Recently we have begun History 12 in PLP. Our first assignment involved studying different historical lenses. These were Historical Significance, Evidence and Interpretation, Continuity and Change, Cause and Consequence, Historical Perspective, and Ethical Judgement.
We spilt up into groups and each presented to the class, teaching them about a specific lens. I teamed up with Tom, Alanah, and Michael Sutherland and presented about historical perspective. This is the script we used:
We also had to create a visual demonstrating all 6 lenses. This is a flow chart I created outlining the different historical lenses, what they mean, the steps to take in order to view events through these lenses, and the relevancy of the different lenses:
Next we were tasked with applying theses lenses to an important 20th century event. I tried to be a bit creative with my choice and ended up choosing Beatlemania, and more specifically, the Beatles’ 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Beatlemania and the Ed Sullivan Show:
“We’re more popular than Jesus”
-John Lennon, 1966
Beatlemania was a period from 1963-70 where the Beatles quickly became the most popular band in the world. They had trouble travelling without being surrounded by fans and their shows were filled with them sounds of people screaming in awe and anticipation. The culmination of all this hype, perhaps, was an evening on February 9th, 1964, when the Beatles made an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. This evening showed that the Beatles were not just popular in Europe and the UK, but in America as well.
Historical Significance:
The Beatles’ appearance on Ed Sullivan was very notable at the time. The Beatles were making headlines everywhere and 73 million people tuned in to view the show. This was the most people to ever view a program in television history. People of all ages tuned in to see whether this famous band was worth all the hype. This performance left lasting consequences as it caused the Beatles to grow immensely in popularity. Newspapers began discussing Beatlemania and this caused the Beatles to re-appear on the Ed Sullivan Show twice more before their return to England. This appearance also made the four Liverpudlians even more recognizable, as they couldn’t go anywhere, UK or America, without being swarmed by admirers. In fact, Life Magazine reported that “A Beatle who ventures out unguarded into the streets runs the very real peril of being dismembered or crushed to death by his fans.”
Evidence and Interpretation:
There is not much room to interpret what happened that night on the Ed Sullivan show as we can still watch footage of the show today. The shows illustrates the height of Beatlemania; constant screaming, fainting, and an overriding sense of hysteria from the audience. In this case, the primary sources tell the story of how the night unfolded:
Continuity and Change:
This event marked a massive change in society. Although Elvis and Frank Sinatra had achieved great popularity, they were nothing compared to the Beatles. This is partly because the baby boom meant that there were many more teenagers during the Beatles reign than there had been for the formers. Before this time, most bands, even popular ones, did not require security, but the Beatles changed that. In fact, they were almost trampled during their arrival at a British Airport.
No one had ever seen the mass hysteria that surrounded the Beatles. Since the Beatles’ appearance on Ed Sullivan, things have been relatively continuous in terms of popularity. The Beatles still obtain great popularity today, over 40 years since they stopped touring. In fact, the Beatle generate over 12 million monthly listeners on Spotify, an extremely impressive number. Although the Beatles were the first to generate this sort of popularity, they certainly weren’t the last. Artists like the Rolling Stones, U2, and Michael Jackson rival the Beatles in popularity and mass hysteria caused.
Cause and Consequence:
What caused Beatlemania, and the Beatles’ insanely large audience on the Ed Sullivan Show? For one, it was the hype that already surrounded the band in the UK. Many Americans had heard of the Beatles as the band that sent Brits into a frenzy, but they had never really heard their music, or seem their faces. This made many people tune in to the show to see for themselves if the band was special, or simply overhyped. Also, the Beatles’ popularity was obviously greatly due to their music. Never before had there been a band whose music appealed to such a variety of people. This musical talent created a large fan base of adolescents and adults alike. Without their large popularity, the Beatles would not have received such a large audience on the Ed Sullivan Show and may not have been invited to perform on the show at all. There were many consequences of the Beatles’ performance on Ed Sullivan, some intended, some unintended. The Beatles were definitely trying to generate popularity and create record sales as they were trying to make a living, but they did not intend nor did they want the level of attention that they ended up receiving.
Historical Perspective:
At first when we think about Beatlemania it does not seem that impressive. We see the same sort of frenzy surrounding current artists like Justin Bieber and One Direction. It just seems like another band who achieved great popularity and captured the hearts of many teenage girls. But when using a historical perspective, Beatlemania becomes a lot more impressive. The 73 million people who viewed the Beatles on Ed Sullivan were 3/4 of the adult television audience at the time. That means that 3 out of every 4 people who watched TV that night were watching the Beatles. We also must consider how impressive Beatlemania was at the time as it was one of the first phenomena of its kind. So when we view Beatlemania not from a present perspective but from the perspective of a 1960’s British or American citizen, it becomes a lot more impressive.
Ethical Judgement:
Did the Beatles really deserve all the attention they received? Many music critics argue that the Beatles were extremely talented musicians and worked hard to achieve their fame. But others disagree. The money and effort that was spent promoting the Beatles may have been better off used elsewhere. Also, there are many other people who deserve recognition. Many people think that occupations such as doctors, firefighters, and teachers, people who work to improve society are much more deserving of fame than a group of musicians.
Well, there you have it, a detailed account of Beatlemania and an analysis of it through different historical lenses.
*I used many sites for research including the following:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/29/beatlemania-screamers-fandom-teenagers-hysteria
http://www.edsullivan.com/the-beatles-american-debut-on-the-ed-sullivan-show-1964-2/
https://theconversation.com/beatlemania-hit-50-years-ago-but-why-did-it-drive-girls-so-mad-22758
https://www.popmatters.com/115702-beatlemania-the-defiance-of-a-generation-2496119961.html