The belles of the Ball

In a way, mainstream pop stations such as L.A.’s KIIS-FM (102.7) are a throwback to a distant, early-’60s era of radio when the music responded more immediately to its young listeners, without regard to rigid genre requirements or snobby concerns about artistic depth or career longevity.

KIIS is aimed at teenage girls, and there’s something openhearted and honest in their embrace of music that somehow meets the moment.

It would be nice if they were more demanding artistically, but democracy can be messy. And there’s always NPR for that kind of thing.

The juxtaposition of art and schlock was on full display Friday at KIIS-FM’s annual Jingle Ball concert at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, where the featherweight dance pop of Christina Milian, the hokey but sometimes hooky ersatz rock of Ashlee Simpson and the slick soul-pop of Maroon 5 were put on the same playing field as the transcendent soul of Alicia Keys.

The New York singer-songwriter was easily the most substantial and sophisticated performer on the nearly four-hour show (parts of which will be aired as a TV special on Fox on Dec. 17), though she seemed more comfortable sitting at the piano and probing the complex emotions of “If I Ain’t Got You” than prancing through the high-energy dance routine that opened her set.

The capacity crowd’s response was appropriately intense, and judging by the applause meter, Avril Lavigne also registered strongly with the fans. Next to the calculated approach of most of the acts, the Canadian teenager’s perky pop-rock seemed absolutely organic, and her depictions of adolescent conflicts and empowerment rang true.

If you’re noticing a gender trend, you’re right -- KIIS is a place where girls can hear the voices of girls and women, in contrast, say, to the modern rock world of KROQ, whose two Christmas concerts later this week don’t feature one female among some 22 acts.

Gwen Stefani has been embraced by both audiences with her band No Doubt, and she used Friday’s Jingle Ball to make her first-ever solo appearance.

Stefani, the show’s unannounced secret guest, applied her usual energy to a few songs from her new solo album, joined at one point by a parade-band percussion section in full uniform.

The crowd saved its biggest response for Snoop Dogg. The Long Beach rapper really stretched the range of the evening’s sound with his West Coast hip-hop, and its content with his expletive-laced rhymes. He also upped the energy when he brought out the Neptunes’ Pharrell to join him on several songs, including their No. 1 hit “Drop It Like It’s Hot.”

The function of these radio concerts -- there are more coming this week and next from other outlets -- is to promote the brand by bringing to life the abstract community of radio station and audience. KIIS land, part of the Clear Channel empire, is a happily hard-sell world, one that revels in the impolitic notion of pop music as commodity and in the most tasteless corners of celebrity culture (on Friday they trotted out Paris Hilton and Pauly Shore without a trace of irony).

Given that insular setting, Maroon 5 deserves some points for singing John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” and for the peace-sign armband worn by its pianist. These fans will be joining the real world soon, so it doesn’t hurt to get a taste now.