The New Kids on the Block

They're Back!! Mothers Lock up your daughters

"Listen up everybody if you want to take a chance
Just get on the floor and do the New Kids dance.
Don't worry about nothing cause it won't take long
We're gonna put you in a trance with the funky song."

The New Kids on the Block. Yes I want to spend 500 words to talk about a male vocal group that nobody's seen or heard from in over 14 years.

I have the opportunity to talk about the New Kids for one simple reason..... I was a fan of theirs since I was 12. The feelings that young girls have for bands whose members are the same ages that they are has its share of girls who adore them and boys who are, well, a little bit jealous that these boys get all of their attention taken away from them by a boy band.

I must admit that Joe McIntyre was my first school girl crush. When I entered my teens I longed to run my fingers through his lusious, dark brown, curly locks. Of course everytime I even think about Joe, and I am thinking about him right this second as I'm typing this article, my heart starts to flutter.

But first I should tell the story of how I came to be a New Kids fan and how they've affected my life.

Well, when I was 13 my family moved away from Toronto to Cobourg. The girls around here were absolutely nutso futso about the New Kids so I made friends with a few of the girls and they got me hooked on the New Kids in grade 8. Yes that's just the way that it happens in middle school.

New Kids On The Block in 2008

Maurice Starr, the mastermind behind groups like New Edition and his son's band Perfect Gentlemen, was scouting the Boston, Massachusets area looking for five "white boys" for his next project. In the Dorchester area of Boston he found Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, Jordan Knight and Jordan's older brother Jonathan. A fith kid from the same area Jamie Kelley was added to the group but he was let go for tardiness and truancy from rehersals.

To find his young "Michael Jackson" or "Donny Osmond" Starr went to the Needham Massachusets area and found a 12 year old kid named Joe McIntyre.

Right Joe in a 1990 issue of Teen Beat Magazine and Left Joe on the NBC Today Show April 4, 2008.

Most 12 and 13 year old girls have a lot to hold on to when they idolize their boy groups. When you reach a certain age, 31 for example, you never forget your school girl crushes.

The thing that attracted me most to Joe McIntyre was his piercing blue eyes and his dark brown curly locks. In the 1990 New Kids On The Block cartoon the characters didn't look anything like the real life New Kids.

An article about the New Kids cartoon as seen in Teen Beat Magazine. The photo on the top is the animated version of the New Kids while the picture on the right is the real life New Kids. The real New Kids look better than the animated New Kids do.

I remember watching the Hangin' Tough video on Electric Circus as a 12 year old girl but I wasn't ga ga goo goo crazy over them at the age of 12. I was a hard core New Kids fan at the age of 13. When I got to highschool at age 14 people made fun of me and the posters that were in my locker were destroyed by the boy in the locker next to me. It was a tumultuous time for me because at the time I really didn't care about what other people thought of me but then the kids in the upper grades made it really embarrassing for me and my small circle of friends.
I had to take them down from my locker for my own sanity. I didn't care but then again I didn't want to take a chance that my posters would be completely trashed by the end of January exams.

New Kids On The Block

This time around I'm hoping that my fandom won't be in vain because guess what? THEY'RE BACK!! Mothers lock up your daughters because the five fabulous Beantown Boys are releasing a new album and tour later this year.

I really loved some of their older songs. :) 18 + years and I've never forgotten the lyrics.

On The Today Show

Some of my favourite New Kids pics

Is there something interesting over there guys?

One of my very favourite pictures of the guys from the early 90s

Another of my favourite pictures of the New Kids from the early 90s.

So I think that's enough of my New Kids story for now. I hope that nobody here will make fun of me for writing about this but then again I really don't care. I like them and that should count for something shouldn't it? I invite comments no matter how small or insignifficant to help improve on my skills as an RJ writer and if you don't have anything that's constructive to add then that's okay too.
I invite people who don't like the New Kids to give me one good reason why I shouldn't like them? Come on! I dare you to tell me what's wrong with liking the New Kids?

Comments

Oh hey Raveloft. I got a lot flack from guys who were trying to get my attention. But I never did pay any attention to anyone who didn't like NKOTB.
I still like them and still think that they're "cute" but I know that NKOTB is here to stay.

^^ I can't begin to tell you how many times I've heard people say that.

Stop listening to shitty music.

Great love the New kids i'm only 18 but i have been a fan of them since i was like 5 and i'm going to there concert in October in Cleveland. and i am most def going to watch the live show from Boston on VH1. Hit me up sometime

Im only 13 and i love the New on the Block! Its So awsome that they are back together! Ive liked since i was like 6 my mom let me listen 2 their old cd! I put the songs on my ipod too. LOL Im going to thier concert in november. im so pumped i hope they pick me to go on stage with them! Wish me luck!

Yep they're still going to call themselves kids even though they aren't "kids" anymore.

That's what you think.

ahahahahhahahha!!! sorry but nkotb are sooo over

It's a funny thing looking at the pictur of the animated New Kids. I don't recall Joe ever wearing a letterman's jacket anymore than I recall Danny wearing a shirt that exposes his, ahem, navel.

To the guys, don't worry about hurting my feelings any, I expected that there would be a little bit of flak, and bad feelings from some of the guys, for writting this article.
I don't expect everyone to like them. I know that I like them and in the end that's all that really matters.

I heart NKOTB!

I will too Heatherlyn.

I am sooooo excited!!! I will so be there if they come my way!!!

Ahem! The masses of women ages 30-40 still like them and some are a bit younger and will scoop up the tickets to their shows.
And how do you know they don't have any money? Donnie, and Joe have done movies and TV. Danny is a producer, and Jordan, Joe, and Danny have made a good career out of their solo works.

Who would like them, they look like their in their early 40's or late 30's.
And they're mostly doing this because they don't have any more money. I can see this happening to the backstreet boys. Or did it already happen.

Back then there was one member who didn't want to be a part of a comeback.
In 2004 Bands Reunited host Amhar Heleem tried to get them back together for a one night only special performance. The Knights wanted to do it but Joe, Donnie, and Danny didn't want to do it. Donnie and Danny even declined to appear on camera.
So here it is 14 years later and they're finally going to do it. I'm so happy even though I haven't really thought about them for at least 12 years.
So this is my one and only chance to see a New Kids live show and as silly and cliched as what I'm about to say sounds I'm rather glad that they're doing it because, seriously, when is an opportunity like this going to come?

i remember not liking the NKOB and those pics help me remember why. i am glad that you liked them and glad for your sake that they are making a comeback.

Somehow the New Kids on the Block coming back was strongly inevitable.

I swear, if they play a show in my area, I WILL be there!!!

hehe they need money

wow..just wow..lol. hmm..interesting that they're coming back...

10 years isn't too bad for a group of their genre. I mean from 1984-1994 was great but it's the 30-40 year old set that I think are going to be scooping up the tickets to their live shows.
I used to be really jealous of my friends who went to the New Kids shows because I wasn't allowed to go to wherever they were playing by myself. Now that I have the chance to go to at least one of their live shows in the fall I might just take full advantage of it because when is this ever going to happen again?

My sisters were in love with these guys... i give em' credit because it was the start of a crazy trend. But like most inventors or revolutionists they didn't last through the transitions. (so lets pretend that jackson 5 & any other group singers ever exsisted so i can be right)

NKOTB! Wow, I can't believe I used to be a fan of these guys, and sometimes giggle or cringe when I think about.

OK fine just like Vanilla Ice, MC hammer, Michael or Janet Jackson, or whoever had cool dance moves back then, I became fan and never cared too much about the music.

Oh and, are they are they still going to call themselves "Kids"?

Good article, BTW.

I just hope I can get tickets for me and my friend to go to their concert. Depending on how expensive they are I'd really love to go to a New Kids show.

I think it's perfectly natural for you to like New Kids On The Block. I liked the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC when I was in high school, and a lot of guys gave me flack for that. I actually got into the New Kids' music in 1999 during the whole boyband revival period when I saw one of their music videos played on VH1. I was only 5 and 6 in 1988 and 1989, so I think I was too young for that kind of music. One of my female cousins, who is only a year older than I am, adored New Kids On The Block back in the day. I once saw the cartoon on one of the VHS tapes she had owned, and I kind of laughed at how bad it was.

They should have tried a comeback 10 yrs ago when the boy band craze was going on....
I think Donnie Wahlberg is a good actor, this will probably trash his acting career.
oh well, now mark Wahlberg can bring back the funky bunch.

I thought mark walburg was in this band right before he went solo.

i like venom better.

My sister was a hugh fan. her room was covered in posters from magazines of them.

if i remember right, there was a guy in school who dressed like one of the new kids. we would always laugh at him and tell him to 'hang tough'. i didn't care for them. but anything it better than the junk that's out there now. great article!

Man I hated those guys bad. Well what can I say I am a guy who competed with them for attention from girls my age. At least they didn't inspire any fashion trends. They tried hard though. With their catchy pop hooks and smooth choreography guys everywhere had to step up their game quite a bit to still get notes in class with little hearts on them. That said you wrote a great article! (thumbs up) I shake my fist in bitterness at you for even mentioning them. They were directly the cause for the onslaught of boy bands that followed. Way to bring up bad memories chick. "Hang tough" through the criticism from mad guys like me Celeste you wrote a great article!

NKOTB were a cultural phenomenon. I don't recall seeing another article about them on here. I liked it!