THE BOYS in the bands.

Once, all-boy pop music groups were reserved for screaming girl fans alone. Well, not anymore

Way back when Ricky Martin was a tyke in Menudo -- the original soprano-voiced, all-boy bubblegum band that continues to reincarnate itself -- any gay male adolescent found screaming alongside girl fans at one of the group's concerts would have stood out like Peewee Herman at a Rotary Club meeting.

That was then. Today, gay youth don't have to hide their giddiness over those harmonizing bands that, with their executive-picked pouts, whimpering love songs, and swoon-inducing videos, seem to be solely created to charge adolescent hormones. To prove the point The Advocate asked a minipanel of young fans to share their thoughts on their idolized peers.

"Gay boys love boy bands for the same reason straight girls do," says Oliver Armstrong, 21. "They are sweet, sexy, graceful males who sing and dance, and no matter how produced or manufactured they are, they are desirable nonetheless."

Joshua Latham, 24, is such a fan that he founded and maintains a very popular Huntsville, Ala.-based Web site devoted to cute, youthful male celebrities. "A lot of people like to make fun of people who like boy bands," says Latham. "We're accused of liking the band because of the way they look and not because of their music. [But] if their music wasn't good, they might as well be models."

And unlike their predecessors, the teenybopper bands of the millennium -- and the suddenly hip-to-the-homo-perspective media -- sometimes give a nod to their gay fans. Last year the Backstreet Boys posed for a photo shoot for XY, a magazine aimed at young gay men, and band member Howie Dorough acknowledged the group's gay admirers in the May 27 issue of Rolling Stone. "They're cool," he said. "They know we all, you know, date girls."

Maybe so, but a kid can dream.

BAND: Backstreet Boys

BREAK IT DOWN: The veterans of the brigade, the BBs (as they're monikered) watched Millennium, their latest CD, sell 1.13 million copies its first week of release -- a music industry record.

BOY WONDER: Nick Carter, by general consensus, is the cutest of the bunch.

SMASH SONG: "I Want It That Way"

FAN WORSHIP: "I think Nick is a totally amazing person with a great voice, an interesting personality, and an awesome face. I have 48 Backstreet Boys CDs because of him." (Shawn Bender, 17)

BAND: C Note

BREAK IT DOWN: These Orlando, Fla.-based "hotties" have been christened "Menudo 2000" because of their multi-culti look and soulful, salsa-drenched sound.

BOY WONDER: Gaul Molina

SMASH SONG: "Wait Till I Get Home"

FAN WORSHIP: "It's like a band of four Ricky Martins! Their Latin sound really makes them stand out." (Andy, 23)

BAND: 'N Sync

BREAK IT DOWN: Like the BBs and C Note, this quintet hails from Orlando and was groomed by entrepreneur Louis J. Pearlman. Powered by songwriter Max Martin and the late producer Pop, the group last year had two CDs in the top five simultaneously.

BOY WONDER: Justin Timberlake

HIT SONG: "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You"

FAN WORSHIP: "I have listened to them ever since they first came out in Europe, and their music has a true message and touches my soul every time I listen." (Mike New, 17)

BAND: 98

BREAK IT DOWN: A Cincinnati quartet with an R&B sound, this pop sensation was first discovered at a Boyz II Men concert.

BOY WONDER: Nick Lachey

SMASH SONG: "The Hardest Thing"

WORSHIP: "I'm not quite sure if totally fit into the boy band category, but I think their bodies are hot." (Nate, 16)

BAND: Boyzone

BREAK IT DOWN: Commonly dubbed the Spice Boys because of their over-yonder beginnings, this Irish working-class group is set to inherit the throne that Take That abandoned.

SMASH SONG: "No Matter What"

BOY WONDER: Stephen Gately

FAN WORSHIP: "I love Boyzone because they're one of the few boy bands whose songs aren't fall about `I wanna get with you' and `You're breakin' my heart' and all that crap." (Brian Heck, 21)

For more information on these and other boy bands, go to www.advocate.com.