Popular Music, Stars and Stardom: Definitions, Discourses, Interpretations

Abstract

What do we mean when we talk of 'pop stars' or 'rock stars'?What do we seek to convey when we describe a particular performer as a 'pop star'?The use of the term 'star' to describe an individual's outstanding achievement within a particular field may be traced as far back as the early nineteenth century, when the term was used in popular discourse concerning those who excelled in their fields, particularly in the theatre and the sporting arena (Oxford English Dictionary Online, 2016).The term gained a particular currency, however, with its use in describing the most prominent and popular actors of the Hollywood film studios during the first half of the twentieth century.In this sense, the application of the word star connotes publicly recognised success, and it is often in this manner that we apply the terms 'pop star' or 'rock star' to acclaimed performers of popular music.However, our identification and veneration of stars, either of stage or screen, is demonstrative of a complex web of social and cultural processes, which raises other questions, and invites comparisons with notions of fame and celebrity.In particular, the way a star's persona may be understood as both commercial commodity and an individualised, personalised reflection of broader social or cultural meanings, invites questions of the

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