The Real Story Behind "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" Music Video

Antonio Fargas, who's better known for his legendary role as Huggy Bear in the original Starsky And Hutch, played the band's bus driver (who turns into that Frankenstein's Monster style character at the end of the video). Fargas also appeared in the 1999 video for Backstreet Boys' "Larger Than Life," as a robot.

From the exterior painted mansion shot that starts the video to it's Antoni Gaudi style interiors — and even the spiral pattern on the floor of the main hall — the aesthetic similarities between "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" and Casper are pretty undeniable. However, though fans have long speculated that they were, at least partially, filmed on the same set, that fact has never been officially confirmed by the band or director. Considering the amount of similarities, however, it feels safe to assume that "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" may have used some props from Casper, or at the very least, was simply inspired by the look of the 1995 movie. Whatever the truth is, the aesthetic definitely worked for the video.

As well as directing and co-writing the 2011 cult horror movie, Detention, Kahn is also responsible for a number of Taylor Swift's iconic videos from 1989 including "Bad Blood," "Blank Space," "Wildest Dreams," and "Out Of The Woods." As well as being a total Swiftie, Kahn's incredible contribution to music videos also includes modern classics such as Britney Spears' "Toxic," and Lady Gaga's "Lovegame," among many others. However, "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" was his first, and it absolutely helped to launched his career.

OK kids, listen up. Because, when it comes to horror, the Universal Monsters were the OG's of Hollywood spooks... which is perhaps also why the Universal Monsters movies are being rebooted as the Dark Universe right now. The Backstreet Boys clearly knew that all the way back in 1997, and they put their own modern twists on five of those iconic monsters; Dracula (Howie), The Wolfman (Brian), Phantom Of The Opera (AJ), Dr Jekyll And Mr Jyde (Kevin), and The Mummy (Nick).

Joseph Schultz lent his special effects talents to both movies at the start of his career in the early '90s. So it makes sense that his specific skill set also lent itself quite well to transforming the Backstreet Boys so authentically into the monsters they became.

According to the All Access documentary about the making of the video, Brian's make-up took five and a half hours to create. By comparison, Nick's only took two hours. So yeah, Brian really took one for the team there.

Who, incidentally, would go on to play one of Dracula's brides, Marishka, in the 2004 movie, Van Helsing.

During the video's All Access documentary, Kahn revealed that he wanted Howie's Dracula look to be less traditional and "more like the vampire Lestat," from Interview With The Vampire (the movie adaptation of which was released in 1994). However, his style also resembles that of the 1992 adaptation of the character in Bram Stoker's Dracula, as portrayed by Gary Oldham.

It's unclear why Nick changed his mind about being the Creature From The Black Lagoon, as he mentions in the All Access video, but what is clear is that Nick being The Mummy was a much better option. Like, just look at the Creature From The Black Lagoon and try to imagine your 9 year-old self thinking it was cute. You can't.

As perhaps the only Universal Monster to have spawned a hit musical, The Phantom Of The Opera pleases fans of horror and musical theatre alike. According to Kevin, this fact made the character an obvious choice for AJ due to his "love for musical theatre."

According to Kahn during a Billboard interview celebrating the 20th anniversary of the song and video, Nick struggled with the stressful shoot, and was even almost brought to tears during it. Kahn said:

I remember Nick almost crying because he had stayed up all night, and was up for 36 hours. It was so stressful for him. I think I almost gave him a nervous breakdown with that mummy shot, because he was the last guy to be filmed and he was just being tortured… the poor guy! He was the youngest too, so it was a lot.

Still, considering how well the end result turned out, you'd never be able to tell that was the case.

Considering how iconic the video remains to be 20 years later, it feels preposterous to even imagine the Backsteet Boys' record label dragging their heels over the overall idea of it. However, in an interview with MTV, Nick revealed that their record company wasn't immediately on board with the idea for the music video of "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". Nick said:

It was kind of funny, because we had talked to the record company about it, and at first they were like, 'Oh, I don't know,' and 'Well, we'll talk about it later,' and all this kind of stuff. And we had this idea for the video in our heads. It took a while, but we eventually got them to do it. Then [the record company] came back later and thanked us because it turned out to be such a great video.

Amen to that.

According to the All Access documentary, the band came up with the idea collectively while on a plane fight together. With no support from their label regarding it, the Backstreet Boys also received no further creative input about the concept of the video. As Kahn himself tells it in the documentary, "this is the Backstreet Boys own expression." Which makes the video just that little bit more special, right?

As well as making an appearance in Pharrel Williams' video for "Happy," and also starring in movies like "Romeo Must Die," "Dreamgirls," and "American Gangster," Fatima Robinson was also the Backstreet Boys' resident choreographer, who was responsible for the iconic dance routine of the video. In recent years, Robinson has lent her tremendous talents to directing music videos such as Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass," and Fifth Harmony's "Bo$$."

20 years later and it's still just about the greatest music video that any of us could have ever wished for. It's original, sexual, and everything we needed to rock our bodies for all time.