Smells Like Teen Trios

Launching a teenage act with some sense of credibility and longevity might be the trickiest thing in the music business.

Will you have a Stevie Wonder with a long, vital career? Or a flash in the pan such as New Kids on the Block?

Mercury Records is faced with that question for not one but two groups. The label has debut albums coming later this month from two teen trios from the American heartland: Hanson, three brothers from Tulsa, Okla., is releasing its “Middle of Nowhere” album on May 6, and Radish, from outside of Dallas, has “Restraining Bolt” due April 22.

And each is being handled with a different strategy.

“These two bands have nothing in common, other than being on Mercury and being teenage,” says Mercury president Danny Goldberg. “They’re as different from each other as both are from [teen country star] LeAnn Rimes.”

Hanson, he points out, is in the youth-pop tradition of the Jackson 5. Radish is a straight-ahead rock act.

“Radish is a classic new rock band,” Goldberg says. “We’re launching them in a typical way, playing lots of shows, building a retail buzz in their home market.”

And for credibility, the band--which is built around the topical material of 15-year-old singer-songwriter Ben Kweller--got a good head start via an article in the April 7 New Yorker magazine, using it as a case study of the introduction of a new band.

“Hanson is the exception,” Goldberg continues. “This is a somewhat audacious attempt to establish a teen phenomenon.”

It’s off to a good start. Hanson’s debut single, “MMMBop,” has been the most-added song to Top 40 radio playlists for each of the last two weeks. And MTV can’t seem to get enough of the video.

The group is clearly courting an audience of its peers.

“We’ve definitely done things for this age group, like interviews for Tiger Beat,” says Taylor Hanson, 13, who’s joined in the group by brothers Isaac, 16, and Zachary, 11.

But can Hanson make that teen connection without becoming a new New Kids on the Block?

“They made Barbie dolls of themselves,” scoffs Zachary, referring to the New Kids action figure dolls that were made in the group members’ images.

The New Kids never overcame the impression that they were a manufactured group whose success was due to producers and managers rather than their own talents. Hanson, whose album was partly produced by the hippest, most credible team of the moment, the Dust Brothers (who did Beck’s “Odelay”), hopes to avoid that perception.

“In our case, that’s not true,” says Isaac. “We’ve written or co-written all of our songs and played the instruments. This is us, not manufactured.”

Goldberg, meanwhile, sees nothing wrong in trying to score big out of the box with Hanson.

“You can’t prevent being a one-hit wonder by not having a hit in the first place,” he says. “The way to do it is to have two hits.”