Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band may not be the greatest album ever, but neither is any other, of course. Having celebrated its 50th birthday in June, the classic Beatles album illustrates how consensus bounces up and down throughout history. By the time Pepper came out in 1967, ten months after 1966’s Revolver in what was then considered an unreasonably long gap between projects, the band had stopped touring in order to work exclusively in the studio. This produced a giddy anticipation cycle that inspired instant coronation upon release. Even when it first came out — especially when it first came out — the coverage framed it in world-historical terms, terms like “great art” and “magnum opus” and such; in 2003, it topped Rolling Stone’s roundup of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which merely confirmed an attitude several decades old among the rock press.
But the imposition of received taste rankles, and a subsequent generation of critics spurned the album’s myth, attributing its acclaim less to actual merits than to good timing and the culmination of what Greil Marcus in 1979 called a “pop explosion.” Pepper’s 50th anniversary has rekindled much debate: note Jon Pareles in TheNew York Times nailing the album’s “impulsiveness, its lighthearted daring, its willingness to try the odd sound and the unexpected idea”; note also Amanda Marcotte in Salon complaining that Pepper is “music for men” over “girl music,” which reveals nothing about the album and everything about the author’s unwitting failure to reject gender norms. Fifty years on, we’re still arguing about the Beatles; they’ve got us in their clutches, and we can’t get free.
Oh, well perhaps many people are still in the clutches of The Beatles, I wouldn’t be one of them. I didn’t mind their music, and found some of it catchy enough, but it wasn’t my thing, even as a child. I did learn to not admit as much, after ending up in a vicious fight with a bunch of other 10 year old girls who were seriously in love with them. I was completely captured by The Rolling Stones and The Who at that age. For those who are captured by The Beatles, Hyperallergic has a good article up about the 50th anniversary of Pepper.
Reading the Pfft acticle on Sgt. Pepper has led me to the totally trivial conclusion that ‘analyses’ of culture ‘items’ tell you more about the analyser than the item.
I expect that’s quite true. People will persist in thinking they can be objective about art.
That was the first album I bought. I thought it was OK until I got Led Zeppelin, and that led me to the blues and Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, and James Brown.
Hmm, now that I think of it, I never bought Sgt. Pepper. I think I had one Beatles album, but I don’t remember which one. When I got together with Rick, he had all of them.
P-Funk, my babies, P-Funk.
The album was over-rated crappola, but my younger-self loved, absolutely loved the movie.
Paul McCartny was no Johnny Cash.
There were folks listening to other stuff back then.
I thought the movie was damn silly. Didn’t care for it much.
As far as listening to albums by The Beatles, I much prefer Abbey Road. But I, too, was a Led Zeppelin and The Who fan. The Rolling Stones never rose to that level for me, though I do have several of their albums. I kind of lost interest in music in the 1980s, but my listening pleasure was rekindled by the grunge movement with the likes of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.
Oh! Abbey Road. That’s the one I had.
Pepper is good, but for me Rubber Soul and Abbey Road are the standout Beatles albums. But while my school mates were arguing over the Beatles or the Stones, I was just a happy little chappy with the Monkees. Headquarters is their best, although Head was a trip. :-). My poor grandma took me to see it, I don’t think she was ever the same again.
Growing up in The Land of Oz, we were exposed to the best and worst of UK/US rock, but we also had our home grown winners, Zoot, Axiom, Doug Parkinson Focus (The best Dear Prudence ever), John Farnham (who turned Help in to a totally different song), Billy Thorpe, and of course world conquering AC/DC, the bastard child of The Easybeats.