Lance Bass’ "Out of Sync" Hits Too Many Wrong Notes

Because the book is so slim, you have to question why Bass doesn’t mention Danielle Fishel, one of his “girlfriends” and an actress (Boy Meets World). How did it feel to lie to her? Are they friends now? Does he regret any of what he did? But perhaps writing about that would cause more introspection than Bass is comfortable with.

Another name that should be mentioned by Bass but isn’t is Perez Hilton. Sure, it’s easy to see why Bass wouldn’t want to give the gossipy blogger any more press, but to leave Perez out entirely is bizarre. Perez may not have had good motives for outing Bass, but were it not for him, Bass would probably still be living an unhappy, closeted existence. Nor would he have likely gotten around to writing a memoir.

As a writer, Bass is below average. There are passages in Out of Sync that made me cringe in embarrassment for him: “We’d hang out for a couple of hours, just drinkin’, singin’, and havin’ a good ol’ time.” “If Laura hadn’t forced me out of Nathan’s car I could have been seriously injured. On Halloween!”

Even worse are the transparent advertisements: “It was like being on The Corny Collins Show in Hairspray,” Bass says of a school music group he was in. For those not in the know, Bass recently joined the cast of the Broadway show. At least he also plugs his former bandmates. “JC is working on his second album….” “Chris is writing and producing music….” And so forth.

While Bass had some help from Eliot, it seems he was too scared to edit the singer’s words — or delete them when necessary. And some of those words desperately needed deleting, including the paragraphs in which Bass somewhat heartlessly recounts how 9/11 interfered with promotion for his 2001 film On the Line:

"The premiere of our film was all set for he third week in September...and then 9/11 happened. That was not only the effective end of our upcoming promotional campaign for the film, but of the film itself. In light of the national tragedy, our movie couldn't mean a hill of beans to anyone, including us. There was nothing we could do to change that fact. Our film was finished and we knew it, but we went ahead anyway and did the one press junket that had already been set up."

That being said, there are some positive aspects to Bass’ memoir: The mere fact that Simon Spotlight Entertainment is releasing it — and with the word “out” on the cover no less — is a good thing. And though Bass is not an ideal gay role model, he’s still a decent young gay person in the media spotlight. There aren't too many of those. Most importantly, Bass makes it clear he sees no conflict with being gay and Christian, or with being masculine and gay. Those are important messages for the heterosexual public to hear.

Out of Sync is at least a fast read — I finished it in less than a day. Bass expresses himself in a way that’s accessible, as he talks about how a pop band is put together, how it functions, how one moment can change a person’s fate, and how dark the pop music business can be. Sure, we’ve heard similar stories, but it’s still fascinating.

And scary. Which is why Out of Sync works best as a cautionary tale: The life of a teen idol, it seems, means being ridiculously overworked, possibly losing lots of money, and if you’re gay, living in the closet. Based on his book, Bass may still be out of sync, but not nearly as much as the industry that created him.