CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: TRACKING TEEN IDOLS, OLD AND NEW, ON THE INTERNET (COLUMN 129)

Remember when? A show on VH1 sort of got us thinking whatever happened to those heartthrobs from those teen-age years.

Peggy: Now my children are going goo-goo over the "new" teen idols.

So we took to the Internet to see whatever happened to some favorites from way back when.

Today, Todd Nolen, our systems technician at the newspaper, is guest surfing today.

Todd: One of the sites we found is called Feeling Groovy. They take a look at teen idols from the early 1970s until today.

vallee.simplenet.com/feelingroovy/feelingroovy.html

Peggy: They call it the world of singing teen idols. And yes, we recognized several. From the early 1970 are heartthrobs like David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, Rick Springfield, the Osmonds and the Partridge Family.

Todd: I clicked on David Cassidy, who reigned supreme from 1970 to 1974 with his shaggy hair. If you would like to hear a clip from his famous song, "I think I love you," just click. It was nominated for a streaming audio award.

Peggy: Oh my, I know the words. Here are several other song clips and you can read bits of his biography. And here are links to a whole bunch of Cassidy pages.

Todd: Here's another favorite from a little later -- brother Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, Willie Ames and Andy Gibb.

Peggy: Oh yes, I remember my bedroom walls covered with posters from Tiger Beat magazine. My mother hated it.

Todd: As time marches on, the site moves into the 1980s with Matt Dillon, Duran Duran and Scott Baio.

Peggy: And then to the 1990s with the Backstreet Boys, Hanson and 'N Sync. These are the heartthrobs my kids love.

Todd: It seems that most of the teen idols are boys, but we do have the Spice Girls in the 1990s.

Peggy: Let's take a look back at some of those older idols, like Leif Garrett. He has his own site, a tribute to "the hottest teen idol ever."

www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/6619/

Todd: Obviously this is a fan-produced page. Look at that hair. It's long, very long. Well, actually long hair is back again.

Peggy: Leif released five albums from 1977 to 1981. In 1998, he re-released a compilation of favorites. Who knew he was still popular enough to release an album?

Todd: Of course, we didn't see it or buy it. This site has scheduled chats for Leif fans online. You never know who may show up. I didn't even know who he was until today.

Peggy: Let's take a look at the New Kids on the Block. Remember them? You can find the NKOTB online at

www.nkotb.com

Todd: Seems the new kids have figured out how to manage the Internet. You can order CDs online. You can read about all the members, and what's happened to them when the left the band.

Peggy: Everyone is online. And you can read the reasons the group broke up. Let's move on to another era.

Todd: The Backstreet Boys are online at

www.backstreetboys.com

Wow, it's full of advertising. This must be a heavily traveled site. They are gearing up to release their third album Millennium, which is scheduled to be released in May.

Peggy: You can download audio clips and video clips of the Boys in action. OK, the video quality wasn't great, but if you're a fan maybe that doesn't matter.

Todd: Well, look at this, the Backstreet Boys are endorsing several charities. They just did a charity show in Germany in November.

Peggy: And they appeared on the Grammys last week. But, we checked, there's nothing upcoming on the schedule yet. You can read fan mail that has been sent, including photos of the fans.

Todd: Let's take a look at the official Hanson Web site

www.hansonline.com

The site is very graphic-intensive. Beware if you have a slow Internet connection.

Peggy: You can download nine different video clips of the Hansons, Zack at the drums, In the studio jammin' and others.

Todd: These clips are huge. Some of the clips might take an hour to download. Not for the faint of heart, but true fans might want to brave the wait.

Peggy: You can take a look at lots of snapshot. They don't take as long to download. You can also read their music and lyrics from their Live from Albertane. For their other CDs you can listen to audio clips, including MMMBop.

Todd: The audio clips are must faster to download than the video. Here's another teen idol, Leonardo DiCaprio. Let's visit his unofficial home page

www.dicaprio.com

Peggy: It seems Leo's acting debut was on the television program "Romper Room" at age 5, but he was booted from the set for his uncontrollable behavior.

Todd: He got his break with a successful regular role as a homeless boy on "Growing Pains."

Peggy: For another look at pop stars let's look at Bubblegum music.

bubblegummusic.miningco.com

Todd: They have extensive netlinks to teen idols from the 1960s through the present.

Peggy: They even predict what's to come. For example, they say B'Witched, a sassy Irish girls band, will be hot. This has nothing to do with that old television series of a similar name.

Todd: We'll keep watch to see if they can cross the pond and hit U.S. charts. They debuted at No. 1 on British charts.

Peggy: From the video, they look kind of like the Spice Girls, only from Ireland.

Todd: Back at the Bubblegum page, you can get freebies like a David Cassidy screen saver. Also you can get wallpaper for many of your favorite teen idols from the 1960s on up.

Peggy: What is your favorite teen idol site? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

Peggy Scott and Todd Nolen are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.