Tokio Hotel, more commercial hype than music

Thierry Coljon offers a portrait of the German rock group Tokio Hotel that is experiencing a growing success in Europe. "[Tokio Hotel] has a very particular target audience: preadolescents at an age where looks are everything. And this is where Tokio Hotel excels. Everything rests on the appearance of the lead singer, Bill Kaulitz. He isn't quite 18, but his tattoos, his body piercing, his androgynous make-up and his hair-style straight out of a manga are so intriguing that they work. ... Parents need not worry. The history of pop music is paved with such ephemeral creatures. ... Boy's bands regularly come along to titillate young girls bereft of bearings. .. .The producers, who themselves are very grown-up, have fertile imaginations that never tarry when it comes to throwing new products into the arms of the prepubescent market."

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