As Long as You Love Me (Backstreet Boys song)

"As Long as You Love Me"
Single by Backstreet Boys
from the album Backstreet's Back
B-side	"Every Time I Close My Eyes"
Released	September 29, 1997 (Europe) October 21, 1997 (United States)[1]
Recorded	May 1997; Parc Studios (Orlando, Florida) Cheiron Studios (Stockholm, Sweden)
Genre	Pop
Length	3:40 (Album) 3:34 (Radio)
Label	Jive, Zomba
Writer(s)	Max Martin
Producer(s)	Max Martin, Kristian Lundin
Backstreet Boys singles chronology "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" (1997) "As Long as You Love Me" (1997) "All I Have to Give" (1998) Backstreet Boys US singles chronology "Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)" (1997) "As Long as You Love Me" (1997) "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" (1998)

"As Long as You Love Me" is the second single by the Backstreet Boys from their debut album in the United States and the second single from Backstreet's Back internationally. It was released in September 1997 internationally and in October of the same year in the United States. It is one of the bands' largest hits and considered one of their signature songs. It peaked at #1 in New Zealand and the Philippines, #2 in Australia and Austria, #3 in the United Kingdom, #4 in Switzerland and Sweden, and #5 in the Netherlands and Norway.^[2] At The 1997 MTV Europe Music Awards the song won Select Video. The song was also featured on the 1998 compilation album Now That's What I Call Music!

Background

The song is their biggest selling single in the UK and the 13th biggest selling boyband single of the 1990s in the UK selling 430,000 copies. In the US, although it was never released as a commercial single, it became an MTV staple and a radio airplay hit, spending 56 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, with a peak of #4. It's about a man professing his love for a woman. In the song, he tells her he doesn't care about her shady past, as long as she loves him back. The song was a last minute addition to the album, as Clive Calder, then-chairman of Zomba, heard the song and called Jive Records president Barry Weiss, who then contacted the band's manager, Johnny Wright.^[3]

Due to an error on the part of someone in the production chain, an early mix of "As Long As You Love Me" was included on Backstreet's Back and the 1997 US Backstreet Boys album. The mistake was corrected in the second pressing of the US debut album released in 1998. This allegedly annoyed writer and producer Max Martin. This early version subsequently became the version released as a single to radio and video. It has different instrumentation and mixing, as well as a slightly different structure, very similar to their previous US single, "Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)". The final version is usually listed as the "Radio" or "Video Version".

The single has sold over 530,000 copies in the United Kingdom.^[4]

Track listing

• UK

CD1

1. "As Long as You Love Me" (Radio Version) - 3:32
2. "Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)" (E-Smoove Vocal Mix) - 6:48
3. "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" (Funked Up Mix) - 7:13
4. "Every Time I Close My Eyes" - 3:52

CD2

1. "As Long as You Love Me" (Radio Version) - 3:32
2. "As Long as You Love Me" (Unplugged Version) - 3:32
3. "As Long as You Love Me" (Instrumental Version) - 3:30

CD3

As Long as You Love Me – The Remixes

1. "As Long as You Love Me" (Radio Version) - 3:32
2. "As Long as You Love Me" (Unplugged Version) - 3:32
3. "As Long as You Love Me" (Matty's R&B Mix) - 3:45
4. "As Long as You Love Me" (Matty's House Dee Zee AH) - 6:42
5. "As Long as You Love Me" (Soul Solution Club Mix) - 8:02
6. "Every Time I Close My Eyes" - 3:52

• America

Vinyl 1

1. "As Long as You Love Me" (LP Version)
2. "As Long as You Love Me" (Plastik Vocal Edit)
3. "As Long as You Love Me" (Soul Solution Edit)
4. "As Long as You Love Me" (Video Version)

Note: It is unknown if this single was also released in CD format.

Vinyl 2 (promotional double LP)

1. "As Long as You Love Me" (Soul Solution Club Mix) 8:02
2. "As Long as You Love Me" (B-Boy Extended House Mix) 6:11
3. "As Long as You Love Me" (Plastik Extended Vocal Mix) 7:08
4. "As Long as You Love Me" (Jason Nevins Live on Sunset Strip Mix) 6:49
5. "As Long as You Love Me" (Original Radio Version) 3:32
6. "As Long as You Love Me" (Soul Solution Dub) 8:26
7. "As Long as You Love Me" (Soul Solution Instrumental) 8:02
8. "As Long as You Love Me" (Edge Factory Journey) 9:06
9. "As Long as You Love Me" (Tranceatlantic Dub) 6:28
10. "As Long as You Love Me" (The Nevco Peep Show Dub) 5:50

Music video

The video was directed by Nigel Dick and filmed on June 15, 1997 in Pasadena, California. It shows the band auditioning before six ladies. The number was chosen so that the ladies would not appear to be matched up with the band members.^[5] The ladies video tape the performances and take notes. The band members primarily sing and dance, but each member also has a short "screen test" vignette in which he dresses up in a costume and performs various unusual activities. At the bridge, the members switch places with the ladies and have them perform screen tests. The positions reverse again near the end of the song. The dance for this song, as featured in the video, includes a dance that uses folding chairs as part of the choreography. For many years after the song's release, the band would end most performances of the song with the same chair dance routine. There are special effects utilized in the video. Most notably, morphing sequences where the face of one member would morph into the next's, as well as quick dissolves or straight cuts between footage of the members each doing the chair routine in the same exact position of the set. The cuts cause a working fan in the background to appear to stutter in its spin. One of the models featured was Leighanne Wallace, who Littrell ultimately married in 2000.

Charts

Weekly charts

End of year charts

Cover versions

The Netherlands retro rock band The Kik recorded a live version in Dutch ("Als jij maar van mij houdt") in the 3FM studio, using only CASIO keyboards. Radio deejay Giel Beelen subsequently asked the band to release their version as a single.^[20]

References