Re: Beatles fanatics–well, Beatle Fests are still a thing and there are al kinds of uber fans active online. There is almost always a Beatles-related thread on the front page of the Hoffman forum; the recent White Album thread had over 34,000 posts. Those guys really get down into the details and trivia with just about any classic rock act you could name.
If you’re restricting to entertainment media, I got nothing.
However, I’m a bit surprised nobody has mentioned (for the “other” category) Harley Davidson Motorcycles.
What other product has devotees branding their flesh or sitting for a huge tattoo that spans the width of their backs, complete with fully-detailed eagle and wide-spread wings? Of course you might not see the brand or tattoo because they’re covered by a full set of Harley Davidson designer clothing from cap to steel-toed boots. You might not see them at all, since they’ve traded in the Hog to sit behind the dark-tinted windows of a Harley Davidson Edition monster truck or SUV which might cost as much as one of those Paul Stanley guitars.
–G!
Bronies.
I dare not say any more lest I get in trouble.
Your silence is understood, I had thought I heard that Antonio Bron wanted to leave.
I thought it was kind of strange that the word “hog” for motorcycle supposedly originated with an early group of Harley enthusiasts who called themselves the Harley Owners Group. But if there is really a large group of fanatics who owned one it makes more sense.
I was actually looking yesterday for a good translation of the Kalevala, partly because I know it inspired Tolkien, and most places I looked just said that no translation was really any good, just learn Finnish… Maybe when* I finally get to grips with Beowulf in the original.
*he said optimistically
Knuckleheads Saloon, the Kansas City music venue, started life as a Harley dealership known as F.O.G. Cycles - which stood for “Fucking Old Guys”, the only people who could afford one of them.
I think Jane Austen fans rival fans of the Bard, even though he predates her by a few centuries. My daughters have seen various incarnations of Pride and Prejudice numerous times.
I was watching some movie about Julius Caesar, at first I thought it was a historical drama. It wasn’t until halfway through the movie that I realized it was a modern adaption of the Shakespeare play.:smack:
We fans of The Residents are a dedicated bunch. And long suffering, in many ways. It’s worth it tho.
The name “Hog” for Harleys predates the Harley Owners Group by many decades.
No mention of Rick and Morty? I have no real knowledge of the show, but I do remember them getting all spastic over some stupid McDonalds sauce and causing inconvenience for non-idiots.
I came in here just now to mention Supernatural.
I’ve been watching since season 1 and when it was new, I thought we’d be lucky for it to last 4-5 seasons.
Fans watch so steadily that tonight, it airs its 300th episode and is in season 14. It has been renewed for season 15. This is unheard of for a genre show like this. It passed X-files and Stargate SG-1 as the longest running fantasy-type show.
It’s still good.
Smaller group than most, but fierce…the Charmies. These engage in shipping of Timothee Chalamee and Armie Hammer, apparently based on an assumption that they are actually gay lovers and their performances in Call Me By Your Name were just a cover. Armie’s (very lovely) wife is likely surprised to hear about their relationship.
In music, I was thinking of the Beatles and the Dead.
I think the OP is asking for 2 factors - both the depth of fandom AND the greatest number of participants. I suspect in just about any area you will find SOME folk who pursue (and flaunt) encyclopedic knowledge. For example, I play instrumental folk/bluegrass/oldtime music. The average music fan might not even appreciate that those 3 terms describe 3 very different styles. Get into any one of the 3, and you’ll find some folk who are very eager to display their command of minutiae, and their familiarity with obscure songs/performers/recordings… But in terms of the number or participants, I don’t think you can compare such folk to deadheads following the tours, seeing hundreds of shows, and trading cassettes of countless recordings. Or the Beatles, who seem to release every demo ever found, decades after the band ended.
Oh, pshaw! If you’re going to use that as a criterion, Burning Man has a ticket cap of 70,000 of which about 25,000 go on sale in one whack, called the Main Sale. The sale opens at noon PST on a Wednesday in March, and are gone in seconds.
That’s because, as in the words of Detective Murtaugh, we’re getting too old for that shit. LOL
Surprised nobody has mentioned Ayn Rand. Many of her disciples have web sites, blogs, podcasts, books, newsletters, lecture series, seminars, conventions, etc. Many can quote entire passages from her books (Rand herself could quote, verbatim, anything she ever wrote). It was her followers who founded the modern Tea Party.
I’m going to say the Harley-Davidson riders. There are a number of motorcycle clubs (most famously, the Hell’s Angels) whose bylaws state that their members shall ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles and no other. They maintained this devotion even through the 1970s and 1980s, when H-D’s quality control took a notorious nosedive. There was even a slogan on t-shirts and bumper stickers, “I’ll push my Harley before I ride a rice-burner!”
Robert Mueller fans are very active and motivated.