Every so often, when catchy music, clever marketing and the right timing come together, one record company captures prevailing tastes in a way that enables it to define the musical essence of an era. Motown did so in the 1960s with soul; Def Jam followed in the '80s with rap; and Interscope ruled the mid-'90s by mixing rap and metal.
By that same calculus, then, the beginning of the new century unquestionably belongs to Jive Records, the colossally successful independent label that has almost singlehandedly brought the teen-pop revolution--you know, the army of dimpled boy bands and midriff-baring teen queens--into homes...