America is hooked: We love our pop idols.

Byline: Molly Keller 20Below News Team / The Register-Guard

We thought the craze was finally over. The ABC television series ``Making the Band'' has long passed. The WB's ``Popstars'' came and went without even a second glance. Indeed, the death of the boy band era loomed large as multiple members of the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync suddenly fled to solo albums.

Old habits couldn't be broken, however. America's pop music sensation did not completely disintegrate as many of us teens had predicted.

Instead, the trends of the business turned an about face. Youths such as myself were dragged from our society's previous group-based mentality to a new reverence for solo artists.

Now, the ever-present image of the singular pop idol is engraving itself into our daily lives.

The birthmark of the early vocal pop stars can be seen in high schools everywhere. Students attending my own high school, for example, have indulged themselves in the fashion style made infamous by America's divas: form-fitting apparel.

Obviously, the majority of today's adolescent female population has decided to emulate the universal limbo theme introduced by late 1990s vocal stars: How low can we go?

As an old-timer who remembers the debut of those pop divas, I've noticed just how far the waistlines on girls' pants have dropped since the sun rose on teen pop. With clothing boundaries accelerating up and down, I sometimes wonder how we've kept ourselves from becoming a nudist society.

Skin isn't all that's flashing me day by day. I always can depend on the lyrics and scenes of Britney Spears' 1999 hit video ` ...Baby One More Time" to blare in my mind.

As a musician myself, I have seen firsthand the influence that pop idols have had on school spirit.

In efforts to appeal more to the overall interests of the student body, our marching band, the school's largest performance group, purchased many songs that are arrangements of the newer mainstream radio hits, such as Avril Lavigne's ``Sk8er Boi'' and Pink's ``Get the Party Started.''

Teens are bombarded daily with images of the latest figureheads of the pop star world.

Walking through stores, the flawless face of 2002 "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson, with her arms wrapped around fellow contestant Justin Guarini, has beamed at me many a time from the cardboard covers of the duo's video musical, "From Justin to Kelly."

But mostly, such television shows and hype only serve as reminders that most of us will never achieve pop star status.

Just ask those whose hearts are broken by local competitions that mimic "American Idol" - including those who competed in Coos Bay's first-ever Bay Area Teen Idol singing contest this last summer.

It doesn't take a genius, though, to realize that television has served as the primary tool for implanting the new pop idol image into the minds of the American public.

Millions of teens tune in to such shows as "American Idol," "Star Search" and "Fame."

For better or worse, teen pop has proved itself in the eyes of America. And while the forms of the music surely will change in the future, the sensation is here to stay.

In all facets of our daily lives, we as teens are reminded of this. Now, all we have to decide is who we're going to vote for next.

Molly Keller is a senior at Marshfield High. She can be reached at [e-mail].