Hey, hey, they're the boy bands, and their appeal doesn't age

Today on PhillyDailyNews.com: Check out a full photo gallery of the boy bands coming to Philly this summer, reaction from social media, plus a Spotify playlist.

LOOK WHO'S BACK on tour this summer! New Kids on the Block. The Backstreet Boys. 98 Degrees. Boyz II Men. Even the Monkees.

All started as well-scrubbed, adorable and energetic, young, pop-harmony groups - a/k/a/ boy bands - expected to last only a lunchtime. But, oh, nostalgia lovers, look at them now!

Historically, most of these cutie-pies were packaged by corporate entities at casting calls. They were talents who could certainly sing and move and act reasonably well on TV, but they were barely bands in the traditional sense. Groups like the Backstreet Boys - playing Susquehanna Bank Center on Aug. 16 - couldn't play an instrument or write an original song without major assistance . . . though this didn't prevent Backstreet from selling a staggering 130 million albums from 1996 forward.

Making this very big summer of boy-band comebacks (and newbies) even more intriguing, the bands were first marketed to a fickle audience of 'tweens and teens who would eventually spit 'em out like a wad of stale bubblegum.

Even the reigning b-b kings, the "X Factor U.K."-spawned One Direction, have feared there'd be no day after tomorrow. Within days of their sold-out Susquehanna Bank Center show in May 2012, One Direction's management put seats on sale (also snapped up) for the lads' return later this month (June 25 at the Wells Fargo Center).

Some concert-business trackers suggested that this was a move to bank the ticket money early and make a profit on the interest, a stunt that Neil Diamond used to do regularly. But others believe that the early ticket sales were precipitated by band management thinking that the band was peaking.

Ironically, One Direction is proving an even bigger concert draw this summer than it was the last, pumped up by a steady stream of new tracks and videos, as well as ongoing relationships with talents like hipster singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, who's written more tunes for One Direction's upcoming next album.

For real endurance, we should all bow down to the oldest living teenagers on Earth, the baddest of boy bands still touring like there's no tomorrow, proclaiming that they still haven't gotten "Satisfaction."

In the recently unearthed documentary of the Rolling Stones' first, 1965 Irish tour, "Charlie My Darling," you'll hear an early-20s Mick Jagger declaring that he'd be shocked if the band lasted to his 30th birthday. Yet, lo and behold, here they are still - standing upright, rocking hard, celebrating their 50th year in the business and filling large arenas like the Wells Fargo Center, where the gents return Tuesday and June 21, with a special surprise guest star or two in tow.

"The Stones made it cool to be bad, and they're still doing the rebel-band thing," suggested Comcast Spectacor publicity vice president and lifelong Stones fan Ike Richman. "But to call them the world's oldest boy band may be a stretch. To me, they're the first grandfather band. You're likely to see as many as four generations of fans coming together to see the Stones, the first time that's ever happened at a rock show."

Two of the sunniest, most celebratory boy-band reunions of the summer engage the talents of Philly's own Boyz II Men. The best-selling R&B harmony group will be joining with Boston's off-again/on-again New Kids on the Block and the newly reconnected 98 Degrees for a waggishly named "The Package Tour," landing at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.

Both the Boyz and the Kids will be part of the second annual, two-day Mixtape Festival outdoors at Hershey Park Stadium, July 26 and 27. That fete also boasts up and coming boy band One Republic and the once-teenage, now-(ahem)-maturing family bands the Jonas Brothers and Hanson.

"From our point of view, 'The Package Tour' is this nice bundle of pop and R&B music," Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman shared in a recent chat. "The title is self- explanatory. It was either call it that or 'Nine White Guys and Three Black Guys.' This [Package Tour] name kind of lends itself to being a conversation piece. We can't stop anybody from interpreting it as a boy-band bundle. And it's true we all started out in our teen years in the '90s."

Stockman acknowledged that Boyz II Men "went along with a lot of the marketing" ploys of boy banddom, beyond etching the descriptor eternally in their name.

"We had our posters. We had our photo spreads and interviews in the teen magazines. We might not be as good looking as Nick Lachey [the newly returning and still hunkish 98 Degrees singer-turned-actor, TV-show host, producer and sometime celebrity spouse]. But there were people who fell in love with us for who and what we were. And that included wanting to be more than your average boy band."

Such as?

"A lot of people thought we were older because our voices were mature. And we always prided ourselves on coming out with a quality product," added Stockman, also recognized these days as a thoughtful judge on the returning TV competition "The Sing-Off."

"We've never been enamored with being part of a trend, though we've recorded things with LL Cool J - his biggest selling single ["Hey Lover"], Elton John and Justin Bieber. We'd even work with Big Bird if it sounds good and makes sense."

And yes, this once-a-boy, always-a-Boyz band has cut its share of "sappy, falling-in-love music," said the heart-tugging tenor. "Some won't admit they have a sappy side, and that's their loss. . . . It's great to remember the songs of your youth, the songs you fell in love to. Music is as close to a time machine as you can get. And we don't look back and say 'that's horrible' about anything we've done."

Plying their wares first on TV rather than on radio has been a boy-band trait since the Rolling Stones and Beatles broke on Ed Sullivan Show and the Monkees were put together as stars of a (1966-68) sitcom, with music initially supplied by Tin Pan Alley talents like Neil Diamond ("I'm a Believer").

Now, the three surviving Monkees are on the road again and playing the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, on July 20.

A few nights earlier, Susquehanna Bank Center hosts the current, made-for-Nickelodeon, TV-sitcom group Big Time Rush - a boy band inspired by the Monkees, show producer/writer Scott Fellows has admitted.

Seen worldwide in 74 territories and 11 languages, BTR is truly a corporate venture. Viacom and Sony Music own the band name, the characters' likenesses and names - even though the personas of Kendall, James, Logan and Carlos are played by guys with the same first names.

Still, gotta give credit where it's due. BTR's upbeat music - largely written by veteran hit makers like Desmond Child, Matt Squire, Matt Thieson and Claude Kelly - is competent. And the performers' easy, winking attitude is appealing, especially when they're making fun of their fictional record label, parodying the stylized music-video look of boy bands past or fretting over the latest British Invasion like Colorful Pants and Simon Cowell's Next Boy Band.

Haven't heard those groups yet? It's probably just a matter of time.

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