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*NSYNC Reflects on Making U.S. Debut & Competing With Backstreet Boys as Self-Titled Album Turns 20: 'It Was Us Against the World'

By spring of 1998, pop had seen a long-overdue resurgence after a Nirvana-driven grunge era, thanks to the to the 1997 breakthrough of megapop groups Spice Girls, Hanson, and most importantly, the Backstreet Boys. With the stage set, another five-piece boy band named *NSYNC was ready to join the Top 40 scene stateside with their American self-titled debut.
As with BSB, the *NSYNC guys -- Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass -- had spent 1996 and 1997 in Europe, working with Swedish hitmaker Denniz PoP and a then still up-and-coming producer Max Martin in PoP?s Cheiron Studios. Before heading overseas, the guys (then 15 to 24 years old) had been working together since October of 1995, when Bass joined the other four after original bass singer Jason Galasso dropped out of the group.

?I liked them so much immediately, it just felt like fate that we?d all come together,? Bass tells Billboard. ?But I never felt like ? and I still don?t to this day -- I was ready or prepared about what I was about to get into.?

After releasing a European version of their debut LP in May of 1997 (released on Trans Continental, owned by the band?s co-manager Lou Pearlman), *NSYNC became superstars in the international market -- yet, no one in their home country had a clue who they were. Upon gaining the attention of RCA A&R rep Vincent DeGiorgio, the guys were offered an American record deal with RCA in November 1997. Initially releasing their first single ?I Want You Back? in January of 1998, *NSYNC switched out a few tracks for a U.S. edition of the album, and released *NSYNC in the U.S. on March 24, 1998.

A slow burn at first, the album debuted at No. 82 on the Billboard 200, and ?I Want You Back? wasn?t seeing the reaction it received overseas. But that summer, the guys performed on a Disney Channel concert special, and suddenly the tides turned. *NSYNC mania ultimately ensued, with the album catapulting to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and selling 10 million copies in the United States alone. The set?s success kickstarted a career for the quintet that led to two more No. 1 albums, countless classic hits, and coming April 30 of this year, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of *NSYNC?s debut album, Fatone, Bass, Chasez and Kirkpatrick took Billboard back to the beginning. Sharing stories of working with chain-smoking Swedish producers, recording demos in Shaquille O?Neal?s house, and agreeing to that fateful Disney Channel show, the guys detailed exactly how *NSYNC came together -- and ultimately established them as one of the biggest boy bands of all time.

Full Interview
Link

[Mel.]

A reunion tour would be epic!