Latin pop, the Latin pop industry, Menudo, etc

not talking about salsa per se, but more the youth market chart pop phenomena. i'm finding it harder to track down a sufficiently detailed history of latin pop (any nation or facet of it, really), how it functioned as an industry, etc. i would expect there to be some pop historian books on the subject, or even just some readily available academic papers, but my googling has so far turned up nothing.

i am mostly interested in a group like Menudo, which seemed pretty forward-thinking in its commercialism and prioritization of brand viability over any notion of integrity or authenticity (i.e., a total revolving door of members, assembly line albums and marketing, a weird kind of self-reflexivity in which later generations of Menudo do rerelease covers of "their own"/previous members' hits). i would expect there to be a book on them at least, since it's such a wild story and their success was by many measures historic (i.e., first boy band to be able to afford a private jet, first pop group i know to be managed in such a mercenary way, ostensibly a precursor to north america's later boy band crazes, etc). but so far, nada.

so: does anyone here know anything on the subject? know where i might read an informed account? and, it being ilxor, does anyone have any recommendations for particularly strong latin pop singles or albums worth checking? '60s onwards, let's say, though i think late '70s through early '90s is where we'll find the real meat of the matter.

(and does anyone know if other latin pop groups functioned in ways similar to Menudo, or if they were more an aberration?)

Does Kim Cooper's boy-band book include Menudo?

http://www.bubblegum-music.com/a-brief-history-of-boy-bands

Ricky Martin has his own book out called Me

Not sure if 2003 Ed Morales book The Latin Beat covers what you are looking for

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin-notas/6319990/simon-cowell-univision-la-banda-latin-boy-band

Bubblegum Is The Naked Truth, a collection edited by Kim Cooper, has an essay by Tom Walls called "Roberto Jordan and the Rise of Mexigum, or 'Chiclet Rock'" -- most if not all of it pre-Menudo, looks like.

I'm not sure if Menudo were an aberration or not; that's a good question. I got the idea in the early '90s that the boy group Magneto (who I mainly know from their lovely version of the often-covered "Vuela Vuela") were stepping into their shoes, but I have no idea what marketing/branding cues they may have actually taken from them.

Bubblegum MUSIC Is The Naked Truth, I meant.

http://www.latina.com/entertainment/music/romeo-factor-every-latin-boy-band-has-its-heartthrob

This article is calling Romeo Santos' former bachata group Aventura a boyband. But like the Beatles they played instruments and wrote songs

i can't say i know much about this topic but billboard's latin section is pretty good. i've been impressed by a number of leila cobo's articles. old billboard issues are archived on google books so i recommend searching there if you haven't already.

Absolutely agree. Leila Cobo (who I worked with and edited when I was there) has covered this sort of a thing, and all sides of Latin music in general, in a reliably smart way for years.