Maps of Music

Black & Blue (2000)

Where the lyrics of Black & Blue take you, and where it was really made.

The album sold over 5 million copies worldwide in its first week, the best first-week sales for any album in history by that measure, and it went on to sell over 15 million copies.

Key places

Cheiron Studios in Stockholm (2000)

Recording site Cheiron Studios — The album's recording credits list Cheiron Studios in Stockholm alongside Polar Studios as a place the album was recorded. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Polar Studios in Stockholm (2000)

Recording site Polar Studios — Polar Studios in Stockholm is listed in the recording credits together with Cheiron Studios for this album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Brandon's Way in Los Angeles (2000)

Recording site Brandon's Way — Brandon's Way in Los Angeles, California, is listed among the places where the album was recorded. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Darkchild in Pleasantville (2000)

Recording site Darkchild (Pleasantville) — Darkchild is listed in the recording credits at Pleasantville, New Jersey. The point uses the town centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Parc in Orlando (2000)

Recording site Parc Studios — Parc is listed in the recording credits at Orlando, Florida. The point uses the city centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Black & Blue: fourth studio album by American boy band Backstreet Boys (third in the United States)
• Released November 21, 2000 by Jive Records
• Sold over 5 million copies globally in its first week, the best international first-week sales for an album in history
• Sold over 15 million copies worldwide
• First single 'Shape of My Heart', followed by 'The Call' and 'More than That'
• Band members wrote two songs and co-wrote five, more than on previous albums
• Promoted with the Black & Blue World Tour in 2001

Background

• In August 2000 the band gave fans a first glimpse through a series of CDs available at Burger King, including 'It's True'
• AJ McLean said the album would take in rock, R&B, hip-hop and country
• McLean also said Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson would play drums and piano on the album

Recording

• Recorded from July 1, 2000 to September 2000
• Recording credits name studios in Stockholm, Pleasantville (New Jersey), Orlando and Los Angeles
• Stockholm sessions are credited to Cheiron and Polar Studios

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1993 in Orlando, Florida, as an American vocal group and pop boy band.
• Members Howie Dorough and AJ McLean met through a vocal coach; Nick Carter was found through auditions.
• Cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson, both from Lexington, Kentucky, joined; Littrell formally joined on April 20, 1993, which became the group's anniversary.
• Manager Lou Pearlman named them after Orlando's Backstreet Market flea market.

Members

• AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Brian Littrell (1993–present).
• Kevin Richardson (1993–2006, 2012–present); he left in 2006 and rejoined in 2012.

Career

• Debut album Backstreet Boys (1996) was a hit in Europe; the US self-titled album followed in 1997.
• Millennium (1999), led by the global hit "I Want It That Way", made them superstars; the album sold over 12 million copies in the US.
• Black & Blue (2000) and The Hits – Chapter One (2001) followed; a two-year hiatus came after.
• Comeback album Never Gone (2005) and later albums Unbreakable (2007), This Is Us (2009), In a World Like This (2013), and DNA (2019, debuting at number one).
• Sold over 150 million records worldwide, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
• Held Las Vegas residencies Larger Than Life (2017–2019) and Into the Millennium at Sphere (2025).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: generally favorable reviews, aggregate score 61/100 from ten critics
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine: the ballads are smoother than ever and the dance numbers hit harder, as the group works to keep its throne
• Billboard staff: beyond the ballads, the album crackles with funk-inflected uptempo songs with rough edges
• Rolling Stone's Barry Walters: the Boys still harmonize as well as the background singers behind lesser pop acts
• Q: the sound has changed little and the emoting is no different, though the grooves of 'Everyone' and 'Shining Star' stay hard to resist
• CDNow: unquestionably the most seamless boy band release of the year
• Entertainment Weekly's David Browne: the album holds a pattern, recycling the past with little to build a firm future
• Yahoo! Music's Rebecca Dien-Johns: over a third of the songs are ballads, and most of them are fillers
• Los Angeles Times' Natalie Nichols: compared the album to a pinball machine, with grinding beats and flashy effects

Records

• Debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 after 1.6 million copies sold in its first week at US retail
• Held the number-one spot in its second week with 689,000 more copies
• Certified eight times platinum by the RIAA on December 18, 2000, for shipments of over eight million copies in the United States
• As of March 2015, sold 5,936,000 copies in the US according to Nielsen Music
• Sold 992,000 units at the BMG Music Club as of February 2003

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• According to Entertainment Weekly editor David Browne, the album title nods to the group's two musical sides, Black for the R&B inflections and Blue for the mushy crooning, and it also reflected Lou Pearlman's abuse and bruises
• The first single 'Shape of My Heart' was described by Browne as a predictable ballad, while AllMusic's Erlewine said it flows as gracefully as 'I Want It That Way'
• Browne called 'The Call' a dance-pop song that tells how to cheat on a mate by claiming a low cell phone battery
• The last track, 'How Did I Fall in Love with You', is sung by Howie D and Brian Littrell while the rest of the group does background
• Walters wrote that R&B producer Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins could not erase the Scandinavian sparkle from 'Shining Star'

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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