by Adam Mincks

Created on: November 23, 2010

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" stands alongside the pantheon of other monumental, monolithic works of art that are considered the pinnacle of their respective art forms: "Hamlet" in play-writing; "Citizen Kane" in cinema; "Ulysses" in literature; and "Sgt. Pepper" in rock music.  What "Pepper" also has in common with these other works of art is that it's tempting, after all these years and all those "greatest of all-time" lists, for people to write them off as "overrated": Hamlet's a whiny, spoiled rich kid; Charles Foster Kane's an unlikable film subject; Joyce wrote pretentious, stream-of-conscious drivel; and "Pepper"'s a concept album with no concept, a dated relic of the Swinging Sixties, the Maypole around which those insufferable baby boomers dance around.

But what's forgotten about "Pepper" is the fact that when the Beatles were writing and recording what was to be their defining moment on record, they were underdogs.  By late 1966, to quote Joe Strummer, "phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust": the accomplishments of their greatest album ("Revolver") were overshadowed by John's controversial "more popular than Jesus" statement and the emergence of not just the Rolling Stones, but also of the Monkees and the Herman's Hermits, as possible heirs to the Beatles' pop crown.  That the group kept quiet after their final tour didn't help matters either: critics and listeners thought that the group had broken up, that the pressures of stardom had finally gotten to them.  Pop stardom being the fickle thing that it is, the world seemed to have moved on from the mop-toppers.  

Out of all of this turmoil, the Beatles were the calm away from the storm, determined to prove that they still mattered, now more so than ever.  And to prove it, they were going to make the most adventurous, risky album of their career.  They locked themselves up in Abbey Road Studios and with the help of their longtime partner in crime, producer George Martin, went through multiple "hard day's nights" to complete what they were sure was going to be their comeback album.  The first tastes of the "Pepper" sessions was the double A-side single "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever".  Whereas Paul took the influence of the Beach Boys' masterpiece "Pet Sounds" for "Penny Lane", John was delving further and further into the avant garde pop direction of "Tomorrow Never Knows" for "Strawberry Fields".  Both songs explored the theme of childhood

• 1
• 2
• 3
• ...
• 8
• Next Page >>