Columbia 45129
Producer: Maurice Starr
Track listing: Step by Step / Tonight / Baby, I Believe in You / Call It What You Want / Let’s Try It Again / Happy Birthday / Games / Time Is on Our Side / Where Do I Go From Here?/ Stay with Me Baby / Funny Feeling / Never Gonna Fall in Love Again
June 30, 1990
1 week
In March 1990, the readers of Rolling Stone voted the New Kids on the Block worst band, worst tour, and Hangin’ Tough and its title track worst album and single, respectively. But that didn’t matter much to the New Kids on the Block or their fans. The New Kids had become such a phenomenon that Hasbro announced it would launch a line of dolls modeled after the group in time for Christmas. And when Step by Step was released in June, it hit the peak of the Top Pop Albums chart in mere two weeks.
But success was taking its toll on the New Kids. Constant touring left little time for the band to work in the recording studio, so much of Step by Step was recorded on the road with Maurice Starr once again at the helm. “It was a really different situation,” says Donnie Wahlberg. “We recorded in hotel rooms. We would come off the stage, and go right to the hotel, and sing all night.”
Jordan Knight says he laid down the vocals for “Baby, I Believe in You” the same day he heard the demo of the track. “I didn’t even have a lyric sheet,” he says. “Maurice sang it to me into headphones and I would repeat it and put in on tape.”
Other times, the band would record before shows. “I remember recording ‘Step by Step,'” says Jordan Knight, “I had a bad cold, but we still had to record it. It took a long time to get it done and then we had to do a show.”
Like some of the New Kids’ previous hits, “Step by Step” was a song Starr had penned for another act. The song, originally recorded for Motown by the Boston-based group the Superiors, had flopped. “We liked the song, so Maurice decided to give it to us,” Wahlberg says. The public also loved the New Kids’ version, as the track, released as the first single from Step by Step, debuted at number 27. Four weeks later, as Step by Step hit Number One on the Top Pop Albums chart, “Step by Step” hit the top of the Hot 100, giving the New Kids another simultaneous Number One album and single.
The New Kids scored their ninth consecutive top 10 hit with “Tonight,” which recalled the Beatles. That single climbed to number seven, but the third single from the album, “Let’s Try Again,” didn’t fare as well, stalling at number 53.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Gregory McPherson, credited as an “associate producer” and “string arranger” on Step by Step, filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the group. McPherson claimed that Starr recorded many of the group’s vocals and that the New Kids lip-synced on stage. The group had the last word, however, canceling an Australian tour to appear live on “The Arsenio Hall Show” to set the record straight. It also filed a countersuit against McPherson, who later dropped his suit. “I don’t think it hurt us,” says Wahlberg. “It’s one of those things you try to use to your advantage.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of June 30, 1990
1. Step by Step, New Kids on Me Block
2. Please Hammer Don’t Hurt, ‘Em M.C. Hammer
3. I’m Breathless, Madonna
4. I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, Sinead O’Connor
5. Poison, Bell Biv Devoe