98[degrees] - Interview

Interview, May, 2000 by Michael Musto

PUPPY-LOVE SONGSTERS AS HOT AS THEIR NAME

MICHAEL MUSTO: Do you feel that your group is moving beyond a teen audience?

NICK LACHEY: Yeah. When we put the group together in 1995, we thought of ourselves as similar to Boyz II Men. Then along the way we got pigeonholed into the boy-band phenomenon. But the motivation of the group was bigger than that.

MM: What did you think of 2Gether, the MTV movie spoofing boy bands?

NL: It's garbage, but a lot of things they say in the movie are true. People automatically assume we're from Florida, that we were put together, and that there are five of us--all wrong. It's also humorous that that group and its song, "U Me=Us," is on every day--it's an actual song that's become popular.

MM: The satire became the reality. Do you think the Backstreet Boys are out of line by saying 'N Sync has been copying them?

NL: I think that 'N Sync had opportunities laid out in front of them because of their connections with people whom Backstreet were affiliated with, and to not utilize those connections would be stupid. That's just life. They're both very talented groups.

MM: Is there anything weird about working with your girlfriend, Jessica Simpson [with whom Lachey did a duet on "Where You Are"]?

NL: No. At least when we're working together we know we'll be around each other.

MM: We photographed you with Space Puppies. Do you have real pets?

NL: My little brother, who's eight, has a dog that's my pet when I'm around. Definitely, when I have a place and I'm going to be there for any significant amount of time, I want to have dogs. I like a pet you can have some fun with and who does everything you do. It's kind of hard with a hermit crab, but dogs are definitely cool.

Michael Musto's column La Dolce Musto appears weekly in The Village Voice. 98[degrees] (from left: Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons), photographed with space Puppies, wear T-shirts by cK calvin Klein.