Thursday, January 31st, 2008
Recently, New Kids on the Block have been playing with my dreams by hinting at a reunion.
In 1990, my love for the New Kids ran so deep I knew every lyric, every dance move and there wasn’t a square inch of my bedroom wall without one of their pretty little faces on it.
I even wrote to Jim’ll Fix It to see if he could fix it for me to meet them. No dice.
New Kids was the first concert I ever went to. I was nine years old. I spent the whole day before making my ‘I ? U Jordan’ sign, which in my mind, could rival the works of any of history’s great artists. (It should be noted here that the next concert I went to, when I was 12, was Prince. My musical tastes developed quite considerably during those three years.)
Not long before the New Kids concert, our car was broken into. The back windshield was smashed and all that was taken was my dad’s raincoat and my New Kids on the Block video. In fact, it wasn’t even my video. It was my friend’s. I had borrowed it in a desperate attempt to learn the moves to ‘Hangin’ Tough’ Relaying the tragic news of the video’s theft to my friend, we were both shaken to the core.
But that’s just how popular New Kids on the Block were back then – NKOTB merchandise was a prime target in robberies. I’m not sure what the street value of that video was, but I suspect someone got quite a healthy crack high from the sale of it.
I can’t really remember when I went off them, but doubtless Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer took over as the heroes of the day. By the mid-90s, it was a crime to admit you’d ever liked New Kids. They were just sad.
I chuckled with everyone else when they changed their name to NKOTB in an attempt to stay relevant. The senior citizen of the group, Jon, went on Oprah and had a panic attack. The most pointless member, Danny, disappeared into oblivion. Donnie took up acting. Little Joey McIntyre was in a stage show or something and Jordan Knight released a great single in ’99 only to fall off completely and become reality TV fodder in recent years (and to think, I wanted to marry this man).
But, it is once again acceptable to reminisce about the New Kids days of yore with your friends. You can wear your love with pride again.
Nads and I would perform our legendary version of Step By Step at various karaoke sessions around Tokyo, always to a thunderous applause (in our own minds).
So, it’s safe to say, if the reunion happens, I’ll dig out my ‘I ? U Jordan’ sign and get my ass to the nearest concert to Hang Tough just one more time.
Tags: new kids on the block, prince, the '90s
Posted in life | 1 Comment »