Introduction
Some readers may recall Michael Jackson's extraordinary performance at the 1996 Brit Awards when the pop star appeared on stage in a way unmistakably suggestive of Jesus Christ. I have been able to show (Löbert Reference Löbert2008) that the British singer Cliff Richard, while no doubt less blatantly than Jackson, equally represents himself as a redeemer figure in terms of the symbolic material he uses. The purpose of this article is to turn the tables and focus on the other side of the issue: assuming the proposition of Cliff Richard's self-enactment as a redeemer is admitted, the question is now whether his fans indeed accept this communication offer and, more specifically, how and in which ways they use or instrumentalise the singer. To this end, I conducted an ethnological field study between 2002 and 2004 of members of the Cliff Richard Fan Club of Merseyside and Cheshire, using a multifaceted methodological approach. Below, I will present extracts from the results of this study, focusing on the religious form expressed in this fandom.
While there are several articles (though fewer books) on music fan studies, this is the first time Cliff Richard fans have been given scholarly attention. Elvis fans are probably the group of fans most widely studied by popular music studies (Harrison Reference Harrison1992; Duffett Reference Duffett2003; Doss Reference Doss2004); then there is of course Daniel Cavicchi's excellent ethnography of Bruce Springsteen fans (Reference Cavicchi1998), and a more recent piece on followers of David Bowie (Stevenson Reference Stevenson2009). Alongside these case studies, there are a variety of books and volumes that discuss fan audiences more generally. Books such as The Adoring Audiences (Lewis Reference Lewis1992), Love is the drug … Living as a pop fan (Aizlewood Reference Aizlewood1994) and Fan Cultures (Hills Reference Hills2002) are examples of this, as is Fred and Judy Vermorel's Starlust (Reference Vermorel and Vermorel1985), which is a collection of confessions, letters and interviews by pop music fans. A non-music-related ethnography worth noting is Janice Radway's Reading the Romance (Reference Radway1991).
Methodology and research tools
My research was based on the concept of triangulation (O'Donoghue and Punch Reference O'Donoghue and Punch2003, p. 78), a technique that facilitates validation of data through a combination of methods, both qualitative and quantitative, thus double- and triple-checking results. To be exact: I combined face-to-face interviews with explorative questionnaires; I undertook participant observation by way of a three-day fan club trip to Cliff Richard concerts in Hamburg and Frankfurt and get-togethers with fans for day trips and TV evenings; and I conducted a content analysis of postings and discussions in the fan forum of the official Cliff Richard website (cliffrichard.org 2004) and posted questions there myself.
For every research component except the content analysis of the forum, the population of my sample was the Cliff Richard Fan Club of Merseyside and Cheshire (one of 26 Cliff Richard fan clubs nationwide), which at the time had 359 members. Thanks to the incredibly helpful and cooperative ladies who ran the club, the four-page questionnaires were sent to each member along with the quarterly club magazine, thus reaching every member of my population.
Unfortunately the response rate was low, at 7.8% (30 questionnaires). My results can by no means be regarded as representative of fans in general, Cliff Richard fans in general or even Cliff Richard fans in Merseyside and Cheshire. However, while a low response rate limits the validity of quantitative studies and the significance of their results, it has to be pointed out that the majority of my questions were open-ended and thus qualitative and explorative in nature. Because no previous research has been done on the meaning of Cliff Richard to his fans, my intention was to explore the question of how he is used and instrumentalised by his fans in their daily lives in an open and qualitative fashion.
With seven of the questionnaire respondents I then conducted (video-taped) face-to-face interviews which lasted 1½ hours on average. In the conversations and questionnaires, the concert experience was the event which Cliff Richard fans talked about most frequently and enthusiastically. The scope of this communicative situation is so far reaching that it is worthwhile unravelling from this point of departure what Cliff Richard means to his fans.
The concert experience from the fans' perspective
In the following section I will first describe the concert experience from the fans' perspective. Subsequently, their perception will be theorised.
The Cliff Richard Fan Club of Merseyside and Cheshire considers one of its chief roles to be the organisation of coach trips to events whenever the singer is about to go on tour or plays tennis at one of the annual Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournaments that he organises.Footnote 1 The extent of these coach trips is fairly remarkable. In December 2001 and 2002 the club departed on its trip to the annual tennis event with 196 members.Footnote 2 Over 50 per cent of fan club members joined this excursion. In 2002, 98 fans travelled on each occasion to concerts in three different cities. In 2004, 147 fans took part in events at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In addition, 49 fans participated in a more costly three-day concert excursion to Germany.Footnote 3 Other fans, in turn, organised additional concert trips on a smaller, private scale. I did not meet anybody who attended his concerts alone, and I spoke to only one lady who had never been to one of his concerts.
Prior to the concert
The fans described the period immediately preceding an evening show as follows:
I get up and I get my gear out, suitcase ready, get down waiting for that coach. And it's like, when I get on that coach, and there's all the photographs on the windows of the coach, I sit down … and it's like, when that coach pulls off I just throw all the troubles outside the window behind me, all the busy-at-work, cos I'm always very busy at work, is left on the road, and I never ever think about anything at home other than nice things like travelling on the coach and thinking about Cliff. And that's what me and Marge normally talk about, we catch up on gossip, which we enjoy; we watch the video that's on in the coach. And I enjoy being in the hotel, because you think ‘No cooking, no housework, nothing’, get to the hotel, have a nice natter, get yourselves ready and changed, getting all excited about going to the concert. And then we're all off together again. (S.)Footnote 4
It all starts as soon as you get on the bus, doesn't it? And there's records playing and videos playing and we talk about what we think it's gonna be like, especially if we haven't been before. […] And then getting ready to go, you know, the anticipation of being in the hotel and all getting ready together. It's different if you're getting ready at home and there's nobody else there to be excited with. So the anticipation of it all when you're together, that's fun as well. (D.)
These trips are what might be called genuine girls' nights out, of which the joint preparations, the getting-ready-together and the getting-in-the-concert-mood are important aspects. These are holiday times in which the women enjoy spending time with friends with whom they share a common interest. And they also enjoy the respite from their domestic chores.
During the concert
The concert event itself is described as follows:
And then of course, as soon as the curtain comes up, the place just erupts. The feeling is just wonderful. It's something you can't describe. It just all bursts out of you. You think' ‘I'm here again, I'm seeing him again.’ And the excitement is there, and the adrenalin is rising, clapping away, dancing away, singing away. I've got a terrible voice, I can't sing. But nobody can hear me. (S.)
Well, it's an excitement, and a buzz and an adrenalin rush, and if you think Cliff is sexy it's also another kind of rush. … I'm gonna be a grandmother, and you know, I think to myself, if anybody is looking at me they'll think is she mad or what. But in that theatre you can shut the doors and you can be as mad as you like. There's no inhibitions in that theatre and you can enjoy it. (J.)
I mean, I'm 59 but I stand up and whistle and shout with the rest of them at the concert. Now, if Tony [husband] came with me I'd be as meek as a little mouse.
Question: You don't want your husband with you at the concert?
No, no way [adamant] … Tony wouldn't go to a concert anyway, but I wouldn't ask him. Cos you lose your inhibitions when you're there and you stand up making a fool of yourself. You know, I have a waistcoat and it's full of Cliff badges and my friend does, too, and we wear them. And people must think ‘Look at them two silly things there’, but we just do it … well, it's just coming out of yourself and being a bit daring, isn't it, really, when you're a respectable, married woman. That's what it is, what it's all about. (S.)
I mean Barbara will go to the concert with Eddy [Barbara's husband] and she'll sit there and she'll clap. When Barbara goes to the concert on her own, we put her on the end cos she's the fastest runner. It is totally, totally different. I mean when I was married, I'd go to a Cliff concert and my ex-husband would be so horrible to me when I came home, really really nasty, that it spoilt the whole thing. (J.)
I can't explain the feeling I get. I suppose it's excitement. The same excitement you used to get when you were a little girl waiting for Father Christmas to come. And the anticipation, and you're getting a buzz, and everybody around you is excited, so you are, too. Especially if you've been busy, or you've got problems at home, you can go to a concert and forget all about it. It doesn't exist, while you're sat there for those few hours and watching Cliff sing. It's good. (D.)
These accounts address several points of interest for our purposes: first of all, the transformation of the women into a self-mode they perceive as pleasant, one that involves unreserved, ‘crazy’ and unrestrained behaviour. Secondly, the event is exclusively for the girls; the husbands are deemed unwelcome. Thirdly and finally, the women describe the event's three-hour duration as a period when they are released from their everyday cares and leave their worries behind.
After the concert
The fans describe the period immediately after the concert as follows:
And after the show we'd have midnight feasts. We'd have food and plenty of wine. We'd get up with a bit of a hangover the next morning but it was fabulous coming down for breakfast. All of us around the same table, wearing our T-Shirts that we bought the night before. It was great. Friendly. (M.)
When I come home, I come back to being me. It's an escapism, isn't? I think we all escape to something in our lives, and I just feel lucky that I'm able to go to as many concerts as I do. And I totally enjoy that. Great. But when I come home I'm back to being me. (S.)
You come out of the concert and you're on a high. Takes you a few days to come down. Especially if you go back to where your problems are and your debts and feeding the kids. It's an escape from reality! (J.)
Here the social interaction again appears paramount. This includes the joint celebration after the show in the hotel and the sense of being on a high, a feeling which many of the fans describe as continuing for several days or occasionally even weeks. However, these feelings may quickly subside once they return home. Everyone is confronted with the problems and demands of daily life, and as S. states, ‘I'm back to being me’.
In summary, S. – who is married – concludes:
It's like a fantasy weekend, a dream-weekend, it's like when you go on holiday and you're participating in other things that you don't do at home. I love them weekends: I like mixing with the other girls that we go with, we all have a good time, we all sing daft songs, sing Cliff songs, we all get together afterwards in one bedroom and have a good old natter and have a drink. But the highlight is the concert, there's no two ways about it. (S.)
Other indicators for the pivotal importance of the concerts
The significance of the role that the pop concert or excursion assumes in the lives of many fans also clearly emerges in the frequent references to the air of excited anticipation of the event. J.'s response to the question about how much Cliff helped her through her divorce is:
You're having something to look forward to. When you book a concert, you're talking about six to twelve months in advance. You think, okay, it might be bad now, but in six months' time you've got something that you know you're gonna enjoy and it's not gonna be a let-down. I get a great deal of pleasure out of it. (J.)
I asked S. what Cliff means to her in her everyday life:
In my everyday life he doesn't, cos I've got too many other things going on in my life. But I really look forward to the concerts and my weekends away. And when I'm down there, that whole weekend revolves around Cliff, and that is good and I enjoy it. But when I come home, I like to go back to sanity and back to normal life. (S.)
The concert trips and feeling of excited anticipation are also frequently referred to in the questionnaires which I sent out to members of the Cliff Richard Fan Club of Merseyside and Cheshire. A total of 13 out of 28 fans complete the unfinished sentence ‘If it wasn't for Cliff …’ by stating ‘I'd have no concerts to go to’, ‘I'd have no trips to plan’ and ‘I wouldn't have much to look forward to’.
Another indicator of the importance of the pop concert experiences is offered in the answers which the fans gave in response to the question about how Cliff Richard helped them through periods of low-spiritedness. Here, reference is frequently made to happy memories of the ‘good times’:
When I'm feeling sad, I get great comfort from listening to Cliff, looking at his photos, as long as I am on my own. I can close my eyes and bring back happy memories of the many concerts I have been to. (Questionnaire 7)
When I'm feeling either sad or blue (as I have recently lost a very close male friend) I just put either a video or CD on of Cliff's mainly golden oldies and it brings back memories of when I followed him all over the country in the early 60s, 70s […]. (Questionnaire 8)
If I'm feeling sad I put a CD on, I like the old sixties ones and remember the good times, it usually works and lifts the sad mood. Or I watch a video. Cliff in Hyde Park is a special one because you can see me and my best friend in the audience 3 times on it. We look very happy on it. (Questionnaire 11)
Finally, an objective economic indicator also confirms the importance of the concerts. In the past 15 years, it has become the rule that a video, and nowadays a DVD, of every one of Cliff Richard's tours is released. These releases will invariably reach the top three of the British video/DVD charts, a factor which, needless to say, speaks for their popularity.Footnote 5
The conclusion I draw from these observations and descriptions is that the pop concert situation and the associated rituals represent a central aspect in the world of a Cliff Richard fan. A variety of implications and functions emerge on this basis which I will now clarify.
Theoretical analysis of the concert experience
In his book about the fan culture of the singer Bruce Springsteen, Daniel Cavicchi also devotes considerable attention to the pop concert experience (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, pp. 86–107). Indeed, he regards this situation as the point on which all the individual meaning components of fandom converge:
For fans […] a concert represents a powerful meeting of the various forces and people and ideas involved in their participation in musical life. The excitement of participation, the feeling of connection with Springsteen, the interaction of fans and other audience members, the rituals, the energy, the empowerment, the communal feeling, the evaluation and discussion: together they enact the meaning of fandom. They shape and anchor fans' sense of who they are and where they belong. (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 37)
Despite the arguable difference in the media texts that are Springsteen and Richard, striking parallels emerge in relation to the impact and significance of the concert experience for both fan groups. Hence, Cavicchi's analysis is pertinent and illuminating for my analysis.
In contrast with ordinary members of the audience, Cavicchi identifies the specific aspect of fandom as follows:
Fans see the role of audience members as very special and serious; they see the process of becoming a member of the audience as an elaborate ritual with many ‘requirements’. Buying concert tickets or CDs involves lengthy road trips, camping on sidewalks, standing in long lines, and much strategy. […] Appropriately, during concerts, fans are eager to engage in performance-specific, ‘in-frame’ behavior, like swaying to the music, singing, and dancing. As we shall see, they regard those who get up to get food or talk as a nuisance and not deserving of the audience role. And while ordinary audience members easily drop the role of audience once the performance ends, fans tend to remain ‘in-frame’, making their role of audience a part of their daily identity. They relive specific moments of concerts by collecting and listening to concert tapes; they collect Springsteen memorabilia – including buttons, posters, and newspaper clippings – to amplify and sustain the excitement of a CD release or concert tour. (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 91, emphasis added)
The key element to draw from this description is the definition of concert trips as a ritual: ‘For the fans, a Springsteen concert […] is a ritual in which they regularly participate over time’ (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 92). This treatment in Cavicchi's study may be rather incidental and unsystematic, yet at least reference is made to the ritualistic character of this practice already noted by Gregory Bateson, Erving Goffman and Victor Turner:
One of the most important aspects of any kind of performance […] is that it is a special social event which is bracketed off from ordinary life, operating in a certain ‘frame’ that contains unique and specific rules for behavior. (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 89)
Thus the concert is described as a kind of interruption of the continuity of ordinary life. Based on Cavicchi's arguments, I propose the introduction of a systematic approach by conceptualising the complex concert situation as an interaction ritual in the sense of Emile Durkheim (Reference Durkheim1976) and Randall Collins (Reference Collins1988, Reference Collins and Kemper1990).
In his book The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Durkheim tries to tackle the problem of grasping the concept of religion independently of actual beliefs, by considering solely the formal similarities observable in a variety of practices. The point of convergence between all religions, for Durkheim, consists in the fact that they distinguish between a profane and a sacred domain of life. In this instance, it is of no consequence whether the sacred entity is represented by a personal being (such as gods or spirits), a thing, words, expressions or formulae. The difference between the sacred and the profane is reproduced and ordered by rites. The object of the rite is dependent on the belief of the followers (Durkheim Reference Durkheim1976, p. 37).
To this extent it also seems plausible to see the pop concert as a rite. The adored performer – as a sacred being – appears as the object of the ritual, since he fulfils all the conditions required to do justice to the belief system of his fans. The values that are presented are largely compatible with those of the fans.Footnote 6 At the concert, during which the sacred object is present, the transition is completed from the profane to the sacred. The concert must be perceived as an important interaction ritual – and as shown above, the fans see it as such – precisely because it is the only occasion at which the star himself is present and engages in face-to-face interaction with his supporters. For that reason, I want to refer to it as a primary interaction ritual. It is to be distinguished from: (a) special rites (Durkheim Reference Durkheim1976, p. 43), which occur, for instance, during stalking or when a fan wins a so-called ‘meet and greet’ with Cliff Richard and is granted a personal backstage meeting with the star; (b) secondary interaction rituals which represent a social cult, as does the primary interaction ritual, albeit a cult that takes place without the star's physical presence, e.g. fan club meetings and communal video evenings; and (c) cults of the individual which take place in the absence of both the star and the other fans.
A note of caution should be raised at this point in order not to lose readers who are tired of comparisons with religion: fan cultures, despite these similarities to Durkheim's elementary forms, are secular and not religiousFootnote 7; religion, belief and theology do not enter into our discussion, nor is there any need for them to do so. My comparison with religious ‘forms’ is not intended to suggest that fandom is a religion, or that fans believe or even regard the object of devotion as a deity, and the intention is certainly not to denigrate or to stereotype fans. The interest here is the forms these fan rituals take and their similarity to those described in Durkheim's classic study. In our effort to understand the behaviour of fans, we search for other phenomena in the real world that we can use for comparison or for paradigms. Religion is one of the things ‘out there’ that is useful for this purpose.
To mark the primary interaction ritual (i.e. the concert) as such, the supporters enthusiastically adorn themselves in special ceremonial costumes or gala dresses (Durkheim Reference Durkheim1976, p. 306). This may involve, for example, a special waistcoat with Cliff badges, as S. referred to above.
For Durkheim, a particular feature of a religious ritual is that it cannot coexist in the same place with the profane life. Both domains are kept strictly segregated from one another. He elucidates as follows:
Not only are the sacred beings separated from the profane, but also nothing which either directly or indirectly concerns the profane life should be confused with the religious life. (Durkheim Reference Durkheim1976, pp. 305–6)
Indeed, conventionally we find the star on a raised stage, at a distance and untouchable, surrounded by a team of security personnel, whose role it is, among others, to prevent any contact between the sacred being and the profane entourage of supporters. Furthermore, the ritual awareness of the fans guarantees that as far as they are concerned nothing profane can disrupt the interaction ritual. Thus, Bruce Springsteen fans described their indignation about the ‘profanation’ of the pop concert experience by non-fans leaving the concert hall to get food or beer or talking in loud voices (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 91). The fans regard activities such as eating, speaking or visiting the restrooms as inappropriate for the situation. But this tabooing of everyday routines within the sacred context is also expressed in other ways. The accounts of the Cliff Richard fans notably reveal that neither the concert arena nor the excursions dedicated to Cliff are occasions where husbands are welcome or tolerated. If they were to join, this would restrict the intensity of the experience and participation as well as the potential for letting go of one's inhibitions.
Why are husbands unwelcome? Following Durkheim, it could be argued that they are representatives of daily, thus profane, life. To be more precise, two highly ritualised domains of life are competing against each other here. The concert-going interaction ritual during which the sacred object is revered is not compatible with married life, which is also structured by rituals such as, for instance, certain bans, which Durkheim terms negative cults (Durkheim Reference Durkheim1976, p. 299). Thus, the open expression of love and desire for anyone other than the husband or partner is negatively sanctioned. In effect, this means that the same rule applies to the marital system as to the relationship between fan and star during the concert: no other (sacred) object of desire is permitted alongside the star or husband. Thus, no representative of the profane is permitted alongside the star, and no one apart from the husband is to be more sacred than him. This incompatibility may well be tolerable in the case of the everyday reception of Cliff Richard because, as Durkheim (1998, p. 308) notes, ‘the individual, private cult is the only one which comes very near to the temporal life’. However, the ritual that is communally celebrated away from everyday routine assumes a much higher religious intensityFootnote 8 which to a certain degree transgresses a tolerance threshold. This may be the reason why the husband is excluded from primary interaction rituals since he is a representative of the profane realm and a constant reminder of the forbidden transgression.
The altered behaviour and changed self-concept of the fans should also be regarded as part of the temporary suspension of the profane.
In the context of performance, the difference between fandom and ordinary audience behavior is not about how one consumes a product but rather about how one participates in an event. […] At a rock concert, for instance, no matter what participants may be like in their ‘normal’ daily lives, during the performance they assume new, specific roles: […] In each of these roles, people behave in ways that they would not outside the performance: (they) jump up and down crazily and scream in the middle of a crowd of people; […] all these things that would be inappropriate in the context of everyday life. (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 89)
We recall that this very component of a holiday from one's role was part of the narratives of release which Cliff Richard fans referred to. In addition to the release from marital, maternal, domestic and job-related obligations, which is associated with the entire concert trip, fans also referred in their accounts of the event to letting themselves go, the buzz, the excitement, being wild, losing their inhibitions, the adrenalin rush. These are feelings that they could not experience in any other situation with equal intensity, hence the need for Cliff Richard concerts in order to indulge in this experience.
According to the fans, there is also no substitute for this quality of feeling, at least not in the pop music field. Only Cliff Richard can help release this sense of elation and escape, as though they really are on holiday. D., one of the fans I talked to, describes this experience as follows:
I just get that little extra, there's just a little bit extra. I come out of a concert and I feel just that little bit extra. For instance, I go to see Michael Ball, but when I come out, the show is over. With Cliff when I come out, the show is still going on. […] When I go to Michael Ball it's not the same. It's just not the same. (D.)
When I asked S. whether for her Cliff Richard is somewhat of an excuse for taking a mini holiday, she answered:
Well, not for me, because if I wanted an excuse I would go see anyone, wouldn't I? And I don't want to see anyone but Cliff. I do think to myself what do we do if Cliff retires? Because I can't think of anybody else that I would really want to take the trouble to go on a weekend going down to London to see. What would I do? (S.)
According to Gabriele Mordt and Sylvia Terpe (Reference Mordt and Terpe2002), Randall Collins devised a concept of the interaction ritual made up of four key elements, which was based on, yet suspended the rigid dichotomy of Durkheim:
(1) the physical presence of at least two people who
(2) direct their attention towards a joint focus and are also mutually aware of this,
(3) an atmosphere that is shared by all those present, as well as
(4) sacred objects which represent the group or the thing they have in common. (Mordt and Terpe Reference Mordt and Terpe2002, p. 90)
Based on this model, Mordt and Terpe described social interaction rituals as a condition for the emergence and maintenance of passions, for instance, of being a fan.
In the following observations, we intend to use the term passions only in reference to feelings of devotion which emerge in social interactions and are maintained by social interaction. (Mordt and Terpe Reference Mordt and Terpe2002, p. 89)
According to this view, passions are not an individually generated and reproduced matter that can survive for any period of time in social isolation. As a matter of fact, the concept of obsession is reserved for these types of individualised cases. (Mordt and Terpe Reference Mordt and Terpe2002, p. 91)
The first three characteristics listed above apply to the ritual practice of concert-going as experienced and created by the fans. Only the final aspect, namely the sacred object, remains to be considered. After all, the decisive question is how the fans manage to transfer highly satisfying experiences such as these to their everyday routine; how do they create an effective function for themselves over the longer term?
If the participants in the interaction succeed in reproducing this intensive experience at regular intervals, the initially spontaneous elation can be transformed into an enduring, stable passion that also structures other areas of life. (Mordt and Terpe Reference Mordt and Terpe2002, p. 92)
Unquestionably, it is a crucial feature of being a fan that the sensation of passion not only emerges momentarily at pop concerts, but also remains stable over time and has a powerful effect in terms of structuring other areas of life. What remains questionable, however, is how this passion operates, given that the significant primary interaction rituals in the form of pop concerts only take place once during the course of a 12–18-month period. To offer an explanation of this, we will now consider the fourth point of Randall Collins's scheme. On this issue, Mordt and Terpe argue that:
During the intervals between two rituals, objectifying a sacred object assists participants at least to rekindle within themselves part of the emotional enthusiasm experienced in the ritual. (Mordt and Terpe Reference Mordt and Terpe2002, p. 92)
The concept of the sacred object has an immensely high explanatory value for the fan processes. For Collins, these may be things, people, words, gestures and activities. In terms of a fan's life, apart from concert-going, this can mean CDs, videos, photos, memorabilia, yet also secondary interaction rituals with other fans where the singer is absent – that is, fan club meetings, pilgrimages to places where the singer once set foot or that were mentioned by him, or any type of meetings that occur in the star's honour.
In the following section, I wish to examine the types of situations in which these sacred objects are used as a reminder of emotional high points and as positive memories of concert trips. The purpose is, among others, to address the underlying issue of what Cliff Richard fans seek release and relief from. What is the specifically profane entity in the world they live in that they seek to counteract with the healing power of the sacred?
The sacred object outside the concert hall
Identifying the specific moments in which the sacred object is relied upon may provide some clues about which secular aspects of fans' lives are most in need of being ‘redeemed’ by Cliff Richard. For this purpose, I posted a question on the fans' only official discussion forumFootnote 9 about the type of everyday reception contexts in which they listen to a Cliff CD or watch a video. To adopt Emile Durkheim's term, I suggest describing this type of reception as a cult of the individual (Durkheim Reference Durkheim1976, p. 308), since it does not occur in a community context but in the secluded, private domain. One, though not the only, type of interaction that falls into that category has become known as parasocial interaction (Horton and Wohl Reference Horton and Wohl1956), that is to say, the imaginary, though in reality effective, relationship with the star.
Additionally drawing on the personal interviews which I conducted, two domains of the cult of the individual especially come to the forefront. First and foremost, many fans are evidently able to listen to the singer's music at work by playing his tracks on their headphones as they work on the computer.
I can play and listen to CDs (with headphones) on my computers at work but the trouble is that my boss keeps wanting me to do audio typing and I can't listen to both at the same time. (Online Forum 2004, Barbary A)
At work at the moment, I put the CD in the computer and put my headphones on, and I do my job listening to Cliff. (J.)
The other domain is linked to the domestic context. A substantial number of fans admit to playing Cliff – either on video or CD – while doing housework. This may happen while ironing, when cooking or washing the dishes. Some fans feel that this makes it easier for them to complete the work faster.
I know Barbara puts Cliff on to do ironing, and Irene does, puts a video on when she's ironing. It passes the time away, she says. She doesn't notice she's ironing. (J.)
I put Cliff on when I have to do the housework – although I try to put it off as much as possible, but it won't go away, and Cliff in his own way helps me get it done faster. (Online Forum 2004, Martene Clark)
When I was working I used to do all my housework to Cliff – the rockier the song the faster I would work. (Online Forum 2004, Judy, Cheshire)
Like lots of other people I listen to Cliff while doing housework and watch videos or DVDs whilst ironing. (Online Forum 2004, Sandra, N. Wales)
Taking into account the fact that many fans also adorn their workplace and home with Cliff Richard memorabilia – mouse pads with his image printed on them, screensavers, a calendar featuring his pictures, photos, etc. – the phenomenon must be acknowledged that, in contrast to Emile Durkheim's assumption, here it is a case of intermingling the profane and sacred to a certain degree. Although Durkheim regards it as characteristic of religious practices that an individual cannot simultaneously be both within the profane and sacred realm and that ‘the mind irresistibly refuses to allow the two corresponding things to […] even be merely put in contact with each other’ (Durkheim Reference Durkheim1976, p. 40), the inclination can be identified for Cliff Richard fans to integrate the sacred with the profane.Footnote 10
However, the opposite tendency is discernible, too. For instance, other fans seem to distinguish between the profane and sacred domain:
Question: Is there any particular state of mind that you would be in when you decide to put on some Cliff?
Yeah, I might think I've done enough for today. I've done a lot of baking and ironing. It's my time to sit down and relax. And I can relax much more if I'm watching something on the TV that I enjoy, which would be a Cliff video. And that's my relaxation. Just to sit down, unwind and relax. And that's what I do. (S.)
Watching Cliff always helps me to relax after a hard day's work and gives me sweet dreams. (Online Forum 2004, Amanda)
Many of the married women seem to save their enjoyment of listening to or watching Cliff for quite specific occasions, thus creating a cult of the individual exclusively for themselves which again may be classified under the strictly segregated sacred domain. These are invariably occasions when they are at home alone.
I make sure that hubby is packed off down the pub at least twice a week so I can indulge myself with my videos of the World's Greatest Star. (Online Forum 2004, Julie)
Sometimes when my men [husband and sons] are out of house, which doesn't happen very often, I organise a special evening for myself, relaxing with a CLIFF DVD or a recorded TV show. […] I prefer being on my own to memorise the whole show, or listen attentively to interviews. (Online Forum 2004, Liliane A., Luxembourg)
I've got loads of his CDs and videos, and when I've got a spare afternoon on Sundays, cos my husband goes out fishing a lot, I sit down, put my videos on, and I enjoy watching that. (S.)
I love watching his videos too (as others have said, usually when hubby is not around!) but do any of you replay bits of certain videos over and over or pause it at certain points to gaze at our hero? (Online Forum 2004, Helen)
I tend to watch them (DVDs) in bed. Because most of them I've got on DVD now. I tend to go to bed early really, because S. [her son] is here with his girlfriend. So I take myself off to bed and put a video/DVD on. (J.)
I listen to CDs when I'm in on my own, which is only about one night a week, when I've finished catching up on programmes I have recorded. […] I sometimes put a CD in when I am going to bed, if Roy [husband] is still up! (Online Forum 2004, Judy, Cheshire)
Whether it is an instance of the simultaneous or separate occurrence of the profane and the sacred, the presence of sacred objects fulfils several purposes. As an emotionally charged, sacred object within the everyday context, the image of the singer represents the primary interaction ritual of the concert. This is connected to: (a) the memory of positive group experiences; (b) the reassurance and construction of an identity which is perceived as happy and contented; (c) the anticipation of the next interaction ritual which is described as uplifting; as well as (d) the security-inspiring presence of a parasocial friend.
Thus it was shown which components constitute the ‘redemption’ as experienced by the fans through Cliff Richard and how it is transferred to and experienced in their everyday life. Moreover, a clearer account has now been provided about how this ‘redemption’ operates and in what situations there is a need for it. Of course, there is still scope at this juncture for a deeper engagement with the fans in order to gain deeper insight into this curious function of redemption. As emerged in the personal conversations with the fans, a substantial number of them had been confronted with traumatic experiences during the course of their lives. E. showed me a scar on her arm which she incurred when her ex-husband attacked her with a knife. J. also had a violent husband, who was addicted to alcohol, against whom she had to have a restraining order issued. M. told me about several serious accidents and was suffering from gastrointestinal cancer. As a teenager, Y. lost two father figures – a grandfather, who she was very close to, and her father. These are only a few of many examples. As trauma research has pointed out,Footnote 11 in the case of untreated traumas there always remains a need for an inner-psychological redeemer whom victims instrumentalise for the illusion that a positive outcome of the inescapable shock situation they suffered is still possible (when in real live it had to be painfully endured) or that the traumatic situation can be re-enacted, but this time with a redeemer coming to the rescue of the victim (e.g. the knight in shining armour). Thus, a more comprehensive psychological evaluation of the fans could potentially show that Cliff Richard adopts precisely this role or function in the traumatised fan's mind.Footnote 12 Until such a study is completed, however, caution must be applied in exercising this assumption. It would, in any case, very likely only explain Cliff's function for a subsection of fans.
Conclusion
Overall, I propose a distinction between four ritual action types for the interaction between star and fan. These promote and maintain passionate fervour while performing the function of creating and securing a sacred domain of life.
The pop concert, during which both the fan community and the star are present, is to be viewed as a central, primary interaction ritual. This definition is based on empirical observations, since the concert trips were the most important event for most fan club members who were included in the questionnaire survey and personal interviews. The fan club's focus on organised bus trips to concerts also bolsters this proposition.
These primary interaction rituals are also embedded, among others, in secondary interaction rituals whereby the fan community, or a minimum of two fans, are present, while sacred objects only secure the star's symbolic presence as a background atmosphere or in the participants' imagination. This includes the coach journeys, the groups getting-ready-together in the hotel, the joint evaluation of the concert at the hotel bar, fan club meetings, group visits to the restaurant, and so forth. In the case of special rites, the individual fan is officially permitted to meet the star backstage. Alternatively, the fan may wait for the star in front of hotels, airports or by stage doors in order to take photographs or collect autographs. Finally, every fan also cultivates a cult of the individual, with neither the star nor fellow fans present, for instance, by listening to the star's music each night before falling asleep or enjoying a cosy evening at home alone with a video and a glass of wine while the husband pursues his particular hobby. This category is the closest approximation to the parasocial interaction which is enacted purely through the sacred objects and related associations and memories. For all other star-fan related ritual action types, we always have a real face-to-face encounter, that is, genuine social interaction: at the concert and the special rite the encounter is with the star, otherwise, it is with the other fans. Thus, it is clear that the concept of parasocial interaction, often used to account for the phenomenon of star cult, can only inadequately understand and explain the latter, (a) because it only represents one action type out of four and (b) it might well be argued that parasocial interaction is only a sub-category of the cult of the individual, which as a matter of fact has other functions too, e.g. providing relief, reminiscing about good times, forming identity, providing entertainment, etc.
According to the model proposed by Mordt and Terpe, passion supposedly emerges only in the case of two out of our four action types, that is, primary and secondary interaction rituals, as only in these cases does interaction occur between the members of the fan community. With specific reference to the processes of the relationship between the fan and star, I consider it highly plausible for passionate feelings to be reinforced by this communal experience. However, in contrast to Mordt and Terpe, I treat each case separately to determine whether and to what extent passion is indeed only and exclusively (thus the view of Mordt and Terpe Reference Mordt and Terpe2002, p. 92) generated and secured by social interaction. For many fans it is precisely the strong parasocial association with the star which acts as the incentive to seek out like-minded people and to participate in interaction rituals.Footnote 13 At the same time, these interaction rituals then go on to generate and regenerate the feelings of passion. With regard to the analysis of fan culture, I consider it more productive to assume a reciprocal conditionality, as it were a causal nexus, where passion is a kind of communication medium (in the sense of Luhmann Reference Luhmann2001): it reinforces both the need for a community cult as well as for the cult of the individual. After the concert, the fans are on a high and they crave its prolongation. They want more cult of the individual, more interaction with other fans; equally, the relationship to the star is closer, more binding and vital. In other words, passion is evoked by all four action types and simultaneously reinforces the need for these. Of course, it ought to be taken into account that within this scheme every fan has special preferences and asymmetries. While many fans may control their passion quite substantially through the cult of the individual, for others the friendships they made as a fan are at the forefront. Then again, others primarily swear by the regular experience of the pop concert ritual. Along these lines, a fan typology might conceivably be developed as well.
I also regard another theoretical revision as necessary. Daniel Cavicchi makes the distinction with respect to the concert that allegedly fans are not interested in entertainment but in results and efficacy: ‘While a Springsteen concert acts as entertainment for the general public, for fans it represents efficacy’ (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 92); and also: ‘for fans, a Springsteen concert is not about fun but rather about results’ (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 94).
Ordinary audience members are people who assume a temporary role before a stage to take a break from the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives and be entertained. Fans, however, are people whose role before the stage never ends; a concert is not a break from, but a continuing reaffirmation of, their everyday lives. (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 95)
His proposition is thus that non-fans attend a concert to take a break from their everyday life, while fans at this event are not on holiday but merely find confirmation of their everyday lives. I believe that Cavicchi can only make this assertion because he has not taken on board the additional distinction of the profane and the sacred life. Indeed, the assertion ought to be alternatively phrased in the sense that the fans are the only ones to take an effective holiday precisely because they show such a high degree of involvement and ritual consciousness. Ordinary audience members, as he himself states,Footnote 14 are only moderately involved and therefore retain far too close ties with everyday life. Hence, they take no effective time off while at the concert. This break is only reserved for the fans, because they ‘put their heart into it’, let themselves go, and wear themselves out. They have even managed to extend their mini holiday to such an extent that it becomes an institutionalised part of their daily routine. They can call up this feeling at virtually any time they wish, as I showed in the preceding sections. What tastes of holiday more than ‘trance’, ‘religious experience’ or ‘ritual’? These words and concepts are all used by Cavicchi to describe the experiences of the Springsteen fans. Therefore, he can only perceive the concert as a mere confirmation of a fan's everyday routine because, for him, a fan's life is not divided (into the profane and the sacred). However, as soon as we accept the existence of profane spheres of life from which the sacred life offers sanctuary, and in turn the creation and perpetuation of this sanctuary are perceived as a function of fandom, we are compelled to view the concert as the epitome of an effective holiday.
Although Cavicchi repeatedly refers in his text to the closeness of fandom and religious experiences and structures, he does so in an unsystematic and almost apologetic fashion.
I do think […] that while religion and fandom are arguably different realms of meaning, they are both centered around actions of devotion, which may create similarities of experience. (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 51)
While initially he focuses entirely on the level of experience and reveals parallels between the fans' linguistic experiential descriptions and religious language,Footnote 15 tracing this back to the fact that the fans probably recognise these from their own religious traditions, his concluding remarks are the only instances when he becomes more systematic. Here he acknowledges that ‘the connection between fandom and religion even goes beyond this metaphorical language’ (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 186). He then proceeds to describe the structural parallels between the life of a Christian and that of a fan. This is not to say, as he emphasises, that fandom is a religion, but merely that both fandom as well as religion appeal to similar agendas and engage people in a similar manner.
Both Christianity and fandom often involve a ‘turning’, the development of a close attachment to an unattainable other; the stories both fans and evangelical Christians tell about such experiences have a similar structure and social importance. Connected to that turning is the fact that Christianity and fandom involve a particular kind of moral orientation in which people derive meaning and value not from direct communication with the other but signs and representations; as Christians' ongoing, daily life of devotion to God involves interpretation of the bible and thinking about how God's will is revealed in their lives, so fans' ongoing, daily life of devotion to music involves interpretation of Springsteen's songs and puzzling over how the music addresses their experiences. Finally, Christianity and fandom engender similar kinds of community based on the sharing of a specific but largely immeasurable devotion and rituals and traditions that sustain that devotion. (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 186)
In conclusion, he summarises as follows:
On the whole, as religion somehow stands ‘aside from the rest of life’ and represents an alternative society based on the kingdom of God, fandom represents for fans a refuge from the turmoil of everyday life,Footnote 16 an institution that exists above the ordinary and provides a steady and continual source of values, identity and belonging. (Cavicchi Reference Cavicchi1998, p. 188)
The one popular science study which is most akin to the theories I propose is entitled Elvis People – The Cult of the King, written by Ted Harrison. This book offers an analysis of fan culture and attempts to document in a systematic way, yet without any theoretical background, that the worship of Elvis Presley resembles a religious cult (Harrison Reference Harrison1992, p. 9). Elvis is seen by the fans as a clear personification of Jesus, as God's envoy, sent to lead and to give assistance in troubled times (Harrison Reference Harrison1992, pp. 109–10). In accordance with the theory I proposed elsewhere about Cliff Richard's self-presentation as a redeemer figure and indications of a proportion of his fans instrumentalising the singer as suchFootnote 17 (Löbert Reference Löbert2008), it must be noted that Elvis fans also experience healing, alleviation, and redemption through their star:
If I came home and have had a bad day, I can put an Elvis record on and he can change my mood. I have a saying: ‘Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life’. That is what Elvis music does for me. (Harrison Reference Harrison1992, p. 46ff.)
I know of one lady who was disabled and swears Elvis helped her walk. There was someone else who was feeling so low and depressed that they thought suicide was the only option until hearing Elvis sing the great gospel hymn ‘How great thou art’! (Harrison Reference Harrison1992, p. 176)
In particular, here, the non-profane character of the relationship between the fan and the star is explicitly referred to.
Elvis drawing from within them something deeper than ordinary, day-to-day experiences. It is to Elvis' music they turn when needing a quiet moment, to collect thoughts, to grieve, to cry, to remember all the things that might have been, as well as when wanting an excuse for, or an accompaniment to, happier thoughts. Elvis can be associated with love, with relationships and with good times recalled. (Harrison Reference Harrison1992, p. 186)
At the end of the book, the author arrives at the conclusion that worshipping Elvis is less religious than spiritual. For some fans the spiritual experiences they undergo with and through Elvis are so intense ‘that they feel impelled to look for an explanation as to why this might be’ (Harrison Reference Harrison1992, p. 129). At this point, the idea occurs to them that Elvis is the Messiah, although Harrison takes the viewpoint that the explanation is not to be sought in the media object but in the psychology of the audience (Harrion Reference Harrison1992, p. 129). ‘The Elvis they love is the Elvis they have constructed in their minds’ (Harrison Reference Harrison1992, p. 186).
Ultimately, it is an incidental point whether the more apt description is a spiritual or religious experience. The elementary forms of the process occurring in the star cult of Cliff Richard fans (and as has been shown not only these fans) are the same. In other words, ritual actions enable the fans to create a sacred world in which their passion can well up and at the focal centre of which is the star who, via sacred objects, can always be brought to mind and who has a significant impact on the mood, self-confidence and behaviour of his worshippers.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the Cliff Richard Fan Club of Merseyside and Cheshire, in particular Jean and Irene, for their most friendly cooperation and for facilitating her research. Without them this study would not have been possible.
