With 40th birthdays creeping up, and nine children between them, it’s understandable why the members of New Kids on the Block have done exactly what all disbanded bands do after a decade or so hiatus…which is to put their differences (and solo attempts) behind them and give their all-growed-up-now fans what they’ve been waiting for: a reunion tour. However, the New Kids have hit the road with not only their suitcase full of well-worn hits but also the 14 new tracks that make up their 2008 album, The Block. Fourteen new tracks that the New Kids, for the most part, have written themselves — a new concept for the kids, whose original success was achieved by singing tracks written, for the most part, by pop songwriter and master producer Maurice Starr.

If I were a New Kid On The Block, the one most important question I’d be asking myself, before dusting off the old vibrato and climbing back on that bus for the reunion tour, would be: Does anyone really want to hear this new album we wrote?

An old band’s new album is not always a tricky sell. For instance, when Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers played a few new tunes at the Hollywood Bowl in July, people clapped just as loudly as they had when they played “American Girl.” While Petty’s melodies were new, his song remained the same in that he was just doing what he’d always done: playing jangly guitar riffs he’d written himself on an instrument he’d played for years. Likewise, pretty much any Cure fan will buy pretty much any new Cure album out of appreciation of the fact that Robert Smith and his lipstick have been setting ethereal depression to music for over 30 years now.

As far as the New Kids (and most pop “bands” like them) are concerned, it’s a bit of a different situation. Their fans loved them for their faces, voices, dance moves, and stage presence — not for their songwriting. You could say that the New Kids fans loved the New Kids for other people’s songwriting. So it’s going to be very interesting to see how fans react to the reunion tour this fall. Will the 30-year-old women who danced to the Maurice Starr-penned hits like “Cover Girl” or “The Right Stuff” back when they was still wearing BodyGlove leggings still be dancing when they hear the new Donnie Wahlberg penned groove “Sexify My Love?”

I’m not sure, but the one thing I’ll say for the New Kids is that I admire their bravery. Regardless of whether or not they’ve got the right stuff to write their own songs for their reunion tour, they’re at least giving it a shot…which is more than can be said for The Spice Girls, who played it safe by giving their fans what they wanted (what they really really wanted) — a reunion tour with no risky new material.