Jordan Knight has a Top 10 song, a fan-favorite video on MTV and a summer tour on tap, but here's how he knows he's made a comeback: The girls are screaming again.

Six years ago, Knight left the New Kids on the Block -- that hugely successful pop group turned pop culture punch line -- and he had good reason to doubt he would hear the girls cry his name again. In 1995, after all, boy bands were record sales poison.

"I always thought, 'It can happen again,'" Knight said. "But I wasn't sure how I could make it come true."

Mr. Knight, welcome to 1999, the era of the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and 98 Degrees.

Youth pop is back in force and a strange "old school" credibility has been lent to veterans of past boy bands: In addition to Knight, there's Ricky

Martin (Menudo), Joey McIntyre (another New Kid) and Robbie Williams (Take That).

For Knight, who spent four years searching for a sound for his debut solo effort, the timing couldn't be better for a return.

His self-titled album landed in stores this week and the first single, "Give It to You," has a funky stutter beat and a "Grease"-inspired video that is drawing thousands of fans -- mostly young, mostly female -- to his public appearances.

"The music landscape changing to more pop music definitely is helping me out like crazy," Knight said, although, he adds, the clutter on that landscape is an odd sight. "When it was the New Kids, there was only one group; we didn't have to share with anybody. It was just us, that was it."

The New Kids story has been cited as a template by the music moguls and managers behind the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, but it's also a lesson in how pop fads can quickly wilt.

The Boston native's return to the pop music spotlight began in earnest

In Miami in February when he was invited to sing "Give It to Me" to a beery crowd at a radio station-sponsored concert. The station was the only one in the country playing the soon-to-be hit, and Knight was so ill-prepared for a live gig that his set consisted of the same song sung twice.

"He was really nervous, really quiet on the way to the show," recalls Miguel Melendez, Knight's manager. "He was excited, but you don't know how the audience is going to respond. ... People thrive when icons fail or flop. They love it when you're down."

And what happened?

"They loved him," Melendez said. "It was a great moment watching him from the side of the stage."