Teens once again grab control of pop culture

After years of domination by age-denying Baby Boomers, movies and music are once again targeting the growing teenage market.

The younger generation has finally elbowed aside the baby Boomers and grabbed control of pop culture. Teenage bands like Hanson are pumpking out sunny songs as if it's 1962 again. Television is crowded with teen heartthrobs, and Hollywood is luring 15-to 20-year-old with "ironic" movies about huge malevolent insects ans slashers in yellow slickers.

Today, the hand holding the TV remote is wearing glittery nail polish Bobby Brady hip-huggers. And she knows a lot more than just what Nintendo level she's on. Statistics Canada's 1996 cencus figures show there are about four million Canadians aged 10 to 19. In the U.S., about 37 million fit in this category. Those numbers represent billions of dollars in disposable income. Marketing savants are churning out TV shows, bubbly pop groups and movies, all aimed at the average teen. The teen market is bigger than it has been in two decades, according the the New York-based Trends Research institute. And it's getting bigger. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there will be 42 million teens in the next decade.

These kids are amazing consumers," says Matt Carter of the Fines Group, a Los Angeles firm that does market research. "They've been judging marketing pitches since the big deal in their life was Saturday morning cartoons. They can detect something bogus a mile away."

When it comes to bogus, it probably helps having Baby Boomers for parents. A new U.S. poll shows Boomers believe that old age begins at 79.5 years, or about 18 months after the average person is dead.

Music and movies are the core of today's pop culture, so it's instuctive to sit through "I Know What You Did Last Summer," the hot teen movie of the moment starring 18-year-old Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar, 20. Hewitt (Party of Five) and Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) are crossover stars from TV.

A blockbuster teen movie, like "Starship Troopers," needs cutting-edge stars and exactly the right mix of music. It's not such a simple formula, given teens' feelings about tunes. First, they hate band reunions like Fleetwood Mac. And the only thing they like about grunger Courtney Love is her makeover.

There's a bunch of teen rock bands out there -- Hanson, Radish, Bis -- turning out bright, likable songs that have gone missing on pop charts since Grunge music came out of Seattle. The Backstreet Boys, heartthrobs du jour, are big today but may fade faster than New Kids on the Block.