On This Day in History: May 26
Sgt. Pepper is released
On May 26, 1987, a radio announcer was excited about how “It was 20 years ago today” that the Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released. I was 19 and asked my father what the big deal was. “It just really blew people away,” he said.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: May 26, 1967--
You know how some bands have a great debut, or perhaps even a few good albums, then rapidly begin sucking? Not so with the Beatles. Sgt. Pepper was their eighth studio album, and it stayed at #1 on the UK Albums Chart for 27 weeks. Released June 2 in the U.S., it also spent 15 weeks in top spot on the Billboard Top LPs chart.
It was an early “concept album,” where the Beatles created an alter ego in the form of the Sgt. Pepper band. The album is considered a progenitor to progressive rock, which sought to elevate rock music to a higher level of respectability by using classical influences to focus more on composition and displays of musicianship rather than just singing about how some woman loves you followed by the word “yeah” over and over. It also had an incredibly cool album cover.
It would be incredibly cool if you became a paid subscriber:
Sgt. Pepper opens with a bang on the title track and includes many songs that remain popular over half a century later, including “Getting Better,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” and “With a Little Help from My Friends.” Then, the album ends with what has been described as “one of the most harrowing songs ever written” with “A Day in the Life.” The record won four Grammys, including Album of the Year.
It has sold over 30 million copies and Rolling Stone didn’t say it was one of the best albums of all time. Because they left the “one of” part out. Rather, they ranked it simply as “The greatest album of all time.”
You go listen now.
Get the book On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.
June 2 was a Friday and college had let out in Milwaukee. It was a cool, early summer morning. We stood in line outside our local record store, each with exactly $7 cash in hand because the store had said "exact change only until gone." We carried our treasures to a nearby apartment where the vinyl never left the turntable all weekend. Minds blown is polite.
*Makes a note to self to go listen to some Beatles music while driving back to my office later.