The rock star is dead - but the idea of one lives on

Multiple formats of 24/7 digital access have killed off the magic of mystique that our musical stars once had, writes Suzanne Harrington

The rock star is dead — now that we have rock star chefs, rock star presidents, rock star comedians, rock star athletes, the term is meaninglessness. Diluted by celebrity, killed by social media. Multiple formats of 24/7 digital access have finished off the rock star magic of mystique and elusivity, distance and enigma.

The rock star is like the cowboy or the chorus girl — an iconic emblem of a past era, running from the mid-1950s to the death of the last true rock star — Kurt Cobain in 1994. So says music writer David Hepworth in his latest book, Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars.