If you have been without television or internet in the last few days, most likely you haven't heard the news. New Kids On The Block are reunited and set to release a new album as well as tour again.
The news was leaked by people.com a few months back and the official announcement was made on the Today Show. Although, the group is all in their thirties, they are hoping to pick back up where they left off with new music and some new moves.
So what is it about this band that turns all of us grown women into screaming fanatics? When news leaked of their possible return, the members of the band said they received over a billion hits on their site.
I have found myself right back in junior high and high school with a schoolgirl grin as I heard the news. I never watch the Today show and there I was like the millions of other women my age tuning in like I had that same schoolgirl crush.
The interview could not even be heard because of the masses of women in the audience screaming at the top of their lungs. It was all just completely unexpected.
I sat on the phone with a friend as we swapped stories from our own fan days growing up in two different states. There was a bond there. I told her about my NKOTB pajamas and the story of how my roommate in college had an entire scrapbook complete with a picture from the newspaper of her outside their hotel when they came to our state. It was then that I first learned my future sister-in-law and I had something in common: NKOTB fans. She was right behind my roommate in the picture, a time before she had even met my brother. We now had a commonality that we could talk about when we were together.
I told her how my husband continues to roll his eyes as I listened to the news. I couldn't help but to ask him as he left for work this morning what channel the Today Show came on. He politely rolled the eyes again and shut the door.
She told me how she was eating lunch in the courtyard at her school once when a limo pulled up at the hospital across the street and someone yelled it was NKOTB, She said it was a mass exodus as kids ran across the street with teachers screaming after them. Of course, it wasn't NOKTB. She also shared how she had scrapbooks with posters because her parents wouldn't let her put the posters on the wall.
Isn't crazy how much we remember about a music group? A music group that announces reuniting and we are all thrown back to that time period. A group that unites women from all over the country. There is a bond present despite growing up. I guess you can't outgrow the band. But why shouldn't we be any different?
After all, NKOTB was the hottest boy band of their time and paved the way for several boy bands afterwards. At the height of their popularity, New Kids sold out world tours, marketed millions of dollars in merchandise and spawned a Saturday morning cartoon. The timing for a reunion couldn't be more perfect: This year marks the 20th anniversary for "Hangin' Tough," the group's sophomore album release that established the group's commercial clout.
I remember dancing at my homecoming to several songs off that album.
New Kids are scheduled to perform May 16 on the Today Show and showcase their new sound and moves. I guess as fans we will just have to wait and see if they still have the right stuff that made us so giddy as teenagers. Until then all we have are the memories.
Oh and a website, www.nkotb.com
Feel free to share your memories in the comment section until we see them again.
