Older Kids on the Block

I just read an article about New Kids on the Block playing to a sold-out crowd in Canada. I'm afraid that, although I was the right age to be an NKOTB fan the first time, I never was one. I was more into L.A.'s Pirate Radio and KROQ, and not so much into the pop thing at the time. I wasn't gothed out, but I wore a lot of black.

I'm happy that they are able to get back on the stage, selling out tours in Canada and the U.S.--I would have felt really bad for them if the whole thing flopped--but it gets me to thinking. With all the nostalgia remakes in movies over the last decade or so (The Stepford Wives, The Mod Squad, The Avengers, Transformers, Speed Racer, and coming soon: The Day the Earth Stood Still, among many others) and in TV (Knight Rider, 90210, The Office--I've even heard Fringe is like another X-Files) and music acts coming back (NKOTB, Spice Girls, and of course the many musicians/bands that never stop touring, like The Stones), I have to wonder if we're just dried up for ideas. We all know the adage that says there are no new ideas, though bringing back things that were cool ten years ago gets parents to thinking they can connect to their kids by sharing something old brought back anew. Maybe it works, I don't know, but it certainly sells tickets.

The world is owned and operated by corporations. Corporations are like toddlers: they like things that are tried-and-true and bring instant gratification. They don't like to test new ideas (though they're the ones with the money and exposure to actually make new stuff happen). So maybe it's not that we're out of ideas, it's just that we're a little short on the cojones to constantly try out new ones. I just worry that this attitude is (to bring back an old soundbite phrase) trickling down to the rest of us. Prices of goods go up at a rate much faster than that of wages. So our evenings out become real luxuries. You don't want to drop $40 on a night out at the movies, for example, if you're not pretty sure you're going to love it. I totally get that. A few years ago I went to see an older musician's concert, and admit I was most excited for the songs I already knew and loved than for his new stuff. That has to be frustrating for him.

I always wondered what it was like for someone who's famous to try and go back to civilian life after their run in the spotlight is up. Apparently it's not just fashion that goes in cycles; you just wait ten years, and do it all again.