Teens Idols

Music for teens became a focus o record companies in the early post-World war II years. Frank Sinatra was the first singing teen idol, the heaththrob of countles American Bobby sowers during the phrase of Sinatramania in the 1940's.

 Teenage bobby sowers wore a uniform of Shetland sweater, poodle Skirt and thick white socks rolled  down to the ankle. In that time, Teens used their money on entertainment, notably films and music.

Teens Idols like Sinatra sold well because they commodified sexuality for these girls in a way that, with some deliberately provocative exceptions- such as scrotch-swivelling Elvis Presley.

Certainly some early acts appealed more for their imagen and looks than their talents (and still today), often carefully selected so as to be not much older than their audience.

Style was as important as content, from Gene Vincent's leather jacket and trousers to Elvis's adoption of denied, even though he was said to hate wearing them because their blue-collar utility reminded him of his poverty-stricken background.

      There are Beliebers, One Directioners, Miley Cyrus's smilers, but there will never, ever be any group of fans as legendary and sweetly original as The Beatles most devoted admirers.
Teen idols weren't permitted to date. they liked boys but boys were still a bit less madure than girls.
They were adorable, they were different, they were irreverent and their parents didn't approved of them. Boys tended not to like them as much.

By the 1980's, new media - and the manufacture of product for them - came to define the teen idol. Overnight global stardom was made possible by MTV and, later, the internet. Teen idols included Michael Jackson, New Kids on the Block, 'N Sync and Justin Bierer, each shaping their own fan Fashion in turn.