"I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys, Tuesday, January 11, 2022

If you believe in the Illuminati, Max Martin would certainly be a candidate of prestigious behind the scenes powers or principalities degenerating the minds of youth through pop music. I've talked about Martin's consistency on the pop charts when I talked about Coldplay's "Higher Power" last year. Since then I've learned a lot more about the Swedish force in the American pop charts. Martin, along with his "disciples" Shellback, Dr. Luke, and Savan Kotecha have been the go-to producers to get a pop act on the radio and charting highly. But if you want a track to go to number one, get it produced by Max Martin. Today, we're looking at one of Martin's first success stories.

TELL ME WHY. Listening to "I Want It That Way" always triggers a particular funk. It's 1999 in the back of an old church van. It's middle school, and we're listening to pop radio because the conservative wave of "no music with a beat" leadership hasn't taken over yet. This was my earliest exposure to pop music other than the soft rock played in restaurants. Pop music in 1999 was exciting and slightly sexual. There was Britney, Christina, J.Lo. People still remembered the Spice Girls. Then there were alternative acts like Red Hot Chili Peppers also getting Top 40 airplay. The biggest song, though, was Smash Mouth's "All Star," which of course, has been forever immortalized by Shrek. But the middle school boys were obsessed with <gulp> Backstreet Boys. Why? I don't know. Sure, there was fawning over the school-girl image of Britney Spears or the dirty, sweaty video of "Genie in a Bottle." But before our little ears started listening to Pink Floyd or alternative rock, boy bands were cool, I guess? The Backstreet Boy phenomenon lasted about as long as their popularity post-Millennium and in the early '00s the boys liked the female singer-songwriters or the alternative rock acts that crossed over to the pop charts before abandoning the pop charts all together. 

AIN'T NOTHING BUT A MISTAKE. Last year, This Is Pop was released on Netflix. In the third episode, “Stockholm Syndrome,” we are introduced to Max Martin and Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys. The story the episode tells traces the Swedish pop making sense of a hit single starting with ABBA and pretty much ended with Ace of Bace, as far as Swedish acts on pop radio. However, Swedish producers such as Martin and Co. became the go-to for writing hooks and producing that “Larger Than Life” sound, whether it was Britney, a rockier P!nk, an incredible hit parade on Katy Perry’s first three records to Ariana to Adele’s 25  to The Weeknd and Coldplay. Martin struck platinum with today’s song after boy band’s production had honed their sound over three records, and “I Want It That Way” is one of the most recognizable’90s songs still today, despite not having a complete grasp on English idioms, as evidenced in "Hit me baby one more time" and the lyrical incoherencies in "I Want It That Way." And no, I don't believe Martin is a member of the illuminati. Littrell, however, is wrapped up in his own conspiracy theories. 

Read “I Want It That Way” by Backstreet Boys on Genius