As they embarked on their first tour and their record label tried to limit their potential for legal issues, members of the 1990s US boyband 98 Degrees were equipped with a handbook listing the age at which people across the nation can lawfully consent to sex , the group’s lead singer, Nick Lachey, reveals in a new documentary.
“This is going to sound super shady, but … I remember our first tour, someone at the label gave us a book, and it was the age of consent in every state in the country,” Lachey says in Boy Band Confidential, which is premiering on Monday at 9pm ET on the cable network Investigation Discovery. “And like, we kept that book on the tour bus.”
Lachey’s remarks were contained in a preview of the documentary shared with media outlets including the Guardian. He adds that the age-of-consent manual was meant as a precaution for him and his bandmates while they were on the road surrounded with fans at a time when 98 Degrees’ members were between the ages of 21 and 24.
The age at which a person can legally consent to sex varies by state in the US but typically ranges from 16 to 18. Adults who engage in sexual activity with those below the age of consent can be charged with criminal sexual abuse, though there are states which make exceptions in certain instances involving older minors and young adults whose ages are close to each other.
In Boy Band Confidential, Lachey says of the age-of-consent book: “Unfortunately, there were people out there looking to tear you down.”
He delivers that line right after a girl with braces is shown in archival footage saying, “they’re hot, they’re gorgeous – we want to see them,” while seemingly standing outside of a concert. A girl of about the same age next to her then chimes in, “They have it all.”
A mixed reaction met Lachey’s comments as they circulated ahead of the release of the two-part documentary, which promises to explore how the music industry’s 1990s boyband boom that gave rise to ‘NSync, the Backstreet Boys and similar acts teemed with abuse, addiction and financial manipulation.
The Canadian talkshow The Social summarized the ambivalent response in an episode on Friday. One of the hosts said a manual such as the one described by Lachey was “actually really progressive” for a time that predated the #MeToo campaign against sexual abuse by about 20 years. But another countered: “Any time an adult has to sort of come into the room and say, ‘OK, guys, here’s a guide to how to barely – like – stay legal’ – that just seems creepy to me.”
The second half of Boy Band Confidential – being made available to stream on HBO Max – is scheduled to air at 9pm ET on Tuesday.
Lachey and his 98 Degrees bandmates scored three top five US hits at their peak between 1998 and 2000: Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche), Because of You and The Hardest Thing. They provided guest vocals on Mariah Carey’s Thank God I Found You, which went No 1 and earned a Grammy nomination for best vocal pop collaboration.
Other members of the Los Angeles-based group were Drew Lachey, Nick’s brother; Jeff Timmons; and Justin Jeffre.
Beside his fronting 98 Degrees, Nick Lachey is perhaps best known for having been married to fellow pop singer Jessica Simpson from 2002 to 2006 – as well as hosting the Netflix gameshows Love Is Blind and The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On alongside his wife, Vanessa Lachey, nee Minnillo.
He discusses on Boy Band Confidential how 98 Degrees was not paid much at all in advance on its contract with the record label Motown, so the group often opted to take public transportation or drive themselves to get around – and dined at fast-food chains.
Lachey is also seen recounting how his boyband’s hits came at a time when canceling appearances to protect performers’ mental health was not normalized in the way it has been since.
“You’ll see a Justin Bieber cancel a tour – you’ll see a Shawn Mendes cancel a tour because ‘my mental health needs to come first’,” Lachey says on the documentary. “That was not an option when we were out there.”
Lachey continued: “You went out there and you did the show and you came back after the show and you broke down and you cried and you kicked a hole in the wall, or you did whatever you had to do. But you didn’t bow out.
“You work so hard to get there, you can’t let your foot off the gas.”