How New Kids on the Block’s Song ‘Step By Step’ Became Their Biggest Success Following a Failure

on the Hot 100 on June 30, 36 years ago today. The song spent three weeks at the top spot and 15 weeks on the charts, making it the band’s biggest-selling single of all time. Unfortunately for them, it would also be the New Kids’ final single to reach that No. 1 position. The album, meanwhile, went 3x Platinum; while an impressive accomplishment, that was still less than half the performance of their prior release.

While a smash hit for NKOTB, “Step By Step” was originally recorded and released by another group a couple of years prior. Producer Maurice Starr, who created the New Kids, actually wrote the song in 1987 for a Boston R&B group called the Superiors. The group released the single with Motown, but it failed to take off. “The company thought it was a dud. Even some radio stations said it’s not a hit record,” Starr recalled. Starr then recycled the song for the New Kids, a move that clearly worked out in their favor. The Superiors, meanwhile, released their only album, Perfect Timing, in 1990, to no fanfare.

The relationship between New Kids and Starr, however, wouldn’t last much longer. A lip-syncing scandal followed the release of the Step by Step album, before the group cut ties with Starr for their next studio album, 1994’s Face the Music. That album was a flop for NKOTB, leading to a hiatus that lasted until 2008. Since then, they’ve released three additional albums and continue to tour.