Songoftheday 10/29/20 - Even in my heart I see you're not bein' true to me, deep within my soul I feel nothing's like it used to be...

 

 

"Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" - Backstreet Boys

from the album Backstreet Boys (UK, 1996) and Backstreet Boys (US, 1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 35

 

Today's song of the day comes from the vocal group Backstreet Boys, who were assembled in Florida in the early 1990s by producer and future convicted felon Lou Pearlman. With cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson, along with friends AJ Maclean, Nick Carter, and Howie Dorough, the fivesome initially did the Tiffany-style "mall circuit" in America before recording their self-titled first album in 1995. The first single, "We Got It Goin' On", was first a success in Europe, which was natural, since there the "boy-band" concept was already a proven phenomenon, with acts like Take That, Boyzone, and Westlife ruling the charts. The single made the top ten in the UK (#3), Germany (#4), Austria (#3), Switzerland (#3), and the Netherlands (#5), but only managed to place to #69 in the States (though it did reach the Dance Club Play top-40 at #31). In Britain, five songs from their debut reached the top-20 through 1996, with the above song followed by "I'll Never Break Your Heart" (UK #8), "Get Down (You're The Only One For Me)" (UK #14), "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" (UK #2), and "Anywhere For You" (UK #4). By that time, hype was building in America, and the group was re-rolled out in the summer of 1997 with "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" as the new lead promoted single. Written by produced Max Martin with British songwriter Herbie Crichlow, the midtempo love croon slowed down the pace from that frenetic first single to shoot straight to the hearts of teen girls (and some curious boys), and with a music video that's half the five of them doused in water in open shirts and a craze was made...

"Quit Playing Games" became the Backstreet Boys' first American top-40 pop hit in September of 1997. The song spent a week at #2 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, while getting at #18 on their Adult Top-40 format list. The dance remixes of the track, done by club kings like Maurice Joshua and E-Smoove, helped the song pop onto the Dance Club Play list at #41. Internationally, where the single broke first, it eventually topped the lists in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic, while reaching the top ten in the UK (#2), Ireland (#5), Belgium (#5W/#8F), the Netherlands (#7), Denmark (#9), and Norway (#10). The Backstreet Boys album, which got to #12 in the UK, wasn't released in the States in that form, but rather in a new version of the same name that contained tracks from their first two European records. That set went to #4 in the U.S., eventually selling over 13 million copies. 

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Here's the Boys appearing live on Nickelodeon promoting the single...

And live in concert to a throng a screaming fans...

and finally, "daddy-band" BB's opening for Florida Georgia Line in 2017...

up tomorrow: Rapper gets flushed.