10 Years Later: 'I Want It That Way'

The Song: “I Want It That Way” emerged on TRL May 5, 1999, taking only three day to make it to the top of the countdown. Though standard in its verse-chorus-verse…here comes the bridge structure, this was the band’s most democratic single with all band member’s (that’s right, even Kevin) taking a verse.

Just as big was the video. Why an airport? Why strange crowds heralding the bands return while the boys donned all-white outfits and trench coats? Who knows. And why should we. It was a great pop song—maybe one of the greatest.

The Moment: What’s most remarkable about the song is its success given its inanity. Certainly other songs in the bands repertoire (e.g. “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely") demonstrate some vague sense of meaning, but “I Want It That Way.” It all hints at something, but we never actually know what “That Way” is.

And why did we need to? The DOW had just surged past 11,000, dot-coms were booming and, in spite of the “threat” of Y2K, our Jetsons-esque future was looming just past December 31, 1999. “I Want It That Way” represents why 1999 to 2000 allowed such insufferable happy music. We were happy—nay, blindly euphoric—with our situation in life, and we weren’t thinking (hence all the problems we’ve seen since the turn of the century). We had time to watch two hours of music videos, the Internet hadn’t dominated our lives. It was the time of our lives. 

Retrospection: “I Want It That Way” has endured as the band’s greatest song and moment, making “All I Have to Give” and everything else in their catalog sound completely stupid. Through this point, a case could be that BSB was the premiere and original boy band (of the late 1990s anyway), but ‘N Sync would soon emerge as the more talented and more original boy band, evolving instead of stagnating like BSB. This was the band’s moment, their seventh of fifteen minutes.

And with Miley, Soulja Boy and other garbage dominating the airwaves while our economy rapidly crumbles, we can only wish BSB could return with another one this good.