No matter what one accepts as its release date, the album that represents a touchstone to the Beatles in particular and rock music in general is 50 years old.
Therefore, according to the timetable found in the opening lyric of the title track, it was 70 years ago today (June 2 in America) that Sgt. Pepper "taught the band to play."
What exactly happened on that fateful day in 1967? Not much except defining the Beatles as the avatars musically of a turbulent decade that the so-called Establishment came under attack.
In the 39 minutes, 52 seconds between the opening riff to the title track and the earsplitting piano chord to "A Day in the Life," the Beatles challenged themselves artistically, fulfilling the promise of their triumphant first American tour in 1964 and pushing musical boundaries.
Coming nine months after their last live performance, amid criticism over John Lennon's comment that the Beatles had become "more popular than Jesus," the Beatles established with "Sgt. Pepper" their legacy as studio musicians. More so than with "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver," two other groundbreaking albums within the previous year and a half, the Beatles with "Sgt. Pepper" made the clean break between concert hall and recording studio, establishing themselves as not just singers, but consummate musicians.
Written in response to the Beach Boys' 1966 album "Pet Sounds," which in Brian Wilson's "God Only Knows" contained what Beatle Paul McCartney called the greatest love song ever composed, the Fab Four touched on many issues making news in the Swinging Sixties.
"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" was seen as an obvious commentary on the mind-altering LSD, to which many on both sides of the Atlantic were then tuning in, turning on and dropping out.
"When I'm Sixty-Four," McCartney's tribute to parenthood, contrasted with "She's Leaving Home," which explored the growing Generation Gap. "Lovely Rita Meter Maid" extolled the working woman, while Lennon used an 1843 circus poster as inspiration for "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
George Harrison's "Within You Without You" evokes the artist's exploration into Hindu beliefs, representing what one observer called "the most distant departure from the staple Beatles sound in their discography." A subdued guitarist, the quiet Beatle would take his place with Lennon and McCartney as an introspective songwriter, reaching full flower with "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something" (Frank Sinatra's favorite love song) on the group's 1969 magnum opus "Abbey Road."
Drummer Ringo Starr, the most vocally challenged of the Fab Four, once begs his listeners' indulgence: "What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?" McCartney plays piano, Harrison strums lead guitar and Lennon beats a cowbell on "With a Little Help From My Friends," in which Starr receives a rousing introduction as the character "Billy Shears."
Ground breaking though they may be, the album's first 12 songs are mere prologue to "A Day in the Life," a 5-minute, 37-second snapshot for which Lennon said he found inspiration from headlines in a London newspaper. Even as their musical tastes were diverging, Lennon and McCartney collaborated on this effort, producer George Martin joining the two artists and the Beatles' tour manager on the pulsating final E major chord on three separate pianos.
"A Day in the Life," like the other tracks on the album, was not released as a single. Like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," it has become the ultimate album cut. Called "one of the most harrowing songs ever written," the final track to "Sgt. Pepper" represents what musicologist Ian MacDonald calls the Beatles' "finest single achievement."
Appearing both as waxworks and in band uniforms on the iconic cover, which would win one of the album's four Grammy Awards in 1968, "Sgt. Pepper" received generally positive reviews, although a New York Times critic found it "dazzling but ultimately fraudulent." Public reaction was sensational, the album spending 27 weeks atop the United Kingdom albums chart and 15 weeks at No. 1 in the United States.
"Sgt. Pepper" was honored by the Library of Congress in the same year (2003) that Rolling Stone magazine ranked it No. 1 in its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." Fifty years after its release, 70 years (if you will) that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play, the Beatles' surpassing triumph still holds the power to inspire.
Editorial on 06/02/2017