THE BACKSTREET MEN?

BACKSTREET BOYS have joined BONO and GEORGE MICHAEL by throwing themselves into the debate on the state of pop music, claiming "music is losing its authenticity" and attempting to distance themselves from acts they view as less authentic.

The band's Kevin Richardson has been recalling the band's early days, when they were launched in the UK during 1995. "I feel we were likened to a lot of bands in which maybe one guy sang and the other guys didn't," he says. "To me that's sad and it discredits what we're trying to do."

Despite their record label, Jive, marketing recent album 'Black & Blue' as being from "The biggest boyband on the planet", Richardson continues to state that the Boys are actually a vocal harmony group. "When we first came to Britain in 1995 they threw us in this melting pot of boy bands because we're a vocal group," he explained on .

And despite the fact that the material that the band actually write is usually left on an album while the work of professional songwriters like Max Martin is used for singles, he adds: "We sing five-part harmony, we sing a cappella, we write our own songs and some of us play instruments - I've played piano since I was nine. I think George Michael and Bono are right - pop music is about good, beautiful songs with great hooks."

"But we have to say something with the music as well. Don't give people a pretty package with no substance inside. They open it up expecting something great, but there's nothing." Some of the meaty themes covered on the current Backstreet Boys album include: loving people, dumping boyfriends and lying to girlfriends on the phone.