Songoftheday 4/9/18 - I know I hurt you that's the last thing I meant to do, sometimes I can be careless and blind can you forgive the fool that I've been?
from the album Face The Music (1994) and H.I.T.S. (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 6
Today's song of the day comes from the New Kids On The Block, the boy-band from Boston that had dominated the second half of the 1980s with their album Hangin' Tough and millions of albums and singles sales to teen and tween girls (and nascent boys). They began the 1990s with the Step To Step album, and the title track became their longest-running #1 pop hit, followed by the top ten "Tonight". While the five guys were touring the globe, a remix album (No More Games) and a greatest hits compilation (H.I.T.S.) were released. Although two songs from No More Games reached the top-20 in the UK, only one of them, "Games", made an appearance, albeit on the pop airplay chart only, at #58. Originally an added track to the H.I.T.S. album, the ballad "If You Go Away" was put out as a single in 1991. Written by powerhouse writers and producers Walter Afanasieff and John Bettis along with Mariah Carey's backup singer Trey Lorenz, the track harkened back to their "Please Don't Go Girl" start, from theme to sound, even though they shortened their moniker to NKOTB. They also lost mentor Maurice Starr, with Afanasieff handling the production...
"If You Go Away" became the New Kids' tenth American pop top-40 hit in March of 1992. Internationally, the song reached the top ten in Norway (#4), Canada (#6), the UK (#9), and the Netherlands (#10). It also made the top-40 in Sweden (#25), Belgium (#25), Australia (#26), Ireland (#26), and Germany (#34).
At the time of the release of this single, the group was being sued by former arranger Gregory McPherson, who claimed that they didn't sing lead and were merely lipsynching to track on their tour. The "Kids" had to make a TV appearance to refute the claims (well, somewhat) and sing live on Arsenio. However, they wouldn't regain the momentum they had, and by the time their Face The Music album came out in 1994, "If You Go Away" was well forgotten, and the embarrasing "new" single "Dirty Dawg" stalled down at #66 (it did manage to make the R&B chart at #73, and reach #27 in the UK). A third single from Face The Music, "Never Let You Go", tried to merge the soft-pop and R&B sounds, but just missed the British top-40 at #42. They would call it quits for a long while, reuniting in 2008, when they would return to the top 40.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's NKOTB on Arsenio, proving they were singing live...
And on their reunion tour in 2012, where they sang "If You Go Away" with "Please Don't Go Girl"...
Up tomorrow: New experiences in success for this Christian-pop singer.
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