Frankie Avalon wasn’t the first teen idol.

“I think I was No. 3 in line,” Avalon said. “There was Elvis, there was Rick Nelson, from all the exposure he got from TV, and then there was me.”

In fact, many would argue that Frank Sinatra, who drove the bobbysoxers wild in the 1940s, was the first teen idol. But no one would quarrel with the fact that Avalon knows as much about being a teen idol as anyone on the planet.

Largely a post-World War II cultural phenomenon, teen idols are generally singers or actors in their late teens and early 20s with clean-scrubbed images who are marketed to kids.

Originally, teen idols largely appealed to teenagers. But in the five decades since teen idols became a sensation, the age of their followers has steadily dropped.

So the likes of Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers now appeal to “tweens” somewhere in the 8- to 13-year-old group.

Avalon was all of 17 years old when he became a teen idol in late 1957 — not that he chose the role. He, like all the others, was manufactured and marketed.

Before becoming a teen idol, the Philadelphia singer had released a couple of singles that went nowhere. But Chancellor Records, his label, got a hint of what might be possible with those releases.

“The record company started to experience the interest of young girls at that time who wanted to know about Frankie Avalon — everything about Frankie Avalon,” Avalon said. “That got the record company to think, ‘Maybe we’ve got one of those teen idols.’”

In 1958, Avalon’s “De De Dinah” became the hit that made Avalon the crush of teenage girls across the country, courtesy of “American Bandstand.”

And away Avalon went, taking a three-year rocket ride across the pop charts and teen culture.

“It was really an experience,” he said. “You take a year prior to that, when I was in high school. I’d walk down the halls and nobody would be screaming and trying to tear my clothes off. It was wild. I really enjoyed it.”

When Avalon’s record sales slowed down, he moved to film, where he and Annette Funicello, by then in their mid-to-late 20s, captured another generation of young teens with their beach party movies.

Over the decades, the teen idol torch has been passed from generation to generation: to the likes of Davy Jones of The Monkees, Bobby Sherman, David Cassidy and his brother Shaun, New Kids on the Block, Britney Spears and, most recently, Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and the cast of “High School Musical,” in particular Zac Efron.

“High School Musical” gets the teen idol seal of approval from Avalon, who’s now a grandfather.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Avalon said. “It’s good, clean entertainment, and they’re talented kids.”

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.