What's your 'Sgt. Pepper's'?

[Fully]

The Beatles were my favorite band back in the '80's. My older sister bought a compilation of their music and I fell in love with it. That led me to getting all of their albums and listening to them over and over again. Eventually I grew out of them and began listening to other music, but I've retained a fondness for them because how could I not. I don't listen to their music anymore unless it spontaneously appears before me. I agree with Penny and Leanne. They have been much more influential than Floyd - not that I'm discounting Floyd's genius. If we really wanted to go back to who started it all, we'd have to go back to Robert Johnson and the Alan Lomaxes who went out and recorded these early artists like Johnson and the Carter family and many other folk acts.

I've been thinking about this topic since Ewind posted it. While Sgt. Pepper's was amazing, it wouldn't have been possible without Revolver. Revolver was the album where it became apparent that The Beatles were expanding their minds and the culture was changing. It was their first step in experimentation. Certainly the link it provided from their early work to their layer work is vital so that listeners could understand something like Sgt. Peppers. Their audience would have been so confused if they had plopped SP down on them without preparing them for it.not that I think that was their intention. They were finding their way through uncharted territory themselves. Revolver helped me as a child of the eighties understand the counterculture of the sixties at a time when historians where just beginning to really understand what it's significance as well. It takes about twenty years before there is enough distance from an event or period that people can begin to be objective about it. It's now been around fifty years since Beatlemania. Can you imagine Justin Beiber making the leap from what he's putting out now to Eleanor Rigby, Taxman, or Norweigan Woods -much less anything on Sgt. Pepper's.? That helps me put into perspective how truly talented The Beatles were. They went from being teen idols, albeit reluctant ones, to putting out the music they made in their later years. So Revolver is the album that is the most influential for me. The link it provides between what came before it and what came after is vital. The Beatles really have to be the most influential because they had and continued to have years later the mass audience that Floyd and Zep never can have. The Stones are the only band that can come close to what The Beatles achieved, but they were always running behind The Beatles. While I prefer listening to these three bands over The Beatles, I can't deny that without them those other bands would have had a harder time being accepted by their audiences.

[MrWhippy]

This has been an interesting discussion, and one that felt hard to jump into because to me "what is your Sgt. Pepper" could mean so many different things. 

One thing it means to me are the albums that first taught me to understand and appreciate the album as an art form in and of itself, not just a collection of songs.  The big ones for me with that were:

Beatles - Sgt. Pepper, White Album, Abbey Road
The Who - Quadrophenia, Tommy
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, DSOTM, The Wall, Animals
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night

These are the records that first opened me up to the experience of an album, and shaped my listening to this day, as I rarely listen to mixes in favor of wanting to hear whole albums. 

I love the access to music that the digital age has brought us, but I think one sad thing about it is that the album as an art form is being lost to some degree.  Many kids I know, for example, don't even really know what an album is, it's all just songs.

[LeanneP]

Dark Side gives me a bad trip. It's too angry and depressed sounding. Roger Waters is an a$$hole of such epic proportions I'm totally and completely unable to listen to the last albums.

Lying in the dark with my man one night, long before the babies were conjured, we got high and threw on Dark Side. When the screaming starts in the intro to speak to me, I got freaked out and begged the alienlanes to take the record off. I got really hysterical and it was a strange reaction since I'd grown up on Pink Floyd (my Dad LOVED Floyd, Beatles, Dylan, Cream, Stones, etc - I was a lucky little child) and knew that album intimately.

My antidote? Pet Sounds :)  It made me happy. And is the Beach Boys' Sgt Pepper, incidentally. Additionally, to add onto Fully's connections between the artists: Sgt Pepper is what it is in part due to Pet Sounds but Pet Sounds was heavily inspired by Revolver. Don't you just love that? 

That whole era of music '65 to the early 70s is such a ridiculously, deliriously, dizzying explosion of creativity!   

[parkervb]

Some might go Raw Power here, but its predecessor is my choice.  Crazy that this was recorded 42 years ago. 

[ItBeats4Jew]

Quadrophenia

by the way, Paul McCartney has stated in the past that Pet Sounds is his favorite album. 

[e_wind]

I have animosity towards the direction this thread took, because this forum is based on musical discussion. I do, though, want to point out that I didn't intend on this being anti-Beatles in any way. It was more of a personal question based on personal preferences.

[Penny Lane]

Sgt Pepper is one of the worst beatles albums...it's not popular or influential because it's good.

Love the G Harrison direction--he was definitely the most spiritual of the Beatles.

i would compare the White Album to Exile on Main street in that it was made in chaos (none of the band really speaking or working together)..in the stones, Keith was too far into smack and Mick wasn't really around---white album they were pretty much broken up and into their own things--had to be forced to be in the studio---

both could be called their magnum opus albums...

[Fully]

This has been an interesting discussion, and one that felt hard to jump into because to me "what is your Sgt. Pepper" could mean so many different things. 

One thing it means to me are the albums that first taught me to understand and appreciate the album as an art form in and of itself, not just a collection of songs.  The big ones for me with that were:

Beatles - Sgt. Pepper, White Album, Abbey Road
The Who - Quadrophenia, Tommy
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, DSOTM, The Wall, Animals
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night

These are the records that first opened me up to the experience of an album, and shaped my listening to this day, as I rarely listen to mixes in favor of wanting to hear whole albums. 

I love the access to music that the digital age has brought us, but I think one sad thing about it is that the album as an art form is being lost to some degree.  Many kids I know, for example, don't even really know what an album is, it's all just songs.

Whippy, I like the way you've interpreted the question. I hadn't actually thought of it that way. I was looking at it as what album do I think is the most influential. But the idea of what album made you appreciate the album format is an interesting question too. There were several concept albums that made me appreciate the album format. And to be honest, I probably didn't actually realize that the entire album was essential conciously. It was just the way everyone I knew listened to music back then.

Zeppelin II and IV, The White Album, Tommy, Dark Side of the Moon, Exile on Main Street, and, although I didn't listen to it until much later in life, Pet Sounds all were very influential to me as well but I didn't listen to them until I was older. However,  I went through a Styx phase in middle school. I loved The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight, Cornerstone and to a much lesser extent Paradise Theater. Kilroy was here was a joke. As they got more into concept albums, they got much worse. I think the lead singer really wanted to be a theater major. Those first three albums were great even though they haven't held up very well over time. However, they more than any of the greats taught me to appreciate the album format. They were the first albums that I really found joy in. I can remember sitting in my room listening for hours on end to them even though now it would be torture to listen to them. That's one reason why I try to tolerate my kids' horrible taste in music because I know that they haven't developed enough judgment yet to separate the good stuff from the crap.

[Fully]

Sgt Pepper is one of the worst beatles albums...it's not popular or influential because it's good.

That may be the truest thing I've read in a long time. 

[Penny Lane]

I've been thinking about this topic since Ewind posted it. While Sgt. Pepper's was amazing, it wouldn't have been possible without Revolver. Revolver was the album where it became apparent that The Beatles were expanding their minds and the culture was changing. It was their first step in experimentation. Certainly the link it provided from their early work to their layer work is vital so that listeners could understand something like Sgt. Peppers. Their audience would have been so confused if they had plopped SP down on them without preparing them for it.not that I think that was their intention. They were finding their way through uncharted territory themselves. Revolver helped me as a child of the eighties understand the counterculture of the sixties at a time when historians where just beginning to really understand what it's significance as well. It takes about twenty years before there is enough distance from an event or period that people can begin to be objective about it. It's now been around fifty years since Beatlemania. Can you imagine Justin Beiber making the leap from what he's putting out now to Eleanor Rigby, Taxman, or Norweigan Woods -much less anything on Sgt. Pepper's.? That helps me put into perspective how truly talented The Beatles were. They went from being teen idols, albeit reluctant ones, to putting out the music they made in their later years. So Revolver is the album that is the most influential for me. The link it provides between what came before it and what came after is vital. The Beatles really have to be the most influential because they had and continued to have years later the mass audience that Floyd and Zep never can have. The Stones are the only band that can come close to what The Beatles achieved, but they were always running behind The Beatles. While I prefer listening to these three bands over The Beatles, I can't deny that without them those other bands would have had a harder time being accepted by their audiences.

well said, Fully! agree totally about Revolver..context is everything..

[woodnymph]

I have animosity towards the direction this thread took, because this forum is based on musical discussion. I do, though, want to point out that I didn't intend on this being anti-Beatles in any way. It was more of a personal question based on personal preferences.

Well said, sir... I had to leave off at the argument stance; I figured it was more about expressing WHAT our Sgt. Peppers are, vs. so much detail as to why..   It's a lovely thread, it was a good idea-- hope you don't think otherwise. 

[EverythingChanges]

I have animosity towards the direction this thread took, because this forum is based on musical discussion. I do, though, want to point out that I didn't intend on this being anti-Beatles in any way. It was more of a personal question based on personal preferences.

I'm not sure anyone really took this thread as anti Beatles.  Personally, I was defending why I believe DSotM is a better album, and I was only doing this because someone negatively questioned it and assumed I was disrespecting The Beatles, which was not the case.  The Beatles are great, I just personally do not and will not like them as much as Floyd.  I have listened to them since I can remember listening to music and I understand what they accomplished.  I even took a rock history class in college that covered some of the feats that The Beatles accomplished.  In no way am I trying to dismiss them.   

[e_wind]

I have NO** animosity. Key word left out.

[woodnymph]

I have NO** animosity. Key word left out.

Oh. Well then I revoke my sentiment. FIGHT TO THE DEATH!!!! 

[EverythingChanges]

I have NO** animosity. Key word left out.

Haha, thanks for the good laugh.

[sweatboard]

I think I wish I had a Sgt. Peppers, I just don't.  I truly wish one of my favorite bands would make an album of that calibur but they just havent'.  I wish Wilco, Pearl Jam, MMJ, Nirvana had made a Sgt. Pepper but they just havent' or didn't.  I can appreciate Sgt. Peppers as a masterpeice it's just not mine....it wasn't of my time.  Nevermind was close but overproduced, Ten feels the same way for me....At Dawn and It Still Moves were signs of a potential Sgt. Peppers but it hasn't panned out and seems less and less likely.  I don't really think a band since The Who, The Beattles, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Bob Dylan, Neil Young has come closer than to sniff at that kind of genius.  My generation has some GREAT bands but the ambition of crafting an album the quality of those from the seventies is just lost or something.   

[LeanneP]

I don't know, Radiohead: OK Computer, Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin and Super Furry Animals: Rings Around The World are all, to me, game changing albums for those bands.

[e_wind]

I don't know, Radiohead: OK Computer, Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin and Super Furry Animals: Rings Around The World are all, to me, game changing albums for those bands.

Radio head OK and Wilco YHF were certainly game changers for those bands, and some of the best music I know of. I don't think the Flips have a masterpiece of any sorts, and I'm a big FLips fan.

[EverythingChanges]

I think I wish I had a Sgt. Peppers, I just don't.  I truly wish one of my favorite bands would make an album of that calibur but they just havent'.  I wish Wilco, Pearl Jam, MMJ, Nirvana had made a Sgt. Pepper but they just havent' or didn't.  I can appreciate Sgt. Peppers as a masterpeice it's just not mine....it wasn't of my time.  Nevermind was close but overproduced, Ten feels the same way for me....At Dawn and It Still Moves were signs of a potential Sgt. Peppers but it hasn't panned out and seems less and less likely.  I don't really think a band since The Who, The Beattles, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Bob Dylan, Neil Young has come closer than to sniff at that kind of genius.  My generation has some GREAT bands but the ambition of crafting an album the quality of those from the seventies is just lost or something.

I agree with you on this one.  I really wish MMJ had one, and the closest they got (for me) was Z.  If there was an album between ISM and Z, it would have been THE ALBUM imo.  I am hoping that since they have had such a successful tour with the spontaneous curation series that they have sparked a new desire to create music on the same level of At Dawn, ISM and Z.  I feel like their curation series really opened their minds to experiment with their older music and get comfortable with it again.  Perhaps it will translate over into the next album.  One can only hope.   

[exist10z]

I don't know, Radiohead: OK Computer, Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin and Super Furry Animals: Rings Around The World are all, to me, game changing albums for those bands.

Funny, the Radiohead and Wilco albums were the first things I thought of reading that post.  Then I saw you beat me to it...