Songoftheday 11/5/16 - Ten times or more yes I've walked out that door, get this into your head there'll be no more...
from the album New Kids On The Block (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10
Today's song of the day comes from the boy-band from Boston, New Kids On The Block, who were at the height of their success in 1989, after their second album Hangin' Tough had spun off five top-10 pop hits in the U.S. with "Please Don't Go Girl", "You Got It (The Right Stuff)", "Cover Girl", and two #1's on "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" and the title track. Not only was that album selling millions, fans were seeking out their initially-overlooked self-titled debut, which came out in 1986 but failed to land even a minor pop hit (though track "Be My Girl" reached #90 on the R&B list). With radio burning through NKOTB songs faster than the group could produce more, they went back to the debut and pulled their cover of the soul classic "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind)". Originally a hit for the soul group the Delfonics, the record (titled "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)") went to #10 on the pop chart and #3 R&B in 1970...
The New Kids version didn't stray far at all from that production, though it did seem to up the tempo a bit...
"Didn't I (Blow Your Mind)" continued the quintet's streak of top ten hits in November of 1989. The song also crossed over to become their third and last top-40 R&B hit at #34, while it their second to make Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart at #12. Internationally, the song went to #36 in Canada, and in the UK and Ireland, where it was the "double-A side" with "Let's Try It Again" in 1990, made the top-10 at #8 and #6 respectively.
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Outrageous soul singer Millie Jackson also released a version of the song from her 1980 live album, and the single went to #49 on the R&B chart...
Aretha Franklin also did an interesting cover on her classic Young, Gifted & Black album in 1972...
... and finally, the studio version produced by Maurice Starr...
Up tomorrow: A post-disco soul Starr breaks free from her band for a solo hit.
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