Discuss: Time for 90's Teen Pop to come back?

[Bob Loblaw]

Ooops They did it again?

As pop hits make their way from Top 40 to Hot AC to AC to Classic Rock or Oldies over the course of the years, almost every major genre of music resurfaces at some point-no matter how stigmatized it might be considered at its ebb. The disco hits of the late '70s were only a few years old when a backlash drove them off the radio around 1980. It took nearly two decades, but eventually "Stayin' Alive" and "Get Down Tonight" did become AC staples, and suddenly it was hard to remember just how completely they had disappeared from the radio, or how controversial it would have been to play them. Same goes for the hair band music of the late '80s.

But there are a handful of genres that usually disappear from the radio and never come back:

One is the (usually AC'ish) pop music from Top 40's most fallow periods, particularly the early '80s and early '90s. A few titles-"Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes or "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes, say--have gurgled forth, but I'm not expecting to hear "Say You'll Be Mine" by Christopher Cross or even "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John back on the radio anytime soon. During its ebbs, Top 40 doesn't have the same agenda-setting power over listeners' memories or emotions that, say, disco did for a year or two.

The other music that remains conspicuous by its absence is the teen pop of the '70s and '80s. Even when those eras got their respective Oldies formats, you could pretty well count on not hearing Bobby Sherman, the Osmonds, the Bay City Rollers, Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, or, later, New Kids on the Block. (I have encountered "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family since Oldies programmers became more determined to find anything from the '70s they could play-but not that often.)

So what then will happen to the teen pop of the late '90s? It's been more than a decade since Hanson and the Spice Girls broke through, followed shortly thereafter by the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and Britney Spears. Like Disco, the explosion of teen pop lasted about three years-a year or so longer than Rollermania or the New Kids' hit streak, much longer than Shaun and Leif-and took on a much greater magnitude because of the sheer number of acts involved and their multi-platinum sales success.

[Zak Tyler]

great topic!!!!!!!

my feelings are simply yes, it has the potential to make it back at some point. imo, that point isn't anytime in the near future. maybe in 5-7 years when the "tweens" of that age hit their early 30's, then we'll see another new format similar to the "movin'" format, but focused on the women of that age. i also wouldn't be surprised at some point to hear some oldies stations start playing the teen stuff from the 70's. or even one of the jack, bob, bill, fred, john, bart, tallywhacker stations to, once their current novelty wears off (which we're starting to see already), morph into a "we play anything" station targeting even older people.


ok, now that i think more about that last statement, why would a new station wanna target even older people.... but the concept is there somewhere.... just don't have the brain cells to spare on it at this point in my day

[The People's DJ]

Discuss: Time for 90's Teen Pop to come back?

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Big Media]

With all the 90's specific "channels" on satellite radio and on virtually every major internet radio/music service such as Launchcast, Napster, Rhapsody, and the like, it never really went away.

Will it make a comeback on radio? I say likely not. Most of that generation (primarily females who are now in their mid-20s) has already moved on to the cheesy coffee house crap.

That whole generation of now 25-year-olds is just strange to me. I grew up exactly 5 years ahead of them and I do not, nor have I ever, listened to the crap that they listen too, or shop in those bazaar stores at the mall that sell that emo shit, or drive around in souped up golf carts (hybrids).

I dunno.. Maybe I'm just old.

[side note]

I spotted one of those emo chicks at the local swimmin' hole the other day. She was swimming in an ankle length dress and a bikini top. She had the potential to be damn cute but she looked ridiculous. I don't get it!

[/side note]

[SPIKE NESMITH!]

Yes, but it should start at the far end and work forward gradually. And it should only be in mild rotation.

[Ace Purple]

There is some great 90s pop music out there. But the teen pop stuff from most any era is problematic for a number of reasons, two of which are:

-It tends to hit a very narrow slice of the demo (from 1990, for every 13 year old girl who remember NKOTB, there was an 8 year old too young to "get it" and an 18 year old too old to care about them; they're all in the same 18-49 and 25-54 demos now.) And guys generally will have an adverse reaction to teen pop music from their early teen years, at least from my experience.

-Much of it sounds *very* dated. "The Right Stuff" and "Bye Bye Bye" didn't exactly age well.

[fearpeddler]

2 words :

HELL NO

[Dave Allen]

I think the "oh wow" factor would come into play a great deal with this format. "Oh wow, I forgot how catchy that MMMM Bop song was!"

Ok, now I don't want to hear it again for ANOTHER 15 years.

[Big Media]

"Oh wow, I forgot how catchy that MMMM Bop song was!"

OFF YOURSELF!

[AmpedNow]

CHR may be ripe for a pop comeback. Besides JT and Rihanna, nobody is really setting anything off now. Hip-hop has lost its dominance, and the charts are clogged full of emo-ternative. Something has to give soon.

There are some very poppy tracks out there currently that are getting some traction. Jupiter Rising, Aly & AJ, The Click 5, and Hilary Duff all have new material. But I don't know how well their singles are testing.

In summary, yes, it will be back, because hip-hop and emo-ternative are getting played out.

[Radio Guy]

Is it coming back???
It's already here again, try listening to The SUMMIT
in Summersville. Just because Huntington is behind
the times, dosen't mean us hillbillies in central WV
don't know how to party!

[ashton]

Let me preface this by saying that I don't particularly care for the sound, but I can see where it should be a hit.

mms://66.186.0.101/allaccess/backinco2.wma

It kind of reminds me of those teen sitcoms where they randomly have a band, because you need to be in a band to be cool.. Can anyone else see Zac Morris from Saved By the Bell singing this, with Screech on the Keyboard (He;d ofcourse be violating some random concertgoer in order to later sell the tape), and Mario Lopez playing the drums..

I see blurred shots, pixels getting bigger, and um... Screaming girls.

Damnit, this song's going to be a hit. If I don't come back, it's because the q-tip I've jammed in my ear went too far and killed me instead of just rendering me deaf.

[jag]

There is no question that it will, for better or worse, return.

Consider that it was designed to be around in that same way that certain McFast food (which shall remain nameless) was designed to do likewise. It's readily available everywhere, and it's available in great quantities. It doesn't ask much in the way of involvement (gustatory or artistic). It was marketed with little consideration to the product, itself (teen-aged boys likely have forgotten most of Ms Spears' songs, but certainly remember her increasingly outrageous outfits), but rather with "ties-in." (tie-ins? Help me out here, Arp2!) It was so pervasive in our lives that everyone has at least one positive memory that can be associated with it. And, even at its absolute worst, it's not a great loss.

So, yes, I look for its return. I don't necessarily look forward to its return, but I think it's almost inevitable.