I know I'm a touch late on this, but yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the debut album by Marky Mark (Wahlberg) and the Funky Bunch, "Music For The People".

01. Music For The People

02. Good Vibrations feat. Lol...oway (RIP)

03. Wildside

04. Bout Time I Funk You

05. Peace

06. So What Chu Sayin'

07. Marky Mark Is Here

08. On The House Tip

09. Make Me Say Ooh

10. I Need Money

11. The Last Song On Side B

I have this album and the 2nd 1 too. I doubt Mark is celebrating this though since he kinda seems embarrased about his music career. BBD & Marky Mark appeared at a NKOTB concert a few years ago. They tried to get him to perform Good Vibrations, but Mark declined, even though the music was played. One of the Funky Bunch (Free, the lady wering a hat on the album cover), was later a host on BET.

I wonder if Mark Wahlberg is still in touch with any of his Funky Bunch members.

He's still a religious maniac and a raging homophobe. Fuck that guy.

Wolfie87 said:

And he even got a game on the newly launched console Sega CD in 1992: "Make My Video" Together with C+C Music Factory. It's a disaster Btw, why didn't Public Enemy, KRS One, Kool G Rap, Rakim or Big Daddy Kane get a video game offering? They're clearly better MC's than Marky Mark. And he got it on his first attempt. Yeah, you get the point. [Edited 7/25/21 0:31am]

Kris Kross had a video game too. Those acts you named didn't crossover to have Top 40 pop success. C+C, Marky Mark, & Kris Kross did. So did MC Hammer & Vanilla Ice who had dolls. Hammer, Kid n Play, & NKOTB also had Saturday morning cartoons. The Fresh Prince & LL Cool J had sitcoms. Vanilla Ice, Fat Boys, & Kid n Play got movies (House Party, Class Act, Disorderlies, Cool As Ice). All of the acts who got these other things were mainstream popular. Jump by Kris Kross was #1 8 weeks on the pop chart and their debut album went 4 time platinum. I remember an interview Bruce Springsteen did at the time and he mentioned Kris Kross. Rakim never had that. I think the only pop hit he had was appearing on a Jody Watley song.

Here's an interview that Donnie Wahlberg did in 2017 on Sway In The Morning where he mentions that The Funky Bunch was originally his group and this album was his, not Mark's. The relevant part starts around 18:00. Elsewhere in the interview Donnie mentions that the New Kids toured with acts like Stetsasonic, Rodney O And Joe Cooley, & NWA.

Never knew there were six people in the funky bunch...

TrivialPursuit said:

He's still a religious maniac and a raging homophobe. Fuck that guy.

S2DG said:

Never knew there were six people in the funky bunch...

The 2 women were gone by the 2nd album. Like Amy from The A-Team.

MickyDolenz said:

Here's an interview that Donnie Wahlberg did in 2017 on Sway In The Morning where he mentions that The Funky Bunch was originally his group and this album was his, not Mark's. The relevant part starts around 18:00. Elsewhere in the interview Donnie mentions that the New Kids toured with acts like Stetsasonic, Rodney O And Joe Cooley, & NWA.

hey, thanks!

I just remember a music teen magazine around 1990 showing Mark in the studio with Donnie and they said they made a song sampling "Brick House" by Commodores, which to this day I have never heard. Donnie Wahlberg was the rapper in the group way back in 1984 when the Kids were unsigned. It is actually interesting that though he didn't have much input on New Kids On The Block's music, he produced Music For The People, and it ain't bad! I love that Lou Reed ("Wildside") beat.

TrivialPursuit said:

He's still a religious maniac and a raging homophobe. Fuck that guy.

Just say he was raised Catholic. Mark doesn't do himself any favours when everyone's favourite movie is Boogie Nights, and he wants to denounce his character Dirk Diggler.

Cinny said:

Donnie Wahlberg was the rapper in the group way back in 1984 when the Kids were unsigned. It is actually interesting that though he didn't have much input on New Kids On The Block's music, he produced Music For The People, and it ain't bad!

Why would he? New Kids got a deal because New Edition left Maurice Starr and they sued the record label Streetwise. So Maurice started another teen group to produce. NE was already a group when Maurice found them, he didn't put them together. Although according to the NE biopic, Maurice really wanted just Ralph Tresvant. Notice that both NE & NKOTB first hit it big with a song that had a lead vocal (Ralph Tresvant, Joey McIntyre) similar to Jackson 5 era Michael Jackson (Candy Girl, Please Don't Go Girl), with someone (Ricky Bell, Jordan Knight) doing a Jermaine line or 2.

MickyDolenz said:

Cinny said:

Donnie Wahlberg was the rapper in the group way back in 1984 when the Kids were unsigned. It is actually interesting that though he didn't have much input on New Kids On The Block's music, he produced Music For The People, and it ain't bad!

Why would he? New Kids got a deal because New Edition left Maurice Starr and they sued the record label Streetwise. So Maurice started another teen group to produce. NE was already a group when Maurice found them, he didn't put them together. Although according to the NE biopic, Maurice really wanted just Ralph Tresvant. Notice that both NE & NKOTB first hit it big with a song that had a lead vocal (Ralph Tresvant, Joey McIntyre) similar to Jackson 5 era Michael Jackson (Candy Girl, Please Don't Go Girl), with someone (Ricky Bell, Jordan Knight) doing a Jermaine line or 2.

I know how the group started, but Marky Mark's album showed Donnie Wahlberg was capable of more. I recall Music For The People was released on Interscope.

Cinny said:

TrivialPursuit said:

He's still a religious maniac and a raging homophobe. Fuck that guy.

Just say he was raised Catholic. Mark doesn't do himself any favours when everyone's favourite movie is Boogie Nights, and he wants to denounce his character Dirk Diggler.

Catholic schmatholic. Lotta former Catholics aren't raging homophobes. He's circled back around to his dogma and doubled down. I'm surprised he didn't endorse for potus.