Customer Reviews

We're Going to See The Beatles!: An Oral History of Beatlemania as Told by the Fans Who Were There

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a great trip back to the early days of Beatlemania. Glad there was so much input from the male fans too as the Beatles impression on us guys is greatly undocumented. A lot of the stories brought back memories I long forgot. I kept saying "Oh Yeah! I forgot about that!" while reading. It's a fun, clever book and I love reading the stories by the people who lived it.

I was there. I lived through Beatlemania. Author Garry Berman captures the essence of what it was like to have experienced all the hysteria, emotion and passion of what it was like to have been a Beatles fan as it was happening. As told by the fans themselves, nothing is held back.

The book transports the reader back to a time in history when Beatlemania reigned and allows a birdseye view of what it meant to be a Beatles fan circa 1963-1970. The fervor of the fans is painted on every page in intimate detail.

For anyone who experienced Beatlemania first hand, or anyone attempting to answer the question "What was it like?" this book is THE authority on the subject.

I enjoyed this book so much. We're Going to See The Beatles!: An Oral History of Beatlemania as Told by the Fans Who Were ThereI even bought one for my Mother who accompanied me to the last Beatles concert at Candlestick Park. This book recaptures all those memories for me again. I also liked the way the chapters were organized. And having pictures of the fans was a big plus. A fun and easy read. I would say a real must for all of those who ever saw the Fab Four in person or want to read about the fans who had that privilege.

My introduction to Beatlemania was at the age of 10 finding a 45 of "Let it Be" in a stack of 45's in a box a neighbor had put out for garbage. Yup, I guess you could say that I was born a bit too late.

That's where this book comes in. "We're Going to See the Beatles!" brought me right smack dab in the middle of all those crazy kids - mostly girls - who went mad for the Beatles and in so doing ushered in a new era of culture, music, and politics.

Yeah, we all know those cliches. And that's the charm of this book, because it avoids all those looking-back analyses, and also all those glimpses from the hanger-ons, and instead tells the story of the Beatles Invasion through the eyes and hearts of their young and frenzied fans. So while I missed all that, this book made me feel a part of it, and I got caught up in it as if it were happening all over again. I think Berman did an excellent job of piecing together the many first-hand accounts to tell this story directly, without weighing it down with unnecessary commentary. Sadly, it also brings you along for the downward arc of the Fabs, but so the story went, and getting that choking lump in my throat for Lennon's murder made me realize how captivating this story truly is, especially as told by those who lived and breathed it while it was happening.

If you missed seeing the Beatles, do not miss reading this book.

As a second-generation Beatlemaniac, this wonderful book really helped to put me in the mindset of those first-generation fans who actually lived through it. And since my favorite period of theirs has always been their middle period, with their late period next in line, it also gave me a newfound appreciation of their early period, when they were mostly doing pop and being heavily marketed to teenyboppers. The young girls (and a few boys) represented in these pages don't come across as shallow, silly, or superficial at all. They were just young people excited and happy about this new music, which arrived in America at just the right moment to lift them out of their shock and depression over JFK's assassination. And while some of the fans lost interest over the years, no longer being so manic in their devotion, or didn't like their later albums as much as the early pop ones, they all have in common their continued love of The Beatles, this musical love which has constantly grown, evolved, and matured over time while still remaining the same basic love.

There are so many interesting stories in this book, showing the heights to which these young people would go to try to see their heroes, like dressing up in maid outfits at a hotel, running a police barricade, chasing limos, and doing jobs like cleaning a church to make money for concert tickets. I also liked how the fans interviewed did not come across as the typical nostalgic aging Boomers gassing on and on about how great it was to be young in the Sixties. These now-older fans aren't claiming they changed history or going on and on about how they lived through history being made; they're just honestly reflecting on what happened when they were younger, how grateful they are they were the right age at the right time, and what an exciting happy time that was for them.

This book gets you all hyped up about the 60's so long ago and yet not that long ago. It takes you through city by city of The Beatles US 1964,1965, and 1966 tours. Telling a period in the young lives of this generation what it was like to be turned upside down by the biggest rock group of all time. The book continues through the Apple years,Break-up and Solo years. There are pictures of The Beatles,fans,and memorbila that you wonder if you still have. I also saw them in Forest Hills tennis Stadium in Queens 1964, and Shea Stadium in 1966.