Pop icon or pop idol is a celebrity whose
popularity (hence, "pop") remains constant or even increases as time
goes by. Most celebrities, especially teen idols, exhuast the
public's interest with extreme rapidity.
During the 1990s and 2000s, many popular music stars are held as Pop idols. The Pop idol is though a much broader
definition than this, and acceleration of media has made Pop idols out of celebrities of many types.
Most pop icons achieved their status through death,
typically at a young age. Adoration of pop icons is due only in part to their
actual accomplishments; the far more important factor is their apparent
attainment of eternal youth. Some of the most notable pop icons are James Dean, John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. However, even middle-aged celebrities who died can achieve this
"eternal youth" if the public chooses to simply ignore all images of
them past a certain date, as has been done with Elvis Presley.
Death nearly always increases the average person's awe of a public
figure. In part this is due to a simple respect for the dead, but the sense of
finality that accompanies their departure also signals the fact that they are
no longer capable of future betrayals of trust, as Michael Jackson has disappointed his fans by being accused of pedophilia. Thus, it is now safe to "worship" the icon.
Death also increases the value of all items associated with the pop
icon, sometimes drastically; this is known among collectors by many names, including the "death tax" and "funeral
inflation."
David Beckham is a football (soccer) player in the team Real Madrid. Beginning in 2000, he has been on lots of Magazine covers, and had a
real influence on fashion and posh lifestyle. Beckham is made an icon of
good-looking, fashionable football players.
A guerilla soldier and revolutionary from the 1960s, Che Guevara, is a
Pop idol of young people far away from then reality
In his time was Ernest Hemingway often more famous for the man-myth he was than his authorship.
Hemingway had followers who accepted and liked what he represented, a powerful,
hunter-man model.
It is the essence of the teen idol
to appeal to the burgeoning sexuality of the young without in any way
threatening it. The difference is graphically illustrated by the early career
of Presley, who started out playing hard rhythm and blues and jazzed-up country music until he was retrofitted as a
teen idol by his management. The lyrics of his "Teddy Bear"
explicitly document the change:
Don't wanna be
your tiger, 'cause tigers play too rough,
Don't wanna be
your lion, 'cause lions aren't the kind you love enough;
I just wanna be
your teddy bear.
Likewise, The Beatles were teen idols, especially
during the earlier part of their careers; the Rolling Stones, despite millions of young fans,
were too rowdy and threatening to gain genuine idol status.
The manufacture of idols has been
greatly improved over the years since, with The Monkees another notable success in the art. The
rise of MTV in the 1980s and the success of the boy bands of the 1990s are part of the same cavalcade.
Besides the obvious combination of good looks and a slick marketing campaign,
one of the key selling points of the manufactured band is the "something
for everyone" approach. Each band member can be promoted separately for a
unique look and one-note personality: the "shy one", the
"intelligent one", "the rebel", and so on. Teen idols are
also usually commonly read about in such publications as Tiger Beat, Right On! and
other teen magazines in the United States, and similar ones everywhere
else.
American Idol is a television show
on the Fox Network, based on the popular British show Pop Idol. The
show is a contest to determine the best young singer in the United States of America
In the show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, people first audition before
three judges (Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson) in cities across the United States. One of the most popular portions
of each season are initial episodes showcasing
auditions of American Idol hopefuls auditioning before the panel of
judges. Poor singers often face intense and humbling criticism from the judges,
and especially from Cowell, who can be harsh and blunt in his criticism. Some
poor performances have attained notoriety on their own; these have included
season two's performance of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" by Keith Beukelaer and season three's rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" by William Hung.
The three judges narrow the
initial field down to thirty-two semi-finalists who are invited to
During the semifinal phase, the 32
semifinalists are divided into four groups. Each contestant performs live (in
the eastern and central time zones), in primetime, a song of their
choice, and receives critiques from the judges, who, from this point on, serve
only in an advisory capacity, with no direct influence of the results. On the
following night's episode the results of the nationwide vote are announced, and
the top two vote-getters advance to the finals.
Viewers have two hours following
the broadcast of the show in their time zone to phone in their votes for their
favorite contestant. Callers are allowed to vote as many times as they like for
any number of contestants.
When all the semifinal shows have
been completed, there is a wildcard phase. Each judge chooses one semifinalist
to advance to the final round, and a studio audience vote determines the final
wildcard spot, rounding out the field of twelve finalists.
In the finals,
which lasts eleven weeks, each finalist performs live in primetime a
song from a weekly theme (two songs in later rounds). Themes have included disco, big band music, and Billboard #1 hits. Some themes are based on
music recorded by a particular artist, and the finalists have a chance to work
with that artist in preparing their performances. Artists around whom themes
have been based include Barry Manilow, Gloria Estefan, and Elton John.
When there are three finalists
remaining, themes are no longer used. Instead, each contestant sings three
songs: one of their own choice, one chosen by the judges, and one chosen by
record executive Clive Davis.
On the following night's episode
(live again), the contestant with the fewest votes is sent home. This process
is repeated until the one remaining contestant is declared the winner.
A spin-off series called American Juniors premiered on June 3, 2003. Following the success of the Idol
franchise,
In December 2003, winners of eleven different
national Idol competitions were collected for a World Idol competition in
A boy band (American English) or boyband (British English) is a style of somewhat to mostly
prefabricated pop group featuring about between three and six
young male singer/dancers, but normally five. Often, they evolve
out of church choral groups, or are put together by managers or producers who
audition the groups for appearance, dancing, and singing ability. They are
similar in concept to Girl groups. Though the term is mostly associated
with the late 90s, antecedents exist throughout the history of pop music. The
Temptations, popular in the 1960s, may be considered a boy band, while The
Monkees certainly were prefabricated, and Latin boy band Menudo was founded in
1977.
Equally important to the group's
commercial success is the group's image, carefully controlled by managing all
aspects of the group's dress, promotional materials (which are supplied to teen magazines), and video clips, the most famous boy band
manager being Lou Pearlman. Typically, each member of the group
will have some distinguishing feature and be portrayed as having a particular
personality stereotype - such as "the baby", "the bad boy",
"the nice boy" - whilst managing the portrayal of popular musicians
is as old as popular music, the particular pigeonholing of boy band members is
a defining characteristic of boy and girl bands.
In most cases, their music is
written, arranged, and produced by a producer who works with the band at all
times and controls the group's sound - if necessary, to the point of hiring session singers to record guide vocals for each
member of the group to sing individually (if the members can not harmonize
together well). A typical boy band performance features elaborately choreographed dancing, with the members taking
turns singing (or, sometimes, lip-syncing, though Pearlman insists none of his
bands do) to pre-recorded music. However boybands, having started off singing
other people's music, often do compose their own music,
or a member composes music for the band later in their career.
Though some fans consider the
music to be in some cases brilliant, the commercial success of specific boy
bands does not tend to last long. As the fans (mostly preteen girls) of boy
bands age, their musical tastes evolve and they seek something different. If
success is sustained, often one or more members of the band will leave and seek
a solo career (particularly if they have some songwriting ability), though few
manage sustained solo success (exception: Justin Timberlake
Popular culture studies is the academic discipline studying popular culture. It is generally considered as a combination of communication studies and cultural studies. Academic discussions on popular culture started as soon as
contemporary mass society
formed itself, and the views on popular culture that were developed then, still
influence contemporary popular culture studies.
List of teen idols: