"Step by Step" is a song by American boyband

New Kids on the Block New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoy ...

, released on May 10, 1990 as the first single from the album of the same name (1990). It is the group's biggest-selling hit single. The lead vocals were sung by Jordan Knight. Danny Wood sang "Step 1", Donnie Wahlberg sang "Step 2", Jordan Knight sang "Step 3",

Joey McIntyre Joseph Mulrey McIntyre (born December 31, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the youngest member of the pioneering boy band, New Kids on the Block. He has sold over one million records worldwide as a solo ar ...

sang "Step 4", and

Jonathan Knight Jonathan Rashleigh Knight-Rodriguez (born November 29, 1968) is an American singer. He is best known for being a member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. It also includes Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood and his younger brother ...

sang "Step 5". "Step by Step" was initially recorded by one of

Maurice Starr Larry Curtis Johnson (born July 14, 1953), better known by his stage name Maurice Starr, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work creating songs and albums with boy bands New Edition and New Kids on ...

's other groups, The Superiors. It was released as a single in 1987 on

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

but it was not successful. The New Kids cover of the song on the other hand was a huge worldwide hit, becoming one of the biggest selling singles of 1990. The New Kids on the Block's cover spent three weeks at No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was eventually

certified platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

; it also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the

Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart was a chart compiled by the American-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan, which began publication in November 1996. It was published every Wednesday and also published on Thursday by ''Jam!''/Canoe. It ...

, in total "Step by Step" spent five weeks at No. 1 in the

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n charts. It also peaked at No. 2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and was also a top 10 hit in the Australian, French, West German, Irish and Norwegian charts.

Critical reception

Bill Coleman from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' wrote, "Unstoppable teen idols preview upcoming album of the same name with a perky pop/dance confection rife with

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

-era string fills. The phenomenon continues." A reviewer from ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

'' felt in a review of the album, that "the music, all written or co-written by the group's conceiver

, is in fact better in spots than on their previous effort", noting that the song is "funkier". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' described it as "a peppy reintroduction to the group that breaks up its generalized pledges of devotion with quick spots from each member, one-liners coyly called "ad libs" on the lyric sheet, although they're faithfully printed. (Nothing but nothing on this record happens by chance.)"

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "Step by Step" was directed by American director Larry Jordan. Donnie Wahlberg's brother

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Mark Wahlberg, multiple accolades, including a B ...

also appears in the video.

Track listings

* US and Canada 7-inch single #"Step by Step" - 4:27 #"Valentine Girl" - 3:57 * CD single #"Step by Step" - 4:27 #"Valentine Girl" - 3:57 *Maxi-CD #"Step by Step" (Radio Edit) - 3:59 #"Step by Step" (LP Version) - 4:27 #"Step by Step" (12" Club Remix) - 5:25

Impact and legacy

"Step by Step" was voted #4 in a Smash Hits poll of "Best Boyband songs...Ever" and also made the list of the top 30 Guilty Pleasures on About.com's music site. The song was voted #7 in a viewer poll of the greatest

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...

/ girl band songs on New Zealand show ''UChoose40''. It was also voted #1 in a viewer poll of the greatest Guilty Pleasures on the same show. In August 2007, it was confirmed that "Step by Step" would be part of a 30-song track list in the new edition of the '' SingStar'' series titled ''

SingStar 90s The following is a list of '' SingStar'' games released for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The tables list the songs available in each game, with the country of availability indicated by two-letter country codes. For games that were locali ...

'', a karaoke style game on classic '90s songs. Furthermore, it was chosen as part of a 32-track dance game in November 2009 for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...

, called '' Just Dance''. In January 2015, ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

'' magazine's TV Channel placed it at #17 in their "Greatest Boyband Anthems" countdown.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Joey McIntyre discusses "Step By Step"
- RetroRewind interview * {{Authority control 1987 songs 1987 singles 1990 singles New Kids on the Block songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Columbia Records singles Songs written by Maurice Starr Song recordings produced by Maurice Starr