BEATLEMANIA
Based on original research from the Fab
Four’s visit to Wellington between 21-24
June 1964
A.J.W. Taylor PhD
Psychology Department
Victoria University of Wellington
Abstract
• To objectify the major parameters of crowd and audience reaction ….
• Advance publicity had warned of the ‘mass-hysteria’ to be expected at the
sight, sound and lyrics ….. Adolescents anticipated their arrival eagerly,
while the authorities were disparaging and somewhat fearful ….
• Findings published in Britain in 1966, in the United States in 1968, and
once more in Britain in 1992 by special request to encourage …..
• When writers from those countries mentioned the study recently near
the 50th ….seemed interesting to review the accretion of similar studies
…..
• Sadly, the outcome showed psychologists had not taken mass-audience
research further. Hence …appropriate to lift the Wellington study from
obscurity, in the hope of inspiring the next generation to make amends.
Procedure
• Appraise range of descriptions/definitions
• Methodology – inclusive, comparative design
• Method – an amalgam of clinical, naturalistic,
observational, & psychometric features, plus
interview(s) with John Lennon
• Clinical Honours class exercise - safeguards,
funding
• Results – pubcns in 1966/1968/…1991/2014….
Range of descriptions/definitions
• Paul Johnson (1964) - ‘this apotheosis of inanity…(with
Beatles fans forming) a bottomless chasm of vacuity…. who
scream themselves into hysteria, whose vacant faces flicker
over the TV screen, are the least fortunate of their generation,
the dull, the idle, the failures.’
• Science Newsletter 1964/2014 - ‘there has not been enough
serious study of mass adolescent reactions to explain the
impact of these four mop-headed British youths…(and)
psychologists are as puzzled as parents over the explosive
effect the Beatles are having on American teen-agers’
…..definitions
• ‘A condition in which the blood is set in commotion in
consequence of an alteration in the vital spirits, whereby fits
of intoxicating joy and the propensity to dance are
occasioned’ – said the 15th Century Swiss/German polymath
Paracelcus’
• ‘A reaction in excess of that which a normal person might
display in the circumstances’ – said James Williams, the
somewhat lugubrious lawyer and VC of VUW in 1964
Clinical signs/symptoms of hysteria
• Loss of physical functions
•
Loss of psycho/sensory functions
•
Oblivious to externally imposed controls
•
Exhibitors require short-term care and protection
Signs can be presented by individuals or groups in response
to psychological stress of a personal, occupational, or cultural
kind – cf. instances of dancing mania, Liztomania, radio-drama,
brainwashing, ‘74 Auckland firemen to merphos gas, and Asian
family response to diminishing genitalia of elderly males
Psychometrics
•
•
•
•
•
A crudely created Beatlemania/Fan Scale (BS) – 11 items
MMPI Hysteria scale – 60 items
Maudsley Neuroticism scale – 24 items
Cattell’s 16 Personality Factor scales – 156 items
Age, gender, living at home/away, law keepers/breakers
• NB –scoring and data processing in pre-computer days…..
Participant recruitment: … aim
• A: to invite 400 individuals from crowds greeting the
Beatles on arrival at Wellington airport and massed
outside their Hotel St George, to one of four testing
sessions at VUW five days later
• Alt B: to seek the cooperation of colleges in spread of
socio-economic areas in Wellington, to access and
test pupils in classes that teachers thought most
affected by the Beatles and their music
1. Observations/participant recruitment on
arrival at Wellington Airport - crowd est. 3,000
2. Airport crush
3. Police airport crowd control
4. Crowd outside Hotel St George
(crowd est. 3 000)
5. View from Hotel balcony
6. First interview with John Lennon in press
scrum
From interview(s) with John Lennon
• The group merged from working/middle classes early in the
‘swinging sixties’
• Did stints in Liverpool and Hamburg, in Rock & Roll tradition of Elvis
Pressley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly….
• Came under influence of Brian Epstein & George Martin, and
brought Richard (Ringo) Starkey in as drummer
• Created a distinctive beat, composed music, wrote love lyrics, and
sharpened their image
• Appealed to the aspirations of youth, in the dawn of what proved to
be a strong and pervasive counter-culture attempting to promote
love, peace and liberation
• Reached an estimated tv audience of 73 million in Feb 1964 via US
Ed Sullivan show – shortly before coming to NZ
Concert build-up
• Two bands in preliminary non-stop ‘work-up’ with
psychedelic lighting effects
• Induced audience arousal, hand-clapping
• Mayhem erupted when Beatles appeared for final 20
minutes
• Sustained fever-pitch intensity over throbbing beat
• Security guards/police kept busy
• Stentorian National Anthem cool-down
The three front men in concert
Ringo on the job
Audience responding
Overwhelmed with ecstasy
A heartfelt response
A lunging male held back by police
Clinical observations/overview
• No pathological signs of hysteria sufficient to
warrant a clinical diagnosis and referral for
psychological treatment…….
• ……….but sufficient indicators of untoward
behaviour to warrant a combination of
developmental, personal, and social
explanations……
Psychometric response
• Method A: Students handed out 85 invitations for testing
(36 keen v 47 not), but only 10 people came …
• Alt. Method B: Four colleges and a teachers’ college
responded with 336 participants between ages of 15 and
20 in a total of 10 testing sessions
• Validity checks – observations to tape-recording of Beatle
music, auditory/verbal exchanges between subjects,
reactions to printed Beatle autographs, and confirmed
later by a spread of written responses to Beatle Fab Scale
Autograph checks……
Groupings for inter-comparison
• Separation of top 50 participants (scoring 16 +) and
bottom 50 (scoring 0-5) on Beatle/Fab Scale, and a
middle group of 122 (scoring 8-12)
• Further subdivision of the three groups by gender
Psychometrics of female respondents
Psychometrics of male respondents
Conclusions
•
Beatlemania was primarily a reaction of adolescent females
to the considerable direct and indirect musical, psychological,
social and commercial pressures placed on them
•
Those affected were younger, more gregarious, assertive,
active, worrying, excitable and inclined towards emotional
instability than their counterparts, but they presented no
evidence of clinical hysteria, acute emotional instability, and
social deviance
Conclusions (contd.)
•
The audience reactions could be construed as
reflecting a) a passing phase of personality development,
b) the common need for generational independence, and
c) the chance to try to create a less hidebound society ….
•
Males might be more aroused if female musical
groups were in the limelight ……
•
The power of the rhythmic beat, the socio-cultural
importance of music, and the emotional arousal of the
lyrics warrant further attention
Independent replication still needed
• As the Sine qua non to validate or negate the
findings, also:
- to improve methods adopted
- to elaborate the dimensions
- to reflect on the consequences……
Then, to encourage psychologists to adopt a General
Systems Theory, and participate with scholars and
practitioners of other disciplines in its application…..
Taylor, Antony. (in press). THE 1964
WELLINGTON STUDY OF BEATLEMANIA
REVISITED. Psychology Research
Breaking news
• UCL psycho-physiologists Trimble, Mathias and
Owens found two subjects (opera buff
Stephen Fry and opera novice Alan Davies)
gave similar primitive autonomic reactions to
a dramatic passage in Verdi’s Simon
Bocconegra (accessed 1/8/2014 from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVN4d
ShaZWk-)
New groups evoking audience reactions
worth studying…..
‘UNLOCKING THE TRUTH’ – a New York heavy-metal trio of
13 year old schoolboys commanding attention – Cherry
Party/Sony recordings
‘IN HEARTS WAKE’ – a Byron Bay quintet, presenting ‘a fusion
of alternative hardcore, powerfully interwoven with thought
provoking lyrics and melodic hooks’, sponsored by EMI recording
studios - touring NZ soon – led by Jake Granieri-Taylor……
Most recent tangential references
• Reddish, P., Fischer, R., & Bulbula, J. (2013). Let’s dance
together: synchronicity, shared intentionality and
cooperation. PLOS ONE, 8, e71182.
• Sutton, J. (2014). For those psychologists about to rock. The
Psychologist, 27, 5, 320-323.
• Walker, J. (2009). Dancing plagues and mass hysteria. The
Psychologist, 22, 7, 644-647.