YouTube
Jordan Knight's only UK solo hit (and unless I'm mistaken, the only UK hit by any New Kid On The Block) is a bit of a lost one. It certainly doesn't seem easy to get hold of now, charity shops aside.
When I realised this one was coming up, I thought it was a prime candidate for sounding dated, because it seemed so up-to-the-minute a decade ago. It's actually weathered surprisingly well considering - yes, it sounds of its time, but it's not yet reached the stage of being laughable, at least not in musical terms. You can chalk that one up to the production skills of no less than Jam & Lewis. What I'd forgotten until re-listening (although it didn't go unnoticed at the time) was how dirty this song is lyrically. I know it's called 'Give It To You' and all, but he really does push things about as far as he could within the boundaries of teen-friendly pop; the song was, I now learn, co-written by later solo star Robin Thicke. I also dimly recalled the please-don't-sue-us-copyright-owners-of-Grease video, although just between you and me, I thought the girl looked better with the glasses.
Successful as this one single was though, it couldn't push the album higher than 135, and as a result no further UK releases were forthcoming. Further singles in his homeland failed to match this sort of sales, which is probably why there's a new NKOTB single out this week. I hadn't made the connection until I read the YouTube comments, but now I come to think of it, every day that Justin Timberlake sits at home counting his money, and doesn't have to go on tour with Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and the other ones, he should be thinking "There, but for the grace of God..." He probably doesn't though.
Available on:Kiss Smooth Grooves 2000 R&B Club Hits
No comments:
Post a Comment