I still think that "Step By Step" was their best album! All of the songs were good and a step higher than "Hangin' Tough," Most of the first half I still like and Donnie's reggae turn on "Stay With Me Baby" was fun. But I still love "Funny Feeling" and I still wonder why it wasn't a single. At the time, I think that some people were getting a little tired of New Kids on the radio and TV, so they moved on to other artists during early '91. But this album stayed strong for about a year even though it didn't have a lot of hits or singles from it. I still love "Step By Step"--still sing along to it even today. If I see the CD again in stores, new or used CD section, I would definitely buy it! I like the use of strings playing on the album and that they co-produced the album along with Maurice Starr. Starr's music was kind of slipping a bit during 1990, so having the New Kids involved on this album just brought new things and ideas to it. This group did mature on this album as well as the later 1994 album "Face The Music" and it shows on all the songs. Most of the New Kids fans were teens, but I was 20 when I heard this album, and I felt that they proved themselves in the pop music scene in 1990.

I was with my best friend and her boyfriend this past weekend and her boyfriend put this CD in their player. It brought back a flood of memories. During step by step we still knew who sang what step and the words to it. I remember I went to see them on July 14, 1990 it was raining and I was on a hillside I fell and broke my ankle and I cried so hard because I didnt get to see "my donnie" and I was on crutches for the rest of the summer. But I did end up getting to see them that November. Because of my parents telling my story they moved us 6 rows back from the stage.

STEP BY STEP is New Kids On The Block's fourth album. In 1990,when this album was released,all five members were no longer kids. The youngest member,Joe McIntyre turned on New Year's Eve that year. I always liked the title track. TONIGHT mentions previous NKOTB songs(very beautifully put). I love HAPPY BIRTHDAY because I know the lyrics. At the time of release,NKOTB's popularity with the young girls was slowly subsiding. Their places would be taken several years later by the Backstreet Boys and NSync. After this album,the group would become,simply,NKOTB. All the other songs are good,though.

I used to listen to this album every day. I knew all the words. Hell, I even choreographed a dance to "Step By Step" and tried to convince my dad that "Tonight" sounds like a cross between "Ob La Di, Ob La Da" and "Penny Lane." Although there are no limits to Step by Step's missteps, I have to give them credit for stepping outside the bounds of gooey bubble gum pop and into the kind of territory that will end your teen idol career as fast as it began. Unlike the Kids' self-titled debut and Hangin' Tough, this swan song to teenage stardom incorporates a surprising diversity in music styles...
"Step By Step" reassures the Kids' loyal audience that they're still in the pop game, but it really serves as a Trojan Horse to dupe those dumb teenagers into shelling out their parents' dough for the rest of Step by Step--essentially, a collection of failed experiments the session musicians couldn't even save, like the Rico-Suave-esque reggae swamp, "Stay With Me Baby," and the softcore rap, "Games." And let "Tonight" and "Where Do We go From Here" serve as a extreme caution to any boy bands foolishly ambitious enough to make any attempt to musically pay homage to the Beatles...please take heed of these atrocities and aspire to more attainable standards, like, say...Bananarama.

Another bonus: whereas on the previous albums, Joe and Jordan took the Lennon-McCartney vocal-hog reins, on Step By Step, all five New Kids are utilized to their fullest potential. Danny Wood can (sort of) rap! And he's not the only one...judging by Donnie's searing, dis-filled rhymes on "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," he would probably school his younger bro Marky Mark in a rap-off on 8-mile Road, yo. And contrary to popular belief, Jonathan Knight is not a mute...like you and me, he can sing a lame-o hack job of "Happy Birthday" really really badly...who knew? So what brought on this sudden collective effort on the mic? In some circles, it was believed that the New Kids overthrew Maurice Starr's authority over their careers and kicked him to the curb, thus allowing Jordan and Joey to go on tour with the Stylisitics and the rest of the New Kids to step into the recording studio for the first time ever. Another branch on the grapevine contended that because Joey had ventured past the age of 14, suddenly his soprano pipes lost in a battle with a new, deep, ugly voice called puberty, and the other Kids had to make up for his absence, since Jordan couldn't do it alone (what with his inevitable fledgling solo career on the wings). The New Baritone Joey was brave enough to go on the record with "Where Do We Go From Here," but try to get through the track without cringing and longing to listen to "Please Don't Go Girl" on repeat. With Joe all grown up and forbidden to sing, Jordan single-handedly carries the group vocally with his stellar Barry Gibb impersonations, particularly on "Step By Step." As usual, it is his voice that makes the New Kids. I can't help feeling cheated that he didn't do a Justin Timberlake-style rise to solo stardom. He could have really rocked my body.

Like watching old Baywatch episodes while tight-rolling my stone-washed jeans, tucking the cuffs under my socks, and slipping on my lace-free Keds, I always find a buried fondness in my heart for treasures I onced loved but am now embarrassed to admit it. This is the way I feel about the New Kids on the Block's Step By Step. Please let the one-star rating I've bestowed upon this album serve as a testament to its enduring significance in the boy band genre for generations to come.