The Nineties were a weird time: Boy bands like the Backstreet Boys ruled the world with their sugary, manufactured pop, but on the flip side, a very different type of boy band was taking over the airwaves out of Seattle with a gnarly rock sound aptly dubbed "grunge."
So what if one of the Backstreet Boys' most iconic hits, say, "I Want It That Way" — which is experiencing new life right now due to TikTok — had actually been written and recorded by one of said grunge bands? Maybe the heaviest and darkest of those groups: Alice in Chains.
YouTuber Steve Welsh has answered that hypothetical question, reworking "I Want It That Way" in the style Alice in Chains, bringing tons of swampy atmospherics, sludgy riffage and a great impression of Layne Staley's snarling, angst-wracked vocals. As it turns out the boy band's hit makes for a surprisingly great AIC song, and the resulting reimagining is a badass listen — even if, or maybe especially if, you always hated the Backstreet Boys.
