When Did The Screaming At Concerts Stop?

I've heard about the early Beatles concerts. Fans were screaming from the start to the finish. The Beatles said they couldn't hear a thing on stage and presumably the audience couldn't hear much either.

1. When did it stop? What was the point where the Beatles were able to be heard
2. Who else was affected? Was it all or most of the British Invasion bands? Any US bands?
3. Were you, or your spouse, at one of these concerts? What do you (or your spouse) remember?

Is any of this on youtube or generally released?

 

When the music began to suck!

 

Probably when Cream came along with some real real amps.

 

Probably when people started sitting on their butts instead of standing and dancing.

 

I think the screaming never stopped. If you went in the '70s to concerts by teenpop artists like David Cassidy or Bay City Rollers the screaming was deafening. If you go today to K-Pop idols BTS, there's still a lot of screaming by (pre) teen girls.

Although The Beatles are now considered the ultimate sacred cows, let's not forget that the Fabs initially were considered a teenybopper band. When they were still playing live it was hard to find somebody over 20 years old in the audience.

 

Have thought about this before.

My initial thought was that once the audience discovered pot, they all chilled the f--- out.

But is it more to do with the fact that concerts started going much longer? Beatles gigs were only short, so screaming your way through a 30 minute set is doable. Screaming through a two-hour set is much more difficult.

 

Firmly convinced that the screaming on Cheap Trick at Budokan was studio-added. So, it was way before 1978.

 

I am assuming your talking about the mania screams for Elvis and the Beatles?

I don't know exactly as i wasn't there or around in the 1960s but from bootleg audio, youtube videos and live albums of the biggest acts - most of the screaming seemed to have stopped by around 1967-ish.

it isn't like a scientific analysis, it is just something i noticed... maybe others can chime in too?

 

A few days ago I saw a video of Billie Eilish performing live. There was an awful lot of screaming in the (mostly female) audience, and I thought, "I haven't heard that much screaming at a concert since The Beatles."

 

If you mean "when did fans stop screaming for Brit Invasion" bands, around 1967, I guess.

But screaming at concerts never stopped period. Artists who appeal to younger audiences still get screaming crowds.

I saw Harry Styles a couple years back and the shrieks were deafening at times!

 

Me mam screamed at EVERY archer bilk show she seen from Bovey Tracey to Newton Abbot
This went on into the bloody 70s it done

 

As I allude above, screaming never went away - it just moved to different targets.

Right after the Beatles retired from the road, the Monkees got screaming crowds.

Then acts like the Osmonds and David Cassidy, and so on through various boy bands and the like.

Usually it's young girls who scream for cute boys, but as you note, female artists get screams from this audience as well.

I remember massive shrieks for Spice Girls in 1998!

 

I was watching some videos of various bands from the 70s and 80s and I thought, "Wow. The fans are really loud." I think the problem is the age of the fans and the cost of the ticket prices. Fans are getting older and the people who can afford the outrageous ticket prices aren't the loud types. Happens when sports teams build new stadiums. The hardcore fans are priced out. And then we hear the new stadiums have "no atmosphere" and phrases like that.

 

Some bands were probably not... screamable.

So, I saw Cream in Fall, 1968, no screams, but they were not screamable in the first place.

So let’s look at a band that was potentially scream worthy
I saw The Rolling Stones in July, 1966 and there was plenty of Beatles worthy screaming .

When I saw them in November 1969 there was no screaming .

I hope this scientific study helps everyone .

 

I tend to go to shows where people actually want to listen to music, so IDK

 

Screaming is much more about age - and gender - than prices.

As I noted, I saw Harry Styles not long ago, and the girls screamed a lot during that show.

Screaming really comes just from a specific audience: girls ages 9-14 or so...

 

The Stones' audiences grew up just enough in that 3-year span to grow out of screaming.

A 15-year-old ain't gonna behave like she did when she was 12!

 

I think you're right. I found it ridiculously annoying when I was 14 . . . and just as much now. And yet, a totally silent audience would suck a lot of energy out of the room. A fine line.

 

I watched a live concert Tuesday night from Norway, originally streamed last Saturday night. Absolutely no screaming.

Of course the venue was empty because of the coronavirus, so...

 

Sorry. I skimmed the posts and didn't read them completely. I understand what you are saying. I think of some John Mayer shows I've seen. Many of the young women were screaming. It wasn't loud enough to drown out the show.

 

I've been to quite a few concerts where people were screaming for the band to stop.

Oh wait, that wasn't your question was it?

 

Thank you so much for explaining something I NEVER would have thought of.


Being serious for a second, the aura of the Stones themselves changed from a pop band to a more mature, dark, and sinister (!) rock band and yes, their fans matured with them .

 

The screaming stopped because Chuck Norris shut the entire audience up with one roundhouse kick. Music fans have been afraid to scream ever since.

 

A female friend who is really too old for Harry Styles concerts went and took footage she showed me. Non-stop screaming from the fans.

 

Acker Bilk