Joey Joe

Today is the 11th, and if you've been reading my blog for a while, you know what that means: It's time for my monthly tribute to The New Kids on the Block. Will this ever end? Goodness, I hope not.

Last month, I paid special tribute to Jordan, so I decided that it is Joe McIntyre's turn this month. Back in the Olden Times, I was never a huge fan of Joe. Lately, though, Joe has grown on me. Honestly, I think he has aged better than any of them. When I was 14, I made an Official List of the order in which I liked the members of NKOTB, and it has been Written In Stone ever since. The Official List goes:

1. Donnie
2. Jon
3. Jordan
4. Joe
5. Danny

These days, I am actually toying with the idea of -- brace yourselves -- revising The List. Obviously, Donnie will never move out of the Number One position, but I think Joe needs to move up. At the same time, I think Jon really needs to move down, as he has contributed nothing to the reunion, but I'd feel a little guilty for moving him because he seems absolutely miserable, and I feel he deserves a mercy ranking at Number Two. I'm reluctant to move Jordan out of the Number Three position, however, because of his incredible skill with a wind machine and a poorly buttoned shirt. Here's the big shocker: I really think Danny needs to move out of the Number Five position, because, even though he's never allowed to speak or really be shown on camera, he seems really cheerful and upbeat. Plus, he is raising money for breast cancer research, so I can't really have him languishing at Number Five, even though everyone lets Danny languish at Number Five. That's just where Danny belongs.

So, the brave new list, if I ever get the nerve to make it, would go

1. Donnie
2. Joe
3. Jordan
4. Danny
5. Jon

Can I make a new list? Can I? Seriously, I worry about this all the time. It's a good thing I'm not a 33-year-old college-educated wife and mother. Hmm.

Anyway, back to my tribute to Joe. This is the video of "Stay the Same" from when he briefly went solo in the '90s. The song is on the Greatest Hits album, but it's one of the ones that WCK claims hurts her feelings, so I can only listen to it when I'm by myself. Ninety-nine percent of my brain, the rational part, knows that this is probably the cheesiest, lamest song ever written. The other 1 percent, however, really wants to create a touching slide show using this song as background music and post it on YouTube. For the good of humanity, we cannot let that 1 percent win.