Right now, the once-dominant and now-reunited boy band New Kids On The Block are the kings of the nostalgia circuit. This summer, the New Kids will hit arenas across America on their second Mixtape Tour, and the bill will also feature late-’80s and early-’90s stars Salt-N-Pepa, En Vogue, and Rick Astley. (Presumably, the inclusion of both Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue means that we’ll get a “Whatta Man” performance every night, which sounds fun.) Today, the New Kids have rounded up all those Mixtape Tour acts for a new single and, more importantly, a new video.

New Kid Donnie Wahlberg co-wrote and co-produced the new single “Bring Back The Time,” an uptempo dance-pop track that’s all about nostalgia. The song mostly serves as an excuse for the video to exist. In the John Asher-directed clip, all of those artists re-create scenes from a bunch of classic early-MTV videos: “Separate Ways,” “Whip It,” “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” “Rebel Yell,” “Addicted To Love,” “Mickey,” “Vogue,” etc. (Most of those clips predate the era when the New Kids and their collaborators were stars, but this is about vibe, not historical accuracy.)

The humor here is low-hanging fruit, but, I mean, it’s definitely fun to see the circa-2022 New Kids On The Block wearing Devo flowerpots and Twisted Sister wigs. These guys know that their audience wants a specific thing, and they are going to supply that thing.

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