MANY of today's bestselling pop acts have armies of fans so unswervingly dedicated that there are collective names for them: Taylor Swift’s ‘Swifties’, Lady Gaga’s ‘Little Monsters’, Justin Bieber’s ‘Beliebers’. Nicki Minaj’s hardcore fans go under the name of The Barbz. Bob Dylan has has own superfans, one of whom is reported to have seen no fewer than 500 Dylan concerts. One fan of U2 has seen 142 of their concerts and is one of the world's biggest U2 collectors.

Few fans, however, are likely get as close to their idols as Jane Colquhoun succeeded in doing with Bryan Ferry in October 1982 (main image, far right). Together with her husband William, Jane, the winner of an Evening Times competition, met Ferry before Roxy Music took to the stage at the Glasgow Apollo. The show itself was praised the following morning by the Glasgow Herald, our critic saying in passing that Ferry, clad in a stylish white tuxedo, “was every female fan’s dream.”

The reactions of Wet Wet Wet fans to the band at the SECC in June 1988 (right, top) did not escape the notice of the Evening Times. “During the long, hot show,” its reviewer wrote, “delirious girls near the front were doused with cold water as temperatures in the packed hall rocketed.

"Scenes of teen frenzy greeted the Clydebank group as they played for one-and-a-half hours at one of the best pop shows ever seen here,.

“But it was lead singer Marti Pellow most had come to see. Marti-mania reached fever pitch as hardcore fans screamed and screamed again every time the handsome singer moved a muscle. They yelled when he told them it was wonderful to be playing in a city where everyone understood what he was saying. They screeched when he danced and wiggled across the stage. And they whooped as he sang the songs which have put the group at the top of the charts in this country.”

Read more: Herald Diary

The fan hysteria that was such a regular part of concerts by the Beatles in the 1960s has long been a source of fascination. One magazine article, a few years ago, asked whether neuroscience could explain what was going on in the minds of Beatles fans at the time.

To most people, the article said, Beatlemania “conjures up a vivid image of frenzied fans, predominantly teenage girls, with facial expressions that look more like they’d witnessed a gruesome murder, and ‘I love George!’ badges hanging on for dear life as their owners attempted to push past overwhelmed human police barricades. Lots of tears and lots of screaming.”

After the Fab Four played the Odeon, in Glasgow’s Renfield Street, in October 1964, the Herald reported that “hundreds of girls apparently suffering from hysteria” had to be treated by ambulance personnel (right, bottom)

“At one stage, West Regent Street had the appearance of a field hospital, with dozens of girls sitting propped up on the pavement, being attended by nurses.”

The headline said it all: “A Hard Day’s Night for Police.”