This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’
‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ their eighth and most popular album.
The album was released on June 1, 1967 in the UK and June 2 in the US.
One of the best-selling albums of all time, ‘Sgt. Pepper’ is
often credited as being the musical embodiment of 1960s culture. Meant to be a
work of art as much as a collection of songs, the album gave way to progressive
and art rock, which would gain in popularity within 10 years of its release.
Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is celebrating 50
years of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ by taking a look back at the album and its recording.
Here are seven quick facts about the band’s most popular album, from its many
firsts to its inspirations and more.
1.
The album didn’t actually come out on June 1 in
the UK: It was supposed to come out on June 1, but the release date got moved
up a week, so the album actually came out on May 26. In my research, I could
not find a reason for this. The album did, however, come out on June 2 in the
US, so it is still cool to celebrate now.
2.
It was the first Beatles album to be the same in
the UK and US: When the Beatles’ music first came over to the United States, Capitol
Records (at the time a subsidiary of EMI) was hesitant to release their albums.
The first Beatles album in the states was actually a compilation called ‘Introducing…The
Beatles,’ which featured most of the songs from the band’s first album, ‘Please
Please Me.’ The label continued to either release compilations or take songs
out entirely until the release of ‘Sgt. Pepper.’
3.
It was the first album to ever have lyrics
included in packaging: In another, more universal first, this was the first album
to have lyrics included with its packaging. It sounds like a small feat, but it
is just another way the album made history. It proved that packaging is
important and not meant to be tossed aside. Besides, who doesn’t like reading
the lyrics while listening to the music?
4.
Elvis was supposed to be on the cover, but was
omitted: The ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album cover features a lot of famous faces: Bob
Dylan, Marilyn Monroe, etc. But one face seemingly omitted from the collage is
Elvis Presley’s. Paul McCartney has said that even though the singer was an
inspiration to the entire group, Presley was “too important and too far above
the rest even to mention.”
5.
The cover was expensive to produce: Because the
album had so many famous people on its cover, there was a lot of money spent on
just getting people to let the Beatles use their likeness. Each cover cost
about 3,000 pounds to make, roughly 60 times the going rate to make an album
cover in those days. The packaging must have been really expensive too, as it
featured cut-outs and special inserts to make it “a more interactive
experience.”
6.
The album was
inspired by the ‘Pet Sounds’: Unknown to either band, the Beatles and the
Beach Boys had a big effect on each other. When Brian Wilson was writing the
Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds,’ he was inspired by the Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul,’
claiming that he wanted to write something just as good. Then, when it came
time for the Beatles to follow up ‘Rubber Soul,’ the band took inspiration from
‘Pet Sounds,’ playing the album on heavy rotation in the studio during the
recording process for ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ Sir George Martin, producer on ‘Sgt.
Pepper,’ even said that album would not have happened if it weren’t for ‘Pet
Sounds.’
7.
The title is a play on “salt and pepper”: In
Barry Miles’ book ‘Beatles: A Diary: An Intimate Day by Day History,’ Paul
McCartney relates a story where the band was on a plane and they were thinking
of names for the album. During a conversation with the band’s tour manager,
McCartney was looking at packets of salt and pepper and decided to play with
the sound of the words. Get it, “salt and pepper”… “Sergeant Pepper.” “Lonely
Hearts Club” followed the exchange and the two thought that together it formed
a great band name.
‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band’ has remained one of the most popular and talked about Beatles
albums of the last 50 years. The album was, and still is, both a
characterization of its time and a look into the direction music would be
heading. With newer generations discovering ‘Sgt. Pepper,’ the album will
continue to influence and inspire for years to come.
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Find music from the Beatles and more at Vinyl Bay 777 and
vinylbay777.com. Long Island’s top new independent record shop has a wide
selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs,
memorabilia and more, including new and rare pressings of some of the Beatles’
best works. We have thousands of titles in store and online to choose from with
more being added all the time.
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