Uma História Social do estrelato no pop/rock: David Bowie, Elton John e a segunda metamorfose da fama no século XX.

Abstract

This Thesis aims to investigate how the British singers David Bowie and Elton John and the albums The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, from 1972, and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, from 1973, make possible the writing of a History of Fame focused on debates on issues related to the star system, the culture of personality and the media performance plus the idea that in and from the 1970s onwards it was possible to think of a historical transformation that generated what I call the second metamorphosis of fame in the 20th century. It is argued that there was a first one, which lasted between the 1910s and the 1960s, and which had cinematographic predominance in the production of famous subjects in mass society; it is also argued that from the 1970s until the end of the aforementioned century there was a break with the cinematographic predominance, with a phonographic preponderance on the rise of famous subjects, and especially rockstars. At first, we analyze how pop/rock music in general, between 1958 and 1976, dealt with this social transformation. In a second opportunity, we analyze the hyperexposure of the famed in the „Me Decade‟ and the protagonism of the glam/glitter rock musical style during that period is evaluated, as well as moments of hype for the careers of David Bowie and Elton John. Afterwards, it can be seen how the aforementioned style is a significant part of a transition from the 1960s to the following decade, having carried out a resignification of the counterculture with a completely different guise from other pop/rock styles. Since the previous opportunity, the musical albums privileged by the research are seen more deeply, something which is intensified in the fourth opportunity, where a more direct look at the concepts of transgression, allegory and Camp exaggeration is carried out having both cover arts and phonographic products as basis of analyses. In a final endeavor, the contexts of creation of personas and alter-egos in those musical opuses are debated and how the performance concept ends up being an essential foundation for the establishment of the so called second metamorphosis of fame in the 20th century.