Looking back on the past is usually a good thing.

But not when the part of your past you remember includes the New Kids on the Block. While I was searching for stories related to Jordan (as in the lovely, little Minnesota city that I cover for the local newspaper), I stumbled on this MySpace page today: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=42981202 .

I can't believe that Jordan Knight still has so-called fans.

All I remember about the band most recently known as NKOTB is the group of giddy girls who a dozen years ago or so came over to my parents' house for one of my sister's teenage birthday parties. One of the presents was a New Kids video featuring several ear-wrenching songs with gag-me-with-a-butter-knife scenes of the band members playing on a playground and doing the same old choreography.

The girls ate it up, though. They screamed all night.

My sister also owns a knockoff Barbie doll meant to look like Jordan Knight. Ha!