Though musically defunct, the New Kids on the Block have nailed down a place in the medical archives for their ability to topple teenage fans.
Two German doctors, of unspecified age but determined to probe the "neglected" topic of mass fainting at rock concerts, hung out in the first-aid area during a Berlin appearance of the New Kids. The Boston-based band broke up last year.As about 400 fans were brought in after fainting, the doctors interviewed 40 females aged 11 to 17, many of whom "were still breathing rapidly" and appeared to have had panic attacks or hyper-ventilated. Writing in the current New England Journal of Medicine, the physicians report that the New Kids' dramatic effect on the over-amped teens was exacerbated by too little sleep and food, too much standing and screaming and having been squeezed among the "pushing masses."
Thomas Lempert of the Universitatsklinikum Rudolf Virchow and Martin Bauer of the Freie Universitat Berlin conclude that the preventives for "rock concert syncope," or fainting, are those things teenage fans are least likely to do: "Sleep, eat, sit, keep cool and stay out of the crowd."
- Richard Saltus