NKOTB

When I was very young -young enough to need a babysitter- my mom used to leave me in the care of the local teenage girl.  Okay, so there was more than ONE teenage girl...but certainly not more than five or six.  It was a tiny town.  Heather was our go-to and I loved her to death until I gave her attitude so bad that she passed me on to her sister, Sarah.  I liked Sarah a lot because she was younger and a fun sitter, but I really missed Heather because she always brought music with her when she came.  I don't remember everything she brought over but I do remember a few.  My favorites were New Edition, The Boys and... drumroll, please... New Kids on the Block! Man, once I heard NKOTB, I was an instant Blockhead! I think I liked them before any of my friends, and I know for sure that I was still obsessed long after they had all moved on to Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer. 

Oh, I listened to Hammertime and practiced the 2L2Quit hand motions with Stephanie over and over on the playground until I got it right.  I spent a lot of time with Milli Vanilli and Billy Ray Cyrus in my Walkman, too.  But the New Kids were always my #1.  I had the bed sheets, the bath towel, the dolls, magazine posters hung all over my room, I read NKOTB novels and got their tapes for birthdays.  I  remember I spent hours every day all summer in my friend Danielle's backyard with our other friend Crystal trying to make the Step By Step choreography work with only three people.  Those were the days before everyone could just go around recording every moment of their lives, but I assume we looked like professional dancers and sounded exactly like three Debbie Gibsons covering the New Kids.  We must have.  I'm sure of it. 

I also remember pretty clearly arguing who was the best New Kid. Crystal loved Jordan and Danielle preferred Donnie, but I was always changing my mind.  While I think I maintained a strict stance of either Danny or Jon for the sake of argument (Who can remember these things? It was 25 years ago.  Wait... 25 years!?), they each had a turn as my favorite.  Well, except for Donnie.  He always scared me.  Quite sensible, in my opinion, even now.  Joey was the youngest and looked so sweet; Jordan and Jonathan had those pretty eyelashes and I have always been a sucker for those eyelashes; Danny... well, Danny works out.  He's still my choice of the five guys. 

They keep themselves busy these days touring with other boy bands and they usually do a cruise with fans each year, so if you have a spare gazillion dollars lying around feel free to grab me a ticket.  Christmas is coming up, you know.  They're all on Twitter, and they're kind of fun to follow, especially if you want updates on tours and stuff. If you want links, just ask in the comments and I'll find them for you.  I'd really like to read about everyone else's NKOTB memories too, I know I'm not the only one who begged for a subscription to Bop Magazine trying to get new posters! Make your case in the comment section for cutest guy or tell me which video you learned the choreography to.  Hopefully you will all be flooded with memories like I am, because I'd sure like to hear about them.  Also, make sure to subscribe.  There will be more to read next week that you won't want to miss!

And now for your enjoyment, my current NKOTB shirt.  Don't get too jealous!