If you were a teen or preteen in the late '80s and early '90s, just thinking about New Kids on the Block probably conjures memories. Maybe you liked the boy band during its heyday, maybe you didn't. Anyhow, the group's back together and touring with material from a new CD, The Block –as well as its hits, of course.

The Kids – Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood – are headed our way. In honor of NKOTB's Sunday show at American Airlines Center, some of our staffers are sharing their memories of the band.

It was almost 18 years ago when my mother took my best friend and me (and my unhappy brother) to see New Kids on the Block at Reunion Arena. I was 13, and in love – love – with Joey McIntyre.

Bridgette Williams

Yes, the show was great. And, yes, I cried. All that was cool, but the best part was going to school the day after, decked out head to toe in official NKOTB concert swag: a sweatshirt, buttons as big as my head pinned to my acid-washed jeans, a jaunty black-and-neon painter's cap and a cute little NKOTB bandana. While everyone else was rocking out in the big-hair-band era of Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses, I proudly went against the grain and supported my first in a long line of boy-band crushes.

Now I'm 30, and I have to say, not much has changed. New Kids on the Block are back to star again in another momentous moment of my life. This reunion tour is the first one by a band I grew up with. I was a little young for the New Edition era, too old for the Backstreet Boys, but Danny, Donnie, Jon, Jordan and Joey are a major part of the soundtrack of my youth.

So if they're reuniting, does that mean I'm getting old? Possibly. But now I understand why people pay megabucks to see the Stones or the Police. While NKOTB might not be on the level of those bands, my 1990s Fab Five did give me songs to laugh to, dance to, cry to and, most of all, to just be a giggly preteen to.

The best thing about Sunday's show? The reason I'll be there? For the chance to feel like a giggly preteen again myself, maybe shed a tear or two, while screaming myself hoarse singing songs that still bring a smile to my face. That, and knowing the guys will be as happy to see me as I am to see them.

And, OMG, if I'm close enough for Joey to look right at me, I just might faint for good measure. If Joey's busy, Danny's my new, grown-up fave. Hello, tattoos and biceps.

David Ninh

There's a reason why I have a very thick skin. I had to quickly develop it at a young age. In May 1989, around fourth grade, I did a very brave thing. I proudly wore my brand-new New Kids on the Block T-shirt to school. A lot of whining to my mother had ensued the previous week at the Spencer's at the mall over the $14.99 shirt. A pleading promise to vacuum the house for an entire month finally settled it. I will spare the cringe-inducing details of the insults that showered me throughout that day.

Quite honestly, nothing really deterred my devotion to the biggest band on Earth at the time. Whenever I jammed out to my Hangin' Tough Live VHS tape, I squealed just as loudly as the lucky girls on the television. When my brother threw my Step by Step cassette tape into the toilet after I screamed at him, I fought back tears as I explained to my parents why I had to get a new one because the cover art was soaked. I painstakingly plastered smiling images torn from Teen Beat all over my bedroom wall, and rearranged accordingly as new ones came each month.

David Ninh in his New Kids shirt, 1989

Countless handwritten fan letters may have gone unanswered, yet I continued to write religiously. Yes, I was keenly aware that it was a girl Joey was pleading to when he crooned "Please Don't Go Girl," but that didn't matter to me. I still propped that huge, round button featuring my favorite New Kids' mug next to my bed. So when I recently told friends that I was going to the reunion concert at the age of (gulp) 29, they may have rolled their eyes and laughed, but you know what? I've been an out-of-the-closet New Kids fan since the beginning, and I can't wait to see them.

I'll be loving you forever, New Kids on the Block!

The New Kids on the Block concert at Reunion Arena should have been a highlight of my childhood. But the truth is I don't remember it. I know I was there, but did I squeal when Joey sang a solo part, do the "Hangin' Tough" dance in my seat, sleep in my concert T-shirt that night? No clue.

Shannon Sutlief

What I do remember about my time as an NKOTB fanatic is the camaraderie. In a new school in a new state, I didn't feel like I belonged until the New Kids united the majority of my female classmates. Thanks to Donnie, Danny, Joey, Jordan and Jon, this new kid on the block felt like an old friend – finally. My newfound pals and I spent recesses and lunch periods gushing over the latest copies of Bop and Teen Beat , fighting over who was marrying which band member and sickening everyone within hearing range.

I stayed a loyal fan, with a bedroom full of merchandise to prove it, through the Hangin' Tough tour, but by the time the follow-up album Step by Step was released, I was infatuated with another boy band and its new album: Depeche Mode and Violator. All right, so Depeche Mode wasn't technically a boy band, but my girlish glee for DM's Martin Gore was no less consuming than my previous crush on Joey McIntyre. The difference? I remember the Depeche Mode concert and nearly two decades later, I'd go see the band again. But I'm sitting out the New Kids reunion. I have my memories; I don't need a concert ticket.

I couldn't believe it. Jordan Knight was coming to my hometown. OK, not to my hometown, but to Little Rock, 70 miles away – and that was close enough. I piled in the Astro van with the majorette squad and we flew up Interstate 30, visions of Joey, Jonathan, Jordan, Danny and Donnie dancing in my head. This was my first concert, blocking out Kenny Rogers with my parents and third-grade teacher.

Jason Sheeler

I was running on adrenalin, having spent all night ripping and bleaching my jeans and practicing my "Hangin' Tough" wave. I was hoping to be plucked from the crowd, à la Courteney Cox in that Bruce Springsteen video. Unhappy with our seats ("How is he supposed to find me up here?"), I pouted through Exposé's opening set, ready for the moment Jordan would Roger Rabbit into my life. The lights went down, I stood up. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh – hangin' tough!" the boys chimed. My heart raced, my big moment approached. "What's up, Memphis?" Jordan asked.

Needless to say, I didn't make it onstage. Jordan didn't even know where he was.