Pop culture of the late 90’s was largely defined by the rivalry between N-Sync and Backstreet Boys, but it seems like Ryan Gosling could have contributed to the mix…

While it is hard to figure out who really ‘won out’ in the end. They both exhibit their own unique strengths. The Backstreet Boys remain active and have sold more records as a group, but N’ Sync did have the more successful individual album and produced one of the biggest pop stars of the decade, Justin Timberlake.

So the rivalry still remains, and there may still be a hint of that rivalry after all this years, especially since Backstreet Boy AJ McLean has gone on record and said that Ryan Gosling may actually be a better singer than Justin Timberlake.

Justin and Ryan are former mainstays of the Mickey Mouse Club, together with fellow N’Sync member JC Chasez and pop princesses Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. Within this show they often had to do skits, and sometimes this would call for a musical number.

In an interview with TMZ, AJ Mclean said he has seen some old videos of Ryan and Justin performing, and he pointed out that Ryan may in fact be better. “He can sing, in some ways, a little bit better than JT(Justin Timberlake) I think,” he said. But he was quick to point out that he isn’t stepping on Justin. “Justin’s fantastic, don’t get me wrong, and he’s a good friend — they’re obviously different — one’s more rock” he explained

Then he added that “if they went head to head, it would be a really awesome match!”

But they already have , I mean check out this performance in Mickey Mouse Club, where young Justin Timberlake , Ryan Gosling and JC Chasez share the stage:

Makes you wonder why Ryan Gosling didn’t go down the pop star route like his fellow Mouseketeers. However in the same interview AJ Mclean says that Ryan almost did.

“Him and I used to live in the same apartment complex years ago, and we used to shoot ball together back in the day. Something happened, I guess once we lost one of our original members. There was talks of him (Gosling) wanting to audition or maybe he did — I don’t even know!” AJ said.

For those interested in hearing Ryan sing, he did release an album with his band Dead Man’s Bones, just don’t expect bubblegum pop though, his music is more Gothic and is about ghosts.