Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990 TAG: 9003133404
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACY WIMMER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Clues as to why:
The hand-slapping routine began in November. They are female teen-agers. And they listen to Top 40 radio.
You still don't know?
Don't be offended, friend, but you are dangerously close to being out of it.
The New Kids on the Block are in town - which means that, at this very moment, young women all over this valley are rushing hotel lobbies to get a glimpse of the golden boys of pop rock. (The Rondeaus have their own plan.)
And chances are you, too, have a daughter, niece, sister or (goodness forbid) girlfriend who has pressed her jeans, glossed her lips and is now sporting the required New Kids T-shirt in honor of the concert tonight - which sold out a week after tickets went on sale in November.
New Kids are the epitome of 1990 pop. People who like them compare them to the Beatles. People who don't . . . well, let's just say there are nicer adjectives written under bridges.
But whatever the detractors might think, there are a lot of squealing fans out there buying the New Kids' records.
"Hangin' Tough," the group's second release, has sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone. The record has spawned four Top Ten singles: "Please Don't Go Girl," "You've Got It (The Right Stuff)," "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" and the title track. And having already generated more than $30 million, the New Kids' release helped save CBS Records from what many predicted would be a dire fiscal year last year.
The group's fans are often called Kidophiles or Blockheads - but neither Katie nor Becky like those terms, most often-used by well-meaning adult journalists trying to be cute. Teen adoration is not something to toy with.
Reasons for liking New Kids on the Block are simple:
First, perhaps foremost: "They are major-league gorgeous."
Second: "All five of them have great voices but they just want to be like regular guys."
Third: "They represent Boston."
Just over a year ago, the Rondeaus moved to Roanoke. Katie, 14, and Becky, 13, attend Northside Junior High School. And while they like the Star City, they are proud of their roots.
After all, Jordan and Jon were born in the same hospital they were - Boston's Worcester Memorial - or least there is a "very good chance" they were.
That was one of things that helped convince their dad, Bob, to let them go in the first place. The New Kids on the Block show is the first concert for Katie and Becky. Their tickets were Christmas presents from their parents.
"I don't object to any of their music so far," said Kathy Rondeau, their mother. "I don't find it suggestive. In fact, I find a lot of it to be catchy."
What's more, Rondeau said she loves to see all eight of her children get up and dance along to the videos - even her youngest, age 2.
"It's clean enjoyment," she said. "And when they watch, they don't bicker."
"Even my grandmother walks in and says, `Cute bunch,' when she sees them," Becky said.
If there is a down side to liking the New Kids, it's having to put up with the constant rumor mill. The one thing that really ticks the sisters off is when pranksters call WXLK (K92 FM) at night and spread vicious rumors about the New Kids.
"I was baby-sitting and I happened to hear it," Becky said. "A girl called up crying and said Donnie Wahlberg had been shot. Well, I called Katie because I thought she would want to know . . . I was ready to cry too."
A lot of Top 40 programmers hesitate to use the "B" word - Beatles - about the popularity of the New Kids. Instead they compare this Fab Five to groups like the Osmonds or the Jackson Five when they were hot.
"I hesitate to use that B-word because some people get so upset about it, but this is the closest I've ever seen in terms of phenomena," Eddie Haskell said. "The comparison is not based on talent - just on publicity and the effect they've had."
Haskell, operations manager and self-described "night-time god," is on the air between 6 and 10 p.m. Tonight, he'll do his show live from backstage.
Since the station announced that it was giving away backstage passes two weeks ago, all seven phones lines stayed lit constantly, flooded with calls from female listeners who want a chance to meet the New Kids, he said.
Even the personal ads in this newspaper list fans who are desperate to get tickets for tonight's show.
"It's hilarious," Haskell said. Listeners tell him they'll do anything for the passes. "And they always emphasize anything."
Does Haskell feel threatened?
"Of course not," he said. "I'm a man. They're boys."
Maybe, but according to the Rondeaus a lot of boys at school seem to be a little jealous of New Kids.
"They say they can't stand them," Katie said. "And then you hear then humming their songs in class."
The Rondeaus listed Bobby Brown and Paula Abdul as two of their favorite artists. The Tiffany album next to their stereo rarely gets played.
"She's out," the sisters said.
It's true. Last summer, Tiffany and New Kids reversed billing positions mid-tour. Tiffany was forced to open for New Kids - after they had originally opened for her.
The group is now breaking Winterland Merchandising records, averaging $15 to $17 a T-shirt and other products. Disney wants them for feature films. Hanna-Barbera wants them for Saturday morning cartoons. Hasbro is making New Kids dolls. Just about every gadget manufacturer wants them for their product.
Not bad for a bunch of guys that never wrote lyrics or played music.
The New Kids were actually cast four years ago by Maurice Starr, whose other musical creation, New Edition, launched spin-off artist Bobby Brown.
Starr got burned in a contract dispute with New Edition, but soon began searching for a way to blend his street-wise pop savvy with a group of talented, good-looking white kids who could sing and dance.
He found that group in Donnie Wahlberg, 20, and his boyhood pals from the working class Dorchester section of Boston: Danny Wood, 19; Jon Knight, 21; and his brother Jordan, 18. Fellow Bostonian Joe McIntyre, 17, joined shortly thereafter.
Their songs - conceived by Starr - are tailor-made for the pop charts. Starr produced, arranged and played all the music on "Hangin' Tough" - all the kids had to do was memorize the dance routines and sing. Initially, the group performed in high school talent contests, special events and eventually landed an album deal.
The boys are forever stressing their squeaky clean, drug-free image - something that parents warm up to.
And although Rolling Stone magazine recently described their concert as "one of the most sexually charged shows on the road, a happy marriage of the Chi-Lites and the Chippendale dancers," they talk like a bunch of 4-H'ers in front the camera.
Having been categorized by Columbia as rhythm and blues, the group is constantly reminded about the criticism heaped on whites who hit gold when they perform "black" music. Neither Starr, who is black, nor the group members want their music categorized. They strive to be the ultimate cross-over group.
In fact, the New Kids come off utterly free of racism - an important factor in gaining parental respect. The Kids are one happy result of the controversial school-busing program in Boston that led to so much racial disharmony in the '70s. Both Donnie and Danny were heavily into break dancing before they even joined the group.
None of this comes as news to the Rondeaus. They, like most of the group's fans, keep up with all aspects of the New Kids' lives. They've even managed to squeeze in little vital statistic profiles of each member in the narrow spaces between what appear to be hundreds of New Kids photos on their bedroom wall.
"We've been praying we're going to meet them," Becky said. "Really." concert is sold out. Shuttle buses will be operating from the downtown Roanoke parking garage at First and Church Streets to the Roanoke Civic Center for tonight's concert.
Buses will begin departing the garage at 5:45 p.m. and run through the beginning of the show. The buses will run again immediately following the concert.
Cox Cable Roanoke is offering the show through its Viewer's Choice pay-per-view service and Salem Cable will air the concert on its Request TV service. Both are charging $19.95 for advance purchases of the live, two-hour telecast, which begins at 8 p.m. Cox Cable will charge viewers $24.95 on the day of the show.
To receive the pay-per-view telecast, cable subscribers must have a special cable box attached to their television set and call the cable system to request the show.
New Kids show to be aired on pay-per-view
Cable television systems in both Roanoke and Salem are offering a live pay-per-view telecast of a New Kids concert Thursday night from the Nassau Coliseum on New York's Long Island.
Cox Cable Roanoke and Salem Cable will show the concert on pay-per-view. Both systems are charging $19.95 for advance purchases of the live, two-hour telecast, which begins at 8 p.m.
To receive the pay-per-view telecast, subscribers must have a special cable box attached to their television set and call the system to request the show.
by CNB