User Reviews

Using her own experiences in the early Nineties of falling in love with Queen - especially Roger Taylor - as a teenager, Kate Mossman told the story of the fan phenomenon.

Perhaps predictably, she began with The Beatles and continued right through to the late Nineties with the advent of grunge. She talked to various aging fans of various groups - The Beatles, the Bay City Rollers, Manic Street Preachers, and so on - as well as interviewing gray-haired performers, some of whom still went on tour, attracting huge audiences, such as Les McKeown of the Bay City Rollers and Dave Hill of Slade.

The only snag with this documentary was that it told half a story. The screaming teenager phenomenon did not "begin" with The Beatles, but was evident in British and American popular cultures in the Forties and Fifties with Frank Sinatra and Johnnie Ray. There were other forms of extreme reaction: when Bill Haley and the Comets toured Britain in the mid-Fifties, rock 'n roll fans tore out theater seats in their enthusiasm. The media had a lot to do with increasing fan frenzy, especially in its scaremongering tactics: was this the end of civilization as we know it? Encouraged by their sudden popularity, many fans continued in their extreme behavior. We can cite the battles between Mods and Rockers in the mid-Sixties on Brighton beach as an example; much of the so-called "anarchy" that took place on a Bank Holiday was staged for the media's benefit.

Sam Bridger's documentary also contained a fundamental contradiction that was not adequately explained, despite the presence of a "fan studies expert" among the interviewees. On the one hand Mossman was keen to argue that the extreme behavior of many fans was really only confined to their teenage years; once they grew older they became more sober in their reactions. On the other hand there were several fans whose obsessions persisted in their adulthood: one fan of Iron Maiden had an entire shed devoted to his heroes, and freely admitted that his mania had cost him his marriage and his children's' love.

Perhaps the best explanation for fandom came in the documentary's final line, as Mossman described it as "pure, intense, unadulterated devotion" that continues as a lifelong passion for many people.

When Glenn Frey of The Eagles died in January 2016, someone who ran an unofficial fan site mentioned that he always made time to speak to her whenever they met up after a concert and he would remember conversations they had several years earlier in their last encounter and just carry on from there.

It shows an artist having a genuine relationship with a fan who was more interested talking about the fan than himself.

It is something Rick Wakeman mentions in this documentary, eventually you and your dedicated fans get old together and although not always friends, you have a matey relationship and still glad that they are interested in you.

Music writer Kate Mossman tells her own obsession with the pop group Queen and drummer Roger Taylor which is unusual as all the Queen fans I knew were blokes who admired the fact that they were university graduates. It might also a bit to do with the flamboyant Freddie Mercury.

Mossman gives us a potted history of pop group fans beginning from The Beatles and the hordes of screaming adolescents, which continued with The Bay City Rollers. She does not forget male fans some of whom were into heavy metal but it was too much of a quick zip through.

The early 1980s Antmania or Duran Duran was ignored and in the early 1980s there was a resurgence of young men who were into the modern ska and mod scene and were following bands like Madness, Bad Manners, The Jam, The Specials. What we get is an interview with the singer of The Selecter well known for the one hit, On my radio.

Mossman also does not delve too deep to the dark side of fan obsession, although she admits to stalking Taylor there is also the real life killing of John Lennon by a so called fan. Mossman could also looked at how bands can get the wrong type of following which used to happen in the punk and later ska era. Madness always had a strong fascist following and eventually decided they needed to tackle it head on by making their music more reggae influenced or singing about racist incidents such as Embarrassment.

Of course I would also like to have heard from some of the grown up teenagers who just screamed non stop when they saw their idols back in the day. Why just scream? Could they not put into words how they were feeling?

When I go to a concert there is some applause and a few cheers when the band comes onto the stage. Maybe I should ask my daughter whether she screams incessantly when saw One Direction in concert although I can guess she would reply that she would never stoop so low.

4 years on and I still think about this documentary. I've tried in vain to find a dvd or something so I can keep it and keep rewatching it. And you have to appreciate the irony of me finding it thanks to a member of a band I loved mentioning it in an interview!