Nick Carter says Bieber 'couldn't hold a candle to' Backstreet Boys

Backstreet Boys, who have returned to the pop music scene with a brand new Las Vegas residency, recently spilled the beans on pre-Instagram era fame.

In a recent interview with ELLE.com, Nick Carter said, "I'll tell you this, there is some sh-t that AJ and I both did that I'm really glad that social media wasn't around for. Because Justin Bieber couldn't hold a candle to what we did."

AJ McLean agreed, adding, "We would have been like TMZ's saving grace, bro. Just anything from me being drunk or irate at a club. Or me walking naked down the hallway in a hotel for no apparent reason... Just random stuff that never really got out."

He continued, "But, the fame now-it's like night and day. The other side of that which was different for us: Without social media, without YouTube, without instant access, we had to do everything grassroots. We had to do every interview, every radio show, every outlet. We had to go to every country-that was the only way to do it. There was no Instagram, or posting things on YouTube to get a record deal."

Speaking about his experience at a One Direction concert, Howie Dorough also explained, "The new wave of boy band says, 'Oh, we don't do what they do.' But to be honest, to me, it's not as entertaining. What we do is we truly entertain people. Music, staging, dancing, everything."

This, Carter shared, is why Backstreet Boys has maintained their success decades after other groups have fizzled out.

"I think that's why we're still here in a lot of ways. Because it was always about a show. Regardless, we could always make great music and we could have hits. But whenever we hit the stage, we had to give a show that people would remember and that stood on its own," he recalled.