They may no longer be new. They may no longer be kids. But NKOTB just might be out to prove they still have the right stuff.
New Kids on the Block, the prototypical boy band of the 1980s and early '90s that preceded the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync on the pop charts and in the pages of Tiger Beat, are reportedly on track to reunite.
The band's official Website,
www.nkotb.com, is, after a long period of dormancy, once again up and running and imploring fans to keep hanging tough for a forthcoming announcement. That announcement, per People, is that Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood will be making like the Spice Girls and relaunching their once chart-dominating act.
There's no word yet, however, on whether the group's resurrection will include a tour, a greatest-hits album or the release of any new material. Or, apparently, whether all five members have signed off on a reunion.
While their Website teases that an undoubtedly earth-shattering development is in the works, with a fuzzy television set flickering on and off on different photos of the group in their heyday, at least one member hasn't quite been kept in the loop on the comeback development.
"I wanted to address the rumors of the NKOTB Reunion Tour," Wood wrote on his MySpace blog Monday. "There has been no talk of this and you are getting it from the source directly...You can't believe everything you read."
Wood, who said that he was releasing a solo album in March, didn't completely close the door on the would-be reunion, however, writing on his blog, "Never say never!"
Clearly, he isn't on the mailing list for his former band's Website.
"They rose from the streets of Boston," the site touts. "To become the biggest band in the world. They influenced a generation. They sold over 70 million albums and grossed more than one billion dollars. Five multiplatinum albums, 10 top 10 singles, five number one singles. Then they walked away from it all. Millions of fans around the world await their return. Are you ready?"
The group eventually called it quits in 1994, after logging megasuccess with hits like "Hangin' Tough," "Step by Step," "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" and the ever-lampooned "You Got It (The Right Stuff)."
Despite attempts by MTV to reunite the group in the past decade, the move has consistently been vetoed by one or more members of the quintet.
As it is, the "boy band" has almost certainly aged out of the High School Musical demographic and will likely rely on the support of their former, now grown, fanbase (and their kids) to power the second coming of NKOTB.
Since splitting more than a decade ago, each member of the fivesome has achieved some degree of solo success, both inside and outside the world of entertainment.
The youngest and possibly most recognizable member of NKOTB, the perpetually fresh-faced Joey McIntyre, is now 35 years old and best known these days for appearing on Dancing with the Stars and in a brief 2003 stint on Boston Public.
Donnie "brother of Mark" Wahlberg is 38 and has arguably been the most successful in Hollywood since the split, starring in HBO's Emmy-winning Band of Brothers and NBC's now defunct Boomtown and appearing in such films as The Sixth Sense and Saws II and IV.
Onetime frontman Jordan Knight, 37, continues to record solo, most notably the minor 1999 hit "Give It to You," which was briefly a staple in the MTV rotation. Brother Jonathan, the oldest New Kid at nearly 40, is a real-estate developer, while Donny Wood, 38, has bided his time as a music producer.
