THROWBACK THURSDAY: IT WAS
THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE BRATWURST OF TIMES

"Ja, ziss pop musik iss really ze bomb," enthuses Thomas Middelhoff during this Teutonic photo op with three stars of the then-BMG universe, Usher, P!nk and NSYNC's Lance Bass. "Seriously, it iss all blowing up bigtime! I can't vait to blitz radio." Replied Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, "Ixnay on the itz-blay." You can read more about this tumultuous chapter in our five-part history of CBS Records/Sony Music, the first chapter of which is here.