation, the majority of pop music I listen to nowadays feature vocals by a female artist (e.g., Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Ariana Grande). As such, I couldn't qualify giving it a rating higher than 5.0.
Overall Rating: 5.0/5
Favorite Song: "I Want It That Way"
Billboard 200
Peak Date: 19990605 | Peak Position: 1 (10 WKS)| Weeks on Chart: 93 | Debut Date: 19990605
Interestingly, at the time of this post (20220903), despite their popularity, the band has never had a #1 hit single. Looking into the situation, apparently their most popular single "I Want It That Way" could have theoretically made it to #1 (on the Billboard Hot 100) if it had been made commercially available at the time of its release (as a single for radio play). Instead, it was withheld from commercial release in order to push album sales (since in the pre-digital era, physical sales were important). One article notes that Billboard had only just started allowing non-commercial singles on the chart several months prior to the song's release (making the change in 199811).
Date/Time
Saturday, September 3, 2022
@
3:12 AM
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