Though it was the battle between the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync that dominated the zeitgeist (BSB 4EVA!), the title for biggest boy band of the '90s might actually belong to Boyz II Men, who harmonized their way to more than 20 million albums sold and three of the longest-running #1 hits of all time. Among those signature smashes is "I'll Make Love to You," an R&B power ballad that spent an astounding 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and lives on as the soundtrack to countless slow dances at proms and weddings. It's an appropriately sterile legacy for what is possibly one of the least sexy sex jams ever recorded. Despite some fairly explicit references to where things are headed ("Throw your clothes on the floor/I'm gonna take my clothes off, too"), the song's booming grandeur is hardly carnal—more suitable for an epic declaration of love than a proposition to get it on. There's a sense of intimacy missing from "I'll Make Love," especially as the chorus bursts with the rich vocals of all four Men, suggesting a whole other kind of entanglement. B-
18 years ago this week, "I'll Make Love to You" was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.
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