~a post from the teeny-bopper heart of Chrissy~ Ever since Alicia’s post last year about going to see Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch together when we were teenagers, I have been meaning to write about our shared love for the New Kids on the Block. It was actually much more then just love, we were absolutely ga-ga for those boys. My brother once told me, years later, he was actually a little bit scared for me when I was in the height of my NKOTB craze because of how intensely I obsessed about them. I lived, breathed and dreamed them from the 8th through 10th grade. My NKOTB hysteria all began when I first heard “Please Don’t Go Girl” on the radio. I didn’t know who they were, I just knew I had to find out and fast! There was no going back after I saw a picture of them, discovering they were five, incredibly cute, teenage boys! Oh, be still my rapidly beating teenage heart!!!!
Every girl who was a New Kid fan gravitated to her own particular favorite. Alicia and I were no different. We were both going to marry Joey Joe. I’m not sure logistically how that was going to work out for both of us, but I’m glad we never did have the opportunity to find out. It just might have ruined our friendship if Joe actually had picked one or the other of us. GASP…. LOL! The funny thing is, now that I think about it, Joe was the only guy the both of us ever jointly fell for in all our years as friends. I think it was those gorgeous blue eyes and his oh so sweet voice that did us both in. Sigh!!!!
It’s pretty funny how wholly I surrounded myself with the New Kids in those days, so much so that when I think back to those years of my life I can’t do it without thinking about NKOTB, too. I had posters up all over my wall. I blared their music from my cute, purple boom box over and over again. I had t-shirts, buttons, books, magazines, video tapes, and anything else I could get my hands on. Alicia had a lot of the same things as I did, but she also had a Joe doll which I was extremely jealous of! Another thing we both did at the time was designate VHS tapes specifically for recording anything we happened to see on TV with the New Kids on it. We filled those tapes with their appearances on Friday Night Video’s, talk show’s, commercials, the Grammy’s, MTV interview’s, and everything in between. I think I might still have one of my tapes somewhere deep in a box. Alicia recently came across one of hers. As you can see in the photo above, she was (and still is) very organized, listing the exact “counter” marks of each show she had recorded!
The New Kids on the Block had a definite allure about them which drew us girls to them. It didn’t hurt that they were absolutely adorable, but that wasn’t the only reason we loved them. The guys had a unique chemistry with each other and with their fans. I can remember, sitting high up in the stands, far away from the stage at their concerts, and yet still feeling as if the guys actually made a direct connection with me. It was like at some point or other during the show, each and every guy on stage made eye contact with me, which is literally impossible, but they just had a way of making each and every fan feel individually special and appreciated. In my book, that is pretty darn cool. Being a New Kid fan, is just fun….plain and simple!
There is one thing Alicia and I always wanted to do but never got a chance to do with each other, which is to see the New Kids in concert together. I’ve been able to see them a handful of times now. As a teen, I went to a different high school for my Freshman and Sophomore year then Alicia, so I saw them in concert with my some of my friends from there. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to see them in concert again, but Alicia was living on the West Coast at that time and couldn’t go with. Actually, Alicia has yet to have the opportunity to see them in concert at all. The clouds never did align for her to go see them, but that is all about to change this summer! Drumroll please………..Now that Alicia is living within a day’s driving distance, we were able to work it out so we can meet up in KC to see the guys, along with Boys II Men and 98 degrees!!!! Believe me, we are absolutely bubbling with excitement about getting the chance to roll the clocks back, and become pre-teen screaming girls once again for a night!!!
~Chrissy
PS- Here is their newest single “Remix (I like the)”. It’s a great, catchy tune and the video is pretty darn cool, too!!!