Where does it come from? Remember when Eminem was really popular? One of his singles was about an obsessive admirer named Stan who wrote letters to his idol, Slim Shady. Stan was obviously going through a lot of pain & ends up killing himself. According to Wikipedia, “the song is perhaps Eminem's most critically acclaimed song and has been called a "cultural milestone".
So now if you are an obsessive fan of someone, you are a stan. It’s also a verb. “To stan for Britney Spears” for example. Oh yeah, the term is mostly used for fans of ppl like Britney, Lady Gaga, Beyonce. Allegedly they’re the most rabid kind of followers & are always engaging in epic, passionate fights on the internet (defending their idol, ripping apart the competition). There’s a whole site dedicated to that, stan-wars.com. However I'm pretty sure a lot (most? all?) of artists have people like this in their fanbase. & there are always rivalries. The old fans, the new fans, the collectors, the groupies...
For a while I’ve been meaning to do a post on hero worship, which has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. But stanning is a specific kind of hero worship. So in that respect I think it’s only possible to affirm that I have really been a stan for Hanson (1997-1999), silverchair/ Daniel Johns (1999-2002/3) & the Manic Street Preachers/ Richey Edwards (2009-present). Very close runners-up would be Incubus/ Brandon Boyd & Rufus Wainwright. Alas there is a huge gap in time between silverchair & the Manics. During those years, I continued to love, look up to, think/ dream/ obsess/ read about several artists. But I recall the feeling of being TOTALLY OBSESSED over a significant period of time...was faraway. I wondered if maybe it had been a teenage phase. Then I got super into the Manics & it was like GUESS NOT LOL
Welcome to Stan-Wars.com, a comprehensive guide to worshipping people you don't know, who live a lifestyle you can't afford, supported by an industry you don't understand.
On a related note, it makes me LOL when people call Christian Bale "Jesus Bale".
See How Christian Bale Turned Into Jesus Bale
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