The thing that jumps out of
the Rolling Stone Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments
is that not many of them lasted beyond the moment.
Fabian, The Monkees, The
Cassidy’s, Bay City Rollers, New Kids On The Block … all gone. Long gone.
Gone and forgotten.
The list has some noteworthy
exceptions, of course: Elvis, The Beatles, The Jackson 5 (well, Michael
anyway), and Frank Sinatra.
Frank Sinatra? Well sure.
The whole idol, screaming girl thing started with him. But RS does describe the list as “of the rock
era,” and the hysteria over Frank started in 1942 – hardly part of the rock era. OK, let’s not quibble. Strangers
In The Night was #1 midway through The Beatles run of hits – and played on
the same radio stations.
But most of the names on the
list are in the “oh-ya-I-forgot-all-about-him/her/them” category. Not surprising, because most of the acts were
manufactured. They were not the real deal. They were not artists who happened to make it
big. They were a product, created to capitalize on the teen idol impulse, exploiting
the popular musical style of the day.
Popularity was intense but
fleeting, there being no substance to the material.
The list is actually an
interesting reflection of our culture, though, isn’t it? A few timeless greats whose impact cannot be
truly measured, and a bunch of fluff quickly consumed and more quickly
forgotten.
The wolves are always
hungry.
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