Big New Kids On The Block News, Everyone

If you're both a New Kids On The Block and Mark Wahlberg fan, trust me — you're gonna wanna sit down for this one, because it's a lot to take in. So, ICYMI, Wahlberg is currently is on his Ted 2 press tour and seriously shaking things up — something that, apparently, includes rejoining his former New Kids on the Block bandmates during a performance of theirs at Madison Square Garden in NYC Monday night. While he didn’t actually perform with them (womp, womp) it was still pretty awesome to see Wahlberg reunited with the group he got his start with — you know, before he went solo as Marky Mark and produced hits like "Good Vibrations."

Like I said: For New Kids On The Block fans, this is likely a lot to take in. And, in case you’re thinking, “OH MAN, how cool would that have been if Wahlberg had stuck around with New Kids On The Block instead of going solo!” let me just stop you there. Time travel is fun in theory, but, as Back to the Future's Doc Brown once so wisely said, messing with the history of anything — especially this infamous boy band — would have SERIOUS repercussions on the present. In New Kids On The Block's case, it would have messed with how they made it, what they sounded like, and who was in the band from the start. (Like Joey, for instance, who was picked to REPLACE Mark Wahlberg as the front man of NKOTB. Can you imagine a world in which Joey McIntyre was NOT the baby face front runner of New Kids on the Block? I can’t, and I don’t want to.)

So before you get excited about Mark Wahlberg being the front man of your favorite early '90s boy band, you should know how having him there would have changed New Kids On The Block forever:

No More Joey McIntyre

This alone is reason enough for me to be grateful that Wahlberg left early on to pursue his solo career. I was a Jordan Knight girl myself, but just imagine all of the millions of girls who would have never had Joey in their lives. That would have been seriously tragic.

Their Sound

Without the Michael Jackson qualities of Joey McIntyre’s dancing and vocal range, a lot of the New Kids On The Block songs we know and love wouldn’t have happened. “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)," anyone?

Their Image

Would Funky Bunch bottoms have happened if Marky Mark had stuck around?

Their Style

Would Wahlberg have put up with the bubblegum boy band pop? Knowing his solo work, I'm willing to bet the group would have veered more toward hip-hop and rap.

So as awesome as it is to imagine Wahlberg — as big as he is now — having been apart of New Kids On The Block, having him in the group probably would have completely changed their history. Just like the saying goes: things work out the way they do for a reason.

Check out Wahlberg's reunion with New Kids On The Block below.

Image: Giphy (4)