Around the turn of the millennium, there was an explosion of what’s been termed teen pop with the rise of the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and others. In truth, however, this was not a new phenomenon. In the 1920s, young people in Harlem and elsewhere took to night spots to do the Lindy Hop and other jazz inspired dances; this music and dance morphed into Swing, led by the likes of Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman. In the ’40s, teenagers were screaming for “Frankieboy” Sinatra, and, a decade later, it was the youth that propelled Elvis and rock & roll to international acclaim. By the early ’60s, pop was being consciously marketed to teens with the likes of Fabian and Frankie Avalon; and then came the Beatles crashing into American shores. If you view old clips from those 1964 Ed Sullivan Show appearances, the screaming girls all look to be about 12 or 13 years old.

            Fast forward to England in the mid-’90s and the Spice Girls phenomenon, while in the U.S. we had Beyoncé’s girl group springboard, Destiny’s Child. I still recall a trio of my California middle school students doing an arresting imitation of their 2001 hit “Survivor.” The two biggest boy bands by the year 2000 were the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, both put together with the help of music mogul and, as it turned out, world class crook Lou Pearlman, who ultimately died in federal prison. The Backstreet Boys had a massive LP in 1999, Millennium, featuring the group’s five-part vocal harmony; their biggest hit, “I want It That Way,” is still regularly heard. NSYNC, which spawned the massively successful career of Justin Timberlake, had a huge album in 2000, No Strings Attached, which featured the hit single “It’s Gonna Be Me.”

            Perhaps nobody had a bigger breakout moment at this time, however, than Britney Spears.  Like Timberlake, Britney was a former “Mouseketeer.” At 17, she released her massive debut single,”…Baby One More Time,” with the cringe-worthy lyrics, and she was on her way. Her first two albums sold massively, as did the singles “Oops!…I Did It Again,” “Toxic,” and “Gimme More.” Britney rapidly morphed from her early teenage mix of innocence and eroticism to a more obvious sexualized persona that, nevertheless, failed to mask the troubling personal issues that she was forced to confront. Hot on Britney’s heels came Christina Aguilera, likewise an alumna of The All New Mickey Mouse Club, with a self-titled 1999 debut smash album and the “provocative” hit single “”Genie in a Bottle.” Initially not quite the media sensation Britney was, Christina has had real staying power, in part, no doubt, because she has a truly remarkable four-octave voice.

            There were, of course, more teen idols to come—notably Justin Bieber and BTS, but that’s a topic for another day.

            Steve Williams (11/9/23) Greatest Recording Artists Blog Post #61