Boy bands: Is the prom over?

*NSYNC's new album, "Celebrity," faces a major hurdle: matching the sales of the group's previous CD, the blockbuster "No Strings Attached."

(CNN) -- It was a time when boy bands ruled the music world.

The Backstreet Boys' "Millennium" was still high on the charts, months after debuting at No. 1, and on its way to selling 12 million copies.

*NSYNC's "No Strings Attached" set a record for one-week sales, with record stores scanning more than 2.4 million copies its debut week.

ABC was announcing the creation of a new series, "Making the Band," which would create a boy band from thousands of wannabes and then present them to the world.

And you couldn't get away from the songs: "I Want It That Way," "Bye Bye Bye," and, as they used to say on commercials, many, many more.

That time was early 2000.

VIDEO CNN's Sherry Sylvester talks with Lance, Justin, JC and the boys about their newest U.S. release (July 24) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES *NSYNC hits new rhythm with new CD     RESOURCES On the scene: CNN's Paul Vercammen on what music insiders say about 'boy bands'     QUICKVOTE Is the boy band craze over? Yes No View Results

It's been only a year, but since then the wheels have appeared to come off the boy band bandwagon. The Backstreet Boys' latest record, "Black & Blue," has had relatively disappointing sales in relation to its predecessor. Moreover, in a sign that even boy bands are made up of adults, the B-Boys' A.J. McLean recently entered a rehab center for alcohol abuse and depression.

And, perhaps more ominously for the music business, the new *NSYNC single, "Pop," has failed to burn up the charts. With *NSYNC's new CD, "Celebrity," out today, observers are wondering if the boy band craze is over, replaced by a slate of punk hip-hop outfits like Limp Bizkit and crossover R&B sensations like Destiny's Child.

Alan Light, editor-in-chief of Spin magazine, says that the pendulum does appear to be swinging the other way.

"There's a part of the audience that's there for happy, bubble gum pop music," he said Monday on CNN's "News Site." "[But] what we've seen in the last couple years has been that's been the one thing that's driving the whole boat. ... I don't think it's going to be as dominant as it's been the last couple of years."

The boy band beat

But, then again, boy bands and teen idols have always been a part of the musical landscape. Elvis could be seen as a tough guy with a sexual swagger, but he was also the "Teddy Bear" of millions of teenage girls. Manufactured teen dreams such as Fabian and Frankie Avalon dominated the late '50s. Even the Beatles were first thought of as a boy band of sorts, their mop-top mugs gracing many a cover of 16 magazine, before they began to be taken seriously.

And the beat went on: Herman's Hermits, Bobby Sherman, the Osmonds, Leif Garrett, New Edition, New Kids on the Block, and on to the present batch.

Limp Bizkit's frontman Fred Durst has helped lead punk hip-hop bands to popularity.

Lou Pearlman, who helped create or managed a number of boy bands -- including the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC -- for his Transcontinental Entertainment firm, told "News Site" that looks will only take a group so far. It's the music that really matters.

"If the music is solid and good, people will listen to that music as they grow up and get older," he said. The "boys" in the boy bands are truly talented, he added, even if the marketing helps. "God gives them the gift to sing. What we do is help cultivate it."

Meanwhile, even with the possible change in trends, boy bands won't fade from the nation's teen magazine covers, either.

"You're looking at bands like Tool and Staind ... for Seventeen that's a little harder because we're not necessarily going to put a rock band with a bunch of tattoos on our cover," Dina Sansing of Seventeen magazine told CNN's Paul Vercammen.

Fading away?

The Backstreet Boys' latest release, "Black & Blue," has had disappointing sales when compared to the group's previous release, "Millennium."

There comes a time when teen idols and boy bands grow up, and the results are mixed. Ricky Nelson became Rick Nelson, developed a crew of crack session men, and had hits for several years. The Beatles, if they ever were a boy band, grew with every album until they couldn't be pigeonholed by sneering adults -- or their fans, many of whom didn't know what to make of "Tomorrow Never Knows" or "Sgt. Pepper."

Meanwhile, the Monkees started out as a TV-manufactured Beatles. Within a year of their debut, they were demanding the right to oversee their music. Within two years, they had crashed and burned. New Edition spawned successful careers for Bobby Brown and Bell Biv DeVoe; New Kids on the Block faded into obscurity.

It's too soon to tell what will happen with the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, or any of their musical brethren. But Lou Pearlman, who should know, says don't bet on the teen audience ever tiring of their like.

"People keep asking me, when is it all over?" he said. "And my answer is, when God stops making little girls, it's over."