Before the modern age of social media, celebrities were much less accessible to the general public. There was no archive of 140-character updates about what they were eating for lunch, or when they were working out at the gym. The wall between movie stars and rock legends is what turned them into these idyllic figures. They mystery and untouchable allure caused fans to go even crazier than they do today.
The biggest example of this is, obviously, Beatlemania. It's pretty much impossible to find a live recording of the Beatles that doesn't have a constant high-pitched roar from the vastly female audience screaming with joy. It was extremely difficult for the four of them to go anywhere without being confronted with this noise, accompanied by fans grasping at them with the hope of grazing a coat sleeve or, even better, the skin on one of their hands.
The Beatles didn't come to America until 1964, one year after this performance, but the Beatlemania that ran rampant in the UK quickly caught on after a few appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Soon enough, American girls were throwing their panties up on stage during live performances, too.
During this performance of "She Loves You" in 1963, girls wept, grown women shook with disbelief, and friends held each other as a reminder that, yes, this was really happening.
The screaming got so bad that at the end of their American tour in 1966, they had to stop giving live performances… Because you couldn't even hear them singing!
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