Beatlemania: Boom, Bust and Back Again?
GAINESVILLE, Ga. / August 4, 2010 –
In their “I Want to Hold Your Hand” heyday, The Beatles literally caused teenage girls to swoon. As lovelorn lyrics gave way to the angry chords of “Why Don't We Do It In The Road” and "Helter Skelter," the public turned on them with bans, boycotts and record burnings. The band’s eventual breakup has been blamed on everything from drugs to Yoko Ono, but researchers at the Socionomics Institute in Gainesville, Ga., have a simpler explanation – The Beatles’ popularity rose and fell along with social mood. In its recent report “Social Mood Regulates the Popularity of Stars,” researchers found that mood not only contributes to who will become a celebrity, it controls whether and when the public adores or vilifies its chosen few. Socionomists say the lads from Liverpool rode the rising mood of the early-to-mid-1960s like a rocket, but when that mood began to decline, the Fab Four’s fortunes waned.
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About The Socionomics Institute
The Socionomics Institute, based in Gainesville, Ga., studies social mood
and its role in driving cultural trends. The Institute’s analysis is published
in the monthly research review, The Socionomist. Learn more at
www.socionomics.net.
Note to Media: For copies of the studies or to arrange an interview
with a researcher from the Socionommics Institute, contact Alexandra Lienhard at (770) 536-0309, alexandral@socionomics.net.
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