The Beatles got big fast. The fans were crazier than ever. They would make death threats to any of the Beatles' lovers. Hundreds of fans would wait outside for them if they were sick. People were even willing to buy Ringo's tonsils when he had them taken out. The Beatles were the first to make it big in the U.S and they were the ones to open the gates to the British invasion. When they made in the States (the U.S.A) it really took off. The fans there were the worst. "Hoses had to be turned on screaming fans to control them," (Davis 184). Even the police were as bad. They also demand autographs and once George caught one going though their pockets. This was Beatlemania.
"It was like the end of a cycle. In Hamburg (their first tour) we had played for up to eight hours at a stretch, loving it all, getting to know each other and what we could do. It was a read freak-out in those days; the things we did were really wild," (Harrison 214). When they were in Hamburg they did things the way they wanted to do them and even when they were back in Liverpool and the shows were shorter they were still able to be apart of the audience compared to when they got big. When they toured they had to be polished, they had to play for a different audience each day, and they did the same things every concert. They got no satisfaction from it. could even hear them. "It was wrecking our playing. The noise of the people just drowned anything. Eventually I just used to play the off beat, instead of the constant beat. I couldn't hear myself half the time, even on the amps, with all the noise," (Starr 214). No one enjoyed the stresses of touring, so they just stopped. "The Beatles had no hesitation. They saw it as the end of Chapter One. Being naive and simple, they did it without knowing what Chapter Two was going to be," (Davis 215). It was the end of Beatlemania.
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Would you risk your future to be happy?
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Anything about the fans shock you?