Pop idols trade licks, Online 'fanfic' trend sees rock stars united in lust
| News Media Commentary | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Pop idols trade licks Online 'fanfic' trend sees rock stars united in lust |
| Commentator: | Kitty Empire |
| Date(s): | 26 February 2006 |
| Venue: | The Guardian (The Observer) |
| Fandom: | Bandom |
| External Links: | Pop idols trade licks, Online 'fanfic' trend sees rock stars united in lust[1][2] |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Pop idols trade licks, Online 'fanfic' trend sees rock stars united in lust is an article about the RPS fandom.
The article says that what's interesting about it is that these aren't star-on-fan scenarios, these are star-on-star, and they are written by "girls and gay men". Also, "even more amusing is that those doing the wishful humping in bandslash aren't your usual pin-ups. Bandslash has gone indie."
Excerpts
Fans have always done strange things. Otherwise sane adults build shrines to Elvis in their garages. The hysteria of Beatlemania, now quaint, eventually begat stalkers. And don't let's get started on groupies - especially not the deaf girl willingly covered in raw meat for sexual kicks in Marilyn Manson's autobiography. No, especially not her. Wherever there is celebrity, it seems, there are fans doing preposterous, often lurid things in the service of their devotion.
The music press has lifted the veil on a particularly intriguing practice of modern fandom. The internet, it seems, is slick with fans' sexual fantasies about guys in bands. This porn peopled by singers and guitarists is called 'bandslash' or 'slash', probably after the oblique between the names of the protagonists (e.g. Pete/Carl). What began as an offshoot of the older and more innocent practice of fan fiction - where pop stars are used as characters in wistful short stories - has spread like a prurient rash across the net. Fan fiction used to be about being whisked out of geography by Robbie Williams; now it's all tumescent this and rimming that.
Of course, there is nothing new about fancying pop stars. Pop sells a fantasy: it's a micro-step from that to active fantasising. But what's interesting is that these aren't star-on-fan scenarios. These are star-on-star. Even more amusing is that those doing the wishful humping in bandslash aren't your usual pin-ups. Bandslash has gone indie. This is a shadowy world where the boys in Franz Ferdinand are each others' fetish objects, and former Libertines Carl Barât and Pete Doherty, lovers. And it's girls and gay men driving the writing, confounding the usual assumptions about porn and its consumers. The Franz boys have reacted with amusement to these online tales of Alex Kapranos shagging Bob Hardy senseless, but also with insight, praising their fans' creativity and fertile imagination. Here's a bandslash taster, just about printable in a family newspaper: "When finally the jeans were off, Peter pressed himself into Carl's chest, breathing heavily and making small groaning noises into Carl's ear..."[3]
References
- ^ "Pop idols trade licks From the Observer The Guardian". 2006-02-26. Archived from the original on 2017-03-25.
- ^ "Pop idols trade licks Culture The Guardian". 2006-02-26. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
- ^ "Pop idols trade licks From the Observer The Observer". 2006-02-26. Archived from the original on 2013-07-08.