Backstreet Boys

By Karah-Leigh Hancock | September 2, 2015

 

Just because one becomes older and grows up, doesn't mean the fangirl/fanboy deep inside of the person goes away - especially when it comes to the Backstreet Boys. 

 

The Backstreet Boys weren't as crazy with every kind of fan merchandise like other boy bands have been. There were never Backstreet Boys bed sheets or dolls. The closest we had were the Burger King action figures. 

 

But though some of us have grown up and moved into the next phase of our lives with college, marriage, children or professional jobs. Even with those responsibilities, some fans still keep the things that they held dear to them when they were younger. 

 

 

For myself, one is my magazines. As a journalist, I have always loved collecting any magazine that the Backstreet Boys or the individual members have been included in. I had to part with my Rolling Stones once, but thanks to my best friend Julia, I have two back.  The other? My photos with the boys - from the ones that the boys' photographer Justin Segura took during meet and greets and on the Official Backstreet Boys cruises to the selfies I have with each member. Those are memories that can't be taken away. 

 

Mara Sansolo of Tampa, Fla. loves her Burger King merchandise that fans were able to buy in 2000 when the fast food chain sponsored the second U.S. leg of the "Into The Millennium" tour. 

 

"Remember those plastic cases we used to keep our Beanie Babies in to preserve their value?" Sansolo asked. " Well, I used them to store my (used) Burger King cups and fry boxes for over a decade. There were still grease stains on the fry boxes."

 

And Sansolo is not the only fan that still has those - not by a longshot. When asked on Twitter and Facebook, one of the most popular pieces of merchandise mentioned with the Burger King crowns and action figures. 

 

"(The Burger King merchandise) brings back the most memories," Sansolo said. "During the promo, we would go to Burger King every morning for breakfast, and then again after school. I also still have in my possession, a plastic baggie full of confetti from my first concert, December 2, 1999,  in Tampa."

 

Aisha Trabue of Converse, Texas' most prized Backstreet Boys possession is a little different and came during a time of change within the group. 

 

"My most prized possession is a jar of jelly beans I collected for AJ when he was in rehab," Trabue said. 

 

"They came (here) in concert and I saw him at the hotel. I gave it to him and he cried."

AJ told Trabue to hold onto the jelly beans for her. 

 

"He said, 'When I beat this we can share them together"," she said. 

 

While jelly beans might seem a little rare, Trabue's real rare item is a huge 5-foot-tall, 4-foot wide poster for the release of "Quit Playing Games (With My heart)."

 

 

"My most prized possessions are definitely my poster that I made for the Into the Millennium tour that Alex signed when we met for the first time that night," Chanel Valesco, of Los Angeles, Ca., said. "Secondly, my copy of Never Gone that he also signed with "Love you sexy". Those mean the most to me because when I met him during Millennium, it happened unexpectedly and I was recovering from surgery. He won me over that night."

 

Valesco recently parted ways with a sequin blue cowboy hat like AJ wore during the "Millennium" days and a few more items, but she did keep something - her "personalized scented" AJ McLean candle from the "Millennium" merchandise era. 

 

"I never burned it and it still faintly smells of its scent," Valesco said. "It definitely smells like something he would/would have used back then.  He always smells good."

 

 

Nicole Meighoo of Toronto, Canada, better known as Nicky Toronto in the Backstreet online world,  has something that only a few fans could possibly beat - a CD collection out of this world.

 

"My most prized possession is my Backstreet Boys CD collection," Meighoo said. "I started it from the beginning of their career and I still continue to add CDs today. This is my most prized possession out of all my Backstreet Boys merchandise because I feel like everything starts and ends with their music. If there weren't any songs there wouldn't be any Backstreet Boys."

 

But there is still one album that's missing.

 

"I'm still patiently waiting for my Kevin Richardson 'Cover Story' album (to be released)," Meighhoo, a huge Kevin Richardson fan, said. 

 

 

Olga Aguayo of San Diego, Ca. has an item so rare that are only two in existence.

 

"My life saver is my most rarest and most prized Backstreet Boys possession," Aguayo said. "it was one of two  life savers that was signed by Nick and Howie during the live chat about the (20th anniversary) cruise."

 

She has the object framed and placed above her bed along with all of her other cruise merchandise.

 

"It's the last thing I see before I go to bed at night and the first thing I see when I wake up," she said. 

 

 

Stacie Smith's favorite memorabilia is simple - a picture. 

 

"My most prized BSB possession is my very first picture taken with Howie from 2010 and the VIP group picture from last June," said the Springfield, Ohio resident. 

 

Teresa Calhoun of Chicago, Illinois has a simple favorite piece of merchandise - a Backstreet Boys t-shirt from their September 1997 stop in Chicago. It was her first Backstreet Boys concert. She also has a VHS copy from one of her best friends of the boys' performance at her friend's high school back before they were famous in the United States. 

 

"They were told it was their end of school reward," Calhoun said of her friend's Indiana high school performance. 

 

For Chrissy Schulz of Hameln, Germany, her most special pieces of memorabilia are a little different - it's actually videos on YouTube and other small items.

 

 

"The YouTube videos when I was on stage with Nick during the NKOTBSB  show in Berlin," Schulz said. "The rose I got from Nick during the 'This is Us' show and  the guitar picks I have of him from the 'Never Gone' and 'IAWLT' shows."

 

But her most prized possession?

 

"Being a Nick fan and not being taken granted for by him," Schulz said.