Karen Booth
Here it is…my latest blog experiment. Indulge me or not–it’s my blog. The rules are simple. Fangirls answer questions, readers vote. Everyone gets one vote, voting goes for one week. That’s it! Remember, this is for FUN!
Jennifer Anderson will be defending New Kids on the Block. Karen Booth will be defending Duran Duran. (This sounds official and legally binding on purpose.)
Question #1: What song best symbolizes your love for the band? What is so awesome about that song?
Jennifer/NKOTB: I have to start out by stating this is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. How do you pick just one? I mean, besides having several regular albums they also did a rockin’ Christmas album. But I think the one song that really sums up my love for the band is “Tonight”.
The song recaps some of their favorite songs and their life as a group. “Remember when we said, girl please don’t go. And how I’ll be lovin’ you forever.” “Buttons, the pins and the loud fan fare.” The song was about how much fun they had; the memories. The fans.
Karen/DD: Agreed, Jen. This is a super hard question and I thought it up so you can blame it on me. Alas, we must be good fangirls. I’m going to go old-school and say, “Save a Prayer”. It’s a singular song, especially the way the keyboards and vocals play off each other–dreamy and sexy and ooey gooey oh-so-good.
I know it’s a cliche, but SAP takes me back to my teenage days in a profound way. I hear the opening strains and I can remember exactly what it felt like to be immersed in adolescent longing–especially that deep desire for the most perfect guy ever to fall out of the sky. Preferably a tall, lanky Brit with a dangerously square chin.
Question #2: Video that best represents the true essence of your band and why.
Jennifer/NKOTB: The Right Stuff. First off, it showed all the guys having fun driving around and chilling…hello…fun which was the basis behind the group. They were friends from BeanTown, making music and making all the girls fall in love with them. Then we’re treated to dancing which any girl at the time was imitating.
And if you’re a Joey Mac fan, which we all are, he takes off in the car which shows his true artistic ability. You see, he’s the baby of the group and by far, I think, most talented. And he made all the little girls scream his name when he smiled. Awww.
Karen/DD: I have to pick Rio! It was voted the best video of all time by MTV, after all. It has everything a girl wants in a DD video. Awesome song, exotic locale, funny sub-plots, and the band in suits on a yacht.
Don’t forget the goofy arty bits (broken mirrors, splashing paint, models as tropical birds) and the fact that they’re making fun of themselves for the whole thing. There is nothing more devastating than a self-depricating rock star, mostly because it almost never happens. And the part when the lyrics say, “Tell me something, I know what you’re thinking” and JT is asleep on the boat deck? Fainting now.
Question #3: Favorite member of the band and what you adore about this person.
Jennifer/NKOTB: Joe McIntyre. He was the youngest which put him closer to my age and in my young mind, attainable. Next, you had his sweet boy charm and dimpled smile. He was the quiet shy guy who lived next door and would do anything for you. And his voice. Oh goodness. We watched him grow into his voice and when he did he was like a young Frank Sinatra (which I do believe he was referred to by a time or two).
Karen/DD: John Taylor, heretofore referred to as JT. Ah, le sigh. How do I adequately capture this in such a small space? I will try. First off, insanely good musician. Even non-DD adoring musicians bow to him. References available upon request. A close second, we have the deadly JT smile. Melts me into a puddle on the floor. Did I mention the chin? I suppose I did. Let me mention it again. The CHIN. He’s going to kill someone with that thing if he isn’t careful. After that, the brilliant eyes, the photo-shoot pout, the velvety British accent, the clever witticisms. Le sigh. Again.
Question #4: Craziest thing you ever did as a fan of this band.
Jennifer/NKOTB: Joe loved hats. Weird, crazy hats. My best friend and I bought a straw gambler style hat; something you might have seen someone from around 1904 wearing. We painted the hat and put a big peace sign on the top so when he wore it, yes we thought he’d wear it, he’d look down and share a message of peace to his fans.
Karen/DD: I paid forty dollars for a DD book that was written entirely in Japanese. I bankrolled it by babysitting, and at $1/hour, working only on the weekends, it took forever to save enough. I regularly called the record store to see if they still had it. I’m sure the guys behind the counter had an unkind nickname for me. The highlight of said Japanese DD book? A photo of JT in a teeny tiny bathing suit, standing in a pool, holding a camera. Yep.
Closing Arguments: (Again, legally binding)
Jennifer/NKOTB: New Kids on the Block became a phenomenon. I have the sheets to prove it. They opened the door for the future boy bands of America. You want to hate these groups but we all know you dance around your bedroom naked to their music. With NKOTB, they weren’t fake or pretend to sing like some groups. No they were all musicians, successful musicians with most of them branching out into the music biz on their own. They loved and adored their fans and best of all, they liked each other. They were a family.
Karen/DD: Over 100 million records sold, 21 singles in the Billboard Top 100, 14 singles in the Top 10 of the UK Singles chart. At their height, Duran Duran were a force of change in music, innovating with music videos and technology, fusing fashion and music in a way that few artists have. But now, 34 years after they started, they are still together, putting out their own records and making some of the best music of their career. The line-up is 4/5 of the original, they pack stadiums throughout the world, and have inspired countless contemporary artists. But more than any of that, they love their fans to the ends of the earth and we love them right back.
[poll id=”3″]By a handsome landslide (and I do mean handsome), the winner is Duran Duran! Woot! Thanks to everyone who voted. Stay tuned for more goofy fangirlieness sometime soon.
Jennifer Anderson isn’t just the ultimate NKOTB fangirl. She is also a kickass author! You can learn more about her at jenandersonauthor.com. Karen Booth is occasionally more than a Duran Duran fangirl. Learn more by clicking “About Me” on the top banner of this site.
Woo Hoo! Can you believe I made it all the way to 50 posts for RNRHS? No? Okay, me neither. It’s not very often that a harebrained idea gains any traction, but I suppose there will always be the Flowbees and Bedazzlers of the world and if my blog ever becomes known as a Bedazzler of the Internet, that would be a sparkly crowning achievement. For my 50th RNRHS installment, I invited erotica author Tiffany Reisz to entertain you with her well-groomed word choice and bedazzled turn of phrase. I could go on about what a clever, singular writer she is, but you would be doing everyone a favor if you just sucked it up and bought one of her books. Then I wouldn’t have to explain it and you could get on with the order of the day, which is reading her lovely Air Supply-ish post.
Tiffany Reisz
Owensboro High School, Owensboro, KY, Class of 1996, Currently: I’m a famous Belgian sleuth by day, the scourge of Carpathia on the weekends, and a writer of erotic women’s fiction for MIRA Books when I’m not, you know, sleuthing or scourging. My debut full-length novel THE SIREN, the first book in The Original Sinners series, comes out July 24.
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: I remember the first time I heard “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette off her album Jagged Little Pill. Sophomore year of high school, I was on some stupid trip with my parents. They were snoring up a storm in the hotel room so I was trying to sleep with my Walkman (it’s like an iPod only it holds about ten songs). I’d tuned into some Georgia rock station and heard that intense opening…I…want you to know…that I’m…happy for you…And then those lyrics! And that sexual anger! It was a revelation to hear a line like, “Every time I scratch my nails down someone else’s back I hope you feel it. CAN YOU FEEL IT?” Oh yes, Alanis. I can feel it.
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: My musical tastes were profoundly shaped by my aunts and uncles and much older cousins. My father’s sisters are all singers. So tiny four-year-old Tiffany heard a lot of Eric Carman, Journey, Reo Speedwagon, and all those unattractive late 70s, early 80s bands who could rock the power ballads to the rafters. So when Air Supply came to Owensboro when I was a freshman, I was so there. I got a t-shirt and slept in it often. And like the good virginal nerd I was, me and that t-shirt were Making Love Outta Nothing at All.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: NIRVANA. I didn’t hate them but I didn’t get them either. Not then. Too much disaffected male rage. I liked Smells Like Teen Spirit, but I couldn’t get into grunge. I wasn’t sad enough, I suppose. My big high school crush was on David Letterman. I paid a ton of attention to the OJ trial. I read criminal procedure thriller novels and regency romances. I was a forty-two year old New Jersey housewife trapped in a Kentucky teenager’s body. Grunge and I didn’t have anything to talk about.
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I saw REO Speedwagon in concert with a guy I had a huge crush on. Nothing happened. #gay #theguy #nottheconcert #ittotallyrocked
Best high school make-out song: Believe it or not, this modern power slut was once a True Love Waits virgin back in her high school days. I didn’t date. No boyfriends. No making out. But if I was going to make out with someone in high school, it would have been to Romeo & Juliet by the Indigo Girls. Or Fade Into You by Mazzy Star. Remember Mazzy Star? Yeah, me neither.
You can learn more about Tiffany at tiffanyreisz.com. Her latest book, Immersed in Pleasure, is out now!
Dear Duran Duran,
OMG, I know, this letter is totally late. Looking at my calendar, it’s twenty-seven years late. The thing is, it would have been totally lame if I’d written this in 1985. It would have said, “I love you!” 100 times, written in my loopiest high-school-girl handwriting. I know this because I sent that exact letter to Rick Springfield in 1983 and we all know how that turned out. For Rick, I mean. I’m totally fine.
And let’s be honest. You guys were ridiculously huge in 1985. My fan letter would have made zero impact. After months and months of sold-out monster-domes and groupies galore and ever-flowing-Stoli-fountains, no one would have cared about a heartfelt declaration of adoration from a sixteen-year-old Minnesota girl, no matter how sincerely it may have been written. And my letter would have been off-the-charts sincere.
So let me first say this, regardless of how stunningly adorable any of you may be or how much my still-super-girlie brain cannot resist the oh-so-witty British-isms, the clever interview quips, the penetrating stares into the camera lens, I am proud to say that it’s still about the music.
Back in the day, you were my escape. In my room with the door closed, listening to “Careless Memories” or “My Own Way” or “The Reflex”, it didn’t matter that the boys at my school were lame and didn’t appreciate my punk rock hair. It didn’t matter that I had no idea what to do with my life or that there wasn’t a lot of money or that I may have felt a bit stuck. Music took me to another place, and it was a pretty glamorous kick-ass locale when it was with DD.
There’s no question that DD set me on the more obsessive tangent of my musical path. I’d always been drawn to music, ever a lover if you will, but my early DD fan days taught me to live and breathe it. That led me to the campus radio station in college, which led to my first music industry job, which eventually led me to meet my husband. What if I’d been listening to REO Speedwagon instead? The passion surely would have died. I might be caking on purple sparkly eye shadow, ringing up Big Gulps and Power Ball Tickets, without the most amazing guy ever in my life.
I admit that I fell off the DD wagon for a few years. Little Miss Music Industry Rock Chick gave in to her moments of music snobbery. It wasn’t always a pretty sight. Life changed after I hung up that hat, the hubby and I had kids, and I was sucked into the paradigm shift that parenthood brings. Karma got me back and I spent a few years with stacks of Raffi and The Wiggles CDs in the car. I assure you that my children only like good music now, DD near the top of the list for my thirteen-year-old daughter. The apple does not fall far from the tree.
Here we all are! Totally adorable, I know.
I road-tripped to see you in DC in October. You probably don’t remember. I was the girl you waited for at the end of the meet-and-greet, whose friend had passed out in the hall. Don’t worry, she’s fine, although I think she’s hoping for a rain check on the photo op. Despite the need for EMTs, the experience was awesome…and the Facebook likes when I posted the photos? Forget about it.
The show was incredible, everything I wanted it to be. The old songs sounded even better than when I saw you in 1985, when they were shiny and new. More importantly, the songs from All You Need Is Now (one of my favorite records of 2011, btw) were busting at the seams. The audience sang every word of every song that night—it wasn’t just nostalgia, it was about here and now, which I suppose is the point of your new record. Funny how that works.
And so now, twenty-seven years later, when I say, “I love you!”, it won’t be 100 times. Not because it would be ridiculous for a grown woman to do. Not because I should be spending my day doing more productive things. It’s just that you surely deserve more.
Karen xoxoxo
Here’s something you probably don’t know about me: I’m a singer. No, not like a singer singer. I’m not “for hire” or “talented” or “good”. I just like to sing, all the time, everywhere. I can’t help it. For example, I’m incapable of not singing in the car, unless we’re listening to talk radio, which I avoid at all costs. If my hubby is driving, I turn and mumble-sing (it’s a thing, look it up) into the car window. He would make fun of me if I sang for real, but I can’t keep it in. I’ve got the music in me. Somebody said that once. Regardless, the fabulous Shoshanna Evers is in charge of RNRHS today and even though she wasn’t really singing, she had the guts to get up in front of her school and pretend like she could sing. Which is pretty much what I do in the privacy of my shower every morning. I just want to know one thing. Who else is guilty?
Shoshanna Evers
Typical Suburban NY High School, class of ‘98, currently: I’m an erotica author, syndicated advice columnist, RN, and stay-at-home-mom. My tagline is Sexily *Evers* After…
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: Probably anything by Green Day. That song that goes “I hope you had the time of your life”…
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: I had a Sublime t-shirt that I stole from my older brother. I started listening to them just so I could wear the T-shirt and not be a poser. Although now that I think about it, I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: the Backstreet Boys. (Sorry fellas!) I just couldn’t get why they were so hot.
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I never went to concerts in high school. I did, however, dress up as Posh Spice with a group of my girlfriends dressed as the other Spice Girls, and we lip-synched “Tell Me What You Want (What you Really Really Want)” for a talent show… so that was basically a concert… or not. LOL!
Best high school make-out song: I’m trying so hard to remember the songs I used to make out to in high school, but I can’t remember the music – just the taste of cherry Chapstick mingled with cigarettes, which is what my high school boyfriend used to taste like. I guess I have a different sense-memory when it comes to things like that.
You can learn more about Shoshanna and her Sexily *Evers* After books at shoshannaevers.com. Her latest is Bedhead, available from Ellora’s Cave!
Just so everyone is aware, my blog is not devoted to all things NKOTB. I’m not going to rename it “Hangin’ Tough”. Obviously, I need to circulate a memo that reminds everyone that if we are to perseverate about any band in Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, it shall be Duran Duran. I am in charge, after all. Julie A. Lindsey is today’s resident Block Head, but she threw in some LL Cool J to keep it real and some Color Me Bad to keep it, uh, less real. You know I appreciate both ends of the spectrum. Julie’s got a brand new book out this week, Bloom, which is the first in her Seeds of Love series. Check it out, congratulate her and while you’re at it, tell her that the NKOTB thing is cool–we all have our own unexplained musical preoccupations.
Julie Anne Lindsey
McKinley High School, Canton, Ohio, Class of ’93, Currently: I’m a wife and mother to three nutty offspring, plus I write.
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: LL Cool J. We played “Boomin’ System” so loud, so often, I’m sure I rattled my brain. “Rump Shaker” was also a huge party song and Sir Mix-a-Lot….holy smokes I’m cracking up at my keyboard now, answering these questions and searching YouTube for the videos. Too funny! Oh look, my dork is showing.
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: Tee shirt! I snuck away one weekend with some friends who loved country music (few and far between at my high school) to attend Jamboree in the Hills a HUGE Lollapalooza style country music festival that comes to southern Ohio every year. I was another person that weekend. No R&B. No hip hop. I wore cut off, bleached out jean shorts, some borrowed Justins (super cute boots) and a cut off white tee that said “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.” It was exactly the balance I needed and when I got home, I realized my little world was way smaller than I’d ever thought before. Two hours away there was a whole other culture livin’ life completely untouched by my world. Mind you, I went through the exact same revelation when I arrived at college. LOL. Some lessons we keep learning.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: I never got into Mariah Carey. She’s huge always has been, I know. I just never heard her sing and felt my booty shake. She didn’t/still doesn’t do it for me. LOL
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I have an envelope full of ticket stubs from NKOTB concerts in Ohio! I even saw Kid-n-Play open for them once LOL (Yeah, hip hop was my public face, but I stayed a closet Block Head till the very end) Sadly, I missed their reunion tour last year, but not for lack of trying to find a sitter!
Best high school make-out song: Oh boy. Color Me Bad “Sex You Up.” That song got a LOT of action back then. Not from me of course *blushes* *coughs* but that’s what I heard.
Julie’s sweet romance novella Bloom launched Turquoise Morning Press’s new Honey Creek line this week. Two more in her Seeds of Love series will follow in 2012. You can learn more about her at blog.juliealindsey.com.
