Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Beatlemania

Beatlemania is a term used to describe the ardent, sometimes hysterical reactions of Beatles' fans in the 1960s to the Fab Four. The "mania" consisted of screaming during concerts and chasing the Beatles whenever and wherever possible as they got in and out of limousines or went in and out of hotels. Some fans, mostly females, would cry or faint during Beatles performances.

Scottish music promoter Andi Lothian claims he coined the term after a Beatles' tour of Scotland in October of 1963. The term, however, appears in an article about the Beatles in The Daily Mirror on October 15, 1963, and the connection between the above references is not fully known.

The term spread rapidly in America after the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in February, 1964 on their first American tour. Later, fan frenzy would resurface when the Beatles did a more extensive tour of the United States later that year after filming A Hard Day's Night. Police and riot control had to be provided for the group throughout 1964 to 1966 for the Beatles American and world tours.

Beatlemania grew so intense that the Beatles became more and more concerned about their personal safety on the road. Indeed, their inability to hear their own live performances, as well as the frenzy created by the crowds in general, was one of the main reasons that the group decided to stop touring and retreat to the studio, where they began to record "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The effect of Beatlemania can be seen in the group's consistent Number One chartings with their singles and albums over a six-year period.

The term is still used by biographers today, as well as the surviving Beatles themselves, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, when interviewed. The term is also heard liberally on documentaries of the Beatles, including The Beatles Anthology and The Compleat Beatles.

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