Today’s post was inspired by Twitter conversation that I saw last night from G.W.T.T.M. (G.irls W.ho T.alk T.o M.e,) talking about tonight’s New Kids on the Block show happening at Quicken Loans Arena here in Cleveland.

Check out the Twitter conversation search results for NKOTB – kids are stokin like it’s 1991 all over again.

So you’re going tonight, and you’d like to get some scoop on what to expect?

Plain Dealer pop music critic John Soeder got some tour bus time with Jordan Knight to talk about the current reunion tour.

It’s only been a few years since Knight was on the road pimping a disc of re-recorded New Kids hits, and playing shows at local venues like Peabody’s. And now he’s back in arenas with the expected yet completely unexpected NKOTB reunion tour.

I was skeptical of NKOTB’s sudden leap back to arenas when the tour was announced in May, but I guess from where I’m sitting, they’ve done okay, and the shows are either sold out, or selling decently.

My buddy Corey says to me that as a single guy, I should be going to see NKOTB. I’ll clean up on chicks at a show like that, he tells me.

I can’t disagree, which is why I will instead be going to see the Indigo Girls in Columbus, with Kathleen Edwards, amidst a crowd where I’ll be almost certainly safe from any possibility of meeting women with interest in me.

Back to the New Kids: When we last left our heroes, they had ventured down a road to change their image to better reflect their newly grown up status. Their 1994 album Face The Music followed in the footsteps of image modifying releases like Against The Law from Stryper, and Run DMC’s Back From Hell.

Like those albums, Face The Music failed miserably.

So the boys put NKOTB on the shelf, and focused on individual projects.

Jordan Knight’s 1999 solo debut came out at a time that I was helping to assist with the newly launched KISS station here in Cleveland. Being a cover song junkie, I really dug Knight’s cover of “I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man” that KISS was spinning at the time.

I got my hands on a copy of Knight’s solo disc, and a couple of years later, when I actually went to play it, I discovered that the cover version that I liked, was a remix. A remix, not on the CD.

The album version?

Sucks.

Jordan Knight – I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man (cover of the Prince original)

On paper, the above looks like a can’t miss idea for single #2. But as you’ll hear, they had to do some severe remix surgery to make it cool. And kids, I’ll submit this sucker below, as one of the best remixes of all time.

Maybe not, but I wanted to be really dramatic.

It’s damn good.

Jordan Knight – I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man (Uptempo Remix Radio Edit)

So ya’ll have fun at the NKOTB – I’ll be gazing longingly at my beloved Kathleen Edwards, hoping that she doesn’t subsequently get mauled by the Indigo Girls crowd when she leaves the stage.

New Kids on the Block – Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind) (live)

Relevant Links:

New Kids on the Block official website

Bullz-Eye review of The Block, the new studio album from New Kids on the Block by Jeff Giles

Purchase The Block from Amazon – CD or MP3

New Kids on the Block – Greatest Hits – CD or MP3

New Kids on the Block – Hangin’ Tough – VHS Video

Topps New Kids on the Blocks collectors cards