10 Years Later: 'I Drive Myself Crazy'

May 06 2009, Written by Andrew Hibbard in Music,Playground, 0 Comments

The Song: The last single from ‘N Sync’s self-titled sort-of-debut and pre-”Dirty Pop” era, “I Drive Myself Crazy” represented a foray into the music video that set them apart from many artists of the time (“Everybody” was too heavy-handed). Sure, it was no “Thriller,” but “I Drive Myself Crazy” showed high production value, semi-famous people and a loose narrative, all qualities that would become more prevalent in future boy band videos. 

The Moment: While little girls were driving themselves crazy for boy bands, nerdier boys were going gaga for the disappointment of the millennium: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Just think of “you” in the band’s lyrics as a synonym for quality in the Star Wars franchise:

Lying in your arms
So close together
Didn’t know just what I had
Now I toss and turn
Cause I’m without you

Star Wars fever. ‘N Sync fever. All symptoms of the bliss that was 1999.

Retrospection: What always struck me about this song was the choice to give Chris Kirkpatrick the intro vocals. They are pretty rough here and only accentuate the fact that, even in 1999, ‘N Sync was the Justin Timberlake show in spite of his frosted, barely legal curls and JC Chasez holding his own.

But there is one other notable quality of this video: It’s rumored that each boy-bander came up with his own storyline for the video. If you look to 3:06, Lance Bass doesn’t seem too disappointed when his “girlfriend” dumps him. Wonder how hard he had to work to conceive that story? Our economy might have crashed, but at least Lance feels a little more comfortable, even if he’s removed from the limelight. Good job, left America.