One Direction: A Fan Story

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BBC Radio 1 England

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How five boys and one fandom changed things forever.

They were more than a band, they were everything. This is how five boys and one fandom changed things forever.

A Fan Story: One Direction: 4. Bigger Than the Beatles?

4. Bigger Than the Beatles?

One Direction

BBC Sounds - A Fan Story, One Direction, 4. Bigger Than the Beatles?

Ask controversial questions, get controversial answers!

The response to One Direction immediately inspired comparisons to Beatlemania - but is it fair to compare the two fan movements?

From the start, the global response to One Direction immediately inspired comparisons to Beatlemania - but is it fair to compare the two fan movements?

The world had changed in countless ways between the 1960s and the 2010s but some things are timeless: boys who sing and have nice hair? They’re everything! 

This chapter details the conversations around One Direction’s musical offering compared to a band like the Beatles. Were they ever taken seriously as artists?

Something that no one can deny about both fandoms is that they had power. What happened when that power was used for less than amicable purposes? And what happened to the journalists who interacted with the fandom? And who/what was Larry Stylinson?

Featuring interviews from Vanity Fair’s chief critic Richard Lawson, Official Charts Company editor Carl Smith and One Direction songwriter Jamie Scott. 

Archive in this episode:
The Beatles arriving in London, BBC Radio News Report, 31 October 1963
Paul McCartney, the Wall Street Journal
Ringo Starr, Associated Press 

Presenter: Maddie Grace Jepson
Producer: Gráinne Morrison	
Written by Gráinne Morrison
Assistant Producer: Zayna Shaikh
Technical Producer: Ant Danbury
BBC Audio Editor: Andy Worrell
Commissioning producers: Jonathan O’Sullivan, Sarah Gosling
Commissioner for BBC Music: Will Wilkin

A Fan Story: One Direction

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Music: Pop & Chart

They were more than a band. This is how five boys and one fandom changed things forever.

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