The Backstreet Boys were a late-1990s pop sensation that managed to crack several records of the music business.

The band was formed in 1993 in Orlando (Florida) as a vocal trio by Alexander James McLean, Nick Carter and Howie Dorough. Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson joined a little later. Richardson and Littrell (who are cousins, both from Kentucky) form the core of the band. The quintet was influenced by doo-wop and rhythm and blues, and by the success of the Boyz II Men.

Backstreet Boys (Jive, 1995) turned them into an overnight sensation in Britain, where We've Got It Goin' On was a massive hit, but was hardly noticed in the United States, where Get Down and Quit Playing Games will become hits only years later. It eventually went on to sell some 13 million copies in five years.

Backstreet's Back (Jive, 1997) was the album that created the phenomenon in the United States, thanks to As Long As You Love Me , All I Have To Give, Everybody.

The quintet's Millennium (Jive, 1999) sold 12 million copies in one year (I Want It That Way , one of Max Martin's earliest successes, Larger Than Life, I'll Never Break Your Heart). That's about all there is to say about their music. They share with the Beatles the mass hysteria of their fans and the complete lack of originality in their music.

It would be hard to make a more predictable album than Black & Blue (Jive, 2000) and its first single Shape Of My Heart. The childish celebration of Everyone is the closest they get to producing some music.

Never Gone (2005) was one of the least imaginative albums of tedious ballads ever assembled.

The real founder of the band was Louis Pearlman, who went on to found N Sync.