AlexdeParis said:

MickyDolenz said:

I vaguely remember Perfect Gentleman, but don't recall their songs. Weren't they the sons of another singer?

"Ooh La La" was their big hit debut while "One More Chance" was the followup. I believe they were related to Maurice Starr... I'm pretty sure one of them is his son.

You're correct.

Cinny said:

I don't know how big NKOTB were worldwide in the late 80s, but at least in America (and Canada) they couldn't have been bigger.

I think their reach was pretty global. I actually just came back from the NKOTB cruise and they had a theme night wherein all the fans dressed to represent there hometown/country. The diversity represented onboard was quite impressive--a group of girls came from friggin' Uganda.

My group of friends hailed from: UK, South Africa, Belgium, Phillipines, Brazil, Japan and Haiti. I was one of only 4-5 North Americans in our group.

My cousin who was a year younger than me. Was beyond obsessed. She was 12 in mid 1989 when she got into them after she went off Bros. I always found her musical tastes weird, although we did at least agree on Madonna and Kylie Minogue.

She had all four walls of her room covered in NKOTB posters, had all the albums and singles on record and tape, picture discs (She didn't get a CD player until 1992). She had a Joey McIntryre doll and wrote journals about how she would marry them and draw stories about them. She was hooked.

From 1989 through 1990, 1991 and into 1992. In early 1992 she went to their concert in Auckland, but by late 92 she was 15 and had outgrown them. It probably helped too that by 1992 they were falling off a bit. I think by reading about them, they did not really become huge until Hanging Tough in mid 1989, did well with Step by Step in 1990 and lasted into 1991, but by 1992 they were falling off.

So for most of the 80s, not that big at all, their 1986 album was initially a flop and di not really hit until very late in 1988 and by early 1989 they were on the ascendant. I know they have had comebacks, but they will probably never shake their kiddie pop/Kiddie rap image. They were lightweight fluff aimed mostly at 8 -14 year old girly girls.

It was the One Dorcetion/Justin Bieber type crowd. Not sure about their appeal to gays, as I was unsure of my sexuality back then. I thought they sucked and were girls music then and even now I think their songs were forgettable kiddie fluff.

I worked at a record store (insert obligatory "remember those" line..) when Hangin Tough was released. They were absolutely huge.

JoeTyler said:

bobzilla77 said:

I'd compare their popularity in the 80s to the likes of Hannah Montana and the Jonas Bros at their respective peaks. Beloved by youngsters and completely unavoidable if you watched TV or looked at the mag racks of 7-11, but not taken even a little bit seriously by adults. I think Bieber may have actually penetrated the culture

I don't know sales stats so it's possible at their peak they were outselling Prince in 1989 but I'd be shocked if they outsold Madonna or MJ whose audience included both kids and grownups.

Madonna's audience included kids??? KIDS???

Well my cousin and I (Aged 7 and 8) got into Madonna when "like a virgin" came out. We knew the lyrics and sang them, yet we had no idea what a virgin was. We just loved the songs and her look, like most kiddie fans of Madonna probably did back in the 80s.

It helped too that I was a big Cyndi Lauper fan back then too. Great music and interesting artists can transcend any boundary including age.

Adorecream said:

JoeTyler said:

Madonna's audience included kids??? KIDS???

Well my cousin and I (Aged 7 and 8) got into Madonna when "like a virgin" came out. We knew the lyrics and sang them, yet we had no idea what a virgin was. We just loved the songs and her look, like most kiddie fans of Madonna probably did back in the 80s.

It helped too that I was a big Cyndi Lauper fan back then too. Great music and interesting artists can transcend any boundary including age.

My first album on cassette was Like A Virgin. Five years old.

Cinny said:

alphastreet said:

Cinny said:

My first album on cassette was Like A Virgin. Five years old.

Wow mine too at 5, but on record! Though it was several years old by then and I thought Virgin was referring to the lion in the video [Edited 6/6/13 16:30pm]

Me too, my extended family still go on about that song, because we sang it at a Christmas do in 1984 and the parents were having kittens when we singing about being made feeling brand new and having touch for the very first time. I thought "virgin" at the time meant the record label as I had some Culture club records with the virgin label on them. The greatest irony was that by 1984, Madonna was anything but a virgin.

I had no understanding of record labels then, and thought maybe Madonna wanted to be on Virgin as it was cooler because Boy George was on it. Of course the fact she stayed with Warners/Sire was probably better for her career.

Yes my first musical memories were liking the song "Fashion" by David Bowie at 4, but not as much as my mother who played it to death while we were sleeping. Then at 6 I remember all that 82 - 83 pop stuff like Dexy's Midnight runners, Culture club (Apparently I wanted to dress up like Boy George when I was 7 and tried on a bra and some lipstick to look like him (My brother embellishes the story to this day). And of course Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper when I was 7.

Its great whenyou rediscover a song from your childhood after years. Some forgettable early 80s novelty that rose and faded. Recent rediscoveries for me. Shiny Shiny by Hayzie Fantasee i think, Feels like Heaven by the Eurogliders and Send me an angel by reel life. (NZOZ1983 on Youtube has a lot of my gratitude).

But never NKOTB, I loved pop but never went for true fluffy bubblegum. The closest I got was kind of liking Roxette, Martika and Milli Vanilli, but never Bros or New Kids.

I found out on Wikipedia, Perfect Gentleman was a Maurice starr group, one of the singers was Maurice star Junior, They had one big hit with Oh la la which peaked at #10 in early 1990, but recorded from 1988 to 1993 and had one album that got to #39.

The Remix is still better than the album version!

.

Donnie in a Bobby Brown type role!

.

Enough said.

TonyVanDam said:

Donnie in a Bobby Brown type role!

He really was the Bobby in the group. I remember he got in some trouble for starting a fire in a hotel back in NKOTB's heyday. Marky Mark was originally supposed to be in the New Kids but dropped out.

MickyDolenz said:

TonyVanDam said:

Donnie in a Bobby Brown type role!

He really was the Bobby in the group. I remember he got in some trouble for starting a fire in a hotel back in NKOTB's heyday. Marky Mark was originally supposed to be in the New Kids but dropped out.

I don't think it was even a fire. He let off a fire extingusher but was charged under some kind of "criminal mischief" misdemeanor. The original arrest was for arson because someone saw smoke and called 911. He was just a kid dicking around with an extinguisher!

I love these stories in this thread about being 7 year old Madonna/Culture Club fans. It's so true! In retrospect hearing about all the supposed outrage that our favourite acts caused from parents believing they were bad influences. We didn't even know what that stuff was about. They just looked and sounded cool and that was all that mattered. I sincerely doubt Madonna's fanbase of kids even knew about the nude photos in the media.

I was still only 9/10 when Prince released Gett Off and loved it. At that age I couldn't even make out the real lyrics anyway, but who cares? It was funky and the dancing in the video was great. The next year the girls in our school netball team were singing Madonna's Erotica in the minibus on the way to a game.

TonyVanDam said:

The Remix is still better than the album version!

Man I don't remember hearing this version ANYWHERE (other than the single)

Ellie said:

MickyDolenz said:

He really was the Bobby in the group. I remember he got in some trouble for starting a fire in a hotel back in NKOTB's heyday. Marky Mark was originally supposed to be in the New Kids but dropped out.

I don't think it was even a fire. He let off a fire extingusher but was charged under some kind of "criminal mischief" misdemeanor. The original arrest was for arson because someone saw smoke and called 911. He was just a kid dicking around with an extinguisher!

I love these stories in this thread about being 7 year old Madonna/Culture Club fans. It's so true! In retrospect hearing about all the supposed outrage that our favourite acts caused from parents believing they were bad influences. We didn't even know what that stuff was about. They just looked and sounded cool and that was all that mattered. I sincerely doubt Madonna's fanbase of kids even knew about the nude photos in the media.

I was still only 9/10 when Prince released Gett Off and loved it. At that age I couldn't even make out the real lyrics anyway, but who cares? It was funky and the dancing in the video was great. The next year the girls in our school netball team were singing Madonna's Erotica in the minibus on the way to a game.

Agree totally, people sometimes forget how much popular culture they absorb and take in as little children. Some of my best music meories are from the period when my age was just a single digit and I am sure most of us have too.

By the time Justify my love, the Blonde Ambition Tour and the Sex/Erotica thing rolled around, I was in my early to mid teens, a tiime when sex was to me funny, dirty, cheeky and a source of endless fascination./ It seemed Madonna was lifting the bar at how much sex could be emotted by one person.

I am sure the netball team were singing the whole lyrics too, "I'll give you love, I'll hit you like a truck, I'll give you love, I'll teach you how to... (Instead of uh uh, Fuck!).

The fact I was obsessed with sex as a 14 and 15 year old was probably why I got into Prince and ignored sexless fluff like NKOTB. I just wanted to hear the dirtiest and most graphic records around, 2 Live Crew, Madonna, Ice T the stroking song and all the rest and when a guy who sung a song obviously about semen came along, it probably launched me into Prince, my obsession with teenage humpa humpa. It seems a little sick now.

But the child hood memories of music are much more innocent, Madonna's sexuality did not even enter my mind until "Justify my love" came out and I was 14 and a half. Even the sex in the Like a Prayer video was lost on me. I was still 12 I didn't care, I just loved the song and Madonna's sense of melodrama, any of that in a NKOTB video, no way, it was playschool and the wiggles set to a cheesy hip hop beat.

sexton said:

bobzilla77 said:

I'd compare their popularity in the 80s to the likes of Hannah Montana and the Jonas Bros at their respective peaks. Beloved by youngsters and completely unavoidable if you watched TV or looked at the mag racks of 7-11, but not taken even a little bit seriously by adults. I think Bieber may have actually penetrated the culture

I don't know sales stats so it's possible at their peak they were outselling Prince in 1989 but I'd be shocked if they outsold Madonna or MJ whose audience included both kids and grownups.

RIAA certifications for 1988/1989 releases:

Hangin' Tough = 8x platinum

Like A Prayer = 4x platinum

Lovesexy = platinum

Batman soundtrack - 2x platinum

Yeah, and they've sold 80 million albums worldwide in total. Nearly all of which came from their peak period. They were on MTV non-stop, too. They were big.

i was never big into the music, though as a young teen i was attracted to a few of em.

but lord, do i remember the merchandising. i had friends that were obsessed and would wear these pins the size of dessert plates with their pics on them

cborgman said:

i was never big into the music, though as a young teen i was attracted to a few of em.

but lord, do i remember the merchandising. i had friends that were obsessed and would wear these pins the size of dessert plates with their pics on them

I wish I could find a picture of somebody wearing them. There's tons of pictures of the BUTTONS online, but you just don't get the right perspective if they're not pinned to front of somebodies shirt.

Janet bigger in the USA, NKOTB worldwide. Janet only really got a taste of the superstar status globally in '93.

Cinny said:

TonyVanDam said:

The Remix is still better than the album version!

Man I don't remember hearing this version ANYWHERE (other than the single)

You should have been in New Orleans in 1988 because WQUE (Q-93 FM, a r&b radio station at the time) used to play that remix version of The Right Stuff all the time.

alphastreet said:

And now the million dollar question, and cause I wasn't familiar with these artists at the time Who was bigger? Nkotb or Janet?

During that time period, I'd say NKOTB. In the US, Hangin' Tough sold more than Rhythm Nation. Plus, NKOTB had a few other albums selling at the same time: the debut, a Christmas album, and Step By Step. Around the same time, Milli Vanilli's, MC Hammer's, & Vanilla Ice's albums sold more than RN too, although she had higher charting singles.

[Edited 6/8/13 9:58am]

Cerebus said:

cborgman said:

i was never big into the music, though as a young teen i was attracted to a few of em.

but lord, do i remember the merchandising. i had friends that were obsessed and would wear these pins the size of dessert plates with their pics on them

I wish I could find a picture of somebody wearing them. There's tons of pictures of the BUTTONS online, but you just don't get the right perspective if they're not pinned to front of somebodies shirt.

if i remember correctly, the things were so big they had a built in stand in the back, for when you wanted to display them on a shelf

TonyVanDam said:

MickyDolenz said:

Cinny said:

alphastreet said:

Exactly, I knew of nkotb through seeing merchandise even if not music yet, Janet I did not know. I also knew the others outsold rn though its my favourite, which is why I don't understand why it's called best selling of 1990. I wish it was, but if it isn't and people are saying, that's a lie.

I would assume Madonna's The Immaculate Collection was the biggest thing in 1990.

alphastreet said:

Cinny said:

Even though it sounds like "What Have You Done For Me Lately", it is their best single.

With a vid like miss you much before miss you much haha

cborgman said:

Cerebus said:

I wish I could find a picture of somebody wearing them. There's tons of pictures of the BUTTONS online, but you just don't get the right perspective if they're not pinned to front of somebodies shirt.

if i remember correctly, the things were so big they had a built in stand in the back, for when you wanted to display them on a shelf

Yes! There's a ton of them described that way for sale on ebay and all over the internet. I just couldn't find a picture of anybody wearing one. I do remember the silly thing, though.

Cinny said:

TonyVanDam said:

You should have been in New Orleans in 1988 because WQUE (Q-93 FM, a r&b radio station at the time) used to play that remix version of The Right Stuff all the time.

Even though it sounds like "What Have You Done For Me Lately", it is their best single.

It's not like there are many options. I might have to give it to "Hangin' Tough" actually. Never been a big NKOTB fan though; I'll gladly take Jordan's "Give It to You" over any of the group's songs.

Ellie said:

alphastreet said:

Exactly, I knew of nkotb through seeing merchandise even if not music yet, Janet I did not know. I also knew the others outsold rn though its my favourite, which is why I don't understand why it's called best selling of 1990. I wish it was, but if it isn't and people are saying, that's a lie.

I would assume Madonna's The Immaculate Collection was the biggest thing in 1990.

It probably was, but many people may have overlooked it as it was a greatest hits album (Albeit a very good one) and it only had new songs. NKOTB only captured a large part of a huge market.

1990 was also the year of "Please Hammer Don't Hurt em" and "Rythmn Nation 1814" - although released in 89 its old more copies in 1990 as hit after hit came off it. Milli Vanilli was also huge in the 90s and of course before the IC, Madonna had a huge hit with Vogue.

It was a strange year as Prince and MJ weren't really on peak form there, MJ was taking a break/ recording Dangerous and Prince gave us the mediocre Graffiti Bridge, os it was a good year for the bubble gum acts and established stars like Madonna to burst through.

And remember that pap rapper Vanilla Ice had his 15 seconds of fame with Ice Ice Baby. But 1990 at least introduced us all to Mariah Carey and in my opinion, that first album was strong, the year saw the first two singles become huge hits and gave us one the superstars of the 1990s. Seriously that first album was pure gold.

[Edited 6/8/13 21:51pm]

NKOTB were bigger than huge in 1989 and 1990; no one was outselling them at their peak, although a few (MC Hammer, Paula Abdul, Milli Vanilli, Bobby Brown) came close enough to be in the same neighborhood. They topped the Forbes list of richest celebrities in 1990 - coming ahead of both MJ and Madonna. BSB and Nsync matched and surpassed their success a decade late in 2000…but NKOTB were the template/bar for them.

None of the recent teenybopper stars of today have come close to their impact. Not Bieber. Not Jonas Bros. Not One Direction. Teen pop acts of today can't even push albums past platinum and don't even half a third of the success of those that came 10-20 yrs before them. New Kids went nearly Diamond with Hangin' Tough...and Backstreet Boys debut album is 14x platinum. By comparison teen stars of today are a *serious* joke.