New Kids on the Block
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| New Kids On The Block | ||
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 NKOTB in 1990
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
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| Genre(s) | Pop | |
| Years active | 1986–1994 | |
| Label(s) | Sony BMG Music Entertainment Columbia Records |
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| Members | ||
| Jordan Knight Jonathan Knight Joey McIntyre Donnie Wahlberg Danny Wood |
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New Kids On The Block (later NKOTB) was a successful boy band of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Assembled in Boston in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr, the members consisted of brothers Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight, Joe McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. The group went on to sell over 70 million albums worldwide, generated hundreds of millions of dollars in concert revenues, and paved the way for acts like Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Boyzone, Take That, 5ive and Westlife.
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[edit] Early years
In the early 1980s, Maurice Starr discovered R&B/Pop quintet New Edition, and guided their early success. After breaking ties with them, Starr and his business partner, Mary Alford, sought to create a white counterpart act. Auditions were held around Boston, at which some 500 teen-aged boys auditioned. Among them was 15-year-old Donnie Wahlberg, who immediately impressed Starr and Alford, and would become the first member.
Donnie assisted in helping to recruit other members. Among them were his younger brother Mark and his best friend Danny Wood. Wahlberg later coaxed former classmates Jonathan Knight and Jordan Knight, both of whom had exceptional singing voices, into joining. As the group began to take shape, Mark became disillusioned with its direction and opted to quit. Another of Donnie's neighborhood friends, Jaime Kelley, took his place. Kelley, though, would eventually be dismissed for lack of concentration and discipline. Starr replaced him with 12-year-old Joey McIntyre, whom the other guys initially resented for being the one to replace their friend. With the final line-up in place, Starr rehearsed the boys diligently and scored the group (which was being called Nynuk) a record deal at Columbia Records. The label, however, demanded Starr change the name of the group. Subsequently they settled on New Kids On The Block, after a rap song that Donnie had written for the album.
[edit] Music
[edit] New Kids On The Block
In April 1986, Columbia Records released the group's self-titled debut album. The album was almost exclusively written and produced by Maurice Starr, and featured very mid 80s sounding bubble gum pop ditties.
The first single, "Be My Girl" received minor airplay around the group's native Boston, but failed to capture nationwide attention. The album's second single, "Stop It Girl," fared even worse. Subsequently, New Kids On The Block wound up flopping. Though the boys were disappointed, Starr remained diligent and persuaded the label to allow the group to record a second album.
(Note: Though a commercial failure upon its original release, 'New Kids On The Block' would eventually go triple platinum, in response to the group's later popularity.)
[edit] Hangin' Tough
After the failure of the first album, Starr had the boys back in the studio for most of 1987 and 1988 recording their sophomore effort. The album's first single was "Please Don't Go Girl," a ballad led by Joey, released in spring 1988. Failure seemed destined a second time when the song became another that went unnoticed by the listening public, and Columbia Records made plans to drop the New Kids from the label. At the eleventh hour, however, a radio station in Florida began playing the song. Scoring listener approval, it soon became the most requested song on their play list. When Columbia caught wind of the positive response, they decided to keep the group on its roster and put more effort into promoting the single. National attention soon followed and it eventually climbed to #10 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart—becoming the group's first hit.
The group's second album, Hangin' Tough, was released to modest fanfare in September. In the meantime, Please Don't Go Girl would land the group on several TV appearances such as Showtime At The Apollo and Soul Train, just to name a few, it even landed them a spot as an opening act for fellow teen-pop act Tiffany on her national concert tour. Sales of Hangin' Tough steadily increased as the group's national attention slowly rose. At year's end, the album's second single "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" was released. The song was given a huge boost when MTV took notice of the group and began playing the video in regular rotation. By early 1989, it cracked the top five. The New Kids hit paydirt with their next single, "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)," which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in June. The group had been scheduled to open for Tiffany once again on a second tour, but their sudden popularity caused a reversal, and Tiffany wound up opening for them (although the two acts were technically billed as "co-headliners").
More top five singles followed into the summer and fall, including: "Hangin' Tough" and "Cover Girl." Columbia Records also released, from the groups previously overlooked debut album, "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind)." The song went top ten on the strength of the group's popularity and effectively jump-started the sales of that album as well. By year's end, Hangin' Tough had climbed to #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and had gone eight-times platinum. They, subsequently, become the first 'teen' act to garner five top ten hits from a single album.
Meanwhile, a top ten charting holiday album, Merry, Merry Christmas, was released in the fall—spawning another top 10 hit, "This One's For The Children." The proceeds were donated to United Cerebral Palsy, the New Kids' favorite charitable cause. Hangin' Tough would go on to spend 132 weeks on the chart, and in January 1990 it won two American Music Awards for "Best Pop/Rock Album", and "Best Pop/Rock Group."
[edit] Step By Step
By early 1990, New Kids On The Block had become one of the most popular acts in the world. In June, they followed up Hangin' Tough with Step By Step, which featured some of the songs co-written by the members themselves. The first single, the title track, raced to #1 on the pop chart. It was followed up with the top ten "Tonight," which extended the consecutive Top 10 singles chart run to an amazing nine records. The album was eventually certified triple platinum.
The group performed an estimated two hundred concerts a year, with an extravagant worldwide concert tour that summer, called The Magic Summer Tour, sponsored by Coke. Their pay-per-view special was the biggest in cable-TV history to that date. During this time, the group became heavily merchandised — with more than one hundred and forty products that were licensed with NKOTB trademarks. These included lunch boxes, packing trunks, sleeping bags, pillow cases, T-shirts, comic books, dolls, and even a Saturday morning cartoon in their likeness. A video game based on the group was set to be introduced for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but was never released.
The group's official fan club had a membership of over one hundred thousand names, and received thirty-thousand letters a day. Approximately one hundred thousand calls per week were dialed to 1-900-909-5KIDS, the Official NKOTB Hotline, as well. The New Kids topped Forbes list of highest paid entertainers of 1990, beating out the likes of Michael Jackson and Madonna. Further capitalizing on the fame, at year's end, Columbia Records released No More Games/The Remix Album—a compilation of the group's biggest hits remixed.
By 1991, the group had become very over-exposed and public and commercial backlash started to form. Sensing that it was time to give the American market a break, the group released no new material that year—but continued to tour throughout Europe and Asia. That summer, Donnie produced the debut album of his brother Mark's group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch—which scored a #1 hit with "Good Vibration," and a platinum album.
[edit] "If You Go Away"
As their touring itinerary was nearing its end in early 1992, the group released a new stand-alone single, "If You Go Away," which peaked at #16 on the charts. Meanwhile, as the music industry was still reeling from the Milli Vanilli lip-synching scandal, the group found themselves accused by a former engineer of not having sung all of the 1988 hit album Hangin' Tough. They immediately struck back, going on a minor publicity blitz to refute the allegation. Culminating with an interview and performance on The Arsenio Hall Show, they managed to successfully quell the claim. Nonetheless, it still didn't stop them from noticing that their popularity had waned as teen-pop had now gone out of fashion. With gangsta rap and grunge being the trends of the moment, the group went into hibernation while plotting their next move.
[edit] Face The Music
Faced with the constant derision of people outside their teen market and the maturation of that base, the fact that they themselves were no longer teenagers, and that the 'type' of music that had once made them famous had faded from the lexicon—the group split off from Maurice Starr, shortened their name to NKOTB and attempted to make a comeback in January 1994 with Face The Music.
Their first release in over three years, this album had a grittier and harder-edge sound. In spite of some positive critical reception the album sold poorly. The group's final single to chart was "Dirty Dawg" (which featured a rap cameo by Nice & Smooth.)The video was banned from Canadian music video station Muchmusic due to its violent imagery against women. (An example being a night time scene of a woman being chased by an angry dog through a forest.) NKOTB went on tour to support the album, but were now faced with the reality that their time as pop music icons had peaked, and they were forced to play smaller venues such as clubs and theaters, as opposed to the arenas and stadiums they had become accustomed to playing when they were at their most popular. Group member Jonathan Knight, meanwhile, departed the tour early. Shortly thereafter the remaining four decided to cancel the rest of the tour, and subsequently the group disbanded altogether.
[edit] Post-New Kids On The Block
After the group's demise, most of the group members married and started families, and began to venture into other avenues.
- Jonathan Knight
Left the entertainment business altogether and began a new career in real estate.
- Jordan Knight
In 1999, during a teen pop revival released a self-titled solo album, on Interscope Records. The album was certified Gold, he also scored a top 10 hit with "Give It To You," which went Platinum. That summer, Jordan also opened up for Nsync on their concert tour. He currently continues to record and tour. Knight appeared on VH-1's The Surreal Life in 2004, he also appeared in the Five reality show Trust Me - I'm A Holiday Rep, along with British comedian Syd Little and glamour model Jodie Marsh. His most recent solo album Love Songs was released September 2006.
- Joe McIntyre
In 1999, during a teen pop revival, released a solo album, Stay The Same, on Columbia Records. Scored a top 20 hit with the album's title track. He has also released further albums Meet Joe Mac, One Too Many - a live compilation album of McIntyre's work and most recently '8:09'. McIntyre later became a regular on the FOX television show Boston Public and has performed in Broadway musicals including Wicked. In 2006, Joe was a contender on the reality show Dancing with the Stars. He still continues to record music and tour.
- Danny Wood
Formed a Boston-based record label. Produces other acts and occasionally performs with other musicians, but largely prefers to remain out of the spotlight. However he featured in MTV's follow up to Totally Scott-Lee called Totally Boyband, as a member of a new group with other former boyband members called Upper Street.
- Donnie Wahlberg
Has followed in the footsteps of his brother Mark, forging a new career in acting and has been involved in movies such as Southie, The Sixth Sense, and the critically-acclaimed mini-series Band of Brothers. Donnie had the lead role in the horror film Saw II which opened #1 at the box office in its opening weekend, October 28th, 2005, with $31 million. He returned in a supporting role for the sequel, Saw III, released on October 27th, 2006. He has starred in two short-lived television series: Boomtown and Runaway.
[edit] Non reunion
In 1999, during the teen pop revival, MTV attempted to reunite the group and get them to perform on that year's VMA's. All members were on board, except Jonathan. Consequently the performance didn't happen. In 2003 Aamer Haleem, host of VH1's Bands Reunited, also attempted to coerce each of the members of New Kids On The Block to reunite for a one-night performance for the show. Jonathan, this time agreed, as did Jordan. However, Joe, Donnie and Danny all declined.
[edit] Discography
| New Kids on the Block |
| Jonathan Knight | Jordan Knight | Joe McIntyre | Danny Wood | Donnie Wahlberg |
| Production Crew |
|---|
| Producer: Maurice Starr |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: New Kids on the Block | Hangin' Tough | Merry, Merry Christmas | Step by Step | No More Games/The Remix Album | Face the Music | Greatest Hits | Super Hits |
| Singles: 1986: Be My Girl, Stop It Girl | 1988: Please Don't Go Girl, You Got It (The Right Stuff) | 1989: I'll Be Loving You (Forever), Hangin' Tough, Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Cover Girl, This One's for the Children, Funky Funky Xmas | 1990: My Favorite Girl, Step by Step, Valentine Girl, Tonight, Let's Try It Again, Games | 1991: Call It What You Want | 1992: If You Go Away | 1993: Dirty Dawg | 1994: Never Let You Go |
| Other Pages: |
| Related articles |
| Categories: New Kids on the Block | New Kids on the Block Songs |
