Were you there? Did you scream hysterially as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Osmonds,...? What pops into your mind when someone asks you to think about an audience of screaming fans at a rock concert?
Screaming is a physiological response to a stimulus, whether it is stress, fear, pain, or just excitement to see a rock star who has been hyped up as a dreamboat. Screaming at a concert, like the music performance itself, is a bodily experience, and calls to mind ponderings about bodies, control, and sexuality.
Screaming at a concert, especially one where girls in the audience may be attracted to the main attraction (or even to the messages in the music), may be viewed as a form of free bodily sexual expression, an experience long touted by feminists of many types to be crucial if women and men are to be equal, egalitarian, and/or emancipated from their prescribed gender roles.
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| August 21, 1964. The Beatles in Seattle. (Photo by William Lovelace/Getty Images) |
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| 14th August 1964: A tearful fan is escorted off the stage as pop group The Rolling Stones perform at the Wimbledon Palais, London. Drummer Charlie Watts is in the centre. (Photo by Davies/Express/Getty Images) |
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| A hysterical fan grasps a wire fence at a David Cassidy concert at White City, West London, 1974. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images) |
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| Screaming teenage Beatles fans in America, 1964. (Photo by William Lovelace/Getty Images) |
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| Ecstatic fans at a Rolling Stones concert at Wimbledon Palais, London, 1964. (Photo by Davies/Getty Images) |
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| A teenage Beatle fan in hysterics as she catches a glimpse of her heroes, 1964. (Photo by William Lovelace/Getty Images) |
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| 22nd May 1975: Ecstatic tartan-clad Bay City Roller fans at a concert in Swansea, where 16 of them had to be taken to hospital (Photo by Graham Wood/Evening Standard/Getty Images) |
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| 14th December 1963: Beatle fans get hysterical. (Photo by George Stroud/Express/Getty Images) |
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| 15th March 1965: British police hold back excited young Beatles fans hoping for a glimpse of their musical heroes during the filming of the musical ‘Help’, on location in London. (Photo by Stan Meagher/Express/Getty Images) |
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| January 1964: Dave Clark, drummer in his band the Dave Clark Five, besieged by fans outside The Royal in Tottenham, London. (Photo by Chris Ware/Keystone Features/Getty Images) |
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| 18th February 1954: Jazz fans collapsed onto chairs, overcome with emotion, at a crowded dance hall where their idols of song Ted Heath, Dickie Valentine and Lita Roza are performing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |
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| 4th November 1963: A group of girls bang and shout at the door of the Prince of Wales Theatre in London’s West End, where The Beatles are rehearsing for the Royal Command Performance. (Photo by B. Marshall/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| 17th May 1974: A young fan lies crying on the stage of the Hammersmith Odeon, London, comforted by a friend, at a concert by the British rock group Slade. A security guard stands behind. (Photo by Graham Wood/Evening Standard/Getty Images) |
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| 28th May 1974: A pop fan overcome with emotion at a David Cassidy concert at White City, west London. (Photo by Tim Graham/Evening Standard/Getty Images) |
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| 28th May 1974: Teenage fans at a David Cassidy concert at White City, London. (Photo by Tim Graham/Evening Standard/Getty Images) |
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| 30th May 1975: A crowd of over-excited teenage girls scream and cry at the sight of their idols, pop group The Osmonds. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images) |
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| 1964: Policemen struggle to control an excited crowd of young female Beatles fans. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |
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| 10th February 1964: Two excited girls in Beatles sweatshirts, amongst a crowd of fans in New York, welcoming the group as they arrive at the airport. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |
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| 22nd February 1964: A London policeman has to block his ears as a crowd of Beatles fans give the Fab Four their typical welcome at London Airport, after their tour of USA. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
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| 24th February 1964: A group of Beatles fans waiting for a glimpse of their idols outside ABC Television Studios in Teddington, where they are working on a new film. This group of fans had waited three hours in the rain, only to be told that the Beatles would not be leaving for at least another eight hours, undeterred, they decided to stay and wait. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |
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| June 1964: American policemen holding back Rolling Stones fans in New York. (Photo by William Lovelace/Express/Getty Images) |
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| 14th August 1964: Rolling Stones fans watching the band in concert at the Wimbledon Palais, London. (Photo by Davies/Express/Getty Images) |
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| 10th February 1964: A group of Beatles fans watching their heroes perform on the American television programme ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images) |
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| 27th May 1975: A crowd of excited fans of the American pop group The Osmonds wait behind a barrier in Eaton Square where the group is staying during a visit to London, hoping for a glimpse of the family. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images) |
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| 14th August 1964: Fans watching the Rolling Stones in concert at the Wimbledon Palais, London. For some the excitement verges on hysteria. (Photo by Davies/Express/Getty Images) |
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| 17th November 1975: Stewards keep a watchful eye on the hysterical pop fans during a Bay City Rollers concert at Wembey Empire Pool, London. (Photo by Monty Fresco/Evening Standard/Getty Images) |
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| 1967: Beatles fans go crazy in New York. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) |
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| Fans of David Bowie at the last concert he performed in his Ziggy Stardust persona, at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, 3rd July 1973. (Photo by Steve Wood/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
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| Screaming Duran Duran fans in the front row during a concert held at Wembley Arena in London, England on December 19, 1983. (Photo by Rogers/Express/Getty Images) |
(via Flashbak)