(By complete coincidence, the newest New Kids on the Block single "Summertime" is the first thing that popped up on my iTunes as I sat down to type... I think it's a sign.)
Like many little girls at the end of the 1980s/beginning of the 1990s, I loved the New Kids on the Block. I had their cassette tapes, I watched the cartoon, and we had one of their video tapes (which my mom later got rid of... but more on that in a bit). I was a Joey girl... at the tender age of 6. I knew all their songs by heart (as well as the entire Debbie Gibson cannon... that girl was awesome... I can still bust out "Only in My Dreams" and "Electric Youth" at the drop of a dime).
I was a public New Kids fanatic at least through most of elementary school. A couple years ago, I was going through my old school stuff as we were packing up our Akron house when my parents were moving and I found a school notebook from when I was in 1st grade. In it, we had to write down journal entries about whatever our teacher told us was the topic... and one of my entries was about going a New Kids on the Block concert. I wrote about how I was in the front row and somehow I managed to get a torn piece of Donnie Wahlberg's jeans.
This was all a lie, mind you.
I had never been to a New Kids concert and I surely did not have a piece of denim once attached to the pants of one Donnie Wahlberg. I laughed pretty hard when I reread this (faux) piece of my 1st grade history.
Like many of my peers, once the New Kids stopped making music in 1994, I gave them up. That too was a facade... my sister bought me a New Kids poster at a garage sale before I went to college and I hung it up in my dorm room... we also used it on the set of "College Cookery". And my mom got me their "Greatest Hits" CD a few years ago. It's in my car, and sometimes I'll pop it in to sing along with some of the "Classics" of my youth.
While New Kids were on the outs, BSB (That's the Backstreet Boys for you people not in the know) and *NSYNC were on the rise. My sister liked *NSYNC, but I was a BSB girl for a little while. I never could remember which one was AJ and which one was Howie and I didn't really know what they all looked like at first, but somehow I ended up with their 1st CD - it was catchy.
My sister ended up going to a *NSYNC "No Strings Attached" tour performance and she converted me. She forced me to learn all their songs and I was hooked - their music was catchy *and* they could dance... if I couldn't have the New Kids anymore, this would be a good consolation prize.
While I was never obsessed with *NSYNC like other high school girls, I did end up with an awful lot of their merchandise... like their trading cards, fruit snacks, and yep - I have all 5 of their dolls (you know, the marionettes from their "Bye Bye Bye" video... they are now collecting dust in my parent's storage room hundreds of miles away).
In 2001, my sister, some friends and I went to see the *NSYNC Pop Odyssey tour up at Brown's Stadium in Cleveland... I remember it was very loud and actually kind of fun. Their "Celebrity" album hadn't come out, so we didn't know most of the songs, but it was still neat to see them live.
My mom got me the "No Strings Attached" Madison Square Garden VHS awhile back, and just a few weeks ago, I picked up the "Pop Odyssey" VHS at a Goodwill. For $2, I can take a stroll down memory lane and laugh like an idiot while I watch the tape and fold my laundry (my DVD player is in the living room, so if I'm going to watch a movie in my room, it's gotta be on VHS, or I have to hook my portable DVD player up to my TV, and that's a hassle).
So, over 2 weekends worth of folding laundry, I finished watching the Pop Odyssey tour. I know all the songs now (and sadly, some of the choreography - as hard as I try, there is no way to get some of those steps out of your head... it's one of those situations where I wish I could take the dance moves out of my memory and use that new empty space to store knowledge for the GRE... but nooooooooooooooo). And you know what - those *NSYNC guys put on a good show. They sing, they dance, they entertain. They don't have the greatest songs of all time, but my are they memorable.
I did 2 loads of laundry this weekend, which means 2 sessions of clothes folding. I finished "Pop Odyssey" yesterday, so what was I to do earlier this afternoon when it came time to fold the rest of my laundry?
Oh yeah... popped in my New Kids on the Block "Hangin' Tough Live" VHS.
But Katie - didn't your mom get rid of your NKOTB tape many, many years ago?
Yes friends, she did. But that's what's so amazing about Goodwill stores... you find all sorts of treasures that you never expected to see again the rest of your life. So, my mom threw out our New Kids tape when I was in elementary school, but a few years ago, I found a copy for 50 cents. The greatest 50 cents I've ever spent, let me tell ya...
New Kids officially announced their reunion a few weeks ago and were on the Today show on May 16th, singing their new single "Summertime". It's catchy, but it doesn't really sound like something a group of five 35-39 year old men should be singing about. But whatever - it's New Kids - I'll still listen to it :)
So, I watched some of the "Hangin' Tough Live" tape - and all those songs (and dance moves) are permanently stuck in my mind for all eternity. But you know what? Those boys were lip-syncing like there's no tomorrow. But when I was 7 years old, I didn't know the difference. They were at least lip-syncing to their own voices, but they weren't singing live, that's for sure. (They were on the Today show a couple weeks ago, fear not)
Will I see them on tour? Probably not. Will I get their new album. Probably. Even if it's not great, they are a part of my past and surprisingly, my present - and I embrace that. It's been almost 20 years since I first got into their music (man, that makes me sound old...), and I think it's great that their giving it another go.
Keep "Hangin' Tough"... I know I will :)
Happy Memorial Day, everybody!
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