New Kids on the Block

Producer Maurice Starr knew he had a good formula after splitting from teen boyband New Edition, so he recruited five white Boston teenagers to compete against his former protégés: these were the New Kids on the Block, and they were going to show New Edition how it should be done. The group, who were later known as NKOTB, became the most popular manufactured boyband of the 80s, setting the scene for Take That and the Backstreet Boys to carry that role into the 90s.

Jordan Knight, his brother Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood were all recruited via auditions in the Boston area, and released a debut self-titled album in 1986, when Joey was still just 13. The album sunk with barely a trace, but Starr persuaded the label to let them record a second album anyway. Hangin’ Tough (1988) sold steadily at first, thanks to the surprise success of lead single “Please Don’t Go Girl” which just squeezed into the Top 10. “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” did even better, hitting No.3 in March 1989, before “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)” topped the Hot 100 in June. The title track from the album topped the singles charts in the US and the UK, and “Cover Girl” was also a hit. By the end of 1989 Hangin’ Tough had sold over eight million copies in the US, and the group’s popularity saw their ignored debut album reach three million sales too. A Christmas album was also released to capitalise on their success, selling two million.

In 1991, the New Kids returned with Step by Step, a triple platinum album that included a chart-topping title track and another Top 10 hit, “Tonight”. The group toured extensively and put their name and image to a wide array of merchandise products, a fan club hotline and a cartoon show. But by the end of the year New Kids on the Block had saturated the market and their popularity was shrinking: their young fans were growing up, and they were growing older themselves and wanted a break from constant critical derision. In 1994 the group renamed themselves NKOTB, split from Maurice Starr, and released Face the Music, an attempt at a more mature album of music co-written by band-members. It wasn’t too popular, and the tour to support it included much smaller venues than they were used to playing. Jonathan pulled out of the tour halfway through, at which point the rest of the group decided to call it a day.