98 Degrees

Check out 98°'s ever so slightly sullen album covers: These are the cranky half smiles of men who wish to be thought of as Four Aspiring Tops or at least White Boyz II White Men, not Color Me Badder. Because 98° -- L.A.-based, Ohio-raised soulboys Justin Jeffre, Jeff Timmons, and brothers Nick and Drew Lachey -- couldn't even hack the teen scene, they mostly acted like they were too good for it: Their pale bubble-crooning, even with Montell Jordan producing, made 'em sound like old-school dullards next to the Backstreet Boys' teen-pop juggernaut. The group soon drifted into the background of the late-'90s louder-than-love pop epoch, becoming known even to fluff-pop connoisseurs as merely "the muscled ones" or "those guys in the really tight T-shirts."

In '97, 98° dropped a modest set of pop R&B harmonies, New Jack swing production, and generally civilized pop songwriting. The gold single "Invisible Man" pines for a girl who won't look at him, while "Was It Something I Didn't Say?" is typically amorphous Diane Warren balladry -- it's compulsively competent, perfectly well sung, and completely forgettable.

Released in '98, which should have been their year, 98° and Rising covered a country hit, "I Do (Cherish You)," a smash for Mark Wills; got Trackmasters to juice "Heat It Up"; and featured Stevie Wonder on "True to Your Heart." But the group's attempts to have it both ways -- as R&B singers and teen heartbreakers -- produce neither pure soul nor pure cheese, obviously failing on both fronts.

A Christmas collection reminded the market that the group hadn't discarded the shtick while plotting a comeback. Revelation, released a good two years after their name stopped making any sense, took that inevitable last step in boy bandhood: the "serious music" album. At this point, 98° must have know they would never be a Backstreet, they'd never be an 'N Sync, they'd never even be a New Kids. So they enlisted Anders Bagge and Arnthor Bigisson for the potential big single, the vaguely Latin "Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)." Okay so far. Then our heroes go on to cowrite 11 of the album's 13 tracks. Not a good idea. (JOE GROSS)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide