Prior to their celebrated Backstreet Boys team-up as NKOTBSB, the reunited man band scored an unexpected top 40 return in 2008 with “Summertime.” The song’s sonic template has strong shades of co-producer RedOne and co-writer Nasri (Chris Brown, Justin Bieber), but New Kids are still the star, with lead vocalists Wahlberg, Knight and McIntyre demonstrating that their velvety harmonies could sell the romantic, affable radio pop of ’08 just as well as that of ’88. When Knight growls “oooh” at the minute-and-a-half mark, you can bet Timberlake was listening and taking notes for his solo career. At the very least, with its updated funk-rock stomp and classic soul-styled vocals, you can bet that Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson were yelling at one another, “Why didn’t you think of that first?”Ī group of white-boy heartthrobs severing ties with their behind-the-scenes string-puller (Maurice Starr) and going all-in on a pivot to a Black-created art (new jack swing) sounds disastrous on paper, but NKOTB surprisingly pull off the mixture of seduction and danger that made the genre so beguiling. 1 on the Hot 100, this didn’t sniff the chart - but the quintet’s ode to a girl from a past life’s recent glow-up was just as pleasantly surprising and punchy as that JoBros jam.
It might be a slight exaggeration to call NKOTB’s 2013 comeback single the “Sucker” of the early ’10s - that song debuted at No. 1s and one 14-year hiatus, New Kids on the Block are still going strong, demonstrating that we underestimate boy band heartthrobs at our own peril - sometimes, they turn into man bands that keep fans singing decades after the posters have come down from the bedroom walls.įrom earnest ballads to stomping sing-alongs to highlights from the surprisingly successful second act of their career, here are the 10 best NKOTB tracks (not including their work with disciples Backstreet Boys as NKOTBSB).Īre you interested in the five kids on this album cover telling you their names and signs in dramatic spoken word, á la The Floaters’ “Float On” from a decade earlier, and then making the title declaration? Maybe not at the moment, but as a young teen in the late ’80s you might’ve found it significantly less resistible, particularly with all the gorgeous harmonies and waves of synths going on in the six-word chorus. The 100 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time: Critics' PicksĪfter three decades, seven albums, three Hot 100 No.
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