It‰’s the start of Spring break, and for more obvious reasons than one (i.e. ‰ÛÒ temperamental climate) everyone has a legitimate reason to get out of the place we call home for the four years or so. Spring break brings along images of beaches, red skin, warm and tropical weather, beer-guzzling antics, days of blacking out, and other pursuits not related to academia.

My spring break started off on the wrong foot, with a slightly delayed flight and the worst meal I‰’ve had for a long while. No thanks to a hungry stomach and lack of veritable public transport, I ordered very mediocre Chinese food, which seemed like a perfectly good idea till hindsight and a wave of nausea kicked in. While whining about such misery, this song jumped to mind.

LFO ‰ÛÒ Summer Girls‰Û¬

“New Kids On The Block / Had a bunch of hits / Chinese food makes me sick‰” — This song was a hit back in 1999, and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. And of course, that was the period of the boyband.

Poster boys with hair slicked with gel and questionable music videos, they were the staple of radio and MTV coverage with their formulaic pop tunes and songs with cheesy lyrics but somehow managed to get you to sing along (back in the day).

Hanson ‰ÛÒ MMMBop

This trio confused me because I could only make out three girls in the music video when it premiered, and never got to understand why my sister were so crazy about them. I just could not put my finger on her bizarre obsession with them. Today, their 1997 debut major label album Middle of Nowhere is unashamedly still on my iPod.

*NSync ‰ÛÒ Pop‰Û¬

Pop shouldn‰’t even be an NSync song, given all the limelight to Justin Timberlake. And of course, you have the little funny choreographed dance segment in such a video. And then to round it off, more Justin Timberlake at the end with what seems like a quasi-attempt to be artsy.

Backstreet Boys ‰ÛÒ As Long As You Love Me‰Û¬

Everyone knows this group, so there is no introduction necessary. I loved this song when it hit the MTV Video charts, and still do. (And the pained expression on all of them still cracks me up).

New Kids on the Block ‰ÛÒ Step by Step

Fun fact about this popular boyband in the late 80s/early 90s? April 24, 1989 was declared “New Kids on the Block Day‰” by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. NKOTB apparently has a reunion tour slated for Summer 2014, with venues in Europe. Boybands are definitely not the in-thing today, but their music and members have their place in music history (whether good or bad). Of course, there were so many others (All-4-One, Boyzone, Blue, A1, Westlife, MLTR)‰Û_