Older audience isn’t immune to the charms of BSB
Source: http://detnews.com/2001/entertainment/0223/beatgirl/beatgirl.htm
Call it the monster with a thousand heads.
I am referring to the boy-band phenomenon, that seemingly innocuous manifestation of teen-age lust that sucks up adolescent girls and spits them out ready to date, mate and ride off into the sunset.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with this. When I was a kid, it was the Osmonds and the Jackson 5. I fell for the loner, Bobby Sherman, which means I was probably predestined to buy Ramones records as an adult as opposed to, say, Richard Marx or David Sanborn — and I’ll likely be spending my golden years with a houseful of cats.
But like the spiny starfish, which sheds its withered arms and then grows fancy new ones, the boy-band phenom springs eternal. And it was with a fair amount of bemusement that I found myself amid hordes of screaming girls at the Backstreet Boys’ Pontiac Silverdome appearance last week.
The most surprising thing about the show wasn’t the steaming hydraulic platforms that lowered the five heartthrobs to the stage, nor was it A.J. McLean’s bountiful tattoos. The most surprising thing was that the fan that talked me into seeing the show was a 29-year-old male.
In fact, it appears that there’s a significant faction of Backstreet Boys fans out there who have long outgrown braces and third-hour phys-ed. Just ask Lynn Sessions, 34, founding member of the Mature Fan Club (www. maturefanclub.com).
Devoted to those Backstreet Boys fans who have passed the 25-year mark, the online organization serves as fund-raising support for the Boys’ many charities, as well as a haven for those who aren’t quite ready to give up the thrill of screaming fandom.
“I don’t take it that seriously because I realize that the majority of people out there are looking at us like we’re a bunch of nuts,” says Sessions, an attorney in Texas. “But I think the Backstreet Boys, as true artists, really do touch people in their hearts. That appeals to both younger and older fans alike.”
So remember, gals, just because David Cassidy went “Vegas” doesn’t mean you have to follow. Join the Mature Fan Club’s more than 1,900 members online and start packing your bags. They’ll be throwing their second annual BSB convention in — where else? — Backstreet’s hometown of Orlando, later this year.
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