Beatlemania
From Freepedia
Beatlemania is the name of various tribute groups dedicated to singing songs from The Beatles. Each of these groups have John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr look-alikes.
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The name
The name Beatlemania comes from the popular word that was used during the 1960s to describe fan frenzy by young teenaged girls towards The Beatles. Many fans across the world were known to have Beatlemania. Beatlemania hit the United States hard after The Beatles performed at the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
The term has had a number of derivatives, usually shortlived, such as Rollermania in the early 1970s to describe a similar phenomenon directed at the Scottish boy band Bay City Rollers, and in the early 1980s, Menudomania to describe frenzy across Latin America for another world famous boy band, Menudo.
The dimensions
The dimensions of the original Beatlemania during its peak year in 1964 one can envision by a look at the unprecedented sales figures caused by it. During 1964, the Beatles sold over 30 million records in America alone:
Singles
Released by Capitol records
- I Want To Hold Your Hand – 5 million according to Capitol Records (1 million RIAA-certified)
- Can't Buy Me Love – 3 million according to Capitol Records (1 million RIAA-certified)
- A Hard Day's Night – 1 million RIAA-certified
- I Feel Fine – 1 million RIAA-certified
- And I Love Her – unknown
- I'll Cry Instead – unknown
- Matchbox - unknown
Total: over 10 million (4 million RIAA-certified)
Released by other companies (such as Swan, Tollie, Vee Jay, Polydor)
- She Loves You – over 3 million
- Please Please Me – 1.1 million
- Twist And Shout – 1.2 million
- Do You Want To Know A Secret – 1 million (Vee Jay)
- Love Me Do – 1.1 million
- My Bonnie – unknown
- Ain't She Sweet - unknown
- All My Loving – unknown
- Why – unknown
- Sie Liebt Dich – unknown
- Four By The Beatles – unknown
Total: over 7.4 million (non RIAA-certified)
Albums
Released by Capitol records
- Meet The Beatles! – 4 million (5 million RIAA-certified)
- The Beatles' Second Album – over 2 million (2 million RIAA-certified)
- A Hard Day´s Night – 3 million (4 million RIAA-certified)
- Something New – over 2 million (2 million RIAA-certified)
- The Beatles' Story – 500,000 ($1 million RIAA-certified)
- Beatles' 65 - 1 million (3 million RIAA-certified)
Total: over 13 million (16 million RIAA-certified)
Released by other companies
- Introducing ... The Beatles – 1.2 million
- Songs, Pictures & Stories Of The Fabulous Beatles – 400,000
- Other Vee Jay releases combined – 155,000
- The Beatles With Tony Sheridan & Their Guests – unknown
- The American Tour With Ed Rudy – unknown
Total: over 1.7 million (non RIAA-certified)
These sales represent a total of 17.4 million singles and 14.7 million albums giving a grand total of 32.1 million records sold in just 12 months (of which 21 million are certified by the RIAA). Never before or since has a musical act approached sales figures on such a scale in such short a period of time.
Sources:
- Spizer, Bruce (2000), The Beatles' Story on Capitol Records, Part 1: Beatlemania & The Singles. New Orleans: 498 Productions.
- Spizer, Bruce (2000), The Beatles' Story on Capitol Records, Part 2: Beatlemania & The Albums. New Orleans: 498 Productions.
- Spizer, Bruce (1998), The Beatles' Records On Vee Jay. New Orleans: 498 Productions.
The groups
There are currently hundreds of tribute groups that use the name Beatlemania. Beatlemania, Now and Then, is the longest known group and has been touring since the 1970s; they even participated in the 1980 movie Beatlemania, where they got to play their idols. Beatlemania, Now and Then currently plays frequently at a casino in Arizona.
There are truly only four "Original Cast Members" of Beatlemania. They are as follows:
- Mitch Weissman - Paul
- Leslie Fradkin - George
- Joe Pecorino - John
- Justin McNeil - Ringo
Another lesser known, group, 'The Cast', is composed of one singer who participated in a Broadway show of the same name. Currently, The Cast claims to be the "original Cast of Beatlemania", yet this is certainly not the truth.
| The Beatles | ||||||
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Band members: John Lennon - Paul McCartney - George Harrison - Ringo Starr Early members: Pete Best - Stuart Sutcliffe Management: Brian Epstein - Apple Records Production: George Martin - Geoff Emerick See also: History of the Beatles - Discography - Bootlegs - Long-term influence - Beatlemania - Beatlesque - Fifth Beatle - Paul Is Dead rumours - British Invasion - Breakup - Classic rock era | ||||||
