Bloomsbury is extremely proud to announce the eleventh of fourteen new 33 1/3 volumes…coming to a bookstore (and kindle/iPad) near you in: Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016 and Fall 2016. It was extremely difficult to select these titles from a pool of over 400 brilliant proposals so we hope you enjoy! To highlight each new title and the author behind it, we’ll announce one book each day over the next two weeks.
Hangin’ Tough- New Kids on the Block
By Rebecca Wallwork
Coming Spring 2016!
“Hangin’ Tough,” the second album by the New Kids on the Block, has sold more than seventeen million copies worldwide since it was released in 1988. But it has been dismissed, derided and used to ‘torture’ a drug lord into surrendering. In 2008, the New Kids reunited after fifteen years out of the limelight. Today, hundreds of thousands of grown women still flock to New Kids’ concerts to hear—and go bat-shit crazy for—the songs they first heard when they were teenagers. Is this mere nostalgia or can the science of music help explain the enduring success of “Hangin’ Tough”? What is it about this album that made it so special? Musically speaking, is “Hangin’ Tough” actually any good? Journalist and New Kids fan Rebecca Wallwork sets out to analyze the quality of “Hangin’ Tough” with the help of musicologists, critics, producers, singers and other experts. Forget the fans, the dancing and the merchandise. For once, NKOTB will be judged on something that’s never been explored in depth before—their music.
A bit about the author: Rebecca Wallwork is a writer based in Miami and New York City and was a music editor for Interview magazine. In the name of journalism, she has been inside the New York Jets locker room, backstage at the Westminster dog show, a guest at Donald Trump’s wedding – and a passenger on the inaugural New Kids on the Block cruise.
[…] of reading the right book at the right time. If that means I’m currently going through a 33 1/3 phase and ignoring award winners and the Canada Reads shortlist, so be it. (Dear Canada Reads […]
[…] is helped by the fact that they’re given more adult material than groups like New Edition and New Kids on The Block were given on their debut albums, but the boys’ natural talent is evident. This is a great […]
[…] New Kids on the Block’s Hangin’ Tough by Rebecca Wallwork […]
Ha! This was on my list of 14, now I have two, and I might have to give it a try. At first, I didn’t think reading a book about Celine Dion was going to be any good but plenty of people were proven wrong so I’m not going to turn my nose up to anything that comes out of this series. You just have to take it step by step…
Meh….
I think I’ll be skippin’ this one.
ಠ_ಠ