Nostalgia gone wrong...

Ok, so I admit it: I was a big New Kids on the Block fan when I was in my early teens. Ok, I was a really big fan...and it really stretched until my mid teens. I'm not going to go into the number of posters I had on my wall(s), or the number of concerts I attended, or the fact the I did own a "HOMEBOY" shirt, wore a black vest and a wide brimmed black hat. I'm just not going there. I will tell you that I did not have any sort of bedding with the group on it...that just seemed wrong.

By the time the band disappeared into obscurity, it had lost my fan-ship. Actually, I think it was about the time Joey McIntyre went through puberty and wanted to be called Joe that I lost interest. And so that time in my life appeared to be over...thank goodness.

When the Today Show announced their summer concert series lineup with a "Secret" Reunion of a band, I honestly had thoughts of the Police, Van Halen, Kiss...but NKOTB never entered my mind. I think I'd simply forgotten (or blocked out) that they'd existed. Word got out and it was announced that New Kids were indeed BACK! Yippee!

SO, somebody, somewhere thought it would be a great idea if New Kids on the Block had a reunion. I must admit, I was silently intrigued. It was clear what Donnie Wahlberg and "Joe" McIntyre had been up to, as they've made pretty respectable names for themselves in the acting business. But, what had front-kid heartthrob Jordan Knight, brother Jonathan and odd looking Danny Wood been up to in the last 15 years. Jordan and Danny were both still recording apparently (what, I'm not sure of) and Jonathan picked real estate (he was the quiet one anyway).

I missed the Today show yesterday. I think it was intentional. I might have forgotten it was on. OR, I probably knew that it'd be on the internet later on and I wouldn't have to watch all the segments and commercials and teasers for my 15 minutes of curiousity.

Thanks to YouTube, I was able to look up the three 5 minute segments. I was hoping it'd be decent, I was hoping I would find they've matured well, I was hoping I'd find them appealing. Maybe, just maybe, I could share this band with my daughters. Yeah, NO. It was painful. It was absurd. It just didn't work. First problem: you can't be 40 and in a band called "NEW KIDS on the Block". Second problem: time passed, voices changed, the old songs just don't work. Third problem: the dancing that was adorable in the late 80's was meant to be fast paced, not near geriatric. There are oodles of other problems, but the more I write the more you might actually think that I watched the segments more than once...I assure you, I DID NOT!

So, nostalgic curiousity turned to a morbid observation (sort of like when you can't not look at an accident as you pass it on the highway). I honestly can say at this point, I'm ok with not attending their reunion tour dates. Some things just need to be left alone. Remember in Poltergeist when they built the house over the old burial ground? They really shouldn't have done that. Bringing back New Kids on the Block is kind of like that.