Sundry thoughts on 60s pop, culture, and fandom

[my_daroga]

A confluence of interests, Mr. Daroga's and mine, has me reading about the Walker Brothers (a pop trio that rivaled the Beatles for fame in the UK in and around 1966) and listening to a Four Tops live show Mr. D found somewhere. And it's gotten me thinking about a few things that you just don't see anymore

Comments

[onceupon]

I don't know about point the first - I worked out at the Virgin Megastore when the boy bands were hitting it big (N*Sync and Backstreet Boys) and there was a lot of screaming, fainting, and otherwise performative fanning going on even just at the signings. The difference is that security was more savvy and better able to keep distance between the band members and each individual fan.

And the stuff that goes on re: some of Twilight - when it was first peaking, a signing had to be canceled because there were so many more people than expected and people were afraid young Edward was going to be torn apart by fans (which wasn't just a group of teens but also their moms).

So I think that kind of fan activity gets condemned in online circles but is still alive and well in physical fan spaces.

[my_daroga]

Yeah, you're probably right--someone replied to much the same effect on my DW. I just don't hear about that at all, because the online world is my window and tv/radio is not. Oh well!

[emily_shore]

It's worth mentioning also that groups like the Beatles (being the ones I know the most about) had virtually nothing in the way of security. They had a police presence when indicated, obviously, and other than that they had their two faithful roadies Neil and Mal, who were old friends from back in Liverpool. They were left very vulnerable, actually.

Things are very different today and so some of the difference in what we see may simply be due to better crowd control.

[kryss_labryn]

"I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony, I'd like to buy the world a Coke, and keep it company..." ;-)

And also, Twihards. XD (and because that reminds me, this):