We need a little Christmas: New Kids on the Block, The Boys and *NSYNC
It's the holiday battle of the boybands!
With “We need a little Christmas,” I’m looking at individual holiday singles/albums throughout the year, both because I just love such music, and because we could all use some seasonal cheer/spirit year-round.
New Kids on the Block were the biggest boy band to hit the U.S. since — probably the Osmonds? And they were big, like two-albums-in-the-top-10 big when that wasn’t really a thing (1989). They were so big they could release a single from their Merry, Merry Christmas album and see it become the first top 10 holiday single on the Hot 100 in decades. And it received radio airplay; this wasn’t just a payola hit. I distinctly remember hearing it in top 40 rotation during the cusp-of-the-’90s holidays. I’ll defend “Children,” too — while much of Merry isn’t, that one is a solid single. Cheesy and schmaltzy but sweet and smartly produced.
Nearly a decade after the New Kids’ heyday, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC became America’s newest teen dreams. Backstreet never released a holiday album during their peak moment, but *NSYNC did, and what do you know: at Christmas 1998, their Home for Christmas did for them what New Kids had done nine years prior, giving them a pair of albums in the top 10 (alongside their debut). Its single, like “Children” an original composition, was “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays,” and while it didn’t make the Hot 100, it did receive plenty of rotation on MTV; on their final airplay listing of the year, it was ranked #25. Refreshingly, it’s an uptempo holiday record, a rarity especially at the time. Is it great? No. Is it cute enough and listenable? It is. And unlike Justin Timberlake’s other “holiday” song, it’s suitable for all ages.
Then there’s the one you may not know, another 1989 single, this from the R&B boyband the Boys. They were a quartet of brothers signed to Motown whose first two singles, “Dial My Heart” and “Lucky Charm” were both helmed by no less than L.A. Reid and Babyface. Both topped the R&B chart, the former also hitting #13 pop, and they briefly looked like a new-gen New Edition. Despite another #1 and a further five top 15 R&B hits, that didn’t happen, but they did give us a charming holiday record about not leaving Christmas spirit just to the holidays. Produced by L.A. & ‘Face association Dallas Austin and former Klymaxx member Joyce Irby, “Christmas Cheer” was included on the 1989 generically titled Motown Christmas Album, and honestly it outshines both the New Kids and *NSYNC singles. It’s upbeat but never feels artificially so, and I wish it were better known.