NKOTB Still Hangs Tough 20 Years Later
Hangin' Tough by New Kids on the Block
The latter half of the 1980s brought forth a ton of teenage pop acts, more than any era since the heyday of the Jacksons and Osmonds in the early Seventies. Whether they were more streetwise and urban (New Edition, The Jets) or pure whitebread (Debbie Gibson, Tiffany), there were times when the pop charts seemed overrun with music made by the 21-and-under set.
The biggest teen act of this ear was unquestionably New Kids on the Block. Five singing, dancing kids from the streets of Boston, Mass, NKOTB was essentially a whitewashed version of New Edition, who'd hit half a decade earlier. Both groups were founded by songwriter and producer Maurice Starr, who'd put the New Kids together after New Edition got snatched up by a major label in 1984.
After burning one flop album on the group in 1986, sophomore effort Hangin' Tough became a pop monster, spawning hit single after hit single. Even the songs not released as singles became radio hits. When the dust settled, the album had sold 7 million copies and won the group two American Music Awards, not to mention a frenzy of female fans not seen since the heyday of Duran Duran a half decade earlier.
Musically, the album's not as good as seven million sales would suggest, but not as bad as the average high-minded rock critic would lead you to believe. If you're a fan of reasonably mindless dance-pop, you'll find tons to like here. You Got It (The Right Stuff), What'cha Gonna Do (About It) and My Favorite Girl are fun, energetic and hooky, and easily the album's three best tracks on the album. While the group favored a rotating lead singer approach, Jordan Knight (easily the group's best vocalist) takes the leads for these tracks as well as the album's best ballad, the #1 hit I'll Be Loving You (Forever).
The rest of the album wavers strongly in quality. Some of the ballads are absolutely painful to listen to, most notably I Remember When (featuring an amazingly shrill vocal from Joe McIntyre, who had yet to hit puberty) and I Need You (fronted by Donnie Wahlberg, who is incapable of carrying a tune in a paper bag). Cover Girl has actually grown on me over the years, despite being an obvious Springsteen rip, and the less said about the faux-"hardness" of the title track, the better.
Two decades later, the stigma carried by artists like NKOTB, Hammer and Vanilla Ice has faded somewhat. Most sane beings won't admit to having albums by any of these folks in their collections, but the reaction to admitting enjoyment of some of their music is now mild amusement as opposed to extreme horror. It won't win any awards for quality, but you've gotta admit that Hangin' Tough is a fun listen, especially if you were a kid when the album was popular.
