Japanese idol culture began in 1960s and rose in 1970s

An idol (Japanese: アイドル, ... popular culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements by talent agencies. They dedicate significant time and resources to building relationships with fans through concerts and meetups. Japan's idol industry first emerged in the 1960s and became prominent in the 1970s through ...

As actors increasingly crossed into music during the late 1960s, a new kind of multi-talented entertainer began to emerge. The 1970s brought a defining shift with the launch of the audition show Star Tanjo!, which produced talents like Yamaguchi ...

1960年代より、俳優が歌を歌うことも増え、マルチタレントのような存在が生まれます。1970年代に入ると、オーディション番組『スター誕生！』が始まり、山口百恵、ピンクレディーらがデビューしました。さらにキャンディーズや天地真理、アグネス・チャンらの活躍により、「アイドル」という存在が確立されます。特にピンクレディーは当時では異例の9作連続オリコンランキング1位などの記録を残し、日本芸能史上に残るブームとなりました。

The Japanese idol system has its roots in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the Japanese entertainment industry began to develop a distinctive approach to manufacturing and marketing young pop performers that drew on but diverged significantly ...

Since the late 1960s a ubiquitous feature of popular culture in Japan has been the "idol," an attractive young actor, male or female, packaged and pro...

アイドル（英語: Idol）は、熱狂的なファンを持ち、崇拝や憧れの対象となる歌手、俳優、タレントなどを表す言葉。英語の「idol」（偶像、転じて崇拝される人や物）を語源とする。 · 英語圏でのアイドルは「Teen ...

During the 1950s, Rockabilly music was slowly catching on in Japan, and before long, the first male idols emerged to adoring fans. Thus, Japanese idol history began. The 1960s came, and Johnny Kitagawa founded his new company, Johnny & Associates.

The “Johnny’s Jr.” group quickly gained a large following and helped to popularize the idea of young, talented individuals as idols. In the 1970s and 1980s, idol culture continued to grow in Japan.

The most commonly cited origin is the French film Cherchez l'idole, released in Japan in the mid-1960s under the title Aidoru o Sagase ("Looking for the Idol"), starring the young French singer Sylvie Vartan.

In Japan, by contrast, such standouts were (and even today are) typically called “stars” as opposed to “idols”. The term “idol” didn’t come into popularity until the 1960s with the worldwide boom in instrumental bands. The term eventually became to be used to refer to primary female performers; it was also adapted in the phrase グラビアアイドル (gurabia aidoru; from the English “gravure idol”, an old form of intaglio printing), which refers to young women whose primary claim to fame is scantily clad and sexually provocative photo shoots for men’s magazines.

There are various theories about when and how the idol emerged. In Japan, the word “idol” appeared · in the early 1960s with the French film Cherchez l’idole.

アイドルの社会的な存在意義って何でしょうか？ 視聴者を元気にするとか雰囲気を明るくするとかいいますけど、それならプロのダンサーやミュージシャンみたいなアーティストでいいですよね 嵐とかキスマイとか乃木坂みたいな坂道とかHey!Say!JUMPみたいなアイドルと呼ばれてる人たちってアーティストと違って自分から何かを生み出すってことをしてなくて上司が作った曲とメロディーを頭に叩き込んで上司...