The Not So New Kids Back on the Block

Age doesn’t matter when you still have enthusiasm, energy and plenty of fans. That’s what the New Kids on the Block are trying to prove by deciding to reunite, release a new album and start touring.

All the band members - Joey McIntyre, Jonathan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight and Danny Wood – are aged around 40, but they still manage to charm their fans.

"The fan response to this has been incredible," a surprised Donnie Wahlberg told the Boston Herald.

Immediately after the band announced it was reuniting, fans’ enthusiastic reactions started pouring.

Several fans expressed their excitement on the band’s Flickr account, where NKOTB posted a very recent photo of themselves. Some fans said they had been waiting for their return since they disbanded in 1994, while others were very curious where their next concert would be.

In the 1980s and the early 1990s, when NKOTB was extremely popular, the band sold 70 million albums. After they split in 1994, Walhberg has appeared on television and in movies, while Jordan Knight, Wood and McIntyre have all released solo albums. Jordan’s brother, Jonathan Knight, became a real estate developer.

When he was first asked by the other former band members to get back together with them, Wahlberg was not too willing, as he had no interest in going on a nostalgia tour to sing old hits, the Associated Press reveals. But he was back on track, when he was told they planned to record some new music, and he even wrote 80 percent of the new material, together with Jordan Knight and McIntyre. Wahlber also promised fans that they would surely perform some of the old songs as well.

The band was first assembled in Boston in 1984, by producer Maurice Starr. Their self-titled debut album, written by Maurice Starr, was a complete failure. The second album that the band released, titled “Hangin’ Tough,” enjoyed more success, as MTV had already noticed the “kids” and started playing their videos.