June 1

1967: The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was The Beatles eighth studio album, following Revolver (1966) and preceding Magical Mystery Tour (1967) in the U.S. and The Beatles (1967), more commonly known as The White Album, in the U.K.

The release came at a time when Beatlemania was waning as The Beatles had quit touring the previous August. With Sgt. Pepper's, the intent was to create a record that could, along with promotional film clips made over the previous years, tour for them.

To that end, McCartney decided they should create fictitious characters for each member of The Beatles and record an album that would be a performance by that fictitious band. To that end, the song begins with the title track introducing the band, and then segues into "With a Little Help From My Friends" performed by the band leader, Billy Shears (Starr). The album has a bookend effect by reprising the title track at the end of the album prior to "A Day in the Life."

McCartney's vision of recording a performance by a fictitious band was never fully realized. Lennon was adamant that the tracks he had written for the album had nothing to do with the Sgt. Pepper's concept. At the same time, The Beatles had been working on several songs thematically linked to childhood and everyday life. Two of these, "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever," were intended to be a part of Sgt. Pepper's, but were pulled after The Beatles were pressured into releasing them as singles (Sgt. Pepper's has no singles, similar to the earlier release, Rubber Soul). However, this theme is still present in "Lovely Rita," "Good Morning Good Morning," "She's Leaving Home," "When I'm Sixty-Four," and "A Day in the Life."

The album cover, featuring a collage of life-sized cardboard models of famous people, received a Grammy and is one of the most famous, and most parodied, of all time. The collage, known as "People We Like," included over 70 famous and historic characters, including the original bass player for The Beatles, Stuart Sutcliffe who had passed away five years earlier. Lennon had requested that Adolf Hitler be included. Though this was ultimately decided against, Hitler's cut out can be seen in production photos from the time, along with another rejected cut out that has a cloth draped over its head. It is speculated that this unknown character was Elvis Presley.Sgt. Pepper's received both popular and critical acclaim upon release. The album spent 175 weeks on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. (15 weeks at number one), and 201 weeks on the UK Albums Chart (27 weeks at number one). At the same time, many critics and contemporaries held the album to be The Beatles magnum opus, a perception that has persisted largely until today with Rolling Stone labeling it the greatest album of all time as recently as 2003. Personally, I hold The White Album as The Beatles greatest album, although Sgt. Pepper's does contain one of my two favorite songs by The Beatles in "A Day in the Life," the other being "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from The White Album.

Track listing:

1. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
2. "With a Little Help From My Friends"
3. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
4. "Getting Better"
5. "Fixing a Hole"
6. "She's Leaving Home"
7. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
8. "Within You Without You"
9. "When I'm Sixty-Four"
10. "Lovely Rita"
11. "Good Morning Good Morning"
12. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)"
13. "A Day in the Life"

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