Good Vibrations

About this song

Donnie Wahlberg wrote the song with his brother Mark and friend Amir Quadeer "MC Spice" Shakir, fulfilling a promise he had made to Mark while on tour with New Kids On The Block. The demo was passed along to Interscope Records, which signed Mark and had the brothers record a full album. The track samples Loleatta Holloway's "Love Sensation," and the Wahlbergs credited her on the release, invited her to appear in the music video, and had her perform with them live on The Arsenio Hall Show. The song reached number one in the US, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland in fall 1991, was certified Gold in the US, and Billboard ranked it the 20th song of 1991.

What it's about

The song is about the promise Donnie made to his brother Mark, who had once been part of New Kids On The Block and had since struggled in his youth. It was written as a way for Donnie to follow through on that promise.

Fun facts

• Samples “Love Sensation by Loleatta Holloway” and “Hot Pants (Bonus Beats) by Bobby Byrd”.
• Sampled in 4 other songs, like “Feel The Vibrator by Dirt Nasty”.
• Covered once, including “Good Vibrations by Glee Cast”.
• Written by Mark Wahlberg, Donnie Wahlberg, M.C. Spice and Dan Hartman.
• Produced by Donnie Wahlberg.