Teen idol music - Listen free at Last.fm

“teen idol” music on Last.fm

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It took rock ‘n’ roll a few years before they had a group of attractive young vocalists to claim as their own Teen Idols. Most of teen idols of the late ’50s and early ’60s owned more to tradition pop than rock & roll. They didn’t have the raw sexuality of Elvis Presley, nor did they have his instinctive vocal talents. The teen idols were carefully groomed and given inoffensive, catchy material to sing. Pat Boone was the first of the teen idols of the late ’50s. Boone primarily covered rock & roll and R&B hits, but his clean-cut good looks and smooth vocals set the stage for singers like Paul Anka, who primarily sang ballads that were given contemporary pop/rock productions. Ricky Nelson emerged at the same time as Anka, and out of all the teen idols, his music remained the closest to rock & roll. Nelson performed rockabilty, R&B, and rock & roll, but he played with professional studio musicians who helped give the music a cleaner attack. After Anka and Nelson, the golden age of teen idols emerged, as a number of vocalists with limited vocal skills but good looks became stars. These vocalists like Fabian and Frankie Avalon sang songs written by professional songwriters. Frequently, this material hearkened back to the Tin Pan Alley and traditional pop that dominated the early ’50s, but the records were given rock & roll productions. Teen idols continued to be popular throughtout the early ’60s and the genre went through a number of fads, including a string of teenage television actors who turned into singers, as well as a wave of melodramatic songs about tragic teenage deaths.