I have a confession. My first love was Jordan Knight. Yes, sometimes I would let my eye wander over to bandmate Donnie Wahlberg (didn’t he turn out to be a smoking hot talent?), but there was something about the dark hair, dark eyes, and the smile that said “yeah, I know I’m hot” that worked for me. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve listened to their albums. I went to three concerts. I had their dolls. My walls were lined with their posters. I took voice training lessons – just in case I might get the chance (please, don’t laugh too much, I was 12) to go on tour with them. I said no to drugs – and still am very anti-drug – I ran up my parents’ phone bill on their 900 number. Did I mention that I had all their t-shirts and both tour jackets?
Adolescent girls these days are in love with the guy(s)? from Twilight. There’s Justin Bieber. There was that other group of boys…the something brothers. I’m out of touch. I’m fortunate to have a boy, and he hasn’t quite reached the stage where he’s got to have posters of his favorite musicians on the wall – though he has quite a fondness for The Beatles. A few years back it was NSYNC, 98 Degrees, and Backstreet Boys. Before NKOTB, it was Kirk Cameron and Chad Allen. Before them? Lief Garret, The Beatles, Ricky Nelson, Elvis, and others. But it wasn’t until NKOTB that the commodification of young love really took off.
The great thing about NKOTB was that there were five guys with five different personalities. You had the fitness buff, the handsome and brooding shy quiet guy, the “bad” boy, the sexy romantic guy, and the young guy. That meant they could appeal to a large group of fans, and you can bet that in addition to the clean-cut image the boys had, the marketing executives took advantage of this. You had Donnie fans, Joey fans, Danny fans, Jonathan fans, and of course Jordan fans. Pretty soon, their items filled the rooms of teenage girls. I remember reading somewhere that Joe McIntyre recalled the surreal experience of seeing a marble with his head on it rolling down the hall of a hotel. That’s got to be a freaky experience.
Even after NKOTB broke up, and the posters and t-shirts were carefully taken down and put into storage (Vanilla Ice had replaced them, along with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, The Party, Wil Smith, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar), I remained loyal to the five bad brothers from the Beantown land. I started to date guys at my high school. Did he look like Jordan? Did he remind me of Donnie? I missed my boys and their band broke up by the time I hit my sophomore year of high school. Even so, I was known by everyone, still, as the girl who was all about New Kids on the Block!
I wonder if girls today compare their boyfriends or husbands to their first loves – those commercialized icons that make their way into the young hearts and homes through magazines and music. I didn’t even know who New Kids on the Block were until I’d seen a friend reading “teeny bopper” magazines (do they still make those?) and thought “If I want to be cool, I should have them.” The magazines had pictures of girls proudly displaying their shrines to their favorite actors – Richard Greico, Johnny Depp (yes before Pirates – when he was a 21 Jump Street guy), and Edward Furlong were part of my early wall collection. Then, I bought a cassette tape (remember those?) – Hanging Tough. Soon, I was wanting to compete with those girls in the pictures. I had to become the biggest fan!
Real boys weren’t like the idealized boy band members. Jordan, in my mind, was the kind of guy who would always bring you flowers. Donnie would randomly surprise you with a trip to the beach. Joey would serenade you. Jon would be your best friend and you’d feel like you’d known him forever. Danny would bring out your competitive streak and go on long hikes with you before racing you home. Of course, he’d be nice at the end and let you win. I, like many other girls, constructed an ideal version of each of the guys.
Imagine my surprise and disdain when the guys I met didn’t want to dance at the dances, weren’t into the whole roses and candlelight thing (not unless you mentioned it), and were not so much into letting girls win when you’d race. I was about to say I’d never been serenaded, but that’s not entirely true. My ex sang to me at karaoke one night in front of about forty people – one of the good moments. Not exactly a serenade, but not exactly not on either.
The fact of the matter was that the boy bands and teen idols of years past weren’t just selling their albums.
They were selling first love.
And yes I, like many bought it. And yes, I still buy all the albums NKOTB put out – as a group and as solo artists. I have to say, while Jordan, Donnie, and Joe still get the attention, my favorite solo albums are those coming from Danny. He is a true talent.
Who was your first love?
