In Part 2 of our *NSYNC POP 101 series, we dive into the gripping legal battle involving the group, Lou Pearlman, RCA, and Jive. This sets the stage for their record-breaking album, "No Strings Attached," which we'll dissect in all its groundbreaking glory.
References:
- “Bye Bye Bye” MV https://youtu.be/Eo-KmOd3i7s?si=VhblCiwi623XqtTt
- “Bye Bye Bye” Live at American Music Awards 2000 https://youtu.be/B8GJlozLqzc?si=s4uEpokb2zmiDc8v
- “I’ll Never Stop” MV https://youtu.be/Xhwj_zb77fU?si=2XzpIYj4AgSFext-
- “It’s Gonna Be Me” MV https://youtu.be/GQMlWwIXg3M?si=F88Aj0ky4eduD0-I
- "It’s Gonna Be Me” Live at the Today Show https://youtu.be/GR-u0NnmthU?si=o1Sdy2Plqwby2-43
- “Bye Bye Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me” Live at MTV VMAs 2000 https://youtu.be/JaXZxaie_xAsi=Exx_OOCCx1GvhfJA
- “I Thought She Knew” Live at No Strings Attached Tour 2000 https://youtu.be/s0MnmLEBAU4?si=1SrKuNLELIHY84Gh
- “I’ll Be Good For You” Live at Ntimate Holiday Special https://youtu.be/vQNuN_bOeKE?si=GQdWuA-04zGi6KA_
- “This I Promise You” MV https://youtu.be/6thmPrTxBtI?si=Fra7fsnYXWvu-t-g
- “This I Promise You” (Spanish Version) MV https://youtu.be/jIl0-whRM-Q?si=i2tGU-HytU4GIir5
- “This I Promise You” Live in Germany https://youtu.be/FpV5RzBKtMM?si=wdwBbISSOM1fxqBs
- Superbowl 2001 with Aerosmith https://youtu.be/XXiUlnRJqps?si=XujBeBTJJBZnXOmF
- “Space Cowboy” Live at No Strings Attached Tour 2000 https://youtu.be/mRTbHbM7QxU
[00:00:00] Previously on CCTV There's something about these boy groups harmonizing, singing about how much I love you and like what more can I give you? I'm just a man. Like there's something about that. Here we go one more time. That is feeling bad.
[00:00:17] Though the group was insanely successful across the world, hitting global charts and selling out arenas, the group was not earning the money that they should have been. Red flags were raised when during their first check presentation, Pooh Perlman gave the boys a check for only $10,000 US each.
[00:00:36] The Backstreet Boys were the first of Perlman's artists to file a lawsuit noting the unfair terms. NC quickly filed and also filed a lawsuit. RCA and Luke countersued the group right after and not only was Perlman contractually the sixth member of both Backstreet and NSYNC,
[00:00:55] he was in reality participating in fraudulent activities and it was eventually found out that he was running a Ponzi scheme. And so Lance, NSYNC member, has since produced a documentary called The Boy Band Con,
[00:01:10] the Lou Perlman story about the whole debacle and it's amazing. So if you haven't watched it, definitely go watch it. You can rent it on YouTube and I'm sure it's available on something else too but the highly publicized lawsuits not only left NSYNC with very little
[00:01:24] money but since they were signed through Lou's record label, who then signed with RCA, they also did not have a record deal and even the ownership and use of the name NSYNC was being debated. And following a settlement between NSYNC, Perlman and RCA, NSYNC signed to Jive Records.
[00:01:45] Oh man. Rough period. Fascinating. Absolutely. So just to clarify why I started the Pooh Perlman thing, you have Dr. Puk, Ars Melli and now Pooh Perlman. I refuse to give any of these men their names because they've done what they've done so it's out of complete disrespect.
[00:02:09] But yeah, so anyway, the situation with him was super... I personally for me, I guess it was my own personal morals or even just beyond that, I just think it's unnecessary. If money is going to come anyway, why go through this extra trouble
[00:02:25] of continuously doing people dirty? I mean granted in that documentary, I think they kind of alluded that he was already kind of f-ing up around that time anyway so he was using the
[00:02:35] money, he was getting from them to get... It was already kind of just, he was already kind of Edel-Emming himself. Yeah. Sorry, God. I mean his whole history is fascinating. Like he started as a blimp salesman and not already
[00:02:50] alone is fascinating because that's interesting. But you know, I think it's just one of those cases of how capitalism just ruins people, capitalism and greed because it's one of those things where
[00:03:01] you can never have enough. It's like oh... And I think also he was finding so much success without any failure and that's really dangerous as well because I think... The hubris. Yes, when your ego blows up that big and you have nothing that's going wrong then you start
[00:03:19] testing your limits and you start seeing all the things you can do and it just blew up into this crazy situation and he really did just screw himself over by the end which is usually what
[00:03:32] happens. Sure, very true, very true. But it's really sad that all these young artists and all the adjacent people around them too were all affected by it. Absolutely. And it's great that NSYNC and the Batshoe Boys and I think there were a few other artists that also were
[00:03:48] involved as well. I think O-Town, right? O-Town was involved as well. O-Town, Innocence. Yeah, yeah. That they all did kind of end up winning and getting what they needed out of it. But all that money that was lost was never recovered, right? So they did all that work
[00:04:05] performing those techno songs in Europe and never got anything from that. Selfishness is a hell of a drug and it's a shame because had they just gotten paid, things would be so much better. The fact that these kids were working that much is a shame
[00:04:20] and he was using it as recoupable stuff too like oh the training, that's money, oh the dinners, that's money. And it sucks because even now with streaming artists aren't even getting paid that much but could you imagine back then going diamond and then
[00:04:34] splitting it? They would have made like about six figures or like 20 something. I think Lance said he makes more money now outside of the group. Yeah, I mean all the recouping stuff is normal, right? Like that part of it is normal in current
[00:04:47] record deals and that part of it makes sense. And even him being the sixth member kind of situation, that's actually not that odd either. But he was taking way more than that, right?
[00:05:00] So yeah, he was taking even more than that. But management do get a pretty decent percentage. He was dealing with all these young kids with parents that didn't understand the ins and outs of the music industry and he took full advantage of that and it really
[00:05:16] is unfortunate because at the core of it, I think like I mentioned at the beginning, we do have him to thank for creating these groups that we love. Very complicated but you know, he ended up getting his so.
[00:05:33] Speaking of saying goodbye, the boys moved on and with Johnny Wright becoming the official manager for the group, the group was motivated by their freedom and ready to work on their second album. The second version of their second album actually as it was understood that the
[00:05:48] group was not allowed to keep any of the songs they previously recorded while still under RCA and poo. And under their new deal, the members of NSYNC were able to explore and take ownership
[00:06:00] of their sound. The group wanted to distinguish their sound from the Bakshi boys and other boy groups out at the time and they wanted a more powerful sound. And J.C. and Justin also
[00:06:10] participated in writing. We should also take time to shout out vocal coach and vocal arranger, Robin Wiley who the group has always credited as being an integral part of their sound. And she played a pivotal part in arranging their harmonies and really creating the group's
[00:06:26] signature sound so thank you to Bob. And definitely go listen to the Digital Getdown NSYNC podcast episode with Alex Greggs, one of the producers for the album because there are some really interesting insights on the recording process. For example, he wanted Joey to sing
[00:06:41] lead on one song but the label said it was very conscious about keeping J.C. and Justin in the forefront. God love Americans! We will get into that, yes. Well in January 2000, the group released Bye Bye Bye which was originally written for UK boy band Five and ironically,
[00:07:03] Five's hit When the Lights Go Out was originally written for NSYNC so there was a little bit of a song swap there and it ended up being you know the right thing that happened. And Bye Bye
[00:07:13] Bye achieved global success with a nomination for Record of the Year at the Grammys and multiple wins at the MTV Video Music Awards. This song is amazing, the harmonies throughout like
[00:07:46] I'm doing this tonight you're probably gonna start a fight I like come on I love that. I think overall the song was a little bit more focused on lead vocals which is a little unfortunate
[00:07:58] and I do wonder if Five would have gotten this song with the distribution of the song would have been different you know because they because of the UK's a little bit you know
[00:08:06] bit more evenly you know from what I read yeah I think Five said the original version they heard actually had the chorus as a rap and they were not a fan of that okay wow I can hear that though
[00:08:19] I will say this is kind of like I'm glad they didn't switch it like permanently like or they swapped it but then switch back because I can't imagine NSYNC going baby when the lights go out
[00:08:29] you will succumb to me like no not him not it I would more back to you boys though actually yes you love and tend to like that kind of thing I'm thinking like a JC would kill it though
[00:08:45] this is very true JC could do anything but I'm so glad they got Bye Bye Bye it's just so good yeah this song is amazing another song that's pop perfection like I could I find no faults in
[00:08:58] other than maybe like you were saying maybe just up the harmony levels a little bit because the harmonies are there but you know they're just a little further back in the mix a little bit yeah
[00:09:06] so my favorite part is that harmonized bridge you know before the drama of Justin yeah it's interesting because I was listening to another interview and and I think they said JC
[00:09:17] really didn't like it and thought it was just a bit too similar to I Want You Back and you actually hear that so much from you know the Max Martin kind of yeah adjacent songs right because
[00:09:29] they really are very sonically similar but I think this song does fulfill the brief that we mentioned earlier of it being a bit stronger like a bit harder yes a bit more powerful sort of like yeah
[00:09:42] yes exactly and it being kind of so perfect for the situation that they had just come out of with Mr. Perlman it was perfect you know like I was actually surprised that the song was not even
[00:09:55] written with that in mind like the fact that it fits so perfectly it's just it was meant to be I think yeah yeah absolutely and the music video is also pop perfection and I feel a lot because I sing
[00:10:07] this at karaoke every time and that one does have the real music video it's not the random people walking around the city or a field or whatever but yeah the puppeteering at the
[00:10:16] very beginning which is just perfect marketing again for the album that was about to come out then of course you have the iconic rotating box that has been used in multiple other pop videos
[00:10:26] like we like with dream and he loves you not that's featured as well and yeah the choreography is iconic and yes next time you come over let's let's do that yeah is that the song that
[00:10:39] Darren teaches in his dance grooves because someone had mentioned in one of our comments yeah I had that video so you know I think that's why I still remember it get out you know what I
[00:10:50] never had it but I did have the um the Gameboy Advance game there was a Gameboy game oh yes I had that as well yeah and then one of my classmates I think again I was like in kindergarten-ish when
[00:11:01] this song came out because one of my friends shout out to Zelle um we're not friends anymore but you know I was younger she had the in sync phone it was alright girl you know in sync phone
[00:11:11] yes and I was so okay he was sorry sorry I got super passionate so at the time you could speed down any of the members and all I could remember was cute Justin with the cute curly hair mean kinder
[00:11:22] first whatever grade I was like I'm gonna call him I'm gonna tell him I love him so I did and you know what he did I was like give me my boyfriend and he said no one's such a sassy way like if
[00:11:33] you guys watch any of the behind like behind the scenes like videos or recordings Justin has a sense of humor so it's like really sassy wait so they actually responded to these voicemails
[00:11:41] no there was sound bites and recorded okay okay but in my little kid mind he was rejecting me and I almost dropped the group because I was like he's like um I don't think so so like something
[00:11:51] like that so whatever the sound bite was it was very much like I was like oh so it was like a magic eight ball where you'd get like a random uh like generated response yeah my my dumb kid behind was
[00:12:03] like I hate him it's like I'm breaking up with me listen I had through roll-up and a secret password journal at the time I had more to offer apparently so I was so heartbroken as a kid but yeah I mean
[00:12:20] that time was just like in sync mania so there was like no way to escape you're playing with them you're playing on a phone there was dolls that I cannot afford because you know private school
[00:12:30] but you know it was just all about them and it's I mean well deserved but it's just like coming from the ground like what how that happened kudos yes so yes the single was followed by the
[00:12:43] global release of the album no strings attached in March 2000 and the album's title was a reference to their situation with poo pearlman and how he was no longer their puppet master the project eventually became the best-selling album of 2000 wow the backseat boys had actually broken records
[00:13:02] only months previously with their album millennium but the rivalry was at its peak and in sync broke backseat boys's record and surpassed everyone's expectations and another little fun note from johnny rite's interview so around this time ish is when the backseat boys actually fired him
[00:13:23] as their manager and he he was very real with them and was like look like if i'm only working for in sync i'm making them bigger than you yeah and he did it yeah he said you'll regret this
[00:13:40] well that being said the uk in europe got a special single release of the song i'll never stop in may 2000 which wasn't even included on the us edition of the album oh we love exclusives
[00:13:52] and the next global single released from the album was it's gonna be me the group's first number one on the billboard hot 100 the song continues to be referenced every year on the last day of april for the use of producer max martin's signature pronunciation of may
[00:14:47] in the it's gonna be may it's gonna be me you know i always thought because jesson could have pronounced me without sounding terrible gonna be me i would have been like not say may i would have
[00:14:58] been like yeah you know what though britney always did it in all her songs and it's a lot more of the in sync and dashy boys songs yeah and you know artists continue to do it to this day it adds
[00:15:10] so much drama oh my goodness this song is so good um but yeah now this song is great it's again still surprising how this is our first number one with bye bye but i'm like what's going
[00:15:23] on but hey kudos to them deserved yeah kudos them for outselling and and everybody that year not just bsb and i remember watching that was it the good day performance where those kids were like not even
[00:15:35] kids adults everyone was filling out 30 rock it's the same when we saw jungkook do seven people were sleeping outside some girls like i was here since midnight last night the girl was like
[00:15:46] hmm where are you now you know like it was just giving like you're obsessed but that even that kind of like fandom has transcended time and like oh yeah bts now kind of like being that i'll sleep
[00:15:57] out in the rain for kind of so solid dude it's a solid album too i want to just kind of make that like oh yeah oh yeah well before again the album yeah it's gonna be me is so good yeah it really is one
[00:16:11] of the songs i never get bored of and i also never get bored of the meme that comes every april 30th year like it's funny every time yes it is um and the boys acknowledge it as well which i
[00:16:23] appreciate yes but yeah i i think the musicality of the song is actually really cool like it's super strong there's a lot of kind of staccato to the way they sing it and just the way the
[00:16:32] production is done and the harmonies are are a bit louder and more prominent on this one then bye bye bye like you do have that whole five part kind of moment you know at the start yes um
[00:16:45] and again one of my absolute favorite in sync music videos as well like this whole doll concept was fantastic they look a little scary with that makeup um but the whole concept is just brilliant and also
[00:16:57] shout out to i'll never stop as well uh it's not a bad song but it does feel a little derivative from the first album like it is kind of like the lesser cousin of like tearing up my heart and I want
[00:17:08] you back so i understand why it wasn't included on the u.s version but we do have like a really crappy music video for it you know what i think that song was the precursor to um two p.m. again to get
[00:17:21] that oh yes well no strings attached it's a progression from the first album for sure what do you think looking back on it now there's so many fun songs on here oh my god and they were
[00:17:35] like being a little bit less like oh girl i love you you're the only one for me it was wrong i will take you from this man if he doesn't love you it makes me ill like because they're in their 20s
[00:17:49] like they're in their hot boy era yeah yeah like oh i love when pop boy groups get into that hey we're all grown we've all kind of done things we want to talk about the things we've done and then we
[00:17:59] get good music because they can actually sing they dance like i think one of the most one of the random songs are like the space cowboy songs absolutely talking about jerusalem and all this other crap
[00:18:08] like it's giving very like y2k the turn of the century kind of thing it's like yeah i'm the guy the world's gonna end but it's so fun and it gives a good example of like how they don't take
[00:18:16] themselves too seriously and how they actually can really sing and have fun and it's just such a solid song i enjoy it it's probably one of my like like themes um but yeah and then you have a good
[00:18:29] ballad do you have like these awesome songs on there and the i thought she knew i think it is songs like that where it's like even with their performances the boys finally get a little bit more
[00:18:42] shy not that much but at least with the performances you can play okay they're pulling their weight it's just unfortunate sometimes with this album like you can't really hear the others as much as
[00:18:52] like the first album that's kind of like my only like dang dang it like waste of opportunity here you know but i'm not i'm not a producer or whatever yeah no that is interesting yeah we didn't really
[00:19:05] note the first album like the harmonies are so prominent like sometimes the harmonies are as loud as the lead vocals and you really can pick out all the members very easily yeah and they
[00:19:15] definitely are pushed back more in this whole album i thought she knew it was an interesting call out because so that is an acapella track and it was written by robin wilie like their vocal
[00:19:25] arranger and they had actually been singing that since before they even debuted in germany yeah so them including that was was really awesome and you do get joey and chris singing lead on
[00:19:35] that second verse as well and they sound amazing they sound really good so yeah it is a little annoying for sure and then you know you referenced that interview you know with that producer where
[00:19:44] he was explicitly told by the label not to confuse the fans quote unquote and only put justin and jc in the forefront that's crazy like there's only five members like having the three of
[00:19:56] them get a line here or there will not take away from the shine you know from the spotlight on the other two like it's very very annoying and yeah it's just very american as you as we've
[00:20:07] mentioned in the show many times because the british groups were always way better without the vocal distribution overall yeah yep yeah totally totally it's great that they are now differentiating their sound a bit more from the bashee boys because you really could probably just
[00:20:21] kind of mix and match the bashee boys and in sinks first couple album yeah with bashee boys first couple albums and then in sinks first album you can kind of mix and match a little bit
[00:20:32] not so much the euro dance stuff but the more r&b stuff um so with this album you get more like funk you get a bit more dance you get some new jack swing properly in there uh and then the vocal
[00:20:44] arrangements do differ a lot from the way the bashee boys did it so that's kudos to robin yet again as well for making sure that that was very unique and so yeah no strings attached overall though is
[00:20:55] definitely one of my favorite boy band albums ever like i don't think there's any real dud at all yeah definitely the singles do stand out so it's not like every song could be a single
[00:21:06] yeah but every song is good yeah the ballads are good bringing the noise this was like a call back to you know here we go it's good like yes yes because you do still have kind of the the
[00:21:16] sillier stuff like that you do have like space cowboy you know just kind of fun sillier stuff then you have the more slightly experimental stuff you got the cheeky cover of just got paid which again references the whole situation with with the label and everything so so well
[00:21:33] and then even the songs that they wrote were good too like i love the song justin wrote i'll be good for you um he mentioned it was kind of like a call back to like marvin gay and kind of that era
[00:21:45] it's so good yeah teddy pender grass he got credited he got credited on that so i was just like i hear my people and there's one performance of it and it's so good boy oh things like that
[00:21:56] i'm like thank you fans thank you we appreciate it because otherwise it's just lost in memory i remember when i was scaled it too so thank you whoever did the ai upscale so the last single
[00:22:05] from the no strings attached album was this i promise you can't help but to sing it and it was written by richard marx and it was another huge hit for the group and i will take you in my arms you
[00:22:36] and the group also recorded a spandex version of the track so and through the next year in sync embarked on the no strings attached tour and also co-headlined the super bowl halftime show in 2001 with aro smith and special guests you know so this i promise
[00:23:12] you yes shout out to richard marx man he knows how to write a ballad yeah i love it and again jc my man is not made me feel the way he makes me feel about the song like i don't want to get married
[00:23:24] right now i don't want him he sounds like he's like he's like this is my last day on earth this is one of his highlight moments i think across their discography like it's vocally perfect
[00:23:40] from jc and through the years like he's also performed it with various people like i watched a performance with richard marx that he did yeah which was kind of a more acoustic kind of situation
[00:23:51] and then matthew morrison also randomly sang it at his concert and invited jc on it so so yeah this song has also stood the test of time like i think when people mention in sync this one tends to
[00:24:02] be the ballad that people mention oh more so than maybe god must have spent or gone or anything this tends to be the one and i think even on spotify it's like number four something on their most
[00:24:12] streams so yeah it's a wedding song sounds like a wedding song it does it does i will say the video is a tad boring uh ballads are hard to do you know i guess ballads are tough to do videos for but
[00:24:26] like them like walking around in the woods with like those like bubbles the random scene near the end of them just like eating lunch nothing just eating lunch like you make it sound i mean
[00:24:39] you're not wrong you're not wrong i mean i have no i have no good nothing to contest that um i agree it's like we have a ballad in k-pop they have like this most abstract you have to like kind of google
[00:24:51] a wikipedia search the storyline like it's freaking crazy where we come from from watching maybe my standards have gotten too high from the more modern music videos but no it's just it's just boring like back in the day like i guess it's like the song speaks for
[00:25:05] itself which it does yeah so i guess i'd much rather watch a performance than watch this music video and i watched it twice because of the spanish version of themselves kudos for them for doing spanish version because spanish if you don't speak it it is for metaphanetically speaking
[00:25:20] it's kind of it's tough to say try to do it it's it's pain but um but yes i again my question is who the heck was buying this album like not no offense but i just want to know what the heck
[00:25:31] happened for them to like sell so well with this whole era i'm not hating on them i'm just like was it one of those like i want to see if this is gonna suck with that little pearl man
[00:25:42] i think i'm gonna suck like was it curiosity was it like it's just amazing to kind of see this be like their blow up moment you know yeah i mean i think they were laying the ground
[00:25:53] work with the first album you know and they were gaining a little bit more credibility as well with like the gloria stuff on duet and everything so i think bye bye bye was so good that it kind of
[00:26:04] just catapulted the whole thing uh uh that one singles used to be like the ultimate soft and their performance is also like even i remember people would talk about their performances like even me like as a 10 year old or whatever like people would reference like their vma performances
[00:26:20] you know and stuff that they would do like that that bye bye bye performance with the screens that they did at the vmaze like i remember that so well and i remember watching that like at the time
[00:26:31] when i was 10 no you're so right because it's like the way i remember um a j's crop top for everybody i will never let yeah but i would argue though that i think in sync was they were
[00:26:41] known as better performers than the bachy boys i feel like i feel like in sync was mentioned a lot more in those types of culture situation so it makes sense plus you have a lot of other little
[00:26:51] things going on like justin was dating britney and like there was just all these other things going on too that kind of made them all bigger as a group so i think it they were very lucky
[00:27:00] at all just kind of collinated in this like insane record which i believe has since been broken by a delt right is that right yes yes yeah but it wasn't sick before that so yeah um so you
[00:27:10] mentioned the no strings attached tour earlier yeah but yeah so we did watch this together during the you know pandemic times and we could do nothing but watch watch tv
[00:27:22] but yes what do you think of the no strings attached to her uh okay sorry this is where i saw jc pop them booty yes okay i know he's talking about this man's behind but it it helps you know because
[00:27:34] they have like the energy like sure it helps he's watching all their performances like the only time like me as a young like person even like a young teenager i grew up with black music so i
[00:27:48] know black groups like new addition and the only person that was in there resting on the drum beat was freaking bobby brown so to see them do that back then and then come and do all this cool hip hop
[00:27:58] like my mom said this the other night when i was watching the no strings attached tour she goes don't want boys can get down and it's true those white boys was getting down like like they brought
[00:28:08] out whatever they had they were like like they said there's no strings on me baby they said they're shaking, shiving, singing even when they were sitting down like um they they sang their faces off
[00:28:19] that was the concert i was telling you like the the bass for lanthan's mic was super high i'm like yo it was but again the mics were on i love this show so much and i find i think what's the most
[00:28:33] impressive about it is it's just the five of them yes no dancers but yes there's obviously production stuff going on but they really carry it yes so well and it's insane like they sing the
[00:28:48] crap out of every song they dance the crap out of every song yeah like the stability and breathing it's control whole everything is just insane and i can't wait they kept it up for like the whole show
[00:29:04] too like the last song which i think is bye bye bye of course yeah was just as high energy as no strings attached at the start like it never it never goes down at all and it's just amazing and then going
[00:29:16] back to that making of all five of them were so involved in every single aspect oh yeah they were analyzing where the pyro was and when it happens and how big it was and then how the lasers looked
[00:29:27] and they were really getting into the big ritty of it which is always really nice to see because you know a lot of the artists now they don't get as involved with some of that stuff like especially
[00:29:37] on the k-pop side right like it's kind of like they have these production people that kind of just do the whole thing for them and then they are taught it and then they go out and do it
[00:29:45] because they're just so busy doing all these other things so yep um it's nice to see the artists kind of take so much control there and then shout out to kevin anthunes who's the music
[00:29:54] director i think for their whole career because the tour arrangements are so good i was gonna say that yeah the biggest thing i appreciate is they always have a sax player and they utilize him so well
[00:30:06] oh random just like i'm ready yeah so well um so yeah i have seen this multiple times i was watching on the plane when i was coming back home and there were definitely people walking by
[00:30:18] and staring at my screen all right i'm sure they went back and also went back to listen to in sync oh man um and then we have to talk about the super bowl performance as well because that was quite
[00:30:31] iconic for them to do what did you think you know back in the day when they started doing these not even like no they always kept doing like these i were going like the the super bowls
[00:30:41] they were always just throwing random paper on stage together oh my god like they didn't like they didn't like really like uh was it ever i guess like streamline the process down yeah there is yeah
[00:30:55] until like who i've got who but oh after the after the the janet thing that's oh any little doodle um it was interesting to see everyone and their mother on stage at that time like literally even
[00:31:07] random i was like i was getting ready to cause even no offense marie j blige it just it doesn't it makes sense like it's just it just in an aerosmith and then britney comes out and it was
[00:31:18] a lot and i feel like they could have just held it down on their own totally um i do appreciate that they kind of had like a little work in with like ben stiller and like them joking around kind of
[00:31:27] like getting ready to go out into the field so it kind of creates this anticipation they're running out they could have handled it on their flipping on but they held it down like oh my
[00:31:38] gosh they gave me vocals they gave me bad they were they were eating it up they're at their peak they were literally at their peak one of the best performance i think the only like boy group they
[00:31:49] ever like perform on the on there too right oh they might be yeah yeah like yeah they held it down i agree with you like it really could have just been them and aerosmith's just kind of going
[00:32:00] back and forth though like you really didn't need britney and marie and sorry britney sorry marie it was chaotic it was really chaotic at the end but their parts were amazing so the spirals and the
[00:32:11] pack the the pyro coming from the gloves and stuff yeah it was just it was great he was a lot of fire in sparks yes and another fun fact from this era courtesy of our friend and listener david
[00:32:23] so joey joey's brother jc and chris had apparently also filmed the cameo for star wars episode two attack of the clones oh yeah but apparently there were union issues so no one has ever seen this cameo
[00:32:40] but they were very excited about it you know when i think about how much they were working they probably were so tired that whatever you got out of their mouths was just like some weird daisy sleep version
[00:32:52] of them or whatever caffeinated version you got um so yeah kudos to them for like working so hard you know i do wonder how much money they made though from this album curious now now that you got like
[00:33:02] that there should be millions yeah should be craziness okay well moving on to the next era for the next album in sync took on even more creative control time for one more recess break
[00:33:20] in part three we will discuss the celebrity era the breakup the little reunions we've had and discuss if there's a future for in sync see you there
