Donnie Wahlberg Was a Member of the Teen Pop Sensation Everyone Forgot About
Donnie Wahlberg is probably best known today for playing Detective Danny Reagan on Blue Bloods, though he also played a number of roles in films, ranging from The Saw series to The Sixth Sense – the films are famous, Wahlberg's roles in them, not so much.
But did you know that at the dawn of his career he was a teen pop idol? Well, for that matter, he still is, he's just no longer a teen, and his idol days are largely in the past.
Donnie is a founding member of New Kids on the Block, an American boy band, which was a big thing indeed back in late 80s and early 90s.
They have sold more than 80 million records worldwide, got their songs to the top of Billboard Hot 100 Singles, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and inspired a number of bands to follow in their footsteps, like Take That and Backstreet Boys.
At the pinnacle of their fame, they have performed an estimated two hundred concerts a year, and staged extravagant tours. Their licensed merchandise was flooding the market. They've even inspired a Saturday morning cartoon about themselves!
Few musicians or artists could boast of such feats.
And curiously, New Kids on the Block technically still exists. It was founded in 1984 – when Donnie was only fifteen – and broke up in 1995. But in 2008 the band members reunited, and since then they've vent on tours, and produced a number of albums, singles and music videos.
The new iteration of New Kids on the Block (should they be "old guy regulars of the block" now?) just is not very active, and their audience seems to be mostly consisting of nostalgia-driven old fans.
In every way, the band is a shadow of its former glory. Most people today not only do not remember its glory days, but probably would be surprised to learn that it had glory days – and how glorious they were.
Well, probably that's one of the reasons why you sometimes get aesops about transience of glory from your TV. There are plenty of people with firsthand experience on that in the industry.