TO CELEBRATE THE RECENT RELEASE OF OUR 33 1/3 ON HANGIN’ TOUGH, WE’RE PLEASED TO BRING YOU THE FOURTH AND FINAL INSTALLMENT OF NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK WEEK BY AUTHOR REBECCA WALLWORK!
In my book, one of the main factors I consider when exploring why Hangin’ Tough was so successful is the music videos.
Blockheads are intimately familiar with each step and breath of these videos for the singles from Hangin’ Tough. But for anyone who isn’t aware of the backstory of the two different videos for the song “Please Don’t Go Girl,” here’s visual proof of just how much power the right music video had in terms of making your song a hit in the ‘80s. (You won’t even need sound for this comparison, trust me.)
This was the opening of the first, low-budget video NKOTB producer Maurice Starr cobbled together money for and shopped to BET:
Compare that to this video for the same song, paid for by CBS Records once the single started to get airplay:
Romance, Roxbury, MA-style:
vs. flirtation out at Coney Island:
Imagine if NKOTB had stuck with this as their only shot at fame:
Thank god for record label cash, talented video directors and second chances!
Full videos
Early Version:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8LJKIyxmqM&nohtml5]
Hit-making Version:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2txArOEsLPc&nohtml5]
