Anyway, this made me look at some of my other CDs from the burgeoning interwebz era (late 90s). Most still had mail away fan clubs. Third Eye Blind's self-titled album (1997) referenced a non-functioning website: www.slip.net/~3eb. More interesting was Destiny's Child's (self-titled, 1998) "CD Extra" which claimed to have an "interactive musical experience!" Dare I risk effing up my computer with some old-ass .exe file? YES! Unfortunately, the CD-ROM is no longer compatible with my system requirements, but I got a screen grab of the text file setup page:
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| "CD EXTRA is a brand-new way of experiencing music..." |
At this point, let me apologize for the crappy video I am posting here. The images are mostly unrecognizeable, but you can hear the (albeit bad quality) audio. In my humble opinion, I think this format is somehow fitting for this blog entry. Let me know if you absolutely need better quality, and I will consider your request.
After inserting the disk, you're prompted to type in your name so that a PERSONALIZED intro page of a letter addressed to **YOUR NAME HERE** with each of the boys' signatures pops up. Audio is this NEVER BEFORE RELEASED hello to fans! "You're watching us. Live. On this en-nnn-nnn-hanced Cdeeeeee."
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| Menu Page for BSB enhancedCD (above). |
The "General Instructions" section has many gems. I've included the sections about AOL software (above) and why the album includes a track zero with multimedia information (below)!! Not sure why the record label thought we would care, but I'm guessing that the music people had no idea how to access the enhancedCD stuff, so they didn't look at the instructions.
Of course, I next clicked through to "Backstreet Boys World," and what a world it was. BSB is so international.
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| Menu page for "Backstreet Boys' World" (above). |
BIO PAGE: The bio page has about three pages of information, several photos, and a BSB quiz, which gets you a video if you get all the answers correct (which I can't access due to the old version of Quicktime). The bio has some interesting facts I never knew about BSB:
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| "BSB had become one of Florida's hottest live acts. They played everything from a high school gymnasium, Grad Night at Sea World, to an opening slot for Brandy." |
The bio page also had a link to "Member Profiles," where you could click on a photo of each BSB member to get a brief factoid page about the BSB member and an audio file from him!!
AJ's Page:
Brian's Page:
Brian thinks he is "humorous and athletic" and also likes "Desert Island CDs" by Boyz II Men, Babyface, and Backstreet Boys. So glad he's listed his own band up there.
Howie D's Page:
Howie is "caring, respectful, and honest." Wow, what a sweet guy! His favorite color is purple and he loves his mom's home cooking.
Kevin's Page:
Kevin's audio is certainly the saddest: "Hey what's up? I'm the ... oldest member of the Backstreet Boys I'm Kevin." He says it like, yeah. This sucks. He apparently is "sincere" and "serious about his work," which is probably why he's so depressed to admit he is the oldest member of a boy group.
Nick's Page:
Nick's audio is trying to be all breathy and ... sexy? Ick. He likes "drawing comic books" and among his favorite "Desert Island CDs" is "Journey Greatest Hits."
Unfortunately we missed out on all of the following videos (Quicktime compatibility issues).
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| I would definitely want to see "AJ's foot run over." Also potentially "Falling off the stage." |
1 comment:
I had this CD. I remember it well. And Howie D is still the BEST!! Ironically, I'm listening to Quit Playing Games with My Heart RIGHT NOW!!! :) <3 BSB
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