Are you tough enough?

I’m not embarrassed by my early tastes in music. I have Debbie Gibson and Paula Abdul on my iPod, even now, and I still own my cassette tape of Gibson’s Out of the Blue album. (It was a birthday present from my younger sister. I was happy with her that year.) And so even now, when other women my age confess embarrassment at their childhood love for New Kids on the Block, I embrace those memories.

I was 7 when they hit it big—and who do you think they were targeting but young and pre-teen girls? NKOTB is one of those bands that all girls of a certain age reminisce about. If you were between the ages of 7 and, I don’t know, 15? in the late 80s, you remember Jordan, Jon, Joey, Danny and Donny. You probably have a story about which guy was your favorite, and you might have even slept under NKOTB sheets and bed spreads. (For what it’s worth—and I’d venture that’s not much!—Joey McIntyre was my favorite. I was entirely too logical even as a child; I picked him because he was the youngest New Kid, and therefore the most realistic match. And I just checked his age on Wikipedia: He’s nine years older than me.)

My story? New Kids on the Block are the source of my earliest recollection of peer pressure. I enjoyed dancing around my bedroom when “Hangin’ Tough” came on the radio, but I certainly wasn’t the girl leading the slumber party discussions of all things New Kids. Because all the other girls in my grade were obsessed, I asked my mom if I could buy the tape. She checked with the music minister at our church. He said no.

It’s been 20 years since New Kids mania first struck, and 10 years since Jordan and Joey attempted their solo comebacks. But the NKOTB story lives on … and I bet we’ll be sharing our New Kids stories more frequently this summer. New Kids on the Block will play the Verizon Wireless Music Center in Pelham on May 29. A variety of presale offers begin April 1, and tickets are on sale to the public on April 4. Tickets range from $10 to $75 and are available at livenation.com.

In the meantime, tell me—what’s your New Kids story? I’m especially interested if you’re male and were in NKOTB’s age demographic. Did y’all care at all, or were the New Kids only for prepubescent girls? I still thought most boys had cooties when I was 7, so I’m afraid I missed out on your perspective the first time around …