Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success. The word is similar to the much earlier term Lisztomania, used to describe fan reaction to the concerts of pianist Franz Liszt.
Andi Lothian, a former Scottish music promoter, claims that he coined the term while speaking to a reporter at the Caird Hall Beatles concert that took place as part of The Beatles' Mini-Tour of Scotland, on 7 October 1963,[1] and an early printed use of the word is in The Daily Mirror 15 October 1963[2] in a news story about the previous day's Beatles concert in Cheltenham.
Beatlemania became common in the United States after The Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. It was characterised by intense levels of hysteria demonstrated by fans both at concerts and during the band's travels. The extent of Beatlemania in the United States is evidenced by their sales. During the 6 1/2 years between the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" single and the Let It Be LP, The Beatles had the Number One single for 59 weeks and topped the LP charts for 116 weeks. In other words they had the top-selling single one out of every six weeks, and the top-selling album one out of every three weeks."[3]
Similar coinage
The term later became the name of various tribute groups dedicated to singing the songs of The Beatles, many with impersonators of the group.[4][5]
The term has had a number of derivatives with the suffix "-mania", usually short-lived, to describe a similar phenomenon toward other bands, such as "Rollermania"[6] in the early 1970s for the Scottish band Bay City Rollers, "Menudomania" in the 1980s to describe frenzy across Latin America for the boyband Menudo, and "Spicemania" in the 1990s[7][8] for the Spice Girls. In professional wrestling, WWE's flagship pay-per-view is called WrestleMania (a term coined by Howard Finkel). The popularity of Hulk Hogan during his tenure led to the creation of the term Hulkamania. These days, the "-mania" suffix is often placed at the end of sports figures' names when they acquire sudden popularity, such as with Tim Tebow and his "Tebowmania."
See also
References
- ^ Radio interview, Radio Tay AM. Accessed 26 May 2007
- ^ > online text searchable archive of the Daily Mirror[dead link]
- ^ The Beatles Forever (1977), Nicholas Schaffner, McGraw-Hill Paperbacks, p. 216.
- ^ "Beatles Tribute band at". Beatlemanianow.com. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
- ^ Jennifer Cantamessa, RJ Design. "Welcome to The Cast of Beatlemania". Moptops.com. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
- ^ By brizzle born and bred Paul Townsend+ Add Contact (2007-12-01). ""1975 Rollermania comes to town" | Flickr - Photo Sharing!". Flickr. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
- ^ Spice Mania BBC
- ^ Spice Mania in the 90s BBC
