Teen Idol - 1990s

1990s

The manufacturing of teen idols has been marketed more aggressively and with greater sophistication since the 1980s. The rise of MTV in the 1980s and the success of the boy bands of the 1990s and 2000s has continued to fuel the phenomenon. Besides a combination of good, clean-cut looks and a ubiquitous marketing campaign, such bands typically include a variety of personality types (e.g. "the shy one", "the smart one", etc.) Classic examples of "boy bands" include Menudo, New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, and 'N Sync, all becoming the best selling pop groups of the decade. Female Teen Pop stars such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore,Jessica Simpson and The Spice Girls also became very popular at the end of the decade. Hanson was initially marketed as such a band, but eventually outgrew this label to become a successful indie band. Other notable examples from the 1990s are female R&B singers Aaliyah, Brandy and Monica. Brothers Nick Carter from Backstreet Boys and pop star Aaron Carter were both teen idols in their heyday, as was Ricky Martin during the Latin music explosion of the late 1990s.

Most of the teen idols in the 1990s were from boy bands and musical acts. One major exception was the situation comedy Home Improvement 's Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who played Randy Taylor from 1991–1998; "JTT" (as he would come to be known during this time), uncomfortable with his teen idol status, left the show (and, for the most part, the entire acting scene) one year shy of the show's last year on the air. Other Teen Idol's from TV at around the same time were most of the cast of Saved by the Bell, Rider Strong of Boy Meets World, Joseph Gordon-Levitt of 3rd Rock From the Sun, Joey Lawrence of Blossom (and to a lesser extent, Joey's brothers, Matthew and Andrew), Jason Priestley and Luke Perry of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame, and Erik Von Detten of various TGIF shows. These actors were often found on the covers and pages of teen magazines during the 1990s as teen idols as well.