Parlaphone released the Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. What other albums can be considered having as much impact, actually altering the direction of a music genre?
Many great albums that influenced other artists and the direction of music have come out, but I can't remember any one of them having the impact of Sgt. Pepper. I remember when it came out. Even if you didn't sit around and listen to it, it was everywhere and you knew all the words to all the songs, it was that ubiquitous. It came out the windows and doors, in the hallways, in the car, everywhere you went. I was more a Stones fan (you were either a Stones fan or a Beatle fan), but Sgt. Pepper was the s**t! Sgt. Pepper changed the course of pop music then and forever. It was a singularity that no record has achieved before or since.
Well if it IS 44 years ago today that "it WAS 20 years ago today", does that mean we have a Sgt Peppers Reunion on the Isle of Wight? Vera? Chuck? Dave? Are you there?
Bright moments footnote: in the early seventies between classes, the carillon atop Memorial Hall on the University of Delaware campus blasted Sgt. Pepper's far and wide through speakers installed to preserve the original chimes.
I love Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, but there is no album that has had anywhere near the impact on popular music that Sgt Peppers had, not even close.
It could be argued that without Sgt Peppers, some of those great albums mentioned above would never have been made. The impact was that huge.
Will someone please explain how Sgt. Pepper "altered the direction of a music genre"? What did we get after SP that we did not have before that was directly influenced by SP? I was alive and listening to music back then, but apparently unaware of its "impact". I do know I did not care for it then. Never have, until recently. Once I got the CD mono box set and played on my vastly improved (vs. back then) rig, so I do like it now, but don't see its signifigance.
i gotta agree with rockadanny--sgt. pepper was certainly eagerly awaited and massively hyped, but aside from more lavish production didn't really do anything musically that different from rubber soul or revolver (or for that matter, from pet sounds or some of the other ambitious pop of the era like the left banke or the zombies). i was also kinda underwhelmed by sgt. pepper--other than day in the life, the songs just don't move me like virtually the rest of their catalogue. just my biased and likely misguided opinion, of course.
to the original question, in addition to many of the above-named records, it seems like virtually everyone who heard "velvet underground and nico" was inspired to form a band to remake it.
Hi Rockadanny, To gauge its impact you need to remember what records where like prior to SPLHCB. Perhaps being released at the beginning of the 'summer of love' had a lot to do with its impact. How much you like the album is a matter of opinion. Personally it is not my favorite Beatles album.That isn't what I intended this thread to be about. I wanted to see other important albums that changed the playing field. What is not debateable is that anyone significant in the rock industry at the time of it's release were listening to it and heavily influenced by it.It sparked an era of intense creativity in music. I will through in Dylan's Highway 61 as well into the conversation
Hi Loomisjohnson, Velvet Underground is a good one. It was the beginning of the punk movement IMO. In regards to Sgt. Pepper I will disagree with it being hyped more then any other Beatle album.They were all hyped pretty good. These are the Beatles during the sixties! The real hype was after it's release with everyone from Brian Wilson, Morrison, Mcquinn, Crosby and John Phillips playing it 24/7 as if they hadn't heard ANYTHING like it before.
Hi Urn975, Interesting that 'Days of Future Past' came out in November of that year, almost six months after. Did Sgt. Pepper have an influence on it? Or was it just the pharmaceuticals at that time?;-)
It had a huge influence on Jimi Hendrix who performed it in it's entirety the day before it's release. It was not the first of it's kind, but because the Beatles were so popular at the time everyone took notice. A lot of techniques that had not been used much prior were employed. Most are simple to replicate today but the songwriting is a little more difficult.
Hi Ncarv, Thanks for sharing. I was too young to appreciate the impact at that time but I felt it's influence in rock music well into the 70's. The timing of it release, looking back on it, was absolutely perfect. A exceptional moment in history at the time of it's release. How much do you think this recording influenced the well documented cultural revolution of that summer?
Hi Hack, You're right. Pet Sounds came out over a year earlier. I do recall seeing an interview recorded around that time, of John saying how much Pet Sounds played a influence on Sgt Pepper.
These questions beg multiple answers that only go to prove that life can't be reduced so facilely ... I do remember a DJ playing "Palisades Park" about 10 times in a row one night many, many years ago ... and subsequently getting fired for same. I certainly remember "Blue Suede Shoes" and that Elvis look ... I still listen to Coltrane's "Interstellar" and "Ascension," something I can't say about the majority of my music ... I appreciate the Stones much more today than was true years ago, and I still think the Doors put out some of the best rock/blues ever produced
I'll throw Joy Division's Closer on the table. It had a large influence on the rock bands that came after them. Nothing like the Beatles will exist again. They were a cultural event.
Jay Z's The Black Album and Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation" seemed like significant milestones in hip hop. Raw Power by Iggy was probably one of the more influential punk albums, along with the Ramone's debut. I think Stevie Wonder's Innervision and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" brought soul and R & B in new directions. The Who Live at Leeds defined early metal. Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde defined the singer songwriter. U2's Joshua Tree defined stadium rock. The Pixies Surfer Rosa was epic, helping Radiohead's the Bends define indie rock, as well as Nirvana's Nevermind.
I see where Bitches Brew and DSOTM fit in. As much as I like the album,I am not as sure about Machine Head. What made this album's impact greater then what bands like Zepplin were doing at the time?
Hi Bongofury. Like your take on genre bending albums. I don't agree with U2 defining stadium rock. Beatles,as early as '65, Rolling Stones, ELO, Kiss, Floyd etc., had been doing there thing for years.
Sure DSOTM set all kinds of Billboard Top 200 longevity records and sounds great, but I wouldn't say it altered a genre in any way. It's a slick Sgt. Pepper's style theme album and PF's total sellout effort. But no denying its success. Meddle marks their last art rock album. PF early adopters know the difference between grits and gravy. So here's a vote for Pink Floyd's Saucerful of Secrets, welcome to extended cut space rock.
Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited". The first fully electric album. Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run". A break out record for the boss, that changed what rock and roll is, could be and is compared to for ever.
Bongo knows my take on the place of rap, hip-hop, or whatever they are currently calling lyric poetry set to someone else's music, but I whole-heartedly agree with Innervisions and What's Going On. Both are genre defining. Innervisions is just mind-blowing from an originality and artistic standpoint. It's one of those "Where The F___ did that come from" moments. The only thing that comes close to those, and it's for me, prob not for everyone, was Nirvana. I remember the first time I heard "Smell's Like Teen Spirit" in the car. I was driving down Shepard Dr in Houston, and I was about at W Alabama midway through the song. I pulled into Cactus Records and bought the CD. Cactus is still around, thank God, even though I'm moving to Oklahoma. Going to miss Houston.
Owned a lot of 45's when I was a kid (I'm 57), and of course handled and heard my parents LP's but MY 1st 3 LP purchases were The Supremes Greatest Hits, Vanilla Fudge, & Sgt. Pepper's. It's hard to explain growing up with the Beatles to people that didn't. And I understand there are some folks here that aren't fans but the Beatles music was a world-wide phenomena for a reason.
Perhaps you've heard (I know I Have)the expression when speaking of a different artists particular recording; "...this was their Sgt. Pepper's...". I think that pretty much says it all!
Sorry to hear you are pulling up stakes!!!!! You got to stock up on those pecan pies from Goode! I also just had about the best steak ever in Houston last week at Churrascos. As for the Nirvana and Stevie, I totally agree.
It's interesting that no one mentioned the period when Dylan and The Band were noodling around in the basement. Eric Clapton disbanded Cream after hearing what The Band produced during that time i.e. Music From Big Pink. Lots of musicians claimed that Music From Big Pink changed their lives and the way they thought about music.
The Beatles moved sharply away from the sound of SP as Dylan continued to influence John Lennon and George Harrison. I think he had little influence on McCartney because he walked out of the room when Sir Paul tried to play it for him. I do believe there was a lot of friendly competition between The Beatles and Dylan, but Paul has really done very little noteworthy music since losing his foil in Lennon.
The Beatles influenced Dylan to go electric, Dylan influenced the Beatles to write real songs as opposed to the drivel they did on their early LPs.
Hi Bongofury I don't doubt your experience in live concerts or the music industry As a kid growing up in Montreal in the '70s however, I saw Pink Floyd ELP and many other rock bands define stadium rock U2 came after IMO
Hi Dave, I listen to those three albums regularly having two on sacd and one on an excellent MOFI. There where many blues based jam bands that allmans were influenced by. As much as I enjoy them this is about albums that changed the genre, not our favorites
While the Allmans are my favorites, I truly believe they were innovators; influenced by and the melding of blues, jazz, R&B and early rock n' roll they created a whole new thing.
They were the impetus for the whole wave of Southern Rock bands that followed. (I really don't think of them as Southern Rock). While there were many accomplished bands of this type, none were as accomplished and unique as the Allmans.
Hi Dave, The op of this thread is genre altering. Southern rock is a part of the rock genre. I do not see, as wonderful and enduring as the Allmans albums are, as trail blazers in the same way that the Beatle's Pepper album is.This is not about how popular or well loved a bands work became. It's more akin to releasing something at the right time with all the stars aligning.
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