The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely-Hearts Club Band album celebrated its 50th birthday last year and continues to be ranked as one of the greatest assortments of songs ever put on one LP. Last year PBS aired a BBC documentary called ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Musical Revolution,’ and not a month goes by we don’t read about an auction that contains a Beatle artifact or personal item.
How popular were the Beatles in 1964? In the week ending April 4th, 1964, the Beatles had five songs in the Billboard Top 100. The ‘Sgt Pepper’s’ album was a direct response to the Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’ album which blew the Fab Four-way. It actually threatened them. Paul came up with the concept of an album centered on a concept of an Edwardian military band. Paul’s attitude was “anything you can do, we can do better” attitude, so he was looking for a way to answer the Beach Boys. The LP earned four Grammys.
The LP cover is perhaps the most distinguishable aspect of the project and their heated arguments over who would appear on the cover; John rumored to be most vocal and difficult to please. John also wanted Hitler and Jesus on the cover but was shot down. A photograph of Elvis was intended to be in the collage but was voted out at the last minute. At the time of pressing, the cover was thought to be the most expensive album cover of all time.