Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Did Beatle fans wet their pants at concerts??




Here at Meet the Beatles for Real, we are often discussing Beatle fans and their behavior at Beatles concerts.      We have seen photos and read reports of girls screaming, fainting, pulling at their hair, crying, staring in shock, running onto the field or up onto the stage, and behaving in some pretty unbelievable ways for young pre-teen and teenager girls.    And it is understandable (at least to me) because the Beatles have that certain something that makes you react in some emotional way.    I still see fans crying at Paul McCartney concerts and I honestly have to hold back a scream every single time I hear that opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night."    The Beatles cause an emotional response from those of us who love them. 

Last year the Huffington Post had this story where they claimed that Beatles concerts had the smell of urine.    They said that the female fans were going so out of control that they were unable to control their bladders and urinated on the floor.    Now I read that and thought to myself, "Really?   Well I guess it is possible, but I have never heard of that before.....seems kind of strange."    But one blogger named Elaine Viets wrote a very good article about this very topic:   female Beatle fans peeing themselves.    So contacted Elaine and she is happy to have her article linked on this blog so all of you can read what she said on this topic.   I found it to be pretty funny and yet interesting at the same time and I thought you all would enjoy it as well.


 
http://femmesfatales.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/08/beatlemania-in-the-1960s-theyre-all-wet.html




So what do you think?   Was this really happening around the world?    If you were at a Beatles concert do you recall smelling urine (I love how the article states "female urine" as if "male urine" smells better or something....)?    





50 comments:

  1. Interesting article. I found it very strange when I recently heard about the peeing situation. I am a first generation fan. I never saw The Beatles live (though I must say I almost got clobbered by a bunch of US friends when I complained about that once: they said they had been to concerts, been on the nosebleed section and heard next to nothing, while I was at the studios with all four of them just for myself, Gayleen and Mal! - I guess they do have a point...). I obviously bought every newspaper or magazine I could get my hands on, and I never read one single word about that. I'm interested to know what people who went to concerts say. I will send a link to this story to my friends who went to concerts and see what they have to say.

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  2. Hi again Sara, I'll post the comments I get from my fellow first generation fans here, ok? I won't write their names.

    "I didn't see them til '66 and it was an outdoor stadium. However, this was definitely not true of anyone I know that went to the concert. Also, several of my friends in high school saw them in '64, and never mentioned anything about this, nor did any of the newspaper articles on the show. I'm wondering what this woman's source was!"

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  3. Another first generation NY fan wrote:

    "Never ever heard of this ever."

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  4. From another US first generation fan:

    "I saw The Beatles at Shea in '66. I certainly didn't wet my pants! lol Seriously, I don't recall any wet seats in my section & no urine smells either. My mom took me to Shea & she certainly would've said something if she had seen or smelled anything. Sounds like the person who reported this has a bizarre imagination!"

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    1. No you didn't, it seems like you have a vivid imagination

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    2. Please show respect toward Lizzie Bravo.

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    3. Sara, personally I wouldn't complain if you exercised your right to censor or blacklist anyone who feels the need to disrespect Lizzie's memory.

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  5. The song "5:15" on the Who's 1973 album Quadrophenia features a line inspired by just such an event: "Girls of 15, sexually knowing, the Ushers are sniffing, Eau-de-cologning".

    The Who (when they were still known as The High Numbers) had supported The Beatles at Blackpool Opera house on August 16th 1964. Pete Townshend said of the line:

    "This was a reference to the young girls at the Beatles' concert in Blackpool. The whole of the theatre smelled of urine. I mean it was just beyond belief... every single girl in the audience must have p*ssed themselves in excitement. And [the Ushers] were sprinkling Eau-De-Cologne on all the seats."

    (from the BBC Documentary "Can You See The Real Me")

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    1. Yeah, there were young women who pissed themselves at Tom Jones concerts. What made him famous were the young women who creamed in their panties and flung them at Tom Jones onstage. That was historic.

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    2. Look at the faces of the 4 girls in the article's photo. Can anyone seriously say they're *not* peeing? I'm sorry if some people here have bodily fluids issues, but it's actually quite obvious that many of these girls peed their panties.

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    3. Those four girls are excited for sure. There is no way that they are peeing. I am sure there were some girls that couldn't hold it and did pee some at Beatles concerts, but the idea of "urine flowering down the aisles" is stupid. The first may have lost control, but I think they still could control their bladders.

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    4. You can tell the comments that come from men. They are extremely detailed and vulgar. Horrible!

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    5. I remember going to a Beatles concert, and yes, i did wet my knickers. I should have gone to the loo beforehand, but didn't. By about half way through I was bursting but wasn't going to miss anything. I had no choice but to wet my knickers. I went home happy but very wet.

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  6. Beatles photographer David Hurn mentions the smell of urine in the theater where the Beatles were playing.
    http://content.time.com/time/audioslide/0,32187,2024447,00.html
    Watch from 3:30.

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    1. Bad plumbing, how F ing Delusional can this get.

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  7. One more, this time a UK first generation fan:

    "Hi Lizzie I only went to one Beatles concert in 1965 in London. Don't recall it smelling of female urine!! Never heard that before!"

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    1. Got a lot to say on the subject

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    2. Another comment you saw them at shea, lies

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    3. Slayer -- there comments were from our good friend, Lizzie Bravo (RIP). She had asked on Facebook people that she knew about if they remember girls peeing their pants at Beatles concerts. Then she reported back what they said. Notice the comments are in quotes. Lizzie never saw the Beatles in concert. However, she did sing with them in the studio on "Across the Universe."

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  8. Another US first generation fan:

    "No! Not at any of the concerts I went to plus myself and my friends did NOT pee on ourselves! That is not something that happens to teenagers with young, strong bladders no matter how excited they are!!!!"

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  9. Yes another US first generation fan:

    "I went to 3 Beatle concerts - the '64 and '66 Cleveland concerts and the '65 Toronto concert - and I can honestly say I didn't pee my pants once at a single one of them, nor did I ever smell any pee in the air from anyone sitting by me."

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  10. remember reading this in 1964 in the newspaper- gross but possible as Paul Anka had fans that got so excited that they peed. From another 1st generation fan.

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  11. From my best friend NY first generation fan:

    "Two concerts and read every scrap of media coverage since 1964 to this morning. Never heard anything about that. Sounds like an opportunist, fabricating a new angle."

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  12. I'm sorry, but I believe my friends more than anyone else. I've known them most of my life.

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  13. I TOO REMEMBER READING IN 64=65 THAT THERE WERE SOME GIRLS (NOT ALL) WHO DID PEE THEMSELVES IN THE CONCERTS. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE AND DOES IT REALLY MATTER ANYMORE? I AM US FAN SINCE 64.

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  14. having worked with young girls who peed slightly when very excited I believe it is possiblei

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  15. Sara - I always tear up when John sings If I Fell at the end of AHDN like the first time I saw it in 1964 so you go ahead and scream girl.

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  16. It's not that it matters or not, and I don't doubt that some fans might have peed themselves, but the idea that every Beatle concert reeked of urine just doesn't sound right to me.

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  17. wouldn't it be nice to just go back in time and see the 4 lads perform together again and forget all the nonsense of a mass urination

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  18. did female fans at rolling stones concerts pee in their pants as well?

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    1. Girls at Beatles concerts didn't pee their pants (as seen here). I don't know about any other bands.

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    2. I wonder if black girls tinkled themselves at James Brown shows?

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    3. Watch the great 2012 Rolling Stones documentary called 'Crossfire Hurricane', and that very specific is discussed by those present who can confirm it. Best Stones documentary I've ever seen, with the best rare archival footage I've ever seen.

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    4. They certainly did. and enjoyed every minute of it. It was documented.

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    5. Are you talking about the Rolling Stones? It doesn't matter -- I don't know any single woman that would ENJOY peeing on themselves at any time, especially in public.

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  19. can we just finally end this subject

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    1. I would be happy to---however it seems like every few months, this link gets passed around. Can you believe that this is like the 2nd or 3rd most popular post on this entire blog?! Almost 7 years worth of pictures and photos and Beatles fan pee is one of the most popular topics?

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  20. re: Mark's comments - yes I remember that too

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  21. At 28 I am to young to pass a comment, but I have seen young girls piss there pants in excitement at a Night Wish concert.

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  22. Golden showers fill your eyes....maybe it was dog urine and long before the days of "who let the dogs out."

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  23. I wonder if they pooped in their pants as well ? Seems to me if young girls are wetting themselves at Beatles concerts and Rolling Stones concerts, on mass, then there should be a law stating that all females attending concerts should wear nappies.

    Obviously if they are to excited or to obsessed with the show, and to respond when they feel the need to go to the toilet, then they obviously need to be in adult nappies.

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  24. This is weird, I've never heard of the urination thing but the deafening screeching chaos leading to orgasm has been talked about forever. Hopefully that's an old husbands tale like the urinating. I think what I've heard the most over the years was how the young girls and boys who came to actually HEAR the concert were disappointed by the hysterical screeching of girls that were there for anything but hearing the Beatles play and that's sad.

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  25. very young fans peed in excitement at one performance in Blackpool in 1964 and that ends it - enough already!

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  26. Just watching a Netflix doc on the Rolling Stones and an expert says " all their little panties were wet " which made me feel a little sick . I think it is sexist BS , a ridiculous rumour that has become an urban myth . There is plenty of footage from the early Beatles and stones concerts - the screaming is real but I have never seen any images with girls with wet clothing. Nonsense but trotted out in all the docos

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  27. why anyone thinks ALL fans wet themselves is beyond me but some did in excitement as documented in early Beatles/Stones performances and it's ancient news now

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  28. I've read that at the end of some early concerts there would be wet underwear left in the aisles because people would pee themselves instead of leave to go to the bathroom for fear of missing out. This might have happened at just one of their shows and turned into some kind of female urine urban myth. I could see a few fans not wanting to miss out but I don't think there was piss running rampant at every show. That DOES scream of misogyny! And curious that the comments are all by men... very interesting and good point about female fans wanting to be sure they were presentable just in case they met them. Hadn't considered that before.

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  29. Well, true or not, it certainly entered the folklore to the extent that I recall reading a review of a Spice Girls concert at the Docklands Arena in the early 1990s. The review was in either the Times or the Evening Standard, and if I recall correctly (which I may not) the reviewer was female. Describing the screaming from the (predominantly young, female) fans when the band came onto the stage, the reviewer wrote "there were more wet knickers than on wash day at St Trinian's" ..... so here at least was one reviewer, a generation after the Beatles, who had it firmly fixed in their minds not just that screaming young girls at pop concerts might end up wetting their knickers, but also that their readers would share that belief.

    It stuck in my mind because of the vividness of the "wash day at St Trinian's" allusion. It is not something I have ever heard of myself, except from this review. I have never attended a large pop concert myself, but I have several friends who have, and they have never spoken of this. So I line myself up with the doubters ...

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  30. obviously there will always be controversy with this but the blackpool gig was documented and no reason to lie then

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