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 a portmanteau of "Beatle" and "mania", 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, and an early printed use of the word is in The Daily Mirror 15 October 1963 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 the actual concerts and during the band's travels to and from hotels, concert venues, and the like. (via)

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John Lennon in Pictures

A young John Lennon is pictured with his mother Julia at the home of his aunt Mimi, where he grew up. Picture: Mercury Press Agency / Rex Features

Circa 1948: John Lennon is pictured as a young boy in a school uniform and cap.
Picture: Pictorial Press/Getty Images

1960: George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon pose in a Hamburg fairground.
Picture: PA

December 1961: John Lennon is pictured live on stage with The Beatles at the Cavern
Club in Matthew Street, Liverpool. Picture: Evening Standard/Getty Images

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The Rolling Stones' 1972 American Tour

The Rolling Stones embarked on their 1972 American tour to support the release of Exile on Main Street– which in and of itself was a push into new territory for the band, both musically and commercially. What followed rewrote the game for The Stones and the music industry, and basically set the stage for a decade of big, balls-out tours that went from being simple promotional vehicles the pop culture events. Nothing like this had been done in Rock ‘n’ Roll prior and all subsequent tours would follow the ’72 tour blueprint for scale, attempted musicality, logistics, legal entanglements, drugs, women, hilarity, hangers-on, and general debauchery. (via)

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The Beatles (1964) by Robert Whitaker

Robert Whitaker (1939 – 20 September 2011) was a renowned British photographer, best known internationally for his many photographs of The Beatles, taken between 1964 and 1966, and for his photographs of the rock group Cream, which were used in the Martin Sharp-designed collage on the cover of their 1967 LP Disraeli Gears.

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The Sutherland Sisters

The Seven Sutherland Sisters, a group of singing ladies from Lockport/ Niagara, N.Y., were famous for their long hair, which they showed off in a sideshow of Barnum & Bailey’s from about 1882 to 1907. On such group photos the sisters were always placed in such a way that it seemed all of the sisters had hair reaching the floor. (via)

The Jackson 5 Pictures

The Jackson 5 (also spelled The Jackson Five, or The Jackson 5ive), later known as The Jacksons, were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana. Founding group members Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael formed the group after performing in an early incarnation called The Jackson Brothers, which originally consisted of a trio of the three older brothers. Active from 1964 to 1990, the Jacksons played from a repertoire of R&B, soul, pop and later disco. During their six-and-a-half-year Motown tenure, The Jackson 5 were one of the biggest pop-music phenomena of the 1970s, and the band served as the launching pad for the solo careers of their lead singers Jermaine and Michael, the latter brother later transforming his early Motown solo fame into greater success as an adult artist.

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The Beatles Illuminated: The Discovered Works of Mike Mitchell

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We love you Beatles!

Famous People With Vinyl

Audrey Hepburn

Marlon Brando

James Dean

Natalie Wood

Jimi Hendrix

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Unseen pictures capture outbreak of Beatlemania

They have been gathering dust in a basement for more than 40 years, but now U.S. photographer Mike Mitchell has decided to auction a group of pictures which capture the moment the Beatles became a worldwide phenomenon.

Mitchell, now in his mid-60s, was given a press pass to the Fab Four's first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum in 1964, just two days after their breakthrough television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

He was back later that year to cover their concert in Baltimore, by which time their fame had grown considerably.

"I heard the music and I had to be there," said Mitchell, surrounded by a selection of the black-and-white images which had a spontaneity that many later photographs lacked.

He is selling the collection through Christie's auctioneers in New York on July 20, and is exhibiting them in London first to raise awareness among potential bidders.

"Things were much different back then," he told Reuters on Friday. "There was no big security presence, the press wasn't corralled and I was free to sort of embrace my own ambition."

Several of the pictures, valued at between around $1,000 to $6,000 each, are taken from unusual vantage points and focus on particular details.

The photograph chosen by Christie's to illustrate the collection shows the four Beatles from behind looking into the bright lights that would follow them wherever they went after the outbreak of "Beatlemania" in 1964.

Another was taken from the side of a table behind which the four musicians sat for a press conference, while others focus solely on Ringo Starr's hands or Paul McCartney's feet on a stage littered with sweets thrown by screaming fans. [via]

The Beatles at Holland - June 1964

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