Break Music

New Kids On The Block

Fourteen years after the mega-million selling New Kids On The Block “gave it all up” in 1994, to pursue their separate career paths – now in 2008, arenas are booked for sold-out reunion concert events, a new studio album is on the way, and the hearts of twenty- and thirty-somethings have been stirred awake by the news. It’s 20 years since the summer 1988, when Boston’s New Kids reigned supreme on pop radio and the album charts with their string of consecutive Top 10 hits – “Please Don’t Go Girl,” “You Got It (The Right Stuff),” “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever),” “Hangin’ Tough” b/w “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind),” “Cover Girl,” “Step By Step,” and “Tonight” – five of them certified RIAA gold and platinum, three of them reaching #1. Three of their albums, New Kids On The Block (1986), Hangin’ Tough (1988), and Step By Step (1990) were certified a cumulative 14-times platinum in the U.S. alone, with total worldwide sales of all their albums topping 70 million. New Kids’ litany of hit singles, well-chosen album tracks, rarities, and solo recordings is at the core of a brand-new GREATEST HITS collection that com¬mem¬o¬rates their reunion this year. Remastered for the first time in a decade, with new liner notes written by Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild – and Jason Nevins’ climactic closing track, “2008 New Kids On The Block Mega Mix” – GREATEST HITS will arrive in stores August 12th on Columbia/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAIN¬MENT. “Even in their original days of world domination,” writes Wild (who covered the group on tour for Rolling Stone back in the day), “the Kids were cooler and more interesting than even their millions of squealing fans imagined. They were good guys going through almost unimaginable success. Yet to a remarkable degree, they were still down-to-earth Boston kids who mostly kept each other in line.” Back in 1984, the seeds of New Kids On The Block were sown by record producer, songwriter and manager Maurice Starr. H