In the 90’s I am not ashamed to admit that I got down to a little bit on The New Kid
s on The Block. The story behind that group is they were produced and managed by a guy named Maurice Starr. Needless to say Maurice Starr branding everything with NKOTB imagry and made himself and everybody around them rich beyond belief. Lou Pearlman owned a commuter airline called Trans Continental Airlines. Mr. Starr would shuttle his boy band across the country and international destinations via Trans Continental. Lou Pearlman saw all the money that could be made in the boy band business and formed The Backstreet Boys, who eventually went on to sell over 100 million records worldwide. Pearlman never regained his foothold on the music industry and it wasn’t from a lack of trying. Man, who could forget the hits of the likes of “O-Town” and “LFO”? So he does what any red blooded American does and…………………….develops some ponzi scheme and bilks people out of 300 million dollars and then runs to Indonesia when the federal government finds him out.
Poor Lou, I can almost smell the excess that was his heyday. Now he has to repay over 300 MILLION dollars in damages and restitution and sit behind bars for 25 years. My Uncle used to tell me when I was younger that, “You can’t make money like this.”. (At which point he would ball his hand into a closed fist) Meaning there has to be an equal exchange of money in and money out. Willing to give money as well as you are to take money. Always be prepared to be generous and know that you cannot take ANY of it with you. The greatest joy I get is the joy that I get from being generous. The greatest gift I ever received was the reaction to a gift that I gave. That being said, I cannot comment on Lou Pearlman as a human being. I can speak with great conviction that I believe his acts to be deplorable. All I can do is be cognizant of 2 things: 1. There will be people in life who can NEVER get enough and you have to live your life for yourself and realize that things that are too good to be true, are ALWAYS to good to be true. 2. That the New Kids on The Block spawned more than one bad thing in the 90’s, they gave us Lou Pearlman.
Tags: Backstreet Boys, boy bands, Lou Pearlman, New Kids on The Block, Nsync, Ponzi scheme
July 18, 2008 at 7:26 am
Haha! Hi! Just blog hopping. You forgot one thing though: New Kids on the Block also spawned a generation of strong-minded, goodwilled, drug-free individuals! Can’t forget that!
July 18, 2008 at 5:37 pm
The history of commerce shows that there is always someone with a self esteem in the toilet. That is the only reason that people “can’t get enough” and will go to any length to be top dog. Nice topic. I will be sure to share with my kid. And maybe you can let her hear some NKOTB the next time you see her (at the next Perfect Business event?).