Morning Upper - It's Little Ricky!

TNG contributor Philip submitted this post.

Mornings suck. So every morning TNG brings you a fun video to ease the pain.

The time: 1985.
The band: Puerto Rican teenybop sensation Menudo.
The song: their second English language hit, and the only one that dented the pop charts, “Hold Me.”
The video:

Streamers! Balletic twirls! A singer so overemotional he looks like he’s having a hernia! Booty shorts! Belly shirts! A thirty-year-old actress playing a teenager! Choreographed athletic feats! A dance line!

And is that…? Could it be…? Yes! A thirteen-year-old Ricky Martin wearing his butchest pink shirt and imitating a heterosexual!

What are we supposed to make of all this?

Lead singer Robby Rosa went on to write “Livin’ La Vida Loca” for his good friend Ricky, so in watching this video, we’re actually present at the creation of a future international phenomenon.

And on a personal note: when I was a high school English teacher, I occasionally used to throw up a funny video on the TV on Fridays as each class filtered in. The week I chose "Hold Me," a Puerto Rican student of mine walked in, looked up at the TV, and smiling broadly at me, exclaimed, "Mr. Clark! That's Robby Rosa!" He'd never seen this video before, but for whatever reason, he knew a teenaged Robby Rosa on sight. Another of the curious moments from my former career.