# Where do pop stars come from
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 1, 2002, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872 "2002-08-01T14:12:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2002, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/1 "2002-08-01T14:12:23Z")
Watching American Idol (woo-hoo, Nikki made it!) last night the thought struck me: where the heck do pop stars come from? There’s jazz clubs for jazz bands. There are clubs for techno. Three are local venues for punk and metal. But pop artists? Never heard of them.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/2 "2002-08-01T15:03:10Z")
Don’t underestimate the value of a good and well-connected producer.
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### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/3 "2002-08-01T15:07:10Z")
Orlando.
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### Author:  [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/4 "2002-08-01T15:37:45Z")
Pretty much what Juanita said.
Think about the number of recent or current pop artists who have been either members of the “Mickey Mouse Club,” or appeared on “Star Search,” or both: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, at least one guy from N Sync, Destiny’s Child, Leann Rimes, Aaliyah, Alanis Morrisette . . . even scarier is how many of them **lost** when they were on.
Clearly, the only solution is to go back in time and destroy Ed McMahon.
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### Author:  [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2002, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/5 "2002-08-02T02:18:40Z")
The inner most bowels of HELL.
Tiffany was on Star Search too.
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### Author:  [@Zap\_Rowsdower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zap_Rowsdower)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/6 "2002-08-02T02:35:36Z")
I always thought it was when a boy pop star and a girl pop star fell in love and …
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### Author:  [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2002, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/7 "2002-08-02T02:49:03Z")
There a shop in an alley around the corner from Dagistino’s in Manhattan. The green awning above the darkened door simply reads “POP”. Legend has it that a carefully-selected team of thirteen Spanish dwarves build pop stars to order for the record companies. The prices are high, but results are guaranteed.
Longer expiration dates cost more, but no product can last longer than three years.
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### Author:  [@TheOnlySaneOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheOnlySaneOne)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/8 "2002-08-02T05:20:23Z")
Where do pop stars come from? That’s simple. They’re genitically engineered by the government. The who thing is a complex plot to overthrow the rest of the world by turning the current generation’s brains into mush through the process of overexposure to white smiles and pointless lyrics…
Then again, maybe not.
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### Author:  [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/9 "2002-08-02T11:30:32Z")
In Britain, they all come from [stage schools](http://www.thestage.co.uk/connect/howto/advice04.shtml). Huge educational factories churning out millions of identikit all-singing, all-dancing, all-acting nonentities. Doubtless funded by shady bald dictators planning to send them out to every corner of the world with sachets of lethal virus. Or just to kill us softly(?) with their songs. Anyway I’m not bothered: we need to educate our call centre employees and burger flippers somewhere.
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### Author:  [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2002, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/10 "2002-08-02T15:16:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The who thing is a complex plot to overthrow the rest of the world…
well, now we know, we won’t get fooled again.
d&r
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### Author:  [@Jorel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorel)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2002, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/11 "2002-08-02T19:52:44Z")
Dang! Zap\_Rowsdower beat me to the joke!
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### Author:  [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/12 "2002-08-03T02:21:20Z")
Britney, Christina, Mandy, Tiffany, Helena, Kylie…
[Listen to this tune and have a laugh!](http://202.83.95.2/lkmbws/_Office_Cow.mp3)
It’ll put it all into perspective for you! 😃
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### Author:  [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-pop-stars-come-from/121872/13 "2002-08-05T15:24:14Z")
There was an article about the “building of a pop star” in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine. It made me depressed, when I considered the future of mainstream music.