1. Platz: Das Kreischen im Pop-Konzert: Zur Entstehung einer Rezeptionsform und Pathologisierung von Konzertbesucherinnen

Abstract

This article discusses the pathologization of female pop fans and pleads for recognizing screaming as a specific mode of music reception among others. It traces the tradition of paid applause, starting from the Romantic era when claqueurs performed applause in theatres and concerts, via Tin Pan Alley and Frank Sinatra's first concerts, to The Beatles. Feminist gender theorist Barbara Ehrenreich and others explain fans' noise by the proceeding feminisation of music at that time. Based on this, screaming could finally become one of the most typical gestures of pop music reception. Since then, fan screaming has been the main evident to characterize »fan hysteria« or »fan mania«. These discourses are put into question: Narrations about teen girl fans supposedly wetting themselves need to be understood as misogynous narrations and sexual fantasies, often written in a disparaging
language, rather than accurate depictions of these concerts.