I’m mostly excited, but also a little scared.

I’m excited, because not in my lifetime has there been a musical act that so collectively captured the hearts and ears of a generation of young women and so decisively dominated the pop charts, selling over 12 million records. The British boy band One Direction has the requisite charm and good looks seized upon by frenzied fans, a U-Pick assortment of attractive would-be boyfriends tailor-made to satisfy the world’s teenyboppers wielding wallets as deep as their devotion. Like their British Invasion predecessors before them, One Direction has effectively conquered the English-speaking music world.

This is what scares me. Not the threat One Direction poses to “authenticity” in music, with their brand of calculated your-face-here love songs blatantly marketed to teenage girls. Instead, I’m afraid One Direction may not realize just how powerful a force for cultural change they could be, and squander the greatest opportunity for a musical revolution of the new millennium. I’m afraid my generation will lose the chance to experience its very own Swinging Sixties, a period where music transcended the realm of entertainment to become not simply the soundtrack to, but the arbiter of one of the most progressive eras in history.

The phenomenon of build-a-teen-idol is nothing new; what’s newer is musical groups writing and performing their own songs. It was only with the rise of rock n’ roll that lyrics and instrumentation created within a group became the norm. Today, ravaged by online pirating and slumping sales the music industry is relying on a small number of popular songwriters to produce the vast majority of Top 40 music. Essentially, it has cultivated a musical landscape strikingly similar to that of sixty years ago, pre-Rock and Roll. All our generation needs is our very own Beatles, a watershed group to launch a musical Renaissance paving the way for a flood of talent to follow.

I believe One Direction is this band.

The similarities between grandpa and grandson are striking; both embody the youthful best of the pop music of their time, sparking sexual frenzy in teens and conquering America courtesy of their legions of devoted British fans. While One Direction has so far followed their predecessors’ steps faithfully, the Invasion bands before them proved historical impact can only come when an artist forges a unique path on their journey towards an innovative sound.

The blueprint-busting impact of The Beatles in particular highlights the global impact possible when a hit-making group is given the creative license to explore new avenues of inspiration, from American R&B to Eastern mysticism. This freedom allowed the band to produce ground-breaking albums that were as much historical events as records. The success of The Beatles prodded wary record companies to mine the world for “the next Beatles”, the trickle-down effect launched by the Fab Four clearing the way for equally talented bands like The Rolling Stones. The Beatles took full advantage of the spotlight cast on them, defying their fellow artists to challenge their undisputed reign over popular music. This dare resulted in pop culture’s Golden Age.

One Direction has already proven it has the world’s attention. They are hit-makers, they are young, and they’ve expressed a willingness to become more than the next *NSYNC. I’m afraid One Direction might not change music as we know it. But I’m excited, because they more than any other group today have the best shot.

This article appeared in a condensed and edited form on BlogUT here.