Editing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

{{short description|1967 studio album by the Beatles}}
{{About|the 1967 album}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[the Beatles]]
| cover      = Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.jpg
| alt        = The Beatles, holding marching band instruments and wearing colourful uniforms, stand near a grave covered with flowers that spell "Beatles". Standing behind the band are several dozen famous people.
| released   = <!-- earliest known date only, per Template:Infobox album#Released -->{{Start date|1967|5|26|df=yes}}
| recorded   = 6 December 1966&nbsp;– 21 April 1967
| studio     = [[Abbey Road Studios|EMI]] and Regent Sound, London
| genre      = * [[Rock music|Rock]]
* [[pop music|pop]]
* [[psychedelic music|psychedelia]]
* {{nowrap|[[art rock]]}}
| length     = {{Duration|m=39|s=36}}
| label      = *[[Parlophone]]
*[[Capitol Records|Capitol]]
| producer   = [[George Martin]]
| chronology = [[The Beatles]]
| prev_title = [[A Collection of Beatles Oldies]]
| prev_year  = 1966
| next_title = [[The Beatles (album)|The Beatles]]
| next_year  = 1968
| misc       = {{Extra chronology
 | artist     = [[The Beatles]] [[The Beatles' North American releases|North American]]
 | type       = studio
 | prev_title = [[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]
 | prev_year  = 1966
 | title      = Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
 | year       = 1967
 | next_title = [[Magical Mystery Tour]]
 | next_year  = 1967
}}
}}

'''''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''''' (often referred to simply as '''''Sgt. Pepper''''') is the eighth studio [[album]] by the English [[rock music|rock]] band [[the Beatles]]. Released on 26{{nbsp}}May 1967,{{refn|group=nb|According to author Allen J. Wiener, the album's intended release date of 1{{nbsp}}June has been "traditionally observed" over the ensuing decades, yet the true release date was 26{{nbsp}}May.{{sfn|Wiener|1992|p=31}}}} ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by [[Musicology#Education and careers|musicologist]]s as an early [[concept album]] that advanced the roles of sound composition, [[Cyclic form|extended form]], [[psychedelia|psychedelic]] imagery, [[record sleeve]]s, and the producer in [[popular music]]. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, [[mysticism]], and a sense of optimism and empowerment. Critics lauded the album for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and [[high art]], and for reflecting the interests of [[Baby boomers|contemporary youth]] and the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]].

At the end of August 1966, the Beatles had permanently retired from touring and pursued individual interests for the next three months. During a return flight to London in November, [[Paul McCartney]] had an idea for a song involving an [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] military band, forming the impetus of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' concept. For this project, they continued the technological experimentation marked by their previous album, ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'' (1966), this time without an absolute deadline for completion. Sessions began on 24{{nbsp}}November at [[Abbey Road Studios|EMI Studios]] with compositions inspired by the Beatles' youth, but after pressure from [[EMI]], the songs "[[Strawberry Fields Forever]]" and "[[Penny Lane]]" were released as a [[double A-side]] single in February 1967 and left off the LP. The album was then loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)|the title track]].  

A landmark work of British [[Psychedelic music|psychedelia]], ''Sgt. Pepper'' is considered one of the first [[art rock]] LPs and a progenitor to [[progressive rock]]. It incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including [[vaudeville]], [[Circus music|circus]], [[music hall]], [[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]], and Western and [[Indian classical music|Indian]] classical music. With assistance from producer [[George Martin]] and engineer [[Geoff Emerick]], many of the recordings were coloured with sound effects and tape manipulation, as exemplified on "[[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds]]", "[[Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!]]" and "[[A Day in the Life]]". Recording was completed on 21{{nbsp}}April. The cover, which depicts the Beatles posing in front of [[List of images on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|a tableau of celebrities and historical figures]], was designed by the [[pop art]]ists [[Peter Blake (artist)|Peter Blake]] and [[Jann Haworth]].

''Sgt. Pepper''{{'}}s release was a defining moment in [[pop culture]], heralding the [[album era]] and the 1967 [[Summer of Love]], while its reception achieved full cultural legitimisation for popular music and recognition for the medium as a genuine art form. The first Beatles album to be released with the same track listing in both the UK and the US, it spent 27 weeks at number one on the ''[[Record Retailer]]'' chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs]] chart in the United States. In 1968, it won four [[Grammy Awards]], including [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]], the first rock [[LP record|LP]] to receive this honour; in 2003, it was inducted into the [[National Recording Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It has topped several critics' and listeners' polls for the best album of all time, including those published by ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine and in the book ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]'', and the UK's "[[Music of the Millennium]]" poll. More than 32 million copies had been sold worldwide as of 2011. It remains one of the [[List of best-selling albums|best-selling albums]] of all time and was, as of 2018, the [[List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom|UK's best-selling studio album]]. A [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50th Anniversary Edition|remixed and expanded edition]] of the album was released in 2017.
{{TOC limit|3}}

== Background ==
{{quote box|quote= We were fed up with being the Beatles. We really hated that fucking four little [[mop-top]] approach. We were not boys, we were men&nbsp;... and thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=303}} |source=– [[Paul McCartney]]|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}

By late 1965, the Beatles had grown weary of live performance.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=210}} In [[John Lennon]]'s opinion, they could "send out four waxworks&nbsp;... and that would satisfy the crowds. Beatles concerts are nothing to do with music anymore. They're just bloody tribal rites."{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=229}} In June 1966, two days after finishing the album ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'', the group set off for a [[The Beatles' 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines|tour that started in West Germany]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=212}} While in [[Hamburg]] they received an anonymous telegram stating: "Do not go to Tokyo. Your life is in danger."{{sfn|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=7}} The threat was taken seriously in light of the controversy surrounding the tour among Japan's religious and conservative groups, with particular opposition to the Beatles' planned performances at the sacred [[Nippon Budokan]] arena.{{sfn|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=7}} As an added precaution, 35,000 police were mobilised and tasked with protecting the group, who were transported from hotels to concert venues in armoured vehicles.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewisohn|2010|p=211}}; {{harvnb|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=7}}.</ref> The Beatles then performed in the [[Philippines]], where they were threatened and manhandled by its citizens for not visiting First Lady [[Imelda Marcos]]. The group were angry with their manager, [[Brian Epstein]], for insisting on what they regarded as an exhausting and demoralising itinerary.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=212–13}}

[[File:WCFL Sound 10 survey October 1966 Beatles Jim Stagg (cropped).jpg|thumb|The group, with disc jockey [[Jimmy Staggs|Jim Stagg]], while on their final tour in August 1966]]

The publication in the US of Lennon's remarks about the Beatles being "[[more popular than Jesus]]" then embroiled the band in controversy and protest in America's [[Bible Belt]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=213}} A public apology eased tensions, but a [[The Beatles' 1966 US tour|US tour in August]] that was marked by reduced ticket sales, relative to the group's record attendances in 1965, and subpar performances proved to be their last.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewisohn|2010|p=230: the Beatles' final commercial performance}}; {{harvnb|Turner|2016|pp=295, 299}}: reduced ticket sales, record attendances in 1965; {{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|p=213}}: subpar performances.</ref> The author [[Nicholas Schaffner]] writes:

{{Quote|To the Beatles, playing such concerts had become a charade so remote from the new directions they were pursuing that not a single tune was attempted from the just-released ''Revolver'' LP, whose arrangements were for the most part impossible to reproduce with the limitations imposed by their two-guitars-bass-and-drums stage lineup.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=58–59}}}}

On the Beatles' return to England, rumours began to circulate that they had decided to break up.{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=1}} [[George Harrison]] informed Epstein that he was leaving the band, but he was persuaded to stay on the assurance that there would be no more tours.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=213}} The group took a three-month break, during which they focused on individual interests.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=367}} Harrison travelled to India for six weeks to study the [[sitar]] under the instruction of [[Ravi Shankar]]{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=2}} and develop his interest in [[Hinduism|Hindu]] philosophy.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=71}} Having been the last of the Beatles to concede that their live performances had become futile,{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=18}} [[Paul McCartney]] collaborated with Beatles producer [[George Martin]] on [[The Family Way (soundtrack)|the soundtrack]] for the film ''[[The Family Way]]''{{sfn|Sounes|2010|pp=158–59}} and holidayed in [[Kenya]] with [[Mal Evans]], one of the Beatles' [[tour manager]]s.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=364–65}} Lennon acted in the film ''[[How I Won the War]]'' and attended art showings, such as one at the [[Indica Gallery]] where he met his future wife [[Yoko Ono]].{{sfn|Womack|2007|pp=158, 160–61}} [[Ringo Starr]] used the break to spend time with his wife [[Maureen Starkey Tigrett|Maureen]] and son [[Zak Starkey|Zak]].<ref>{{harvnb|Harry|2000|pp=323, 333}}; {{harvnb|Julien|2008b|p=2}}.</ref>

== Inspiration and conception ==
While in London without his bandmates, McCartney took the hallucinogenic drug [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]] (or "acid") for the first time, having long resisted Lennon and Harrison's insistence that he join them and Starr in experiencing its perception-heightening effects.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=388}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=54–56}} According to author Jonathan Gould, this initiation into LSD afforded McCartney the "expansive new sense of possibility" that defined the group's next project, ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. Gould adds that McCartney's succumbing to peer pressure allowed Lennon "to play the role of psychedelic guide" to his songwriting partner, thereby facilitating a closer collaboration between the two than had been evident since early in the Beatles' career.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=388–89}} For his part, Lennon had turned deeply introspective during the filming of ''How I Won the War'' in southern Spain in September 1966. His anxiety over his and the Beatles' future was reflected in "[[Strawberry Fields Forever]]",{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=332–33}} a song that provided the initial theme, regarding a Liverpool childhood, of the new album.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=99}} On his return to London, Lennon embraced the city's arts culture, of which McCartney was a part,{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=88}} and shared his bandmate's interest in [[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]] and [[Electronic music|electronic-music]] composers such as [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], [[John Cage]] and [[Luciano Berio]].{{sfn|Sounes|2010|p=165}}{{sfn|Prendergast|2003|p=193}}

In November, during his and Evans' return flight from Kenya, McCartney had an idea for a song that eventually formed the impetus of the ''Sgt. Pepper'' concept.{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=2}} His idea involved an [[Edwardian era|Edwardian-era]] military band, for which Evans invented a name in the style of contemporary San Francisco-based groups such as [[Big Brother and the Holding Company]] and [[Quicksilver Messenger Service]].{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=168}}{{refn|group=nb|McCartney has said that the idea for the title came from his mishearing Evans asking for "salt and pepper" over a meal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.paulmccartney.com/news-blogs/news/you-gave-me-the-answer-sgt-pepper-special|title='You Gave Me The Answer' – Sgt. Pepper Special|date=26 April 2017|website=Paulmccartney.com|access-date=23 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814020845/https://www.paulmccartney.com/news-blogs/news/you-gave-me-the-answer-sgt-pepper-special|archive-date=14 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}} In February 1967, McCartney suggested that the new album should represent a performance by the fictional band.{{sfn|Moore|1997|pp=20–21}} This alter ego group would give them the freedom to experiment musically by releasing them from their image as Beatles.{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=303–04}} Martin recalled that the concept was not discussed at the start of the sessions,{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=378}} but it subsequently gave the album "a life of its own".{{sfn|Martin|1994|p=202}}{{refn|group=nb|The Beatles had often joked about Elvis Presley's decision to send his [[Cadillac]] car on a tour,{{sfn|Womack|2018|loc=chap. 10}} and both Martin and McCartney remembered the band as envisioning the album as similarly touring in their place.{{sfn|Womack|2018|loc=chap. 10}}<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-beatles-379-1344340 |title=Paul McCartney: 'Elvis influenced Sgt Pepper' |author=Staff |date=17 May 2007 |magazine=[[NME]] |access-date=12 January 2024 |archive-date=14 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314134523/https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-beatles-379-1344340 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Portions of ''Sgt. Pepper'' reflect the Beatles' general immersion in the [[blues]], [[Motown]] and other American popular musical traditions.{{sfn|Hannan|2008|p=62}} The author [[Ian MacDonald]] writes that when reviewing their rivals' recent work in late 1966, the Beatles identified the most significant LP as [[the Beach Boys]]' ''[[Pet Sounds]]'', which [[Brian Wilson]], the band's leader, had created in response to the Beatles' ''[[Rubber Soul]]''.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=215}} McCartney was highly impressed with the "harmonic structures" and choice of instruments used on ''Pet Sounds'', and said that these elements encouraged him to think the Beatles could "get further out" than the Beach Boys had.{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|p=197}} He identified ''Pet Sounds'' as his main musical inspiration for ''Sgt. Pepper'', adding that "[we] nicked a few ideas",{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|p=204}} although he felt it lacked the avant-garde quality he was seeking.{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=253}} ''[[Freak Out!]]'' by [[the Mothers of Invention]] has also been cited as having influenced ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Julien|2008c|p=160}} According to the biographer [[Philip Norman (author)|Philip Norman]], during the recording sessions McCartney repeatedly stated: "This is our ''Freak Out!''"{{sfn|Julien|2008c|p=158}} The music journalist [[Chet Flippo]] stated that McCartney was inspired to record a [[concept album]] after hearing ''Freak Out!''{{sfn|Julien|2008c|p=160}}

[[Indian music]] was another touchstone on ''Sgt. Pepper'', principally for Lennon and Harrison.{{sfn|Reck|2008|pp=69, 72–73}} In a 1967 interview, Harrison said that the Beatles' ongoing success had encouraged them to continue developing musically and that, given their standing, "We can do things that please us without conforming to the standard pop idea. We are not only involved in pop music, but all music."{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=119}} McCartney envisioned the Beatles' alter egos being able to "do a bit of [[B. B. King]], a bit of Stockhausen, a bit of [[Albert Ayler]], a bit of Ravi Shankar, a bit of ''Pet Sounds'', a bit of [[the Doors]]".{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=19}} He saw the group as "pushing frontiers" similar to other composers of the time, even though the Beatles did not "necessarily like what, say, [[Luciano Berio|Berio]] was doing".{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

== Recording and production ==
===Recording history===
[[File:Abbeyroadtomswain.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A colour image of a large room with a piano in the middle|[[Abbey Road Studios|Abbey Road Studio Two]], where nearly every track on ''Sgt. Pepper'' was recorded{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|pp=184, 190}}]]

Sessions began on 24 November 1966 in Studio Two at EMI Studios (subsequently [[Abbey Road Studios]]), marking the first time that the Beatles had come together since September.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=232}} Afforded the luxury of a nearly limitless recording budget, and with no absolute deadline for completion,{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=142}} the band booked open-ended sessions that started at 7&nbsp;pm and allowed them to work as late as they wanted.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=215}} They began with "Strawberry Fields Forever", followed by two other songs that were thematically linked to their childhoods: "[[When I'm Sixty-Four]]", the first session for which took place on 6 December,{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=89}} and "[[Penny Lane]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Everett|1999|pp=99, 100}}; {{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|pp=212–223}}.</ref>

"Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were subsequently released as a [[double A-side]] in February 1967 after EMI and Epstein pressured Martin for a single.{{sfn|Moore|1997|pp=19–20}} When it failed to reach number one in the UK, British press agencies speculated that the group's run of success might have ended, with headlines such as "Beatles Fail to Reach the Top", "First Time in Four Years" and "Has the Bubble Burst?"{{sfn|Harry|2002|p=714}} In keeping with the band's approach to their previously issued singles, the songs were then excluded from ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=34, 42}} Martin later described the decision to drop these two songs as "the biggest mistake of my professional life".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=218fn}} In his judgment, "Strawberry Fields Forever", which he and the band spent an unprecedented 55 hours of studio time recording, "set the agenda for the whole album".<ref>{{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|p=219}}: 55 hours of studio time; {{harvnb|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=13}}: "set the agenda for the whole album".</ref> He explained: "It was going to be a record&nbsp;... [with songs that] couldn't be performed live: they were designed to be studio productions and that was the difference."{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=6}} McCartney declared: "Now our performance {{em|is}} that record."{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=6}}

{{quote box|quote= Music papers started to slag us off&nbsp;... because [''Sgt. Pepper''] took five months to record, and I remember the great glee seeing in one of the papers how the Beatles have dried up&nbsp;... and I was sitting rubbing my hands, saying "You just wait."{{sfn|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=111}}|source=– [[Paul McCartney]]|width=30%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}}
According to the musicologist [[Walter Everett (musicologist)|Walter Everett]], ''Sgt. Pepper'' marks the beginning of McCartney's ascendancy as the Beatles' dominant creative force. He wrote more than half of the album's material while asserting increasing control over the recording of his compositions.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=99}}{{refn|group=nb|In Emerick's opinion, the recording of ''Sgt. Pepper'' marks the emergence of McCartney as the Beatles' de facto producer, as Martin was increasingly absent near the end of late-night sessions that often lasted until dawn.{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=163}}}} In an effort to get the right sound, the Beatles attempted numerous re-takes of McCartney's song "[[Getting Better]]". When the decision was made to re-record the basic track, Starr was summoned to the studio, but called off soon afterwards as the focus switched from rhythm to vocal tracking.{{sfn|Davies|2009|p=270}} Much of the bass guitar on the album was mixed upfront.{{sfn|Hannan|2008|p=52}} Preferring to overdub his bass part last, McCartney tended to play other instruments when recording a song's backing track. This approach afforded him the time to devise bass lines that were melodically adventurous – one of the qualities he especially admired in Wilson's work on ''Pet Sounds'' – and complemented the song's final arrangement.<ref>{{harvnb|Emerick|Massey|2006|pp=169–70}}; {{harvnb|Miles|1997|p=281}}: "one of the qualities he especially admired on ''Pet Sounds''".</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Wilson was similarly impressed with the intricate bass playing on ''Rubber Soul''.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=44}} McCartney later said that he, Wilson and Motown's [[James Jamerson]] were the three players "doing melodic bass lines at that time{{nbsp}}... all picking up on what each other did".{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=271}}}} McCartney played keyboard instruments such as piano, [[grand piano]] and [[Lowrey organ]], in addition to electric guitar on some songs, while Martin variously contributed on [[Hohner Pianet]], [[harpsichord]] and [[pump organ|harmonium]].<ref>{{harvnb|Everett|1999|p=104}}: Lowrey organ on "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"; {{harvnb|Everett|1999|p=106}}: Hohner Pianet on "Getting Better", {{harvnb|Everett|1999|p=107}}: harpsichord on "Fixing a Hole"; {{harvnb|Everett|1999|p=110}}: harmonium on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"; {{harvnb|Everett|1999|p=120}}: grand piano on "A Day in the Life".</ref> Lennon's songs similarly showed a preference for keyboard instruments.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=99}}{{refn|group=nb|"Strawberry Fields Forever" made prominent use of [[Mellotron]],{{sfn|Cunningham|1998|p=127}}{{sfn|Prendergast|2003|p=83}} a keyboard instrument on which the keys triggered tape-recordings of a variety of instruments, enabling its user to play keyboard parts using those voices.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=109, 191–93}}}}

[[File:Abbey road studios.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A colour image of the façade of a brick building that is painted white|[[Abbey Road Studios]] (formerly EMI Studios) in 2005]]
Although Harrison's role as lead guitarist was limited during the sessions, Everett considers that "his contribution to the album is strong in several ways."{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=100}} He provided Indian instrumentation in the form of sitar, [[Tanpura|tambura]] and [[swarmandal]],{{sfn|Everett|1999|pp=104, 106, 111}}{{sfn|Clayson|2003|p=212}} and Martin credited him with being the most committed of the Beatles in striving for new sounds.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=172}}{{refn|group=nb|In a 2017 interview, Starr said with regard to Harrison's guitar contributions: "Actually, Paul and I were talking about him when we were both listening to ''Sgt Pepper's'' for the [50th] anniversary and saying how important George's work on guitar was on that record."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/ringo-starr-the-voice-behind-the-yellow-submarine-and-tank-engine-returns-on-give-more-love/news-story/c5eb865f1b73a574e82930ff04f4bb92|first=Kathy|last=McCabe|title=Ringo Starr: The voice behind the yellow submarine and tank engine returns on Give More Love|publisher=[[News.com.au]]|date=17 September 2017|access-date=2 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190202095605/https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/ringo-starr-the-voice-behind-the-yellow-submarine-and-tank-engine-returns-on-give-more-love/news-story/c5eb865f1b73a574e82930ff04f4bb92|archive-date=2 February 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Starr's adoption of loose calfskin heads for his [[Tom-tom drum|tom-toms]] ensured his drum kit had a deeper timbre than he had previously achieved with plastic heads.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=100}} As on ''Revolver'',{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=112}} the Beatles increasingly used session musicians, particularly for classical-inspired arrangements.{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|p=197}} Norman comments that Lennon's prominent vocal on some of McCartney's songs "hugely enhanced their atmosphere", particularly "[[Lovely Rita]]".{{sfn|Norman|2016|p=263}}

Within an hour of completing the last overdubs on the album's songs, on 20 April 1967, the group returned to Harrison's "[[Only a Northern Song]]", the basic track of which they had taped in February.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=109}} The Beatles overdubbed random sounds and instrumentation before submitting it as the first of four new songs they were contracted to supply to [[United Artists]] for inclusion in the animated film ''[[Yellow Submarine (film)|Yellow Submarine]]''.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=102}} In author [[Mark Lewisohn]]'s description, it was a "curious" session, but one that demonstrated the Beatles' "tremendous appetite for recording".{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=109}} During the ''Sgt. Pepper'' sessions, the band also recorded "[[Carnival of Light]]", a McCartney-led experimental piece created for the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, held at the [[The Roundhouse|Roundhouse Theatre]] on 28 January and 4 February.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=224–25}} The album was completed on 21 April with the recording of random noises and voices that were included on the [[Unusual types of gramophone records#Sound recorded in locked grooves|run-out groove]], preceded by a high-pitched tone that could be heard by dogs but was inaudible to most human ears.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|pp=252–53}}

===Studio ambience and happenings===
The Beatles sought to inject an atmosphere of celebration into the recording sessions.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=387}} Weary of the bland look inside EMI, they introduced psychedelic lighting to the studio space,{{sfn|Howard|2004|pp=28–29}} including a device on which five red fluorescent tubes were fixed to a microphone stand, a [[lava lamp]], a red [[darkroom]] lamp, and a [[stroboscope]], the last of which they soon abandoned.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=114}} Harrison later said the studio became the band's clubhouse for ''Sgt. Pepper'';{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=211, 392}} [[David Crosby]], [[Mick Jagger]] and [[Donovan]] were among the musician friends who visited them there.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=100}}{{refn|group=nb|During a 24 February overdubbing session for "Lovely Rita", the Beatles' guests included Crosby and [[Shawn Phillips]], Donovan's guitarist.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=95}} Photos published in ''[[Beatles Monthly]]'' magazine showed Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Crosby grouped around a microphone,<ref name="Runtagh/RS" /> and a ''[[Beat Instrumental]]'' report stated that the backing vocals were recorded that night with Crosby's participation.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=95}} Phillips later supported this and said that he too sang backing vocals with the three Beatles.<ref name="Runtagh/RS">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/beatles-sgt-pepper-at-50-when-pink-floyd-david-crosby-visited-lovely-rita-sessions-127210/|first=Jordan|last=Runtagh|title=Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' at 50: When Pink Floyd, David Crosby Visited 'Lovely Rita' Sessions|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=29 May 2017|access-date=23 March 2020|archive-date=9 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409124907/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/beatles-sgt-pepper-at-50-when-pink-floyd-david-crosby-visited-lovely-rita-sessions-127210/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, Phillips' recollection is not supported by others,<ref name="Runtagh/RS" /> and the group vocals were instead overdubbed on 7 March.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=95}}}} The band members also dressed up in psychedelic fashions,{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=114}} leading one session trumpeter to wonder whether they were in costume for a new film.{{sfn|Cunningham|1998|pp=148–49}} Drug-taking was prevalent during the sessions,{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=114}} with Martin later recalling that the group would steal away to "have something".{{sfn|Case|2010|p=47}}{{refn|group=nb|While recording the vocals for "Getting Better" on 21 March, Lennon started feeling ill,{{sfn|Spitz|2005|pp=670–71}} having accidentally taken LSD when he meant to take an [[stimulant|upper]].{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=382}} Unaware that he was under the influence, Martin escorted him to the roof of the building for some fresh air and returned to the studio. When they learned that Lennon was alone on the rail-less rooftop, Harrison and McCartney rushed up to retrieve him and prevent a possible accident.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=104}}{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=242}}}}

The 10 February session for orchestral overdubs on "[[A Day in the Life]]" was staged as a [[happening]] typical of the London avant-garde scene.{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=76}}{{sfn|Sounes|2010|p=166}} The Beatles invited numerous friends{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=96}} and the session players wore formal dinner-wear augmented with fancy-dress props.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=8}}{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=387–88}} Overseen by [[NEMS Enterprises|NEMS]] employee Tony Bramwell, the proceedings were filmed on seven handheld cameras,{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=166}} with the band doing some of the filming.{{sfn|Cunningham|1998|p=151}} Following this event, the group considered making a television special based on the album.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=96}} Each of the songs was to be represented with a clip directed by a different director,{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=82}} but the cost of recording ''Sgt. Pepper'' made the idea prohibitive to EMI.{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=37–38}}{{refn|group=nb|Following the "Day in the Life" filming, the music press often reported on the idea of a ''Sgt. Pepper'' TV special.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=96}} Although a report in July stated that the plan had been scrapped, a filming schedule was drawn up for late in the year, by which point the Beatles were committed to making ''[[Magical Mystery Tour (film)|Magical Mystery Tour]]''.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=88}}}} For the 15 March session for "[[Within You Without You]]", Studio Two was transformed with Indian carpets placed on the walls, dimmed lighting and burning incense to evoke the requisite Indian mood.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=179}} Lennon described the session as a "great swinging evening" with "400 Indian fellas" among the guests.{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=243}}

The Beatles took an [[acetate disc]] of the completed album to the flat of American singer [[Cass Elliot]], off [[King's Road]] in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]].{{sfn|Ellen|2002|p=102}} There, at six in the morning, they played it at full volume with speakers set in open window frames. The group's friend and former press agent, [[Derek Taylor]], remembered that residents of the neighbourhood opened their windows and listened without complaint to what they understood to be unreleased Beatles music.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=249}}

===Technical aspects===
[[File:Studer J37 4-track tape recorder (1964-1972), Abbey Road Studios.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A colour image of a grey recording machine|One of EMI's Studer J37 four-track tape recorders, the machines used to record ''Sgt. Pepper'']]

In his book on [[ambient music]], ''[[The Ambient Century]]'', Mark Prendergast views ''Sgt. Pepper'' as the Beatles' "homage" to Stockhausen and Cage, adding that its "rich, tape-manipulated sound" shows the influence of electronic and experimental composer [[Pierre Schaeffer]].{{sfn|Prendergast|2003|p=190}} Martin recalled that ''Sgt. Pepper'' "grew naturally out of ''Revolver''", marking "an era of almost continuous technological experimentation".<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=78}}: "continuous technological experimentation"; {{harvnb|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=82}}: ''Sgt. Pepper'' "grew naturally out of ''Revolver''".</ref> The album was recorded using [[Multitrack recording|four-track]] equipment, since eight-track tape recorders were not operational in commercial studios in London until late 1967.{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=191}} As with previous Beatles albums, the ''Sgt. Pepper'' recordings made extensive use of [[Ping-pong recording|reduction mixing]], a technique in which one to four tracks from one recorder are mixed and [[dubbing (music)|dubbed]] down onto a master four-track machine, enabling the engineers to give the group a virtual multitrack studio.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|last=Lewisohn|first=Mark|year=2009|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band| publisher=Apple/EMI Records|p=29}}</ref> EMI's [[Studer|Studer J37]] four-track machines were well suited to reduction mixing, as the high quality of the recordings that they produced minimised the increased noise associated with the process.{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|p=199}} When recording the orchestra for "A Day in the Life", Martin synchronised a four-track recorder playing the Beatles' backing track to another one taping the orchestral overdub. The engineer [[Ken Townsend]] devised a method for accomplishing this by using a 50&nbsp;Hz control signal between the two machines.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=244}}

{{quote box|quote= Listening to each stage of their recording, once they've done the first couple of tracks, it's often hard to see what they're still looking for, it sounds so complete. Often the final complicated, well-layered version seems to have drowned the initial simple melody. But they know it's not right, even if they can't put it into words. Their dedication is impressive, gnawing away at the same song for stretches of ten hours each.{{sfn|Davies|2009|pp=273–74}}|source=– [[Hunter Davies]], 1968|width=30%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}}

The production on "Strawberry Fields Forever" was especially complex, involving the innovative splicing of two takes that were recorded in different [[tempo]]s and [[Pitch (music)|pitches]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=217–20}}{{sfn|Howard|2004|pp=27–28}} Emerick remembers that during the recording of ''Revolver'', "we had got used to being asked to do the impossible, and we knew that the word 'no' didn't exist in the Beatles' vocabulary."{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=139}} A key feature of ''Sgt. Pepper'' is Martin and Emerick's liberal use of [[signal processing]] to shape the sound of the recording, which included the application of [[dynamic range compression]], [[reverb effect|reverb]] and [[Limiter|signal limiting]].{{sfn|Kimsey|2008|p=133}} Relatively new modular effects units were used, such as running voices and instruments through a [[Leslie speaker]].{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=190}} Several innovative production techniques feature prominently on the recordings, including [[DI unit|direct injection]], [[pitch control]] and [[ambiophonics]].{{sfn|Hannan|2008|p=62}} The bass part on "[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]" was the first example of the Beatles recording via direct injection (DI), which Townsend devised as a method for plugging electric guitars directly into the recording console.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=170}} In [[Kenneth Womack]]'s opinion, the use of DI on the album's title track "afforded McCartney's bass with richer textures and tonal clarity".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=170}}

Some of the mixing employed [[automatic double tracking]] (ADT), a system that uses tape recorders to create a simultaneous doubling of a sound. ADT was invented by Townsend during the ''Revolver'' sessions in 1966 especially for the Beatles, who regularly expressed a desire for a technical alternative to having to record doubled lead vocals.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=216}} Another important effect was [[Pitch shift|varispeeding]], a technique that the Beatles used extensively on ''Revolver''.{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=190}} Martin cites "[[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds]]" as having the most variations of tape speed on ''Sgt. Pepper''. During the recording of Lennon's vocals, the tape speed was reduced from 50 cycles per second to 45, which produced a higher and thinner-sounding track when played back at the normal speed.{{sfn|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=105}} For the album's title track, the recording of Starr's drum kit was enhanced by the use of [[Damping (music)|damping]] and [[Microphone practice#Basic techniques|close-miking]]. MacDonald credits the new recording technique with creating a "three-dimensional" sound that, along with other Beatles innovations, engineers in the US would soon adopt as standard practice.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=233–34}}

Artistic experimentation, such as the placement of random gibberish in the run-out groove, became one of the album's defining features.{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=7}} ''Sgt. Pepper'' was the first pop album to be mastered without the momentary gaps that are typically placed between tracks as a point of demarcation.{{sfn|Womack|2007|pp=170–171}} It made use of two [[Fade (audio engineering)#Crossfading|crossfades]] that blended songs together, giving the impression of a continuous live performance.<ref>{{harvnb|Julien|2008c|p=162}}; {{harvnb|Lewisohn|2010|p=251}}.</ref>{{refn|group=nb|"Sgt. Pepper" was crossfaded into "With a Little Help from My Friends" and the "Sgt. Pepper" reprise was crossfaded into "A Day in the Life".{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=251}}}} Although both stereo and monaural mixes of the album were prepared, the Beatles were minimally involved in what they regarded as the less important stereo mix sessions, leaving the task to Martin and Emerick.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=252}} Emerick recalls: "We spent three weeks on the mono mixes and maybe three days on the stereo."{{sfn|Scapelliti|2007|p=100}} Most listeners ultimately heard only the stereo version.{{sfn|Hannan|2008|p=40}} He estimates that the group spent 700 hours on the LP, more than 30 times that of the first Beatles album, ''[[Please Please Me]]'', which cost £400 to produce.<ref>{{harvnb|Davies|2009|p=262}}: the recording of ''Please Please Me'' cost £400 ({{Inflation|UK|400|1967|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}); {{harvnb|Lewisohn|2010|p=253}}: they spent 700 hours recording ''Sgt. Pepper''.</ref> The final cost of ''Sgt. Pepper'' was approximately £25,000 ({{Inflation|UK|25000|1967|fmt=eq|r=-3|cursign=£}}).{{sfn|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=168}}

===Band dynamics===

Author Robert Rodriguez writes that while Lennon, Harrison and Starr embraced the creative freedom afforded by McCartney's band-within-a-band idea, they "went along with the concept with varying degrees of enthusiasm".{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=206–07}} Studio personnel recalled that Lennon had "never seemed so happy" as during the ''Sgt. Pepper'' sessions.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=212, 396}} In a 1969 interview with [[Barry Miles]], however, Lennon said he was depressed and that while McCartney was "full of confidence", he was "going through murder".<ref>{{cite web|author=Miles|title=John Lennon/Yoko Ono Interview|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/john-lennonyoko-ono-interview|publisher=[[Rock's Backpages]]|year=2019|orig-year=September 1969|access-date=5 June 2020|archive-date=4 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204132425/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/john-lennonyoko-ono-interview/|url-status=live}}</ref> Lennon explained his view of the album's concept: "Paul said, 'Come and see the show', I didn't. I said, 'I read the news today, oh boy.{{' "}}{{sfn|Northcutt|2006|p=137}}

Everett describes Starr as having been "largely bored" during the sessions, with the drummer later lamenting: "The biggest memory I have of ''Sgt. Pepper''&nbsp;... is I learned to play [[chess]]".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=100}} In ''[[The Beatles Anthology (book)|The Beatles Anthology]]'', Harrison said he had little interest in McCartney's concept of a fictitious group and that, after his experiences in India, "my heart was still out there{{nbsp}}... I was losing interest in being 'fab' at that point."{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|pp=241, 242}} Harrison added that, having enjoyed recording ''Rubber Soul'' and ''Revolver'', he disliked how the group's approach on ''Sgt. Pepper'' became "an assembly process" whereby, "A lot of the time it ended up with just Paul playing the piano and Ringo keeping the tempo, and we weren't allowed to play as a band as much."{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=242}}

In Lewisohn's opinion, ''Sgt. Pepper'' represents the group's last unified effort, displaying a cohesion that deteriorated immediately following the album's completion and entirely disappeared by the release of ''[[The Beatles (album)|The Beatles]]'' (also known as the "White Album") in 1968.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=237}} Martin recalled in 1987 that throughout the making of ''Sgt. Pepper'', "There was a very good spirit at that time between all the Beatles and ourselves. We were all conscious that we were doing something that was great." He said that while McCartney effectively led the project, and sometimes annoyed his bandmates, "Paul appreciated John's contribution on ''Pepper''. In terms of quantity, it wasn't great, but in terms of quality, it was enormous."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/it-was-twenty-years-ago-today-19870618|first=Kurt|last=Loder|title=The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper': It Was Twenty Years Ago Today{{nbsp}}...|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=18 June 1987|access-date=14 November 2018|archive-date=10 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240410215054/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-beatles-sgt-pepper-it-was-twenty-years-ago-today-98632/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Songs==
===Overview===
Among musicologists, Allan Moore says that ''Sgt. Pepper'' is composed mainly of rock and pop music, while [[Michael Hannan (composer)|Michael Hannan]] and Naphtali Wagner both see it as an album of various genres; Hannan says it features "a broad variety of musical and theatrical genres".<ref>{{harvnb|Hannan|2008|p=61}}: "The album is made up of a broad variety of musical and theatrical genres"; {{harvnb|Moore|1997|pp=18, 70–79}}: rock and pop; {{harvnb|Wagner|2008|p=76}}: the "multigenre nature of ''Sgt. Pepper''".</ref> According to Hannan and Wagner, the music incorporates the stylistic influences of [[rock and roll]], [[vaudeville]], [[big band]], [[jazz piano|piano jazz]], [[blues]], [[Chamber music|chamber]], [[Circus music|circus]], [[music hall]], avant-garde, and Western and [[Indian classical music|Indian]] classical music.<ref>{{harvnb|Hannan|2008|pp=61–62}}: music hall and blues; {{harvnb|Wagner|2008|p=76}}; rock and roll, vaudeville, big band, piano jazz, chamber, circus, avant-garde, Western and Indian classical music.</ref> Wagner feels the album's music reconciles the "diametrically opposed aesthetic ideals" of classical and [[psychedelia]], achieving a "psycheclassical synthesis" of the two forms.{{sfn|Wagner|2008|pp=76, 89–90}} Musicologist John Covach describes ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "[[proto-prog]]ressive".{{sfn|Covach|1997|p=31}}

{{quote box|quote= We didn't really shove the LP full of pot and drugs but, I mean, there {{em|was}} an effect. We were more consciously trying to keep it out. You wouldn't say, "I had some acid, baby, so groovy," but there {{em|was}} a feeling that something had happened between ''Revolver'' and ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=242}} |source=– [[John Lennon]], 1968|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}

According to author George Case, all of the songs on ''Sgt. Pepper'' were perceived by contemporary listeners as being drug-inspired, with 1967 marking the pinnacle of LSD's influence on pop music.{{sfn|Case|2010|pp=47–48}} Shortly before the album's release, the [[BBC]] banned "A Day in the Life" from British radio{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=265}} because of the phrase "I'd love to turn you on";<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/adayinthelife.shtml |publisher=[[BBC Radio 2]]|title=Sold on Song Top 100: 38. 'A Day in the Life'|access-date=31 December 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222061531/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/songlibrary/adayinthelife.shtml|archive-date=22 December 2006| url-status=live}}</ref> the BBC stated that it could "encourage a permissive attitude towards drug-taking".<ref>{{cite news |first=John|last=Ezard|title=BBC and Film Board give order to play down on drug scenes|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=29 December 1967|page=3}}</ref> Although Lennon and McCartney denied any drug-related interpretation of the song at the time, McCartney later suggested that the line referred to either drugs or sex.<ref>{{harvnb|Glausser|2011|p=29}}: Lennon and McCartney's contemporary denial of an intentional reference to illicit drugs in the lyrics to "A Day in the Life"; {{harvnb|Moore|1997|p=60}}: McCartney's immediate denial in ''[[Melody Maker]]''; {{harvnb|Miles|1997|p=325}}: McCartney later suggested that the line was deliberately written to ambiguously refer to either illicit drugs or sexual activity.</ref> The meaning of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" became the subject of speculation, as many believed that the title was code for LSD.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=240}} In "[[Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!]]", the reference to "Henry the Horse" contains two common slang terms for heroin.{{sfn|Whiteley|2008|pp=18–19}} Fans speculated that Henry the Horse was a drug dealer and "[[Fixing a Hole]]" was a reference to heroin use.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=697}} Others noted lyrics such as "I get high" from "[[With a Little Help from My Friends]]", "take some tea" – slang for [[Cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] use – from "Lovely Rita", and "digging the weeds" from "When I'm Sixty-Four".{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=60}}

The author Sheila Whiteley attributes ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} underlying philosophy not only to the [[drug culture]], but also to [[metaphysics]] and the non-violent approach of the [[flower power]] movement.{{sfn|Whiteley|2008|pp=15, 22}} The musicologist Oliver Julien views the album as an embodiment of "the social, the musical, and more generally, the cultural changes of the 1960s".{{sfn|Julien|2008c|p=166}} The album's primary value, according to Moore, is its ability to "capture, more vividly than almost anything contemporaneous, its own time and place".{{sfn|Moore|2008|p=140}} Whiteley agrees, crediting the album with "provid[ing] a historical snapshot of England during the run-up to the [[Summer of Love]]".{{sfn|Whiteley|2008|p=22}} Several scholars have applied a [[Hermeneutics|hermeneutic]] strategy to their analysis of ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} lyrics, identifying loss of innocence and the dangers of overindulgence in fantasies or illusions as the most prominent themes.{{sfn|Moore|1997|pp=61–62}}

=== Side one ===
==== "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" ====
{{listen|type=music|filename="Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles 1967.ogg|title=The beginning of the first verse of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" |description= In its opening line, "It was twenty years ago today", the song introduces a historical perspective on pop music,{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=397–98}} delivered in what music journalist Chris Ingham terms McCartney's "best [[Little Richard]] holler".{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=197}}}}

''Sgt. Pepper'' opens with the [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)|title track]], starting with 10 seconds of the combined sounds of a [[pit orchestra]] warming up and an audience waiting for a concert, creating the illusion of the album as a live performance.<ref>{{harvnb|Everett|1999|p=101}}: pit orchestra and audience; {{harvnb|Moore|1997|p=23}}: the illusion of a live performance; {{harvnb|Moore|1997|p=27}}: 10 seconds of introductory ambiance.</ref>{{refn|group=nb|The crowd noises were gleaned from EMI's tape archive, including audience sounds recorded at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] and the [[Queen Elizabeth Hall]] for the murmuring, and Martin's recording of a 1961 comedy show, ''[[Beyond the Fringe]]'', for the laughter.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=248}} The opening ambient sounds were captured during the 10 February orchestral session for "A Day in the Life".{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=101}}}} McCartney serves as the [[master of ceremonies]], welcoming the audience to a twentieth-anniversary reunion concert by Sgt. Pepper's band, who, led by Lennon, then sing a message of appreciation for the crowd's warm response.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=397–98}} Womack says the lyric bridges the [[fourth wall]] between the artist and their audience.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=169}} He argues that, paradoxically, the lyrics "exemplify the mindless rhetoric of rock concert banter" while "mock[ing] the very notion of a pop album's capacity for engendering authentic interconnection between artist and audience".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=169}} In his view, the mixed message ironically serves to distance the group from their fans while simultaneously "gesturing toward" them as alter egos.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=169}}

The song's five-[[Bar (music)|bar]] [[Bridge (music)|bridge]] is filled by a French horn quartet.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=233}}{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=101}} Womack credits the recording's use of a [[Brass band|brass ensemble]] with [[Distortion (music)|distorted]] electric guitars as an early example of rock fusion.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=169}} MacDonald agrees, describing the track as an [[overture]] rather than a song, and a "fusion of Edwardian variety orchestra" and contemporary [[hard rock]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=233}}{{refn|group=nb|The song's lead guitar part was played by McCartney, who replaced an earlier effort by Harrison.<ref>{{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|p=233}}: (secondary source); {{harvnb|Martin|Pearson|1994|pp=66–67}}: (primary source).</ref>}} Hannan describes the track's unorthodox stereo mix as "typical of the album", with the lead vocal in the right speaker during the verses, but in the left during the chorus and [[Thirty-two-bar form#Middle eight|middle eight]].{{sfn|Hannan|2008|p=48}} McCartney returns as the master of ceremonies near the end of the song,{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=398}} announcing the entrance of an alter ego named Billy Shears.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=170}}

==== "With a Little Help from My Friends" ====
The title track segues into "[[With a Little Help from My Friends]]" amid the sound of screaming fans recorded during a Beatles concert at the [[Hollywood Bowl]].{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=171}} In his role as Billy Shears, Starr contributes a [[baritone]] lead vocal that Womack credits with imparting an element of "earnestness in sharp contrast with the ironic distance of the title track".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=171}} Written by Lennon and McCartney, the song's lyrics centre on a theme of questions,{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=117–18}} beginning with Starr asking the audience whether they would leave if he sang out of tune.{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=214}} In the [[Call and response (music)|call-and-response]] style, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison go on to ask their bandmate questions about the meaning of friendship and true love;{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=171}} by the final verse, Starr provides unequivocal answers.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=103}} In MacDonald's opinion, the lyric is "at once communal and personal&nbsp;... [and] meant as a gesture of inclusivity; everyone could join in."{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=247}} Everett comments that the track's use of a [[Major and minor|major]] key [[Cadence (music)|double-plagal cadence]] became commonplace in pop music following the release of ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=103}}

==== "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" ====
{{listen|type=music|filename= The first 18 seconds of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles 1967.ogg|title= The beginning of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"|description= The recording's blend of [[Tanpura|tambura]] and [[Lowrey organ]] creates what Hannan views as one of the album's "most unusual sound combination[s]".{{sfn|Hannan|2008|p=50}} Womack describes the combination of these instruments and Lennon's vocals as the Beatles' "most vivid instance of musical timbre".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=172}}}}

Despite widespread suspicion that the title of "[[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds]]" contained a hidden reference to LSD, Lennon insisted that it was derived from a [[pastel]] drawing by his four-year-old son [[Julian Lennon|Julian]]. A hallucinatory chapter from [[Lewis Carroll]]{{'s}} 1871 novel ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]'', a favourite of Lennon's, inspired the song's atmosphere.<ref>{{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|p=240}}; {{harvnb|Womack|2007|p=172}}</ref> According to MacDonald, "the lyric explicitly recreates the [[psychedelic experience]]".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=240}}

The first verse begins with what Womack characterises as "an invitation in the form of an imperative" through the line: "Picture yourself in a boat on a river", and continues with imaginative imagery, including "tangerine trees", "rocking horse people" and "newspaper taxis".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=172}} The musical backing includes a phrase played by McCartney on a Lowrey organ, treated with ADT to sound like a [[Celesta|celeste]],{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=215}} and tambura drone.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=172}} Harrison also contributed a lead guitar part that doubles Lennon's vocal over the verses in the style of a [[sarangi]] player accompanying an Indian [[khyal]] singer.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=179–80}}{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=243}} The music critic [[Tim Riley (music critic)|Tim Riley]] identifies the track as a moment "in the album, [where] the material world is completely clouded in the mythical by both text and musical atmosphere".{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=216}}
{{Clear}}

==== "Getting Better" ====
MacDonald considers "[[Getting Better]]" to contain "the most ebullient performance" on ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=241}} Womack credits the track's "driving rock sound" with distinguishing it from the album's overtly psychedelic material; its lyrics inspire the listener "to usurp the past by living well and flourishing in the present".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=172}} He cites it as a strong example of Lennon and McCartney's collaborative songwriting, particularly Lennon's addition of the line "It can't get no worse",{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=216}} which serves as a "sarcastic rejoinder" to McCartney's chorus: "It's getting better all the time".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=173}} Lennon's contribution to the lyric also includes a confessional regarding his having been violent with female companions: "I used to be cruel to my woman".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=173}} In Womack's opinion, the song encourages the listener to follow the speaker's example and "alter their own angst-ridden ways": "Man I was mean, but I'm changing my scene and I'm doing the best that I can."{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=173}}

==== "Fixing a Hole" ====
"[[Fixing a Hole]]" deals with McCartney's desire to let his mind wander freely and to express his creativity without the burden of self-conscious insecurities.{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=314–15}}{{refn|group=nb|The backing track for "Fixing a Hole" was recorded at Regent Sound Studio, in central London, after the Beatles were unable to arrange a last-minute session at EMI Studios.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=90}}}} Womack interprets the lyric as "the speaker's search for identity among the crowd", in particular the "quests for consciousness and connection" that differentiate individuals from society as a whole.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=173}} MacDonald characterises it as a "distracted and introverted track", during which McCartney forgoes his "usual smooth design" in favour of "something more preoccupied".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=236}} He cites Harrison's electric guitar solo as serving the track well, capturing its mood by conveying detachment.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=236}} Womack notes McCartney's adaptation of the lyric "a hole in the roof where the rain leaks in" from [[Elvis Presley]]'s "[[We're Gonna Move]]".{{sfn|Womack|2007|pp=106–07}}

==== "She's Leaving Home" ====
[[File:Affiche MrKite.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The [[Pablo Fanque]] Circus Royal poster from 1843 that inspired Lennon's lyrics to "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"|right]]
In Everett's view, the lyrics to "[[She's Leaving Home]]" address the problem of alienation "between disagreeing peoples", particularly those distanced from each other by the [[generation gap]].{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=107}} McCartney's narrative details the plight of a young woman escaping the control of her parents, and was inspired by a piece about teenage runaways published in the ''[[Daily Mail]]''.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=108}} Lennon supplies a supporting vocal that conveys the parents' anguish and confusion.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=217–18}} It is the first track on ''Sgt. Pepper'' that eschews the use of guitars and drums, featuring only a string [[Nonet (music)|nonet]] with a harp.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=37}}{{refn|group=nb|McCartney hired [[Mike Leander]] to arrange the string section on "She's Leaving Home" since Martin was producing a session by another artist and was unable to meet with him straightaway.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=103}} Martin was highly upset at McCartney's impatience,{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=394–95}} but conducted the musicians using the score more or less as written.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=245}}}} Music historian Doyle Greene views it as the first of the album's songs to address "the crisis of middle-class life in the late 1960s" and comments on its surprisingly conservative sentiments, given McCartney's absorption in the London avant-garde scene.{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=26}}

==== "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" ====

Lennon adapted the lyrics for "[[Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!]]" from an 1843 poster for [[Pablo Fanque]]'s circus that he purchased at an antique shop in [[Kent]] on the day of filming the [[Music video|promotional film]] for "Strawberry Fields Forever".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=237–38}} Womack views the track as an effective blending of a print source and music,{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=175}} while MacDonald describes it as "a spontaneous expression of its author's playful hedonism".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=238}} Tasked by Lennon to evoke a circus atmosphere so vivid that he could "smell the sawdust", Martin and Emerick created a [[sound collage]] comprising randomly assembled recordings of harmoniums, harmonicas and [[Calliope (music)|calliopes]].<ref>{{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|pp=237–238}}; {{harvnb|Moore|1997|p=40}}.</ref> Everett says that the track's use of Edwardian imagery thematically links it with the album's title song.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=110}} Gould also views "Mr. Kite!" as a return to the LP's opening motif, albeit that of show business and with the focus now on performers and a show in a radically different setting.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=404}}{{refn|group=nb|In the initial running order, dated 6 April, "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" was sequenced as the third track, following "With a Little Help from My Friends".{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=394}}}}

=== Side two ===
==== "Within You Without You" ====
{{quote box|quote= We're not trying to outwit the public. The whole idea is to try a little bit to lead people into different tastes.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=210}} |source=– [[George Harrison]], 1967|width=25%|align=right|style=padding:8px;}}

Harrison's [[Hindustani classical music]]-inspired "[[Within You Without You]]" reflects his immersion in the teachings of the Hindu [[Vedas]], while its musical form and Indian instrumentation, such as sitar, [[tabla]], [[dilruba]]s and tamburas, recalls the Hindu devotional tradition known as [[bhajan]].{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=177–78}} Harrison recorded the song with [[British Indian|London-based Indian]] musicians from the [[Asian Music Circle]]; none of the other Beatles played on the recording.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lewisohn|2010|p=248}}: London-based Indian musicians and non-participation of the other Beatles; {{Harvnb|Lavezzoli|2006|p=178}}: Harrison singing and playing sitar and tambura on "Within You Without You", and contributors from the Asian Music Circle.</ref> He and Martin then worked on a Western string arrangement that imitated the slides and bends typical of Indian music.{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=199}}{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=112}} The song's pitch is derived from the eastern [[Khamaj]] scale, which is akin to the [[Mixolydian mode]] in the West.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=112}}

MacDonald regards "Within You Without You" as "the most distant departure from the staple Beatles sound in their discography", and a work that represents the "conscience" of the LP through the lyrics' rejection of Western materialism.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=243–44}} Womack calls it "quite arguably, the album's ethical soul" and views the line "With our love we could save the world" as a concise reflection of the Beatles' idealism that soon inspired the Summer of Love.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=176}} The track ends with a burst of laughter gleaned from a tape in the EMI archive;{{sfn|Lewisohn|2010|p=251}} some listeners interpreted this as a mockery of the song, but Harrison explained: "It's a release after five minutes of sad music&nbsp;... You were supposed to hear the audience anyway, as they listen to Sergeant Pepper's Show. That was the style of the album."{{sfn|Davies|2009|p=321}}

==== "When I'm Sixty-Four" ====
{{listen|type=music|filename= "When I'm Sixty-Four" by the Beatles 1967.ogg|title="When I'm Sixty-Four" |description= Hannan writes: "The rich timbres of the clarinets give the mix a fuller, fatter sound than many of the other tracks on the album."{{sfn|Hannan|2008|p=56}}}}

MacDonald characterises McCartney's "[[When I'm Sixty-Four]]" as a song "aimed chiefly at parents", borrowing heavily from the English music hall style of [[George Formby, Sr.|George Formby]], while invoking images of the illustrator [[Donald McGill]]'s seaside postcards.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=220–21}} Its sparse arrangement includes clarinets, chimes and piano.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=220}} Moore views the song as a synthesis of [[ragtime]] and pop, adding that its position following "Within You Without You" – a blend of Indian classical music and pop – demonstrates the diversity of the album's material.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=47}} He says the music hall atmosphere is reinforced by McCartney's vocal delivery and the recording's use of [[chromaticism]], a harmonic pattern that can be traced to [[Scott Joplin]]'s "[[The Ragtime Dance]]" and "[[The Blue Danube]]" by [[Johann Strauss II|Johann Strauss]].{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=46}} Varispeeding was used on the track, raising its pitch by a [[semitone]] in an attempt to make McCartney sound younger.{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=137}} Everett comments that the lyric's protagonist is sometimes associated with the Lonely Hearts Club Band, but in his opinion the song is thematically unconnected to the others on the album.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=113}}

==== "Lovely Rita" ====
Womack describes "[[Lovely Rita]]" as a work of "full-tilt psychedelia" that contrasts sharply with the preceding track.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=177}} Citing McCartney's recollection that he drew inspiration from learning that the American term for a female [[traffic warden]] was a meter maid, Gould deems it a celebration of an encounter that evokes [[Swinging London]] and the contemporaneous chic for military-style uniforms.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=409}} MacDonald regards the song as a "satire on authority" that is "imbued with an exuberant interest in life that lifts the spirits, dispersing self-absorption".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=239}} The arrangement includes a quartet of [[Comb and paper|comb-and-paper]] [[kazoo]]s,{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=239}} a piano solo by Martin, and a coda in which the Beatles indulge in panting, groaning and other vocalised sounds.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|pp=101, 104}} In Gould's view, the track represents "the show-stopper in the Pepper Band's repertoire: a funny, sexy, extroverted song that comes closer to the spirit of rock 'n' roll than anything else on the album".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=408}}

==== "Good Morning Good Morning" ====
Lennon was inspired to write "[[Good Morning Good Morning]]" after watching a television commercial for [[Kellogg's]] Corn Flakes, the [[jingle]] of which he adapted for the song's [[refrain]]. The track uses the bluesy Mixolydian mode in A, which Everett credits with "perfectly express[ing] Lennon's grievance against complacency".<ref>{{harvnb|Everett|1999|p=116}}: "grievance against complacency"; {{harvnb|Moore|1997|p=50}}: the bluesy Mixolydian mode in A.</ref> According to Greene, the song contrasts sharply with "She's Leaving Home" by providing "the more 'avant-garde' subversive study of suburban life".{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=26–27}} The [[time signature]] varies across 5/4, 3/4 and 4/4,{{sfn|Womack|2007|pp=177–78}} while the arrangement includes a horn section comprising members of [[Sounds Incorporated|Sounds Inc.]]{{sfn|Everett|1999|pp=114–15}} MacDonald highlights the "rollicking" brass score, Starr's drumming and McCartney's "coruscating pseudo-Indian guitar solo" among the elements that convey a sense of aggression on a track he deems a "disgusted canter through the muck, mayhem, and mundanity of the human farmyard".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=235}} A series of animal noises appear during the [[Fade (audio engineering)|fade-out]] that are sequenced – at Lennon's request – so that each successive animal could conceivably scare or devour the preceding one.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=115}} The sound of a chicken clucking overlaps with a stray guitar note at the start of the next track,{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=220}} creating a seamless transition between the two songs.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=80}}

==== "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" ====
"[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)#Reprise|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)]]" follows as a segue to the album's finale. The hard-rocking song was written after [[Neil Aspinall]], the Beatles' road manager, suggested that since "Sgt. Pepper" opened the album, the fictional band should make an appearance near the end.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=248}} Sung by all four Beatles,{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=107}} the [[reprise]] omits the brass section from the title track and has a faster tempo.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=178}} With Harrison on lead guitar, it serves as a rare example from the ''Sgt. Pepper'' sessions where the group taped a basic track live with their usual stage instrumentation.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=99}} MacDonald finds the Beatles' excitement tangibly translated on the recording,{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=248}} which is again augmented with ambient crowd noise.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=99}}

==== "A Day in the Life" ====
{{listen|type=music|filename=The "Dream Sequence" from "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles 1967.ogg|title= The "dream sequence" from "A Day in the Life"|description= Womack describes the "sarcastic brass retort" that ends the sequence as the "most decisive moment" on ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=181}}}}
"[[A Day in the Life]]" is the final track on the album. The last chord of the "Sgt. Pepper" reprise segues amid audience applause to acoustic guitar strumming and the start of what Moore calls "one of the most harrowing songs ever written".{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=52}} "A Day in the Life" consists of four verses by Lennon, a bridge, two [[Aleatoricism|aleatoric]] orchestral [[crescendo]]s, and an interpolated middle part written and sung by McCartney. The first crescendo serves as a segue between the third verse and the middle part, leading to a bridge known as the "dream sequence".{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=52}} Lennon drew inspiration for the lyrics from a ''Daily Mail'' report on potholes in the Lancashire town of [[Blackburn]] and an article in the same newspaper relating to the death of Beatles friend and [[Guinness]] heir [[Tara Browne]].{{sfn|Davies|2009|p=276}}{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=229}}

According to Martin, Lennon and McCartney were equally responsible for the decision to use an orchestra.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=118}} Martin said that Lennon requested "a tremendous build-up, from nothing up to something absolutely like the end of the world",{{sfn|Martin|1994|p=209}} while McCartney realised this idea by drawing inspiration from Cage and Stockhausen.{{sfn|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=56}} Womack describes Starr's performance as "one of his most inventive drum parts on record".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=179}} The thunderous piano chord that concludes the track and the album was produced by recording Lennon, Starr, McCartney and Evans simultaneously sounding an E major chord on three separate pianos; Martin then augmented the sound with a harmonium.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=180}}

Riley characterises the song as a "postlude to the ''Pepper'' fantasy&nbsp;... that sets all the other songs in perspective", while shattering the illusion of "Pepperland" by introducing the "parallel universe of everyday life".{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=225}} MacDonald describes the track as "a song not of disillusionment with life itself, but of disenchantment with the limits of mundane perception".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=229}}

{{anchor|Inner groove}}As "A Day in the Life" ends, a 15-[[kilohertz]] high-frequency tone is heard; it was added at Lennon's suggestion with the intention that it would annoy dogs.{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=182}}{{refn|group=nb|Lennon was unaware that most record players and speakers of the time were incapable of reproducing the tone, which many listeners would not hear until the release of the CD version in 1987.{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=188}}}} This is followed by the sounds of backwards laughter and random gibberish that were pressed into the record's concentric run-out groove, which loops back into itself endlessly on any record player not equipped with an automatic needle return. Lennon can be heard saying, "Been so high", followed by McCartney's response: "Never could be any other way."{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=122}}{{refn|group=nb|When the audio contained in the run-out groove is played in reverse and slowed-down, McCartney can be heard shouting, "I will fuck you like Superman", with Starr and Harrison giggling in the background.{{sfn|Julien|2008c|p=164: see end note number 11}} The author Will Romano comments that, in this way, ''Sgt. Pepper'' closes with nonsensical vocals just as ''Freak Out!'' does.{{sfn|Romano|2010|p=20}}}}

===Concept===
According to Womack, with ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} opening song "the Beatles manufacture an artificial textual space in which to stage their art."{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=170}} The reprise of the title song appears on side two, just before the climactic "A Day in the Life", creating a [[framing device]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=248}} In Lennon and Starr's view, only the first two songs and the reprise are conceptually connected.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=99}} In a 1980 interview, Lennon stated that his compositions had nothing to do with the Sgt. Pepper concept, adding: "''Sgt. Pepper'' is called the first concept album, but it doesn't go anywhere&nbsp;... it works because we {{em|said}} it worked."{{sfn|Sheff|1981|p=197}}

In MacFarlane's view, the Beatles "chose to employ an overarching thematic concept in an apparent effort to unify individual tracks".{{sfn|MacFarlane|2008|p=33}} Everett contends that the album's "musical unity results&nbsp;... from motivic relationships between key areas, particularly involving C, E, and G".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=122}} Moore argues that the recording's "use of common harmonic patterns and falling melodies" contributes to its overall cohesiveness, which he describes as narrative unity, but not necessarily conceptual unity.{{sfn|Moore|2008|p=144}} MacFarlane agrees, suggesting that with the exception of the reprise, the album lacks the melodic and harmonic continuity that is consistent with cyclic form.{{sfn|MacFarlane|2008|pp=33, 37}}

In a 1995 interview, McCartney recalled that the Liverpool childhood theme behind the first three songs recorded during the ''Sgt. Pepper'' sessions was never formalised as an album-wide concept, but he said that it served as a "device" or underlying theme throughout the project.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=215}} MacDonald identifies allusions to the Beatles' upbringing throughout ''Sgt. Pepper'' that are "too persuasive to ignore". These include evocations of the postwar Northern music-hall tradition, references to Northern industrial towns and Liverpool schooldays, Lewis Carroll-inspired imagery (acknowledging Lennon's favourite childhood reading), the use of brass instrumentation in the style of park bandstand performances (familiar to McCartney through his visits to [[Sefton Park]]),<ref name="Irvin/Mojo">{{cite magazine|last=Irvin|first=Jim|title=The Big Bang!|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=March 2007|page=78}}</ref> and the album cover's flower arrangement akin to a [[floral clock]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=215fn}} Norman partly agrees; he says that "In many ways, the album carried on the childhood and Liverpool theme with its circus and fairground effects, its pervading atmosphere of the traditional northern music hall that was in both its main creators' [McCartney and Lennon's] blood."{{sfn|Norman|2016|p=261}}{{refn|group=nb|Norman also identifies ''Sgt. Pepper'' as being "in other places, grown-up to an unprecedented, indeed perilous, degree". He concludes of this combination: "Its superabundance reflected a conscious wish on the Beatles' part to make amends to their fans for their abandonment of touring. Clamped between headphones in a recording studio, they managed to put on a live show more exciting, more {{em|intimate}}, than any since they'd left [[The Cavern Club|the Cavern]]."{{sfn|Norman|2016|p=261}}}}

== Packaging ==
===Front cover===
{{Further|List of images on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band{{!}}List of images on the cover of ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''}}

Pop artists [[Peter Blake (artist)|Peter Blake]] and [[Jann Haworth]] designed the album cover for ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Inglis|2008|pp=92–95}} Blake recalled of the concept: "I offered the idea that if they had just played a concert in the park, the cover could be a photograph of the group just after the concert with the crowd who had just watched the concert, watching them." He added, "If we did this by using cardboard cut-outs, it could be a magical crowd of whomever they wanted."<ref name="Humphries/MojoSpecial">{{cite book|first=Patrick|last=Humphries|chapter=Picture Perfect|title=[[Mojo (magazine)#Special editions|Mojo Special Limited Edition]]: 1000 Days That Shook the World (The Psychedelic Beatles – April 1, 1965 to December 26, 1967)|year=2002|publisher=Emap|location=London|page=97}}</ref> According to McCartney, he himself provided the ink drawing on which Blake and Haworth based the design.<ref>{{harvnb|Inglis|2008|p=92}}: McCartney's design for the ''Sgt. Pepper'' cover (secondary source), {{harvnb|Miles|1997|p=333}} (primary source).</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Blake said that Haworth conceived the idea to present the crowd as an imaginary audience. McCartney's original idea, according to Blake, was for the Beatles to pose in an Edwardian-era drawing room in front of a wall filled with portraits of their heroes.{{sfn|Ellen|2002|p=105}}}} The cover was [[art director|art-directed]] by [[Robert Fraser (art dealer)|Robert Fraser]] and photographed by [[Michael Cooper (photographer)|Michael Cooper]].{{sfn|Inglis|2008|pp=92–95}}

The front of the LP includes a colourful collage featuring the Beatles in costume as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, standing with a group of life-sized cardboard cut-outs of famous people.<ref>{{harvnb|Gould|2007|pp=391–395}}: the ''Sgt. Pepper'' cover featured the Beatles as the imaginary band alluded to in the album's title track, standing with a host of celebrities (secondary source); {{harvnb|The Beatles|2000|p=248}}: standing with a host of celebrities (primary source).</ref> Each of the Beatles sports a heavy moustache, after Harrison had first grown one as a disguise during his visit to India.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=71}} The moustaches reflected the growing influence of [[hippie]] style trends, while the group's clothing, in Gould's description, "spoofed the vogue in Britain for military fashions".<ref>{{harvnb|The Beatles|2000|p=236}}: the growing influence of hippie style on the Beatles; {{harvnb|Gould|2007|p=385}}: "spoofed the vogue in Britain for military fashions".</ref> The centre of the cover depicts the Beatles standing behind a [[bass drum]] on which fairground artist Joe Ephgrave painted the words of the album's title. In front of the drum is an arrangement of flowers that spell out "Beatles".{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=95}} The group are dressed in satin [[day-glo]]-coloured military-style uniforms that were manufactured by the London theatrical costumer M. Berman Ltd. Next to the Beatles are [[wax sculpture]]s of the band members in their suits and moptop haircuts from the [[Beatlemania]] era, borrowed from [[Madame Tussauds]].<ref>{{harvnb|Inglis|2008|p=95}}; {{harvnb|Sounes|2010|p=169}}.</ref> Amid the greenery are figurines of the Eastern deities [[Buddha]] and [[Lakshmi]].{{sfn|Reck|2008|p=68}}

The cover collage includes 57 photographs and nine [[Wax museum|waxworks]].{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=93}} Author Ian Inglis views the tableau "as a guidebook to the cultural topography of the decade" that conveyed the increasing democratisation of society whereby "traditional barriers between 'high' and 'low' culture were being eroded",{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=93}} while Case cites it as the most explicit demonstration of pop culture's "continuity with the avant-gardes of yesteryear".{{sfn|Case|2010|p=46}}{{refn|group=nb|Inglis is paraphrasing [[George Melly]], who in 1970 described the ''Sgt. Pepper'' cover as "a microcosm of the Underground world".{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=93}}}} The final grouping included Stockhausen and Carroll, along with singers such as [[Bob Dylan]] and [[Bobby Breen]]; film stars [[Marlon Brando]], [[Tyrone Power]], [[Tony Curtis]], [[Marlene Dietrich]], [[Mae West]] and [[Marilyn Monroe]]; artist [[Aubrey Beardsley]]; boxer [[Sonny Liston]] and footballer [[Albert Stubbins]]. Also included were comedians [[Stan Laurel]] and [[Oliver Hardy]]; writers [[H.G. Wells]], [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[Dylan Thomas]]; and the philosophers and scientists [[Karl Marx]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Sigmund Freud]] and [[Carl Jung]].{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=93}} Harrison chose the [[Self-Realization Fellowship]] gurus [[Mahavatar Babaji]], [[Lahiri Mahasaya]], [[Sri Yukteswar]] and [[Paramahansa Yogananda]].{{sfn|Tillery|2011|p=81}} [[The Rolling Stones]] are represented by a doll wearing a shirt emblazoned with a message of welcome to the band.{{sfn|Case|2010|p=46}}{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=85}}

Fearing controversy, EMI rejected Lennon's request for images of [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Jesus Christ]] and Harrison's for [[Mahatma Gandhi]].{{sfn|Clayson|2003|p=212}} When McCartney was asked why the Beatles did not include Elvis Presley among the musical artists, he replied: "Elvis was too important and too far above the rest even to mention."<ref name="Fleming/RS">{{cite magazine|first=Colin|last=Fleming|title=Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' Artwork: 10 Things You Didn't Know|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/beatles-sgt-pepper-artwork-10-things-you-didnt-know-107812/|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=30 March 2017|access-date=17 June 2020|archive-date=13 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113210714/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/beatles-sgt-pepper-artwork-10-things-you-didnt-know-107812/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Harry|2002|p=727}} Starr was the only Beatle who offered no suggestions for the collage, telling Blake, "Whatever the others say is fine by me."{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=94}} The final cost for the cover art was nearly £3,000 ({{Inflation|UK|3000|1967|r=-3|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}), an extravagant sum for a time when album covers would typically cost around £50 ({{Inflation|UK|50|1967|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}).{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=96}}

===Back cover, gatefold and cut-outs===
[[File:Sgtpeppergatefold.jpg|thumb|right|305px|alt=A colour image of four men in brightly coloured suits of cyan, magenta, yellow and orange|''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} inner gatefold. McCartney (in blue) wears a badge on his left sleeve that bears the initials O.P.P. McCartney acquired the badge when the Beatles were on tour in Canada;<ref name="Fleming/RS" /> the initials stand for "[[Ontario Provincial Police]]".{{sfn|Norman|2016|p=405}}{{refn|group=nb|The ''Sgt. Pepper'' cover piqued a frenzy of analysis.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=391–95}} Inglis cites it as the only example in popular music where the album art attracted as much attention as the album. He notes several elements of the cover that were interpreted as evidence of McCartney's death, including: the Beatles are supposedly standing about a grave, the hand above McCartney's head is regarded as a "symbol of death", and on the back cover, he is turned away from the camera.{{sfn|Inglis|2008|pp=98–99}}}}]]

The 30 March 1967 photo session with Cooper also produced the back cover and the inside [[gatefold]], which Inglis describes as conveying "an obvious and immediate warmth&nbsp;... which distances it from the sterility and artifice typical of such images".{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=95}} McCartney recalled the inner-gatefold image as an example of the Beatles' interest in "eye messages", adding: "So with Michael Cooper's inside photo, we all said, 'Now look into this camera and really say I love you! Really try and feel love; really give love through this!'{{nbsp}}... [And] if you look at it you'll see the big effort from the eyes."{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=344–45}} In Lennon's description, Cooper's photos of the band showed "two people who are flying [on drugs], and two who aren't".<ref name="Fleming/RS" />

The album's lyrics were printed in full on the back cover, the first time this had been done on a rock LP.<ref>{{harvnb|Lewisohn|2010|p=236}}: the first time lyrics were printed in full on a rock album; {{harvnb|Inglis|2008|p=96}}: the lyrics were printed on the back cover.</ref> The record's inner sleeve featured artwork by the Dutch design team [[The Fool (design collective)|the Fool]] that eschewed for the first time the standard white paper in favour of an abstract pattern of waves of maroon, red, pink and white.{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=95}}{{refn|group=nb|The Fool also submitted a design for the LP cover, but the Beatles rejected it.{{sfn|Clayson|2003|p=211}}}} Included as a bonus gift was a sheet of cardboard cut-outs designed by Blake and Haworth. These consisted of a postcard-sized portrait of Sgt. Pepper (probably based on a photograph of [[British Army]] officer [[James Melville Babington]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marinucci |first=Steve |date=2017-05-13 |title=Who's the Real Sgt. Pepper? New Beatles Book Unveils Identity of Soldier Seen on Album Cover |url=https://variety.com/2017/music/news/beatles-real-sgt-pepper-album-cover-1202425909/ |access-date=2022-08-31 |website=Variety |archive-date=22 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222220215/https://variety.com/2017/music/news/beatles-real-sgt-pepper-album-cover-1202425909/ |url-status=live }}</ref> but also noted as being similar to a statue from Lennon's house that was used on the front cover), a [[fake moustache]], two sets of sergeant stripes, two lapel badges, and a stand-up cut-out of the band in their satin uniforms.{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=96}} Moore writes that the inclusion of these items helped fans "pretend to be in the band".{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=57}}

==Release==
===Radio previews and launch party===
The album was previewed on the pirate radio station [[Wonderful Radio London|Radio London]] on 12 May and officially on the [[BBC Light Programme]]'s show ''Where It's At'', by [[Kenny Everett]], on 20 May.{{sfn|Miles|2001|pp=264, 265}} Everett played the entire album apart from "A Day in the Life".{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=265}} The day before Everett's broadcast, Epstein hosted a launch party for music journalists and disc jockeys at his house in [[Belgravia]] in central London.{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=496}}<ref>{{cite web|first=Bryan|last=Wawzenek|title=50 Years Ago: The Beatles Experience an Amazing Series of Pre-'Sgt. Pepper' Highs and Lows – All on a Single Day|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-sgt-pepper-bbc/|website=[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]|date=19 May 2017|access-date=10 June 2020|archive-date=16 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716001141/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-sgt-pepper-bbc/|url-status=live}}</ref> The event was a new initiative in pop promotion and furthered the significance of the album's release.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=395}} ''[[Melody Maker]]''{{'s}} reporter described it as the first "listen-in" and typical of the Beatles' penchant for innovation.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Jack|last=Hutton|title=Beatles Listen-in|magazine=[[Melody Maker]]|date=27 May 1967|page=5}}</ref>

[[File:Beatles "Sgt Pepper" launch party 1967.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The Beatles at the ''Sgt. Pepper'' launch party, held at [[Brian Epstein]]'s house on 19 May 1967]]
The party marked the band's first group interaction with the press in close to a year.<ref name="Womack/LaunchParty" /><ref name="Drummond/NME" /> Norrie Drummond of the ''[[NME]]'' wrote that they had been "virtually incommunicado" over that time, leading a national newspaper to complain that the band were "contemplative, secretive and exclusive".<ref name="Drummond/NME">{{cite magazine|first=Norrie|last=Drummond|title=Dinner with the Beatles|magazine=[[NME]]|date=27 May 1967|pages=2–3}}</ref> Some of the journalists present were shocked by the Beatles' appearance, particularly that of Lennon and Harrison,{{sfn|Spitz|2005|pp=691–92}} as the band members' bohemian attire contrasted sharply with their former image.<ref name="Womack/LaunchParty">{{cite web|first=Kenneth|last=Womack|title=Everything Fab Four: Celebrating the First Half-Century of 'Sgt. Pepper' Launch Parties|url=https://kennethwomack.com/2017/05/09/everything-fab-four-celebrating-the-first-half-century-of-sgt-pepper-launch-parties/|publisher=[[Kenneth Womack|kennethwomack.com]]|date=9 May 2017|access-date=10 June 2020|archive-date=22 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922144638/https://kennethwomack.com/2017/05/09/everything-fab-four-celebrating-the-first-half-century-of-sgt-pepper-launch-parties/|url-status=live}}</ref> Music journalist [[Ray Coleman]] recalled that Lennon looked "haggard, old, ill" and clearly under the influence of drugs.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=692}} Biographer [[Howard Sounes]] likens the Beatles' presence to a gathering of the [[British royal family]] and highlights a photo from the event that shows Lennon shaking McCartney's hand "in an exaggeratedly congratulatory way, throwing his head back in sarcastic laughter".{{sfn|Sounes|2010|p=176}}

On 26 May, ''Sgt. Pepper'' was given a rush-release in the UK, ahead of the scheduled date of 1 June.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=123}} The band's eighth LP,{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=19}} it was the first Beatles album where the track listings were exactly the same for the UK and US versions.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=114}} The US release took place on 2 June.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=123}} [[Capitol Records]]' advertising for the album emphasised that the Beatles and Sgt. Pepper's band were one and the same.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=197}}

===Public reaction===
''Sgt. Pepper'' was widely perceived by listeners as the soundtrack to the Summer of Love,{{sfn|Scapelliti|2007|p=104}}{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=42}} during a year that author Peter Lavezzoli calls "a watershed moment in the West when the search for [[higher consciousness]] and an alternative world view had reached critical mass".{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=6–7}} ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's [[Langdon Winner]] recalled:

{{Quote|The closest Western Civilization has come to unity since the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815 was the week the ''Sgt. Pepper'' album was released. In every city in Europe and America the radio stations played [it]&nbsp;... and everyone listened&nbsp;... For a brief while the irreparable fragmented consciousness of the West was unified, at least in the minds of the young.{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=205}}}}

According to Riley, the album "drew people together through the common experience of pop on a larger scale than ever before".{{sfn|Riley|2002|pp=205–06}} In MacDonald's description, an "almost religious awe surrounded the LP"; he says that its impact was cross-generational, as "Young and old alike were entranced", and era-defining, in that the "psychic shiver" it inspired across the world was "nothing less than a cinematic dissolve from one ''Zeitgeist'' to another". In his view, ''Sgt. Pepper'' conveyed the psychedelic experience so effectively to listeners unfamiliar with hallucinogenic drugs that "If such a thing as a cultural '[[contact high]]' is possible, it happened here."{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=249–50}}{{refn|group=nb|MacDonald cites EMI chairman [[Joseph Lockwood]]'s recollection of attending a dinner party where "rich older women" sat on the floor and began singing the album's songs, and the description of [[Jefferson Airplane]] guitarist [[Paul Kantner]] of how he and Crosby played the LP all night in a Seattle hotel lobby to around a hundred entranced fans. Kantner later said: "Something enveloped the whole world at that time and it just exploded into a renaissance."{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=249–50}}}} Music journalist [[Mark Ellen]], a teenager in 1967, recalls listening to part of the album at a friend's house and then hearing the rest playing at the next house he visited as if the record was emanating communally from "one giant [[Dansette]]". He says the most remarkable thing was its acceptance by adults who had turned against the Beatles when they became "gaunt and enigmatic", and how the group, recast as polished "masters of ceremony", were now "the very family favourites they'd sought to satirise".{{sfn|Ellen|2002|pp=104–05}}{{refn|group=nb|Miles recalls hearing the album playing from "every shop" along King's Road and that it was similarly ubiquitous in the most fashionable areas of New York. He remembers the record as "the soundtrack to that summer, and that winter{{nbsp}}... You just could {{em|not}} get away from it."{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=87}}}}

Writing in his book ''Electric Shock'', [[Peter Doggett]] describes ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "the biggest pop happening" to take place between the Beatles' debut on American television in February 1964 and [[Murder of John Lennon|Lennon's murder]] in December 1980,{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=373}} while Norman writes: "A whole generation, still used to happy landmarks through life, would always remember exactly when and where they first played it{{nbsp}}..."{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=497}} The album's impact was felt at the [[Monterey International Pop Festival]], the second event in the Summer of Love, organised by Taylor and held over 16–18 June in [[Monterey County Fairgrounds|county fairgrounds]] south of San Francisco.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=418–19}}{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=116–17, 119}} ''Sgt. Pepper'' was played in kiosks and stands there, and festival staff wore badges carrying Lennon's lyric "A splendid time is guaranteed for all".{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=119}}

American radio stations interrupted their regular scheduling, playing the album virtually non-stop, often from start to finish.<ref>{{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|p=249}}: radio stations interrupted their regular scheduling; {{harvnb|Riley|2002|p=205}}: some played the album from start to finish.</ref> Emphasising its identity as a self-contained work, none of the songs were issued as singles at the time{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=107}}{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=48}} or available on spin-off [[Extended play|EPs]].{{sfn|Ellen|2002|p=103}} Instead, the Beatles released "[[All You Need Is Love]]" as a single in July, after performing the song on the ''[[Our World (1967 TV program)|Our World]]'' satellite broadcast on 25 June{{sfn|Miles|2001|pp=270–71}} before an audience estimated at 400 million.{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=36}} According to [[Sociomusicology|sociomusicologist]] [[Simon Frith]], the international broadcast served to confirm "the Beatles' evangelical role" amid the public's embrace of ''Sgt. Pepper''.<ref name="Frith/HoR">{{cite magazine|first=Simon|last=Frith|title=1967: The Year It All Came Together|magazine=[[The History of Rock (magazine)|The History of Rock]]|year=1981|pages=4–8}} Available at [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/1967-the-year-it-all-came-together Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118144213/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/1967-the-year-it-all-came-together |date=18 November 2018 }} (subscription required).</ref> In the UK, ''Our World'' also quelled the furore that followed McCartney's repeated admission in mid-June that he had taken LSD.{{sfn|Norman|1996|pp=294–95}} In Norman's description, this admission was indicative of how "invulnerable" McCartney felt after ''Sgt. Pepper'';{{sfn|Norman|2016|p=280}} it made the band's drug-taking public knowledge{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=196}} and confirmed the link between the album and drugs.{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=215}}{{refn|group=nb|Although suspicious of McCartney's motives, Lennon and Harrison, together with Epstein, demonstrated their support by announcing that they too had taken LSD.{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=499}}{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=430}} In July, all four Beatles added their signatures to a petition demanding the legalisation of marijuana and paid for its publication in a full-page ad in ''[[The Times]]''.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=197}}}}

===Commercial performance===
''Sgt. Pepper'' topped the ''[[Record Retailer]]'' albums chart (now the [[UK Albums Chart]]) for 23 consecutive weeks from 10 June, with a further four weeks at number one in the period through to February 1968.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/sgt-pepper's-lonely-hearts-club-band/|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles" > "Chart Facts|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|access-date=11 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820102815/http://www.officialcharts.com/search/albums/sgt-pepper%27s-lonely-hearts-club-band/|archive-date=20 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The record sold 250,000 copies in the UK during its first seven days on sale there.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=123}}{{refn|group=nb|On 4 June, [[the Jimi Hendrix Experience]] opened a show at London's [[Saville Theatre]] with their rendition of "Sgt. Pepper".{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=813}} Epstein leased the Saville at the time,{{sfn|Sounes|2010|p=180}} and Harrison and McCartney attended the performance.{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=813}} McCartney described the moment: "The curtains flew back and [Hendrix] came walking forward playing 'Sgt. Pepper'{{nbsp}}... I put that down as one of the great honours of my career."{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=347}}}} The album held the number one position on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs]] chart in the US for 15 weeks, from 1 July to 13 October 1967, and remained in the top 200 for 113 consecutive weeks.{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|pp=281, 282}} It also topped charts in many other countries.{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=49}}

With 2.5&nbsp;million copies sold within three months of its release,{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=147}} ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} initial commercial success exceeded that of all previous Beatles albums.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=697}} In the UK, it was the best-selling album of 1967<ref name="Mawer/1967" /> and of the decade.<ref name="Mawer/1969">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217020421/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1969.php|url=https://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1969.php|first=Sharon|last=Mawer|title=Album Chart History: 1969|publisher=[[Official Charts Company|The Official UK Charts Company]]|date=May 2007|archive-date=17 December 2007|access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref> According to figures published in 2009 by former Capitol executive David Kronemyer, further to estimates he gave in ''MuseWire'' magazine,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://musewire.com/deconstructing-pop-culture-how-many-records-did-the-beatles-actually-sell/|title=Deconstructing Pop Culture: How Many Records Did the Beatles Actually Sell?|first=David|last=Kronemyer|magazine=MuseWire|date=29 April 2009|access-date=18 April 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312201437/https://musewire.com/deconstructing-pop-culture-how-many-records-did-the-beatles-actually-sell/|archive-date=12 March 2018}}</ref> the album had sold 2,360,423 copies in the US by 31 December 1967 and 3,372,581 copies by the end of the decade.<ref name="Kronemyer">{{cite web|url=http://deconstructingpopculture.com/2009/04/how-many-records-did-the-beatles-actually-sell|title=How Many Records Did the Beatles Actually Sell?|first=David|last=Kronemyer|website=Deconstructing Pop Culture|date=25 April 2009|access-date=23 June 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306054326/http://deconstructingpopculture.com/2009/04/how-many-records-did-the-beatles-actually-sell/|archive-date=6 March 2016}}</ref>

== Contemporary critical reception ==
{{quote box|quote= ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} arrival in late spring 1967 came at a most opportune moment in Western cultural history: mainstream journalism had at last warmed to the idea that the "rock" world{{nbsp}}... could produce a lasting masterpiece that transcended the genre's lowly origins, while a new and legitimate niche called "rock journalism" was working up its own head of steam{{nbsp}}... [E]veryone wanted the Beatles to succeed – and to lead. The wind was at their back, and they knew it.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=223}} |source=– Beatles biographer Robert Rodriguez, 2012|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
The release of ''Sgt. Pepper'' coincided with a period when, with the advent of dedicated [[rock criticism]], commentators sought to recognise artistry in pop music, particularly in the Beatles' work, and identify albums as refined artistic statements.<ref name="Hamilton/Slate">{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2017/05/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-was-a-masterpiece-of-timing.html|first=Jack|last=Hamilton|title=''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} Timing Was As Good As Its Music|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=24 May 2017|access-date=3 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103131708/https://slate.com/culture/2017/05/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-was-a-masterpiece-of-timing.html|archive-date=3 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=211, 223–24}} In America, this approach had been heightened by the "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" single,{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=193–94}} and was also exemplified by [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s television program ''[[Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution]]'', broadcast by [[CBS]] in April 1967.<ref name="Hamilton/Slate" /> Following the release of the Beatles' single, in author Bernard Gendron's description, a "discursive frenzy" ensued as ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', ''[[Newsweek]]'' and other publications from the cultural mainstream increasingly voiced their "ecstatic approbation toward the Beatles".{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=193–94}}

The vast majority of contemporary reviews of ''Sgt. Pepper'' were positive, with the album receiving widespread critical acclaim.<ref>{{harvnb|Gould|2007|p=420}}; {{harvnb|Julien|2008b|pp=8–9}}; {{harvnb|Moore|1997|pp=58–59}}.</ref> Schaffner said that the consensus was aptly summed up by Tom Phillips in ''[[The Village Voice]]'', when he called the LP "the most ambitious and most successful record album ever issued".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=83}} Among Britain's pop press, [[Peter Jones (journalist)|Peter Jones]] of ''[[Record Mirror]]'' said the album was "clever and brilliant, from raucous to poignant and back again", while ''[[Disc and Music Echo]]''{{'s}} reviewer called it "a beautiful and potent record, unique, clever, and stunning".{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=208}} In ''[[The Times]]'', [[William Mann (critic)|William Mann]] described ''Sgt. Pepper'' as a "pop music master-class"{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=9}} and commented that, so considerable were its musical advances, "the only track that would have been conceivable in pop songs five years ago" was "With a Little Help from My Friends".{{sfn|Mann|2006|p=96}} Having been among the first British critics to fully appreciate ''Revolver'',{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=262}} [[Peter Clayton]] of ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'' magazine said that the new album was "like nearly everything the Beatles do, bizarre, wonderful, perverse, beautiful, exciting, provocative, exasperating, compassionate and mocking". He found "plenty of electronic gimmickry on the record" before concluding: "but that isn't the heart of the thing. It's the combination of imagination, cheek and skill that make this such a rewarding LP."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-gramophone-review-1967|first=Peter|last=Clayton|title=Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (original Gramophone review from 1967)|work=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]|date=1 June 2017|orig-year=June 1967|access-date=5 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105161113/https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-gramophone-review-1967|archive-date=5 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Wilfrid Mellers]], in his review for ''[[New Statesman]]'', praised the album's elevation of pop music to the level of fine art,{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=9}} while [[Kenneth Tynan]], ''The Times''{{'}} theatre critic, said it represented "a decisive moment in the history of Western civilisation".{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=59}} ''Newsweek''{{'s}} [[Jack Kroll]] called ''Sgt. Pepper'' a "masterpiece" and compared its lyrics with literary works by [[Edith Sitwell]], [[Harold Pinter]] and [[T. S. Eliot]], particularly "A Day in the Life", which he likened to Eliot's ''[[The Waste Land]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Gould|2007|p=420}}; {{harvnb|Julien|2008b|p=9}}</ref> ''[[The New Yorker]]'' paired the Beatles with [[Duke Ellington]], as artists who operated "in that special territory where entertainment slips into art".{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=148}}{{sfn|Romanowski|2006|p=219}} 

One of the few well-known American rock critics at the time, and another early champion of ''Revolver'', [[Richard Goldstein (writer born 1944)|Richard Goldstein]] wrote a scathing review in ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Gendron|2002|p=193}}: one of the few well-known American rock critics; {{harvnb|Turner|2016|pp=262–63}}: early champion of ''Revolver''; {{harvnb|Schaffner|1978|p=83}}: scathing review.</ref> He characterised ''Sgt. Pepper'' as a "spoiled" child and "an album of special effects, dazzling but ultimately fraudulent",{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=214}}{{sfn|Goldstein|2006|pp=98, 99}} and was critical of the Beatles for sacrificing their authenticity to become "cloistered composers".{{sfn|Courrier|2009|pp=176–77}} Although he admired "A Day in the Life", comparing it to a work by [[Richard Wagner]],{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=122–23}} Goldstein said that the songs lacked lyrical substance such that "tone overtakes meaning", an aesthetic he blamed on "posturing and put-on" in the form of production effects such as [[echo]] and [[reverb effect|reverb]].{{sfn|Kimsey|2008|p=130}} As a near-lone voice of dissent, he was widely castigated for his views.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=83–84}}{{refn|group=nb|According to Moore, Goldstein's position was an exception among a group of primarily positive contemporary reviewers that he characterises as the most for any single album at the time. He adds that some negative letters were sent to ''Melody Maker'' that he speculates were written by jazz enthusiasts.{{sfn|Moore|1997|pp=57–58}}}} Four days later, ''The Village Voice'', where Goldstein had become a celebrated columnist since 1966, reacted to the "hornet's nest" of complaints, by publishing Phillips' highly favourable review.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=215}} According to Schaffner, Goldstein was "kept busy for months" justifying his opinions,{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=83–84}} which included writing a defence of his review, for the ''Voice'', in July.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=212, 215}}{{refn|group=nb|In this piece, Goldstein explained that, although the album was not on-par with the best of the Beatles' previous work, he considered it "better than 80 per cent of the music around". He also said that, underneath the production when "the compositions are stripped to their musical and lyrical essentials", the LP was shown to be "an elaboration without improvement" on the group's music.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/03/clip_job_richar.php | first = Richard | last = Goldstein | title = I Blew My Cool Through ''The New York Times'' | work = [[The Village Voice]] | date = 20 July 1967 | access-date = 28 April 2014|page=14| url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140221183737/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/03/clip_job_richar.php | archive-date = 21 February 2014 }}</ref>}}

Among the commentators who responded to Goldstein's critique,{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=198–99}} composer [[Ned Rorem]], writing in ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', credited the Beatles with possessing a "magic of genius" akin to [[Mozart]] and characterised ''Sgt. Pepper'' as a harbinger of a "golden Renaissance of Song".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=83}} ''Time'' quoted musicologists and avant-garde composers who equated the standard of the Beatles' songwriting to [[Schubert]] and [[Schumann]], and located the band's work to electronic music;{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=195, 345}} the magazine concluded that the album was "a historic departure in the progress of music – any music".{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=697}} Literary critic [[Richard Poirier]] wrote a laudatory appreciation of the Beatles in the journal ''[[Partisan Review]]''{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=1}} and said that "listening to the ''Sgt. Pepper'' album one thinks not simply of the history of popular music but the history of this century."{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=59}} In his December 1967 column for ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', [[Robert Christgau]] described ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "a consolidation, more intricate than ''Revolver'' but not more substantial". He suggested that Goldstein had fallen "victim to overanticipation", identifying his primary error as "allow[ing] all the filters and reverbs and orchestral effects and overdubs to deafen him to the stuff underneath, which was pretty nice".{{sfn|Christgau|2006|p=116}}

==Sociocultural influence==
===Contemporary youth and counterculture===
{{See also|It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (film){{!}}''It Was Twenty Years Ago Today'' (film)}}
In the wake of ''Sgt. Pepper'', the underground and mainstream press widely publicised the Beatles as leaders of youth culture, as well as "lifestyle revolutionaries".{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=157}} In Moore's description, the album "seems to have spoken (in a way no other has) for its generation".{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=68}} An educator referenced in a July 1967 ''New York Times'' article was reported to have said on the topic of music studies and its relevance to the day's youth: "If you want to know what youths are thinking and feeling{{nbsp}}... you cannot find anyone who speaks for them or to them more clearly than the Beatles."{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=158}}

[[File:Flower-Power Bus.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|A hippie "[[flower power]]" bus (pictured in 2004). ''Sgt. Pepper'' conveyed the flower power ideology of 1967.{{sfn|Courrier|2009|p=180}}]]
''Sgt. Pepper'' was the focus of much celebration by the counterculture.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/editorials/2007/06/01/Sgt-Pepper-at-40-The-Beatles-masterpiece-changed-popular-music/stories/200706010369 |title=Sgt. Pepper at 40: The Beatles' masterpiece changed popular music |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=1 June 2007 |access-date=7 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106042852/http://www.post-gazette.com/editorials/2007/06/01/Sgt-Pepper-at-40-The-Beatles-masterpiece-changed-popular-music/stories/200706010369 |archive-date=6 January 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> American [[Beat Generation|Beat]] poet [[Allen Ginsberg]] said of the album: "After the apocalypse of Hitler and the apocalypse of the Bomb, there was here an exclamation of joy, the rediscovery of joy and what it is to be alive."{{sfn|Case|2010|p=48}} The American psychologist and counterculture figure [[Timothy Leary]] labelled the Beatles "avatars of the new world order"{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=25}} and said that the LP "gave a voice to the feeling that the old ways were over" by stressing the need for cultural change based on a peaceful agenda.{{sfn|Whiteley|2008|p=22}}{{refn|group=nb|In his 1968 autobiography, ''[[High Priest (book)|High Priest]]'', Leary adapted lyrics from ''Sgt. Pepper'' to relate his psychedelic experiences and journey towards higher consciousness.{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=91, 100}}}} According to author Michael Frontani, the Beatles "legitimiz[ed] the lifestyle of the counterculture", just as they did popular music, and formed the basis of [[Jann Wenner]]'s scope on these issues when launching ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in late 1967.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=125, 178–80}} Further to Lennon wearing an [[Afghan coat|Afghan sheepskin coat]] at the album launch party, "Afghans" became a popular garment among [[hippie]]s, and Westerners increasingly sought out the coats on the [[hippie trail]] in Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web|first=Tim|last=Bonyhady|url=https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-afghan-coats-left-kabul-for-the-fashion-world-and-became-a-hippie-must-have-165007|title=Friday Essay: How 'Afghan' coats left Kabul for the fashion world and became a hippie must-have|website=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|date=30 July 2021|access-date=21 October 2021|archive-date=1 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201111611/https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-afghan-coats-left-kabul-for-the-fashion-world-and-became-a-hippie-must-have-165007|url-status=live}}</ref>

McCartney's LSD admission formalised the link between rock music and drugs, and attracted scorn from American religious leaders and conservatives.{{sfn|Roberts|2014|pp=194–95}} Vice president [[Spiro Agnew]] contended that the "friends" referred to in "With a Little Help from My Friends" were "assorted drugs". As part of an escalating national debate that triggered an investigation by the [[United States Congress|US Congress]],{{sfn|Roberts|2014|pp=195–96}} he launched a campaign in 1970{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=77}} to address the issue of American youth being "brainwashed" into taking drugs through the music of the Beatles and other rock artists.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=440}} In the UK, according to historian David Simonelli, the album's obvious drug allusions inspired a hierarchy within the youth movement for the first time, based on listeners' ability to "get" psychedelia and align with the elite notion of [[Romanticism|Romantic]] artistry.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=114}}{{refn|group=nb|In August 1967, ''[[The Beatles Book]]'' published an article discussing whether the album was "too advanced for the average pop fan". One reader complained that all the songs except "Sgt. Pepper" and "When I'm Sixty-Four" were "over our heads", adding, "The Beatles ought to stop being so clever and give us tunes we can enjoy."{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=87}}}} Harrison was eager to separate the message of "Within You Without You" from the LSD experience, telling an interviewer: "It's nothing to do with pills{{nbsp}}... It's just in your own head, the realisation."{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=199}}

[[File:Vietnam War protestors at the March on the Pentagon.jpg|upright=0.75|thumb|The album resonated with Vietnam War protestors at the 1967 "[[March on the Pentagon]]".]]
The Beatles' presentation as Sgt. Pepper's band resonated at a time when many young people in the UK and the US were seeking to redefine their own identity and were drawn to communities that espoused the transformational power of mind-altering drugs.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=387}} In the [[Haight-Ashbury]] district of San Francisco, the recognised centre of the counterculture,{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=86}} ''Sgt. Pepper'' was viewed as a "code for life", according to music journalist [[Alan Clayson]], with street people such as the [[Merry Pranksters|Merry Band of Pranksters]] offering "Beatle readings".{{sfn|Clayson|2003|pp=217, 220}} American social activist [[Abbie Hoffman]] credited the album as his inspiration for staging the attempted levitation of [[the Pentagon]] during [[National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam|the Mobe]]'s anti-[[Vietnam War]] rally in October 1967.{{sfn|Courrier|2009|p=174}} [[The Byrds]]' David Crosby later expressed surprise that by 1970 the album's powerful sentiments had not been enough to stop the Vietnam War.{{sfn|Doggett|2015|p=401}}

''Sgt. Pepper'' informed [[Frank Zappa]]'s parody of the counterculture and flower power on the Mothers of Invention's 1968 album ''[[We're Only in It for the Money]]''.{{sfn|Courrier|2009|pp=179–81}}{{sfn|Greene|2016|p=105}} By 1968, according to music critic [[Greil Marcus]], ''Sgt. Pepper'' appeared shallow against the emotional backdrop of the political and social upheavals of American life.{{sfn|Moore|1997|pp=59–60}} Simon Frith, in his overview of 1967 for ''[[The History of Rock (magazine)|The History of Rock]]'', said that ''Sgt. Pepper'' "defined the year" by conveying the optimism and sense of empowerment at the centre of the youth movement. He added that [[the Velvet Underground]]'s ''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'' – an album that contrasted sharply with the Beatles' message by "offer[ing] no escape" – became more relevant in a cultural climate typified by "the [[Sex Pistols]], the new political aggression, the rioting in the streets" during the 1970s.<ref name="Frith/HoR" /> In a 1987 review for ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' magazine, [[Charles Shaar Murray]] asserted that ''Sgt. Pepper'' "remains a central pillar of the mythology and iconography of the late '60s",<ref name="CSM/Q">{{cite magazine|last=Murray|first=Charles Shaar|date=July 1987|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-isgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-bandi/|title=The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|access-date=1 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319183230/http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-isgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-bandi|archive-date=19 March 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> while [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]] states in his 1989 ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]'': "[it] turned out to be no mere pop album but a cultural icon, embracing the constituent elements of the 60s' youth culture: pop art, garish fashion, drugs, instant mysticism and freedom from parental control."{{sfn|Larkin|2006|p=487}}

===Cultural legitimisation of popular music===
In ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature'', [[Kevin Dettmar]] writes that ''Sgt. Pepper'' achieved "a combination of popular success and critical acclaim unequaled in twentieth-century art{{nbsp}}... never before had an aesthetic and technical masterpiece enjoyed such popularity."{{sfn|Dettmar|2006|p=139}} Through the level of attention it received from the rock press and more culturally elite publications, the album achieved full cultural legitimisation for pop music and recognition for the medium as a genuine art form.{{sfn|Julien|2008b|p=9}}{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=162–63}} Riley says that pop had been due this accreditation "at least as early as ''[[A Hard Day's Night (album)|A Hard Day's Night]]''" in 1964.{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=229}} He adds that the timing of the album's release and its reception ensured that "''Sgt. Pepper'' has attained the kind of populist adoration that renowned works often assume regardless of their larger significance – it's the Beatles' '[[Mona Lisa]]'."{{sfn|Riley|2002|pp=229–30}} At the [[10th Annual Grammy Awards]] in March 1968, ''Sgt. Pepper'' won awards in four categories:{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=294}} [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]]; [[Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album|Best Contemporary Album]]; [[Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical|Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical]]; and [[Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts|Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts]].<ref name=grammys>{{cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/10th-annual-grammy-awards |title=10th Annual GRAMMY Awards |publisher=[[Grammy Awards|National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=14 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415105739/http://www.grammy.com/awards/10th-annual-grammy-awards |archive-date=15 April 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> Its win in the Album of the Year category marked the first time that a rock LP had received this honour.{{sfn|Glausser|2011|p=143}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/02/24/grammys-one-track-mind/04cd977e-b44a-461c-817b-ef8b66b472a0/|first=Richard|last=Harrington|title=Grammy's One-Track Mind|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=24 February 1993|access-date=24 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419233357/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/02/24/grammys-one-track-mind/04cd977e-b44a-461c-817b-ef8b66b472a0/|archive-date=19 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Among the recognised composers who helped legitimise the Beatles as serious musicians at the time were Luciano Berio, [[Aaron Copland]], John Cage, Ned Rorem and Leonard Bernstein.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=155–56}} According to Rodriguez, an element of exaggeration accompanied some of the acclaim for ''Sgt. Pepper'', with particularly effusive approbation coming from Rorem, Bernstein and Tynan, "as if every critic was seeking to outdo the other for the most lavish embrace of the Beatles' new direction".{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=212}}{{refn|group=nb|In the November 1967 issue of ''[[DownBeat|Down Beat]]'' magazine, John Gabree complained that the Beatles were being afforded excessive praise by writers that were unfamiliar with rock music and unaware of the advances made by rival acts such as the Mothers of Invention and [[the Who]].{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=216}}}} In Gendron's view, the cultural approbation represented American "highbrow" commentators (Rorem and Poirier) looking to establish themselves over their "low-middlebrow" equivalent, after ''Time'' and ''Newsweek'' had led the way in recognising the Beatles' artistry, and over the new discipline of rock criticism.{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=197–98}} Gendron describes the discourse as one whereby, during a period that lasted for six months, "highbrow" composers and musicologists "jostl[ed] to pen the definitive effusive appraisal of the Beatles".{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=1, 197}}{{refn|group=nb|Lennon's lyrics to "[[I Am the Walrus]]" were purposely nonsensical and intended to confound commentators' analysis of the Beatles' work, particularly interpretations of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=444}} Harrison later said that ''Sgt. Pepper'' became both "a milestone and a millstone in music history". In his view, it paled beside the band's previous two albums, since "There's about half the songs I like and the other half I can't stand."{{sfn|Clayson|2003|pp=214–15}} Lennon publicly disparaged the album in the years following its release,{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=267}} a turnaround that offended Martin and other studio personnel.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=114}}}}

Aside from the attention afforded the album in literary and scholarly journals, the American jazz magazines ''[[DownBeat|Down Beat]]'' and ''Jazz'' both began to cover rock music for the first time, with the latter changing its name to ''[[Jazz & Pop]]'' as a result.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=420–21}} In addition, following ''Sgt. Pepper'', established American publications such as ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'', ''[[Playboy]]'' and the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' started discussing rock as art, in terms usually reserved for jazz criticism.{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=122}} Writing for ''Rolling Stone'' in 1969, Michael Lydon said that reviewers had had to invent "new criticism" to match pop's musical advances, since: "Writing had to be an appropriate response to the music; in writing about, say, ''Sgt. Pepper'', you had to try to write something as good as ''Sgt. Pepper''. Because, of course, what made that record beautiful was the beautiful response it created in you; if your written response was true to your listening response, the writing would stand on its own as a creation on par with the record."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Michael|last=Lydon|title=Paul Williams ''Outlaw Blues: A Book of Rock Music''|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=19 April 1969}}</ref>

Through its acceptance by "serious" composers, according to Schaffner, ''Sgt. Pepper'' satisfied the ambitions of a staid, middle-age American audience keen to be seen as in tune with young people's tastes, and every major rock LP was subsequently given the same level of critical analysis.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=83}} In 1977, the LP won Best British Album at the [[1977 Brit Awards|inaugural]] [[Brit Awards]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/feb/22/brit-awards-winners-list-2012|title=Brit awards winners list 2012: Every winner since 1977|last=Anon|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=3 February 2013|date=22 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105143310/http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/feb/22/brit-awards-winners-list-2012|archive-date=5 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> held by the [[British Phonographic Industry|BPI]] to celebrate the best British music of the last 25 years as part of [[Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee]].{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=214}} When EMI issued the Beatles' catalogue on CD in 1987, ''Sgt. Pepper'' was the only album afforded a dedicated release.{{sfn|Badman|2001|pp=388–89}} EMI marketed it as "the most important record ever released on compact disc".<ref name="Petridis/Guardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/may/25/beatles-sgt-pepper-50th-anniversary-edition-review-lonely-hearts-club-band-remix-album|last=Petridis|first=Alexis|title=The Beatles: Sgt Pepper 50th Anniversary Edition review – peace, love and rock star ennui|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=26 May 2017|access-date=14 June 2020|archive-date=29 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529190140/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/may/25/beatles-sgt-pepper-50th-anniversary-edition-review-lonely-hearts-club-band-remix-album|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Development of popular music===
====Industry and market changes====
{{quote box|quote= [Because of ''Sgt. Pepper''] people then started thinking that you could spend a year making an album and they began to consider an album as a sound composition and not just a musical composition. The idea was gradually forming of a record being a performance in its own right and not just a reproduction of a live performance.{{sfn|Julien|2008c|p=167}}|source=– Producer and EMI engineer [[Alan Parsons]]|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
Julien describes ''Sgt. Pepper'' as a "masterpiece of British psychedelia" and says that it represents the "epitome of the transformation of the recording studio into a compositional tool", marking the moment when "popular music entered the era of phonographic composition".<ref>{{harvnb|Julien|2008a|p=xvii}}; {{harvnb|Julien|2008c|pp=166–67}}.</ref> Many acts copied the album's psychedelic sounds{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|p=281}} and imitated its production techniques, resulting in a rapid expansion of the producer's role.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=31}} In this regard, Lennon and McCartney complained that Martin had received too much attention for his part in the album's creation,{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=172–73}} so beginning a feeling of resentment by the Beatles towards their longtime producer.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=489}}{{refn|group=nb|The group were particularly annoyed that ''Time'' had referred to ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "George Martin's new album".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=489}} Years later McCartney said: "I mean, we don't mind him helping us{{nbsp}}... but it's not his album, folks, you know. And there's got to be a little bitterness over that."{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=172}}}}

In 1987, [[Anthony DeCurtis]] of ''Rolling Stone'' described ''Sgt. Pepper'' as the album that "revolutionized rock and roll",<ref>{{cite magazine |last=DeCurtis |first=Anthony|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-19870827 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|date=27 August 1987|page=46|access-date=17 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405000621/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-19870827 |archive-date=5 April 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> while music journalists Andy Greene and Scott Plagenhoef credit it with marking the beginning of the [[album era]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Kokenes|first=Chris|title='A Day in the Life' lyrics to be auctioned|date=30 April 2010|publisher=[[CNN]]|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/29/lennon.lyrics.auction/|access-date=11 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106032016/http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/29/lennon.lyrics.auction/|archive-date=6 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Plagenhoef/Pitchfork" /> For several years following its release, straightforward rock and roll was supplanted by a growing interest in [[Cyclic form|extended form]], and for the first time in the history of the music industry, sales of albums outpaced those of singles.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=72}} In Gould's description, ''Sgt. Pepper'' was "the catalyst for an explosion of mass enthusiasm for album-formatted rock that would revolutionize both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far out-stripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963".{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=418}} The music industry swiftly grew into a billion-dollar enterprise, although record company executives were blindsided by the appeal of new acts who defied established formulas.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=84}}

Music critic [[Greg Kot]] said that ''Sgt. Pepper'' introduced a template not only for creating album-oriented rock but also for consuming it, "with listeners no longer twisting the night away to an assortment of three-minute singles, but losing themselves in a succession of 20-minute album sides, taking a journey led by the artist".<ref>{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|date=20 June 1999|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-06-20-9906200301-story.html|title=R.I.P. 33 R.P.M.|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=10 March 2020|archive-date=26 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426090218/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-06-20-9906200301-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In Moore's view, the album was "pivotal" in heralding "the realignment of rock from its working-class roots to its subsequent place on the college circuit", as students increasingly embraced the genre and record companies launched labels targeted towards this new market.{{sfn|Moore|2018|p=65}} As another result of ''Sgt. Pepper'', US record companies no longer altered the content of albums by major British acts such as the Rolling Stones, [[the Kinks]] and Donovan, and their LPs were released in the artists' intended configuration.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=204–05}}
{{Clear}}

====Albums and artistry====

According to Simonelli, ''Sgt. Pepper'' established the standard for rock musicians, particularly British acts, to strive towards in their self-identification as artists rather than pop stars, whereby, as in the Romantic tradition, creative vision dominated at the expense of all commercial concerns.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=108}} In the US, the album paved the way for British groups such as [[Pink Floyd]] and [[the Incredible String Band]], whose work echoed the eclectic, mystical and escapist qualities of ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=84}}

Following the Beatles' example, many acts spent months in the studio creating their albums, focused on an artistic aesthetic and in the hope of winning critical approval.{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|p=281}} Among the many LPs influenced by ''Sgt. Pepper'' were [[Jefferson Airplane]]'s ''[[After Bathing at Baxter's]]'', the Rolling Stones' ''[[Their Satanic Majesties Request]]''{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=49}} and [[the Moody Blues]]' ''[[Days of Future Passed]]'', all released in 1967;{{sfn|Courrier|2009|p=178}} and [[the Zombies]]' ''[[Odessey and Oracle]]'', the [[Small Faces]]' ''[[Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake]]''{{sfn|Harris|2007|pp=87, 88}} and [[the Pretty Things]]' ''[[S.F. Sorrow]]'', all issued the following year.<ref name="Chilton/uDiscover">{{cite web|first=Martin|last=Chilton|title=The Influence of 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'|url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/beatles-influence-sgt-pepper/|website=uDiscover|date=9 June 2020|access-date=16 June 2020|archive-date=1 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201144057/https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/beatles-influence-sgt-pepper/|url-status=live}}</ref> All rock albums were subsequently measured against ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|p=281}} Discussing ''Their Satanic Majesties Request'', Wenner referred to "the post–''Sgt. Pepper'' trap of trying to put out a 'progressive,' 'significant' and 'different' album, as revolutionary as the Beatles. But it couldn't be done, because only the Beatles can put out an album by the Beatles."{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=188}}

''[[The Guardian]]'' viewed the album's effect on [[Carla Bley]] as one of the "50 key events in the history of [[Electronic dance music|dance music]]".<ref name="Lewis/Guardian">{{cite news|last=Lewis|first=John|title=A History of Jazz: Carla Bley hears Sgt Pepper|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/17/carla-bley-sgt-pepper |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=11 March 2019|date=17 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207030458/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/17/carla-bley-sgt-pepper |archive-date=7 December 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Bley spent four years crafting her musical response to ''Sgt. Pepper''<ref name="Chilton/uDiscover" /> – the 1971 [[avant-jazz]] triple album ''[[Escalator Over the Hill]]''<ref name="Hughes/Prog" /> – which combined rock, [[Indo jazz|Indo-jazz fusion]] and [[chamber jazz]].<ref name="Lewis/Guardian" /> [[Roger Waters]] cited ''Sgt. Pepper'' as his influence when Pink Floyd created their 1973 album ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon]]'', saying: "I learned from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison that it was OK for us to write about our lives and express what we felt{{nbsp}}... More than any other record it gave me and my generation permission to branch out and do whatever we wanted."<ref name="Chilton/uDiscover" />{{refn|group=nb|After listening to ''Sgt. Pepper'', [[Sandy Denny]] decided to abandon her solo career as a folk singer and joined the band [[Fairport Convention]]. Crosby recalled that whereas previous Beatles releases might have brought out a competitive instinct in him, with ''Sgt. Pepper'' "they were so far ahead of everybody{{nbsp}}... But it was inspiring; all I wanted to do was approach my music with the same freedom."{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=87}}}}

Over subsequent decades, musical acts referred to their major artistic work as "our ''Sgt. Pepper''".{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=89}} In this regard, ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' magazine recognises [[Prince (musician)|Prince]]'s ''[[Around the World in a Day]]'' (1985), [[Tears for Fears]]' ''[[The Seeds of Love]]'' (1989), [[The Smashing Pumpkins]]' ''[[Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness]]'' (1995), [[Radiohead]]'s ''[[OK Computer]]'' (1997), [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]]' ''[[Be Here Now (album)|Be Here Now]]'' (1997) and [[the Flaming Lips]]' ''[[The Soft Bulletin]]'' (1999) as albums that "for better or for worse{{nbsp}}... would not have existed" without ''Sgt. Pepper''.<ref>{{cite magazine|author1=Black, Johnny|author2=Eccleston, Danny|title='It's Our Sgt. Pepper!'|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=March 2007|page=86}}</ref> Writing for ''Mojo'' in 2007, [[John Harris (critic)|John Harris]] said that the album's influence resonates in the "identity games" of [[Gnarls Barkley]], in the ambitious song cycle of [[Green Day]]'s 2004 album ''[[American Idiot]]'', in the respect afforded adventurous musicians such as [[Damon Albarn]] and [[Wayne Coyne]], and particularly in the audience's expectation that foremost artists will "progress" and perhaps "ascend to a watershed point at which influence, experience and ambition cohere into something that just might blow our minds".{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=89}}

====Stylistic developments====
''Sgt. Pepper'' was highly influential on bands in the US [[acid rock]] (or psychedelic rock) scene.{{sfn|Nagelberg|2001|p=8}} Lavezzoli views it as a key factor in 1967's standing as the "''annus mirabilis''" for Indian classical music's acceptance in the West, with the genre having been fully absorbed into psychedelic music.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=6–7, 180}}{{refn|group=nb|Lavezzoli cites ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} Grammy for Album of the Year along with wins for Shankar's collaboration with violinist [[Yehudi Menuhin]] (''[[West Meets East]]'') and for Duke Ellington (''[[Far East Suite]]'') as the only time that Indian-influenced albums have won in categories encompassing rock, classical music and jazz at the annual Grammy awards.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=63}}}} ''Sgt. Pepper'' is commonly recognised as having originated [[progressive rock]], due to the album's self-conscious lyrics, its studio experimentation, and its efforts to expand the barriers of conventional three-minute tracks.<ref>{{harvnb|Moore|1997|pp=18, 70–79}}; {{harvnb|Moore|2018|p=64}}: the origins of progressive rock are "marked by the release of the Beatles' ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' in 1967"; {{harvnb|Moore|2018|p=69}}: "The beginnings of progressive rock are normally traced to the Beatles' ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''".</ref> In addition to influencing Pink Floyd records such as ''[[Atom Heart Mother]]'', it was a source of inspiration for [[Robert Fripp]] when he formed [[King Crimson]].<ref name="Hughes/Prog">{{cite magazine|last=Hughes|first=Rob|title=Was the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper a Signpost to Prog?|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/was-the-beatles-sgt-pepper-a-signpost-to-prog |magazine=[[Prog (magazine)|Prog]]|date=22 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221065449/https://www.loudersound.com/features/was-the-beatles-sgt-pepper-a-signpost-to-prog |archive-date=21 December 2019|access-date=17 June 2020|url-status=live }}</ref> The band's 1969 debut ''[[In the Court of the Crimson King]]'' was intended as a homage to ''Sgt. Pepper''.<ref name="Chilton/uDiscover" />

MacFarlane writes that, despite concerns regarding its thematic unity, ''Sgt. Pepper'' "is widely regarded as the first true concept album in popular music".{{sfn|MacFarlane|2008|p=33}} According to author Martina Elicker, despite earlier examples, it was ''Sgt. Pepper'' that familiarised critics and listeners with the notion of a "concept and unified structure underlying a pop album", thus originating the term "concept album".{{sfn|Elicker|2001|p=231}} Further to ''Sgt. Pepper'', musicians increasingly explored literary and sociological themes in their concept albums and adopted its anti-establishment sentiments.{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|pp=281–82}} It also inspired [[rock opera]] works such as [[the Who]]'s double album ''[[Tommy (The Who album)|Tommy]]'' and the musical ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]''.<ref name="Chilton/uDiscover" />

Author Carys Wyn Jones locates ''Pet Sounds'' and ''Sgt. Pepper'' as the beginning of [[art rock]].{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=49}} Doyle Greene says that ''Sgt. Pepper'' provides a "crucial locus in the assemblage of popular music and avant-garde/experimental music", notwithstanding the Beatles' presentation of the latter within formal song structures.{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=28–30}} He also says that, although the band are usually viewed as [[Modernism|modernists]], the album "can be heard as a crucial ''[[Postmodernism|postmodernist]]'' moment", through its incorporation of self-conscious artistry, irony and pastiche, and "arguably marked rock music's entry into postmodernism as opposed to high-modernism".{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=30–31}} During the 1970s, [[glam rock]] acts co-opted the Beatles' use of alter ego personas,{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=232}} including [[David Bowie]] when he adopted the guise of [[Ziggy Stardust (character)|Ziggy Stardust]].<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Tim|last=De Lisle|title=The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' at 50: Why It's Still Worth Celebrating|url=https://www.newsweek.com/2017/05/26/beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-paul-mccartney-john-lennon-george-608717.html|magazine=[[Newsweek]]|date=14 May 2017|access-date=16 June 2020|archive-date=19 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519010503/https://www.newsweek.com/2017/05/26/beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-paul-mccartney-john-lennon-george-608717.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 
{{Clear}}

====Graphic design====
Inglis states that almost every account of the significance of ''Sgt. Pepper'' emphasises the cover's "unprecedented correspondence between music and art, time and space".{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=101}} The cover helped to elevate album art as a respected topic for critical analysis whereby the "structures and cultures of popular music" could henceforth justify intellectual discourse in a way that – before ''Sgt. Pepper'' – would have seemed like "fanciful conceit".{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=102}} He writes: "[The ''Sgt. Pepper''] cover has been regarded as groundbreaking in its visual and aesthetic properties, congratulated for its innovative and imaginative design, credited with providing an early impetus for the expansion of the graphic design industry into popular music, and perceived as largely responsible for the connections between art and pop to be made explicit."{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=102}}

''Sgt. Pepper'' contributed to the popular trend for military-style fashions as adopted by London's boutique shops.{{sfn|Whiteley|2008|p=11}} Following the LP's release, rock acts afforded cover art greater consideration and increasingly sought to create a thematic link between their album artwork and the record's musical statements.{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|p=281}}{{refn|group=nb|Due to the alleged clues in its artwork, ''Sgt. Pepper'' returned to the ''Billboard'' LPs chart in late 1969, at the height of the "Paul is dead" rumours.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=127}}{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=844}} One contention in this conspiracy theory was that McCartney had been replaced in the Beatles by a man named William Shears Campbell, or Billy Shears.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=368}}}} Riley describes the cover as "one of the best-known works that pop art ever produced",{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=212}} while Norman calls it "the most famous album cover of all time".{{sfn|Norman|2016|p=264}} The Beatles' 1968 self-titled double LP became known as the White Album for its plain white sleeve,{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=113}} which the band chose as a contrast with the wave of psychedelic imagery and album covers inspired by ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=172}} In the late 1990s, the BBC included the ''Sgt. Pepper'' cover in its list of British masterpieces of twentieth-century art and design, placing it ahead of the [[red telephone box]], [[Mary Quant]]'s [[miniskirt]], and the [[Mini]] motorcar.{{sfn|Inglis|2008|p=96}}

== Retrospective appraisal ==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Erlewine/AM">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000649874|first=Stephen Thomas|last=Erlwine|title=The Beatles ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=3 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203202734/https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000649874|archive-date=3 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''
| rev2Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="McCormick/Tele">{{cite news |last=McCormick |first=Neil |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/6150302/The-Beatles-Sgt-Peppers-Lonely-Hearts-Club-Band-review.html |title=The Beatles – Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, review |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London |date=7 September 2009 |access-date=23 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104082626/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/6150302/The-Beatles-Sgt-Peppers-Lonely-Hearts-Club-Band-review.html |archive-date=4 November 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev3Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Larkin|2006|p=489}}
| rev4 = ''[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock]]''
| rev4Score = 5/5{{sfn|Graff|Durchholz|1999|p=87}}
| rev5 = ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]''
| rev5score = 89/100<ref name="Kemp">{{cite magazine|last=Kemp|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Kemp|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/09/the-beatles-the-long-and-winding-repertoire.html|title=The Beatles: The Long and Winding Repertoire|magazine=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]|date=8 September 2009|page=59|access-date=6 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023065059/http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/09/the-beatles-the-long-and-winding-repertoire.html|archive-date=23 October 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev6Score = 10/10<ref name="Plagenhoef/Pitchfork">{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13435-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band/ |title=The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band |work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=9 September 2009 |first=Scott |last=Plagenhoef |access-date=10 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807130518/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13435-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band/ |archive-date=7 August 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev7Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="CSM/Q" />
| rev8 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev8Score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Sheffield|2004|p=51}}
| rev9 = ''[[Sputnikmusic]]''
| rev9Score = 5/5<ref name="Ponton">{{cite web |last=Ponton |first=Jared |url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/38437/The-Beatles-Sgt.-Peppers-Lonely-Hearts-Club-Band/ |title=The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (staff review) |publisher=Sputnikmusic |date=8 August 2010 |access-date=23 October 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120911104829/http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/38437/The-Beatles-Sgt.-Peppers-Lonely-Hearts-Club-Band/ |archive-date=11 September 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev10Score = {{Rating-Christgau|A}}<ref name="Christgau77">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=20 December 1976|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6N9LAAAAIBAJ&pg=6134,4535773|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide to 1967|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|page=69|access-date=22 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222001558/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6N9LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RYsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6134,4535773|archive-date=22 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
Although few critics initially agreed with Richard Goldstein's criticism of the album, many came to appreciate his sentiments by the early 1980s.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=59}} In his 1979 book ''Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island'', Greil Marcus described ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "playful but contrived" and "a Day-Glo tombstone for its time".<ref>{{harvnb|Marcus|2007|p=258}}: "a Day-Glo tombstone for its time"; {{harvnb|Riley|2002|p=205}}: "playful but contrived".</ref>{{Dubious|Greil Marcus in "Retrospective appraisal"|date=July 2022}} Marcus believed that the album "strangled on its own conceits" while being "vindicated by world-wide acclaim".{{sfn|Marcus|2007|p=248}}{{refn|group=nb|According to Riley, ''Rubber Soul'' and ''Revolver'' are "miracles of intuition" that are "greater than the sum of their parts" while in comparison "''Sgt. Pepper'' is tinged with conceit."{{sfn|Riley|2002|pp=204–05}} He describes ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "a flawed masterpiece that can only echo the strength of ''Revolver''".{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=203}}}}  [[Lester Bangs]] – the so-called "godfather" of [[punk rock]] journalism – wrote in 1981 that "Goldstein was right in his much-vilified review&nbsp;... predicting that this record had the power to almost singlehandedly destroy rock and roll."{{sfn|Kimsey|2008|p=122}} He added: "In the sixties rock and roll began to think of itself as an 'art form'. Rock and roll is not an 'art form'; rock and roll is a raw wail from the bottom of the guts."{{sfn|Kimsey|2008|p=135}}

In a 1976 article for ''The Village Voice'', Christgau revisited the "supposedly epochal Works of Art" from 1967 and found that ''Sgt. Pepper'' appeared "bound to a moment" amid the year's culturally important music that had "dated in the sense that it speaks with unusually specific eloquence of a single point in history". Christgau said of the album's "dozen good songs and true", "Perhaps they're too precisely performed, but I'm not going to complain."<ref name="Christgau77"/> In his 1981 assessment, Simon Frith described ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "the last great pop album, the last LP ambitious to amuse {{em|everyone}}".{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=106}}

{{quote box|quote= It was inevitable that some of the critical assessment of subsequent generations would grumble. Some have griped about the archness of the band-within-a-band concept, the elaborate studio artifice, the dominance of McCartney's songs (routinely but unfairly considered as lightweight and bourgeois), the virtual freezing out of George Harrison{{nbsp}}... and the only episodic interest of a perpetually tripping Lennon.{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=47}}|source=– Chris Ingham, 2006|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
Once the Beatles' catalogue became available on CD in 1987, a critical consensus formed around ''Revolver''{{'s}} standing as the band's best work; the White Album also surpassed ''Sgt. Pepper'' in many critics' estimation.<ref name="Quantick/ClassicRock">{{cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-50th-anniversary-edition-album-review|first=David|last=Quantick|title=The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper's{{nbsp}}... 50th Anniversary Edition album review|publisher=[[loudersound.com]]|date=24 May 2017|access-date=9 June 2020|archive-date=2 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302065322/https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-50th-anniversary-edition-album-review|url-status=live}}</ref> In his feature article on ''Sgt. Pepper''{{'s}} 40th anniversary, for ''Mojo'', John Harris said that, such was its "seismic and universal" impact and subsequent identification with 1967, a "fashion for trashing" the album had become commonplace.{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=74}}{{refn|group=nb|In a 1998 ''Melody Maker'' poll of pop stars, DJs and journalists, the album was voted the worst ever made, with the magazine's editor, Mark Sutherland, commenting: "This poll shows people are sick and tired of having the Beatles rammed down their throats as the greatest rock band ever. It's time to make way for great new music." One of those polled, musician and journalist [[John Robb (musician)|John Robb]], declared the album "the low water point of rock 'n' roll", highlighting the Beatles' moustaches as indicative of this.<ref name="bbcbeatles">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/231827.stm|title=Sgt Pepper scorned by new stars|date=9 December 1998|publisher=[[BBC News]]|access-date=10 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731110903/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/231827.stm|archive-date=31 July 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}} He attributed this to [[iconoclasm]], as successive generations identified the album with [[baby boomers]]' retreat into "nostalgia-tinged smugness" during the 1970s, combined with a general distaste for McCartney following Lennon's death.{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=74}} Citing its absence from the ''NME''{{'s}} best-albums list in 1985 after it had topped the magazine's previous poll, in 1974, Harris wrote:
<blockquote>Though by no means universally degraded{{nbsp}}... ''Sgt. Pepper'' had taken a protracted beating from which it has perhaps yet to fully recover. Regularly challenged and overtaken in the Best Beatle Album stakes{{nbsp}}... it suffered more than any Beatles record from the long fall-out after punk, and even the band's [[Britpop]]-era revival mysteriously failed to improve its standing.{{sfn|Harris|2007|pp=72, 74}}</blockquote>

Writing in the 2004 edition of ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'', [[Rob Sheffield]] described ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "a revelation of how far artists could go in a recording studio with only four tracks, plenty of imagination, and a drug or two", but also "a masterwork of sonics, not songwriting".{{sfn|Sheffield|2004|p=53}} In his review for [[Rough Guides]], Chris Ingham said that, while the album's detractors typically bemoan McCartney's dominant role, the reliance on studio innovation, and the unconvincing concept, "as long as there are pairs of ears willing to disappear under headphones for forty minutes{{nbsp}}... ''Sgt. Pepper'' will continue to cast its considerable spell."{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=47}} Among reviews of the 2009 remastered album, [[Neil McCormick]] of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' wrote: "It is impossible to overstate its impact: from a contemporary Sixties perspective it was utterly mind-blowing and original. Looking back from a point when its sonic innovations have been integrated into the mainstream, it remains a wonky, colourful and wildly improbable pop classic, although a little slighter and less cohesive than it may have seemed at the time."<ref name="McCormick/Tele" /> [[Mark Kemp]], writing for ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'', said the album was a "blast of avant-rock genius" but also "one of rock's most overrated albums".<ref name="Kemp"/>

According to [[BBC Music]] critic Chris Jones, while ''Sgt. Pepper'' has long been subsumed under "an avalanche of hyperbole", the album retains an enduring quality "because its sum is greater than its whole{{nbsp}}... These guys weren't just recording songs; they were inventing the stuff with which to make this record as they went along."{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=818}} Although the lyrics, particularly McCartney's, were "a far cry from the militancy of their American peers", he continues, "what was revolutionary was the sonic carpet that enveloped the ears and sent the listener spinning into other realms."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5dcz/|first=Chris|last=Jones|title=The Beatles ''Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' Review|publisher=[[BBC Music]]|year=2007|access-date=4 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115084916/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5dcz/|archive-date=15 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] of [[AllMusic]] considers the album to be a refinement of ''Revolver''{{'s}} "previously unheard-of level of sophistication and fearless experimentation" and a work that combines a wide range of musical styles yet "Not once does the diversity seem forced". He concludes: "After ''Sgt. Pepper'', there were no rules to follow – rock and pop bands could try anything, for better or worse."<ref name="Erlewine/AM" />

==Legacy==
===Further public and critical recognition===

''Sgt. Pepper'' sustained its immense popularity into the 21st century while breaking numerous sales records.<ref name="huffpost">{{cite news|last=Ghoshal|first=Somak|date=21 June 2017|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/06/21/on-world-music-day-a-salute-to-these-guys-who-made-history-50-y_a_22494609/|title=On World Music Day, A Salute to These Guys Who Made History 50 Years Ago|newspaper=[[HuffPost]]|access-date=3 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927122027/https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2017/06/21/on-world-music-day-a-salute-to-these-guys-who-made-history-50-y_a_22494609/|archive-date=27 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> With certified sales of 5.1&nbsp;million copies in the UK, as of April 2019, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is the [[List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom|third-best-selling album]] in UK chart history and the best-selling studio album there.<ref>{{cite web|first=Rob|last=Copsey|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-best-selling-albums-of-all-time-on-the-official-uk-chart__15551/|title=The best-selling albums of all time on the Official UK Chart|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|date=11 April 2019|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002091415/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-best-selling-albums-of-all-time-on-the-official-uk-chart__15551/|archive-date=2 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> It is one of the most commercially successful albums in the US, where the [[RIAA]] certified sales of 11 million copies in 1997.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-100-albums|title=Top 100 Albums|publisher=Record Industry Association of America|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924083914/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-100-albums|archive-date=24 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> By 2000, ''Sgt. Pepper'' was among the top 20 best-selling albums of all time worldwide.{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=47}} As of 2011, it had sold more than 32 million copies worldwide, making it one of the [[List of best-selling albums|highest-selling albums of all time]].<ref name="euronews">{{cite news|url=https://www.euronews.com/2011/06/01/back-in-the-day-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/|title=Back in the Day: Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play|date=1 June 2011|publisher=[[Euronews]]|access-date=21 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726045929/http://euronews.com/2011/06/01/back-in-the-day-sgt-pepper-taught-the-band-to-play/|archive-date=26 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Sgt. Pepper'' has topped many "best album" lists.{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=46}} It was voted in first place in [[Paul Gambaccini]]'s 1978 book ''[[Critic's Choice: Top 200 Albums]]'',{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|p=282}} based on submissions from around 50 British and American critics and broadcasters including Christgau and Marcus,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/blogs/marquee/2007/03/really-infuriating-top-200-list.html|first=Todd|last=Leopold|title=A really infuriating top 200 list|publisher=The Marquee at [[CNN.com]]|date=7 March 2007|access-date=5 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622120007/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/blogs/marquee/2007/03/really-infuriating-top-200-list.html|archive-date=22 June 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> and again in the 1987 edition.{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=144}} In the latter year, it also topped ''Rolling Stone''{{'s}} list of "The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=124}} In 1994, it was ranked first in Colin Larkin's ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]''.{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=145}}{{refn|group=nb|In the book's second edition, published four years later, ''Revolver'' was ranked first, with ''Sgt. Pepper'' second followed by the White Album.{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=147}} In the third edition, published in 2000, ''Sgt. Pepper'' was ranked third to ''Revolver'' and [[Radiohead]]'s ''[[The Bends (album)|The Bends]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/908638.stm|title=Radiohead gun for Beatles' Revolver|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=3 September 2000|access-date=24 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006084137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/908638.stm|archive-date=6 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=148}}}} It was voted best album of all time in the 1998 "Music of the Millennium" poll conducted by [[HMV]] and [[Channel 4]],<ref>{{cite news|author=Anon|title=Spin of the Century|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/spin-of-the-century-1.130767|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=31 January 1998|access-date=25 June 2020|archive-date=13 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213160213/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/spin-of-the-century-1.130767|url-status=live}}</ref> and in the following year's [[Music of the Millennium|expanded survey]], which polled 600,000 people across the UK.{{sfn|Badman|2001|pp=586, 640}}<ref>{{cite news|first=Matt|last=Wells|title=How Robbie headed Amadeus in the race to be music's man of the millennium|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/nov/08/millennium.uk1|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=9 November 1999|access-date=22 June 2020|archive-date=24 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824023450/http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/nov/08/millennium.uk1|url-status=live}}</ref> Among its appearances in other critics' polls, the album was third in ''Q''{{'s}} 2004 list "The Music That Changed the World" and fifth in the same magazine's 2005 list "The 40 Greatest Psychedelic Albums of All Time".{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=819}}

In 1993, ''Sgt. Pepper'' was inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]],{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=819}} and ten years later it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the [[Library of Congress]] to be added to the [[National Recording Registry]], honouring the work as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref name="LoC2003">{{cite web| publisher=[[Library of Congress]]| year=2003| title=The National Recording Registry 2003| url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2003reg.html| access-date=19 November 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104172116/http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2003reg.html| archive-date=4 November 2014| url-status=live}}</ref> In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' placed it at number one in the magazine's list of the "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]",{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=149}} a ranking it retained in the revised list of 2012, and described the album as "the pinnacle of the Beatles' eight years as recording artists".<ref name="RS 500GreatestAlbums">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/little-richard-heres-little-richard-165415/|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time" > "1. The Beatles, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=31 May 2012|access-date=22 June 2020|archive-date=29 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929082550/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/little-richard-heres-little-richard-165415/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|The editors ranked ''Pet Sounds'' second in the list in recognition of its influence on the album.{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=57}} In the liner notes to the 1997 CD reissue of the Beach Boys' album, Martin said: "Without ''Pet Sounds'', ''Sgt. Pepper'' never would have happened&nbsp;... ''Pepper'' was an attempt to equal ''Pet Sounds''."<ref>{{cite news|last=Crowe|first=Jerry|title='Pet Sounds Sessions': Body of Influence Put in a Box|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-01-ca-48891-story.html|date=1 November 1997|access-date=9 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413145409/http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/01/entertainment/ca-48891|archive-date=13 April 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>}} The editors also said that ''Sgt. Pepper'' was "the most important rock 'n' roll album ever made",<ref name="RS 500GreatestAlbums" /> a point to which June Skinner Sawyers adds, in her 2006 collection of essays ''Read the Beatles'': "It has been called the most famous album in the history of popular music. It is certainly among the most written about. It is still being written about."{{sfn|Goldstein|2006|p=97}} On ''Rolling Stone''{{'s}} third such list, published in September 2020, ''Sgt. Pepper'' appears at number 24.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-3-1063209/|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|date=22 September 2020|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=22 September 2020|archive-date=6 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106172314/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-3-1063209/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2006, ''Sgt. Pepper'' was chosen by ''Time'' as one of the 100 best albums of all time.<ref>{{cite news|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|year=2007|title=The All-Time 100 Albums|url=https://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/index.html|access-date=20 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109195005/http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/index.html|archive-date=9 November 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Writing that year, Kevin Dettmar described it as "quite simply, the most important and influential rock-and-roll album ever recorded".{{sfn|Dettmar|2006|p=139}} It is featured in Chris Smith's 2009 book ''[[101 Albums That Changed Popular Music]]'', where Smith highlights the album among the most "obvious" choices for inclusion due to its continued commercial success, the wealth of imitative works it inspired, and its ongoing recognition as "a defining moment in the history of music".{{sfn|Smith|2009|pp=xiii–xiv}} In the ''NME''{{'s}} 2014 article "25 Albums With the Most Incredible Production", Emily Barker described ''Sgt. Pepper'' as "kaleidoscopic" and an "orchestral [[baroque pop]] masterpiece the likes of which has rarely been matched since".<ref>{{cite web|first=Emily|last=Barker|title=25 Albums With the Most Incredible Production|date=14 February 2014|website=[[NME]].com|url=https://www.nme.com/photos/25-albums-with-the-most-incredible-production/331910#/photo/8|access-date=7 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506171806/http://www.nme.com/photos/25-albums-with-the-most-incredible-production/331910#/photo/8|archive-date=6 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Adaptations, tributes and anniversary projects===
[[File:Sgt. Peppers band.jpg|thumb|left|French horn players performing as "Sgt. Pepper's band" at [[Live 8 concert, London|Live 8 London]] in 2005]]
The Sgt. Pepper mythology was reimagined for the plot of ''Yellow Submarine''. In the animated film, the Beatles travel to Pepperland and rescue Sgt. Pepper's band from evildoers, the [[Blue Meanies (Yellow Submarine)|Blue Meanie]]s.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|pp=174–75}} The album inspired the 1974 [[off-Broadway]] musical ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road]]'', directed by [[Tom O'Horgan]],{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=171}} and the 1978 film ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'', produced by [[Robert Stigwood]].{{sfn|Harris|2007|p=74}} In July 2012, athletes donned Sgt. Pepper uniforms to pay tribute to the Beatles' album during the opening ceremony of the [[2012 Summer Olympics|London Olympics]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/opening-ceremony-of-the-london-2012-olympics/article4445321/|title=Opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|date=27 July 2012|access-date=14 June 2020|archive-date=9 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409090621/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/opening-ceremony-of-the-london-2012-olympics/article4445321/|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Sgt. Pepper'' has been the subject of many tribute albums,{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=67}} including a multi-artist CD available with the March 2007 issue of ''Mojo'' and a 2009 live album, ''[[Sgt. Pepper Live]]'', by [[Cheap Trick]].{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=819}} Other tribute recordings include ''[[Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father]]'', a multi-artist charity compilation released by the ''NME'' in 1988; [[Big Daddy (band)|Big Daddy]]'s 1992 album ''[[Sgt. Pepper's (Big Daddy album)|Sgt. Pepper's]]'', which Moore recognises as "the most audacious" of all the interpretations of the Beatles' LP up to 1997;{{sfn|Moore|1997|pp=67–68}} and the Flaming Lips' ''[[With a Little Help from My Fwends]]'', released in 2014.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Lynch|first=Joe|title=Flaming Lips, 'With a Little Help From My Fwends': Track-By-Track Review|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6289359/flaming-lips-sgt-peppers-with-a-little-help-from-my-fwends-track-by-track-review|magazine=Billboard|date=22 October 2014|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822131520/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6289359/flaming-lips-sgt-peppers-with-a-little-help-from-my-fwends-track-by-track-review|archive-date=22 August 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> [[BBC Radio 2]] broadcast ''Sgt. Pepper's 40th Anniversary'' in June 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008kgbq|title=Sgt Pepper Recreated|publisher=[[BBC Radio 2]]|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=21 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821151813/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008kgbq|url-status=live}}</ref> The programme contained new versions of the songs by artists such as Oasis, [[the Killers]] and [[Kaiser Chiefs]], produced by Emerick using EMI's original four-track recording equipment.<ref name="SMH" /><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Simon|last=Vozick-Levinson|title=Defending the 'Sgt. Pepper' Cover Project|url=https://ew.com/article/2007/04/09/defending_the_s/|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=9 April 2007|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408211848/https://ew.com/article/2007/04/09/defending_the_s/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 1987 CD release attracted considerable media interest{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|p=282}}<ref name="Petridis/Guardian" /> and coincided with a [[Granada Television|Granada]] TV documentary, ''[[It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (film)|It Was Twenty Years Ago Today]]'', that located the album at the centre of the Summer of Love.{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=388}}<ref name="Jensen/UPI">{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/15/TV-show-analyses-the-Beatles-era/9488548049600/|first=Gregory|last=Jensen|title=TV Show Analyses the Beatles Era|work=[[United Press International]]|date=15 May 1987|access-date=20 March 2018|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308175828/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/15/TV-show-analyses-the-Beatles-era/9488548049600/|url-status=live}}</ref> The reissue peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=388}} and topped ''Billboard''{{'s}} CDs chart.{{sfn|Hoffmann|Bailey|1990|p=283}} The album's 25th anniversary was observed with ''[[The South Bank Show]]''{{'s}} presentation{{sfn|Clayson|2003|pp=436–37}} of Martin's TV documentary ''The Making of Sgt. Pepper'', which included interviews with the three surviving Beatles.{{sfn|Badman|2001|pp=479, 484}}{{refn|group=nb|''The Making of Sgt. Pepper'' first aired in the US in September 1992 on the [[Disney Channel]].{{sfn|Badman|2001|pp=479, 484}} In keeping with the channel's family image,<ref>{{cite news|first=Chris|last=Willman|title=TV Review: Fab Foray into Making of 'Sgt. Pepper'|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-25-ca-864-story.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=25 September 1992|access-date=30 June 2020|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408210347/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-25-ca-864-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the band members' comments on the role that drugs played in the album's creation were cut from the broadcast and replaced with alternative footage.{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=479}}}} Although there was no official campaign for the 30th anniversary, BBC Radio 2 broadcast ''Pepper Forever'' in the UK and some 12,000 schools across the US listened to a radio special dedicated to the album on 2 June 1997.{{sfn|Badman|2001|pp=569, 570}} Aside from Radio 2's June 2007 project, the 40th anniversary was marked by the [[University of Leeds]] hosting a meeting of British and American commentators to debate the extent of the album's social and cultural impact.<ref name="SMH">{{cite news|title=It Was 40 Years Ago Today: Britain salutes Beatles' 'Sgt Pepper's'|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/it-was-40-years-ago-today-britain-salutes-beatles-sgt-peppers-20070601-g2w.html|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=1 June 2007|access-date=28 June 2020|archive-date=9 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409131627/https://www.smh.com.au/world/it-was-40-years-ago-today-britain-salutes-beatles-sgt-peppers-20070601-g2w.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Sgt. Pepper's 50th Anniversary Billboard in London.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50th Anniversary Edition|''Sgt. Pepper'' 50th anniversary]] billboard in London]]
On 26 May 2017, ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' was [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50th Anniversary Edition|reissued for the album's 50th anniversary]] as a six-disc box set.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-sgt-pepper-reissue-release-date/|first=Nick|last=Deriso|title=Release Date and Formats Revealed for Beatles Expanded 'Sgt. Pepper' Reissue|website=[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]|date=4 April 2017|access-date=18 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521103130/http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-sgt-pepper-reissue-release-date/|archive-date=21 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The first CD contains a new stereo remix of the album, created by [[Giles Martin]] using first-generation tapes rather than their [[ping-pong recording|subsequent mixdowns]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Titlow|first1=John Paul|title=How The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' Was Retooled To Sound Fresh 50 Years Later|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/40421732/how-the-beatles-sgt-pepper-was-retooled-to-sound-fresh-50-years-later|website=[[Fast Company (magazine)|Fast Company]]|date=19 May 2017|access-date=20 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520021832/https://www.fastcompany.com/40421732/how-the-beatles-sgt-pepper-was-retooled-to-sound-fresh-50-years-later|archive-date=20 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Apple Corps]] produced the TV documentary ''Sgt. Pepper's Musical Revolution'' to commemorate the anniversary,<ref>{{cite web|title=Sgt. Pepper's Musical Revolution|url=https://www.pbs.org/program/sgt-peppers-musical-revolution/|publisher=PBS|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914094521/http://www.pbs.org/program/sgt-peppers-musical-revolution/|archive-date=14 September 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> which was also celebrated with posters, billboards and other decorations in cities around the world.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sesto|first1=Gino|title=50th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Celebrated World Wide|url=https://dashtwo.com/blog/50th-anniversary-of-sgt-peppers/|publisher=Dash Two|date=20 June 2017|access-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921095048/https://dashtwo.com/blog/50th-anniversary-of-sgt-peppers/|archive-date=21 September 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In Liverpool, the anniversary was the focus of a three-week cultural festival that included events dedicated to each of the album's thirteen songs.<ref name="Kennedy/Guardian">{{cite news|first=Maev|last=Kennedy|title=Liverpool gears up to celebrate Sgt Pepper's 50th birthday|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/22/liverpool-gears-up-to-celebrate-sgt-peppers-50th-birthday|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=23 March 2017|access-date=12 June 2020|archive-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408210343/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/22/liverpool-gears-up-to-celebrate-sgt-peppers-50th-birthday|url-status=live}}</ref> As part of the festival, [[Mark Morris (choreographer)|Mark Morris]] choreographed ''Pepperland'' to four of the songs from ''Sgt. Pepper'' and "Penny Lane", arranged by [[Ethan Iverson]], plus six original compositions by Iverson,<ref name="Guardian-2017-05-28">{{cite news|first=Luke|last=Jennings|title=Beatles with a touch of Broadway shuffle|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/may/28/mark-morris-pepperland-sgt-peppers-royal-court-liverpool-review-beatles|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=28 May 2017|access-date=9 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224045230/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/may/28/mark-morris-pepperland-sgt-peppers-royal-court-liverpool-review-beatles|archive-date=24 December 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> and a dawn-to-dusk celebration of Indian music was held in recognition of Harrison's absorption in the genre.<ref name="Kennedy/Guardian" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.liverpoolphil.com/press/george-harrison-within-you-without-you|title=Liverpool Philharmonic Presents: George Harrison 'Within You Without You' The Story of The Beatles and Indian Music|publisher=[[Royal Liverpool Philharmonic|liverpoolphil.com]]|date=5 June 2017|access-date=13 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615120333/http://liverpoolphil.com/press/george-harrison-within-you-without-you|archive-date=15 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The 50th anniversary edition of ''Sgt. Pepper'' topped the UK Albums Chart.<ref name="huffpost"/>
{{Clear}}

== Track listing ==
All songs written by [[Lennon–McCartney]], except "Within You Without You" by [[George Harrison]]. Track lengths and lead vocals per [[Mark Lewisohn]] and [[Ian MacDonald]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lewisohn|2010|p=350}}; {{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|pp=220–250}}.</ref>

{{Track listing
| headline       = Side one
| all_writing    = 
| extra_column   = Lead vocals
| title1         = [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]
| extra1         = McCartney
| length1        = 2:00

| title2         = [[With a Little Help from My Friends]]
| extra2         = Starr
| length2        = 2:42

| title3         = [[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds]]
| extra3         = Lennon
| length3        = 3:28

| title4         = [[Getting Better]]
| extra4         = McCartney
| length4        = 2:48

| title5         = [[Fixing a Hole]]
| extra5         = McCartney
| length5        = 2:36

| title6         = [[She's Leaving Home]]
| extra6         = McCartney with Lennon
| length6        = 3:25

| title7         = [[Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!]]
| extra7         = Lennon
| length7        = 2:37
| total_length   = 19:36
}}
{{Track listing
| headline       = Side two
| extra_column   = Lead vocals

| title1         = [[Within You Without You]]
| extra1         = Harrison
| length1        = 5:05

| title2         = [[When I'm Sixty-Four]]
| extra2         = McCartney
| length2        = 2:37

| title3         = [[Lovely Rita]]
| extra3         = McCartney
| length3        = 2:42

| title4         = [[Good Morning Good Morning]]
| extra4         = Lennon
| length4        = 2:42

| title5         = [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)#Reprise|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)]]
| extra5         = Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr
| length5        = 1:18

| title6         = [[A Day in the Life]]
| extra6         = Lennon with McCartney
| length6        = 5:38
| total_length   = 20:02 <!-- Unless you can cite a source for the "inner groove" being listed as a track on the original release, it doesn't belong here, since it's [[WP:OR|original research]]. Especially by Calkin. -->
}}

== Personnel ==
According to Mark Lewisohn and Ian MacDonald,<ref>{{harvnb|Lewisohn|2010|pp=232–53}}, {{harvnb|MacDonald|2005|pp=215–50}}.</ref> except where noted:

'''The Beatles'''
* [[John Lennon]] – lead, harmony and background vocals; rhythm, acoustic and lead guitars; [[Hammond organ]], final piano E chord; harmonica, [[tape loop]]s, [[sound effect]]s, [[comb and tissue paper]]; handclaps, tambourine, maracas, bass guitar on "Fixing a Hole"<ref name=":0">{{Cite AV media notes|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (50th Anniversary Deluxe Version)|type=booklet|last=Howlett|first=Kevin|publisher=[[Apple Records]]|year=2017}}</ref>
* [[Paul McCartney]] – lead, harmony and background vocals; bass and lead guitars; piano, grand piano, [[Lowrey organ|Lowrey]] and Hammond organs; handclaps; vocalisations, sound effects, comb and tissue paper
* [[George Harrison]] – harmony and background vocals; lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars; [[sitar]], [[Tanpura|tambura]], [[swarmandal]];<ref>{{cite news|first=Philip|last=Elwood|title=The Beatles: ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (Capitol SMAS 2653)|newspaper=[[San Francisco Examiner]]|date=3 June 1967}} Available at [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-isgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-bandi-capitol-smas-2653 Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630011443/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-isgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-bandi-capitol-smas-2653 |date=30 June 2020 }} (subscription required).</ref> harmonica, comb and tissue paper; handclaps, tambourine, maracas; lead vocals on "Within You Without You" 
* [[Ringo Starr]] – drums, [[conga]]s, [[tambourine]], [[maraca]]s, handclaps, [[tubular bells]]; lead vocals on "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)";<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sgt, Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (50th Anniversary Deluxe Version) (book).|last=Howlett|first=Kevin|publisher=The Beatles. Apple Records.|year=2017}}</ref> harmonica, comb and tissue paper; final piano E chord

'''Additional musicians and production'''
* [[Sounds Incorporated|Sounds Inc.]] – saxophones, trombones and French horn on "Good Morning Good Morning"
* [[Neil Aspinall]] – tambura, harmonica
* [[Geoff Emerick]] – [[audio engineering]]; tape loops, sound effects{{refn|group=nb|Despite Martin's efforts to secure an engineer's credit for Emerick on ''Sgt. Pepper'', EMI refused the request.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=123}} Emerick was nevertheless the recipient of the 1968 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=256}}}}
* [[Mal Evans]] – counting, harmonica, alarm clock, final piano E chord
* [[George Martin]] – producer, [[audio mixing (recorded music)|mixer]]; tape loops, sound effects; [[harpsichord]] on "Fixing a Hole", [[Pump organ|harmonium]], Lowrey organ, [[glockenspiel]] and [[Mellotron]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (50th Anniversary Deluxe Version) (book).|last=Howlett|first=Kevin|publisher=The Beatles. Apple Records.|year=2017}}</ref> on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", Hammond organ on "With a Little Help from My Friends", piano on "Getting Better", piano solo on "Lovely Rita"; final harmonium chord.
* Session musicians – four French horns on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band": [[Neill Sanders]], James W. Buck, John Burden, Tony Randall, arranged and conducted by Martin and McCartney; [[harp]], performed by [[Sheila Bromberg]], and [[string instrument|string]] section on "She's Leaving Home", arranged by [[Mike Leander]] and conducted by Martin; [[tabla]] by Natwar Soni, [[dilruba]]s by Anna Joshi and Amrit Gajjar, and tambura by Buddhadev Kansara on "Within You Without You",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/english/music/news/uncredited-indian-musicians-on-beatles-sgt-pepper-found/articleshow/59081547.cms|agency=Press Trust of India|title=Uncredited Indian musicians on Beatles' album 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' found|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|date=10 June 2017|access-date=13 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822014741/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/english/music/news/uncredited-indian-musicians-on-beatles-sgt-pepper-found/articleshow/59081547.cms|archive-date=22 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> with eight violins and four cellos arranged and conducted by Harrison and Martin; clarinet trio on "When I'm Sixty-Four": Robert Burns, Henry MacKenzie, Frank Reidy, arranged and conducted by Martin and McCartney; saxophones on "Good Morning Good Morning", arranged and conducted by Martin and Lennon; and forty-piece orchestra, including strings, [[brass instrument|brass]], [[woodwind instrument|woodwinds]] and percussion on "A Day in the Life", arranged by Martin, Lennon and McCartney, and conducted by Martin and McCartney.

== Charts ==
=== Weekly charts ===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Original release
|-
!Chart (1967–70)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|Australian [[Kent Music Report]]<ref name="auchart">{{Cite book|title=[[Kent Music Report|Australian Chart Book 1970–1992]]|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, NSW|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6}}</ref>
|1
|-
|align="left"|Canadian [[RPM (magazine)|''RPM'' Top LPs]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.10081a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.10081a.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.10081a |title=''RPM'' Top Albums/CDs – Volume 7, No. 21, Jul 22, 1967 |date=17 July 2013 |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]] |access-date=8 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413012103/http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.10081a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.10081a.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.10081a |archive-date=13 April 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|1
|-
|align="left"|[[Suomen virallinen lista|Finnish Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Jake|last=Nyman|year=2005|title=Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja|publisher=Tammi|location=Helsinki|isbn=951-31-2503-3|language=fi}}</ref>
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|Norwegian [[VG-lista]] Albums<ref>{{cite web |url=https://norwegiancharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=1967&date=196724&cat=a |title=VG Lista – Album Top 40 |publisher=norwegiancharts.com|access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229150911/http://norwegiancharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=1967&date=196724&cat=a |archive-date=29 December 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|1
|-
|align="left"|Swedish [[Sverigetopplistan|Kvällstoppen Chart]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Swedish Charts 1966–1969/Kvällstoppen – Listresultaten vecka för vecka > Juni 1967 > 20 Juni|url=http://www.hitsallertijden.nl/charts/swedish%20charts/SwedishCharts%200366-0969.pdf|work=hitsallertijden.nl|language=sv|access-date=31 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305110338/http://www.hitsallertijden.nl/charts/swedish%20charts/SwedishCharts%200366-0969.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2018|url-status=live}} ''Note: [[Sverigetopplistan|Kvällstoppen]] combined sales for albums and singles in the one chart. ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' peaked at number five for two weeks beginning on 20 June 1967, but was the highest-charting LP.''</ref>
|1
|-
|align="left"|UK [[UK Albums Chart|''Record Retailer'' LPs Chart]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/10363/beatles/|title=The Beatles – Full official Chart History|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|access-date=13 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512024604/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/10363/beatles/|archive-date=12 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
|1
|-
|align="left"|US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top LPs]]<ref name="billboard">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200?tag=chscr1#/charts/billboard-200?chartDate=1967-07-01 |title=Billboard 200 |magazine=Billboard |access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115095520/http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200?tag=chscr1#/charts/billboard-200?chartDate=1967-07-01 |archive-date=15 November 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|1
|-
|align="left"|West German [[Musikmarkt|''Musikmarkt'' LP Hit-Parade]]<ref name="dechart">{{cite web|url = https://www.offiziellecharts.de/suche|title = Search: The Beatles – ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|language = de|publisher = Media Control|access-date = 1 May 2010|format = ASP|archive-date = 2 November 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151102071930/http://i.imgur.com/My5ZAxf.jpg|url-status = live}}</ref>
|1
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+1987 reissue
|-
!Chart
!Position
|-
|align="left"|[[MegaCharts|Dutch Mega Albums Chart]]<ref name="nlchart">{{cite web|title=The Beatles – ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Beatles&titel=Sgt.+Peppers+Lonely+Hearts+Club+Band&cat=a|language=nl|publisher=dutchcharts.nl|access-date=1 May 2010|format=ASP|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207213344/http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Beatles&titel=Sgt%2E+Peppers+Lonely+Hearts+Club+Band&cat=a|archive-date=7 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
|2
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Albums Chart<ref name="Jachart1">{{cite book|title=Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005|publisher=Oricon Entertainment|location=[[Roppongi]], Tokyo|year=2006|isbn=4-87131-077-9}}</ref>
|3
|-
|align="left"|[[UK Albums Chart]]<ref name="ukchart">{{cite web| url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/Beatles| title=The Beatles > Artists > Official Charts| publisher=[[UK Albums Chart]]| access-date=1 May 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313042939/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/beatles/| archive-date=13 March 2013| url-status=live}}</ref>
|3
|-
|align="left"|US [[Billboard charts|''Billboard'' Top Compact Disks]]<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/80s/1987/Billboard-1987-06-27.pdf|title=Top Compact Disks (for week ending June 27, 1987)|magazine=Billboard|date=27 June 1987|access-date=23 July 2020|page=42|archive-date=4 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104180733/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/80s/1987/Billboard-1987-06-27.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
|1
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+2009 reissue
|-
!Chart
!Position
|-
|align="left"|[[ARIA Charts|Australian Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://australian-charts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=20090927&cat=a |title=Album Top 50 |publisher=australian-charts.com|access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026185922/http://australian-charts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=20090927&cat=a |archive-date=26 October 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|16
|-
|align="left"|[[Ultratop|Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Beatles – ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|url=https://www.ultratop.be/fr/album/19de/The-Beatles-Sgt.-Pepper%27s-Lonely-Hearts-Club-Band|language=fr|format=ASP|publisher=ultratop.be|access-date=15 January 2022|archive-date=12 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412224749/https://www.ultratop.be/fr/album/19de/The-Beatles-Sgt.-Pepper%27s-Lonely-Hearts-Club-Band|url-status=live}}</ref>
|22
|-
|align="left"|[[Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos|Brazilian Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abpd.org.br/noticias_internas.asp?noticia=187 |title=De 14 a 20 de Setembro 2009 |publisher=[[Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos]] (in Portuguese) |access-date=16 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928081133/http://www.abpd.org.br/noticias_internas.asp?noticia=187 |archive-date=28 September 2011}}</ref>
|20
|-
|align="left"|Danish Albums Chart<ref name="dkchart">{{cite web|title=The Beatles – ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|publisher=danishcharts.dk|url=https://danishcharts.dk/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Beatles&titel=Sgt.+Pepper%27s+Lonely+Hearts+Club+Band&cat=a|format=ASP|access-date=12 October 2012|archive-date=6 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606143113/https://danishcharts.dk/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Beatles&titel=Sgt%2E+Pepper%27s+Lonely+Hearts+Club+Band&cat=a|url-status=live}}</ref>
|20
|-
|align="left"|[[Finnish Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://finnishcharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=200938&cat=a |title=Album Top 50 |publisher=finnishcharts.com|access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104052224/http://finnishcharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=200938&cat=a |archive-date=4 January 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|9
|-
|align="left"|[[Italian Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://italiancharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=20090917&cat=a |title=Album Top 20 |publisher=italiancharts.com|access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214220016/http://italiancharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=20090917&cat=a |archive-date=14 December 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|9
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Albums Chart<ref name="Jachart2">{{cite web| url=https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/69149/full/| script-title=ja:ザ・ビートルズ"リマスター"全16作トップ100入り「売上金額は23.1億円」| trans-title=All of the Beatles' "Remastered" Albums Enter the Top 100: Grossing 2,310 Million Yen in One Week| language=ja| publisher=oricon.co.jp| date=15 September 2009| access-date=3 March 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309122433/http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/69149/full/| archive-date=9 March 2013| url-status=live}}</ref>
|20
|-
|align="left"|[[Recording Industry Association of New Zealand|New Zealand Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://charts.nz/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=20090914&cat=a |title=Album Top 40 |publisher=charts.nz|access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521075032/http://charts.nz/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=20090914&cat=a |archive-date=21 May 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|12
|-
|align="left"|[[IFPI|Norwegian Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://norwegiancharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=200938&cat=a |title=VG Lista – Album Top 40 |publisher=norwegiancharts.com|access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227024821/http://norwegiancharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=200938&cat=a |archive-date=27 December 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|31
|-
|align="left"|[[Portuguese Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://portuguesecharts.com/archive.asp?todo=show&woche=38&jahr=2009&sparte=a |title=Portuguese Charts: Albums – 38/2009 |publisher=portuguesecharts.com|access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012191617/http://portuguesecharts.com/archive.asp?todo=show&woche=38&jahr=2009&sparte=a |archive-date=12 October 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|4
|-
|align="left"|[[PROMUSICAE|Spanish Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://spanishcharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=20090913&cat=a |title=Album Top 100 |publisher=spanishcharts.com|access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008050856/http://spanishcharts.com/weekchart.asp?year=2009&date=20090913&cat=a |archive-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|22
|-
|align="left"|[[Swedish Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Beatles – ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|format=ASP|url=https://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Beatles&titel=Sgt.+Peppers+Lonely+Hearts+Club+Band&cat=a|publisher=swedishcharts.com |language=sv|access-date=1 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225015947/http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Beatles&titel=Sgt%2E+Peppers+Lonely+Hearts+Club+Band&cat=a|archive-date=25 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
|8
|-
|align="left"|UK Albums Chart<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/20090913/7502/ |title=UK Albums Chart |publisher=[[Official Charts Company]] |access-date=16 November 2010 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408210343/https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/20090913/7502/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|5
|}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+2017 reissue
|-
!Chart
!Position
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Australia|5|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=3 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Austria|3|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=8 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Flanders|2|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=2 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Wallonia|1|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=2 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|BillboardCanada|7|M|url=http://www.fyimusicnews.ca/articles/2017/06/04/charts-june-05-2017|title=On The Charts: June 5, 2017|publisher=FYIMusicNews|artist=The Beatles|rowheader=true|access-date=5 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Czech|6|date=201722|access-date=6 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Denmark|3|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=7 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Netherlands|2|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=2 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Finland|23|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=4 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Germany4|5|id=6622|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=2 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Ireland|2|M|url=https://www.irma.ie/index.cfm?page=irish-charts&chart=Albums|title=Irish Albums Chart: 3 June 2017|publisher=Irish Recorded Music Association|access-date=3 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left"| Italian Albums ([[Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana|FIMI]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fimi.it/classifiche#/category:album/id:2486|title=Album – Classifica settimanale WK 22 (dal 2017-05-26 al 2017-06-01)|publisher=[[Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana]]|language=it|access-date=6 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125015143/http://www.fimi.it/classifiche#/category:album/id:2486|archive-date=25 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 6
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Oricon|5|date=12 June 2017|rowheader=true|access-date=10 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left"|Mexican Albums ([[Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas|AMPROFON]])<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amprofon.com.mx/top-album.php |title=Top Album – Semanal (del 09 de Junio al 15 de Junio)|access-date=11 July 2017|language=es|publisher=Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711201001/http://www.amprofon.com.mx/top-album.php|archive-date=11 July 2017}}</ref>
|18
|-
|align="left"| New Zealand Albums ([[Recorded Music NZ|RMNZ]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/albums/2017-06-02|title=NZ Top 40 Albums Chart|publisher=[[Recorded Music NZ]]|date=5 June 2017|access-date=2 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614175238/http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/albums?chart=4368|archive-date=14 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 4
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Norway|9|M|url=https://lista.vg.no/liste/topp-40-album/2/dato/2017/uke/22|title=VG-lista – Topp 40 Album uke 22, 2017|publisher=[[VG-lista]]|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=3 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Poland|28|id=1085|rowheader=true|access-date=8 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left"|[[Portuguese Albums Chart]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://portuguesecharts.com/archive.asp?todo=show&woche=22&jahr=2017&sparte=a|title=Portuguese Charts: Albums – 22/2017|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=1 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801085936/http://portuguesecharts.com/archive.asp?todo=show&woche=22&jahr=2017&sparte=a|archive-date=1 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
|3
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Scotland|1|date=2 June 2017|access-date=3 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left"| Spanish Albums ([[Productores de Música de España|PROMUSICAE]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.promusicae.es/listas/semana/3428-%C3%81lbumes-semana-22-2017|title=Top 100 Albumes – Semana 22: del 26.05.2017 al 01.06.2017|publisher=[[Productores de Música de España]]|language=es|access-date=7 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824092957/http://www.promusicae.es/listas/semana/3428-%C3%81lbumes-semana-22-2017|archive-date=24 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 3
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Sweden|2|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=3 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|Switzerland|2|artist=The Beatles|album=Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band|access-date=7 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left" {{album chart|UK2|1|date=2 June 2017|access-date=3 June 2017}}
|-
|align="left"| US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7817591/bryson-tiller-true-to-self-no-1-billboard-200|title=Bryson Tiller Notches His First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'True to Self'|first=Keith|last=Caulfield|magazine=Billboard|date=4 June 2017|access-date=5 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170604230659/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7817591/bryson-tiller-true-to-self-no-1-billboard-200|archive-date=4 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
| 3
|}
{{col-end}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

=== Year-end charts ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Chart (1967)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|[[List of Top 25 albums for 1967 in Australia|Australian Albums Chart]]<ref name="auchart" />
|1
|-
|align="left"|[[UK Albums Chart]]<ref name="Mawer/1967">{{cite web|first=Sharon|last=Mawer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217020411/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1967.php|url=https://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1967.php|title=Album Chart History: 1967|publisher=[[Official Charts Company|The Official UK Charts Company]]|date=May 2007|archive-date=17 December 2007|access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref>
|1
|-
|align="left"|US ''Billboard'' Year-End<ref>{{cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=aSgEAAAAMBAJ|page=12}}|title=Billboard – Top Pop Albums of 1967 |access-date=3 May 2013}}</ref>
|10
|-
!Chart (1968)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|[[List of Top 25 albums for 1968 in Australia|Australian Albums Chart]]<ref name="auchart" />
|3
|-
|align="left"|US ''Billboard'' Year-End<ref>{{cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=736Mu91q_fcC|page=230}}|page=230|title=Billboard – Top Pop Albums of 1968|access-date=3 May 2013}}</ref>
|6
|-
|}
{{col-2}}

=== Decade-end charts ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Chart (1960s)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|[[UK Albums Chart]]<ref name="Mawer/1969" />
|1
|}
{{col-end}}

==Certifications and sales==
{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications and sales for ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Argentina|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1990|certref=<ref name=capif>{{cite web|url=https://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110706084844/http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=&album=&LanDesde_MM=1&LanDesde_AA=1980&LanHasta_MM=12&LanHasta_AA=2010&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP |archive-date= 6 July 2011 |title=Discos de oro y platino |access-date=16 September 2012 |publisher=[[Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas]] |language=es |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Argentina|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Platinum|number=3|note=1987 CD issue|relyear=1987|certref=<ref name=capif />}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles |award=Platinum|number=4|certyear=2009}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Brazil|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Gold|relyear=1967|certyear=1997|salesamount=290,000|salesref=<ref>{{cite news|url=http://memoria.bn.br/DocReader/DocReader.aspx?bib=030015_10&Pesq=beatles%20abbey%20road&pagfis=201532|title=O sargento Pimenta faz 20 anos|newspaper=[[Jornal do Brasil]]|quote=Sgt. pepper’s que toca em cinco paginas desta edicao, e o terceiro mais vendido (290 mil). Perde Abbey Road (390 mil) e para Help (320 mil)|language=pt|date=1 June 1987|page=37|via=[[National Library of Brazil]]|archive-date=9 April 2023|access-date=18 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409124929/http://memoria.bn.br/DocReader/DocReader.aspx?bib=030015_10&Pesq=beatles%20abbey%20road&pagfis=201532|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Platinum|number=8|certyear=1990|relyear=1967}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Denmark|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Platinum|number=3|certyear=2023|id=12267|access-date=29 March 2023}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=France|type=album|artist=The Beatles|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|award=Gold|relyear=1968|certyear=1978}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Germany|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Platinum|relyear=1967}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=album|title=Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Platinum|relyear=1967|certyear=2019|access-date=4 March 2019|note=sales since 2009}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Ireland|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|nocert=true|salesamount=10,000|salesref=<ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SB0-AAAAIBAJ&pg=PA4&dq=Ireland&article_id=6265,1759238&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjP4pnXv6GNAxWzt4QIHRc9Ii0Q6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=Ireland&f=false|title=Beatle Beater|newspaper=Evening Times|date=9 December 1985|access-date=13 May 2025|page=6}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Japan|nocert=yes|salesamount=208,000<!-- Cumulative sales from 1970 onwards -->|salesref=<ref name="Jachart1" />}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Platinum|number=6|relyear=1967|source=archive|certyear=2009}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=album|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles|award=Platinum|number=18|id=9388-1786-2|certyear=2020|access-date=2 February 2021<!--|salesamount=5,340,000|salesref=<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-uks-biggest-studio-albums-of-all-time__24431/|title=The UK's biggest studio albums of all time|last=Copsey|first=Rob|date=13 October 2018|publisher=[[Official Charts Company]]|access-date=13 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107091751/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-uks-biggest-studio-albums-of-all-time__24431/|archive-date=7 January 2019|url-status=live-->}}</ref>}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|title=Lonely Hearts Club Band|artist=The Beatles |award=Platinum|number=11}}
{{Certification Table Summary}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Worldwide|type=album|artist=Beatles|title=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|nocert=true|salesamount=32,000,000|salesref=<ref name="euronews"/>}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true}}

==See also==
* [[Outline of the Beatles]]
* [[The Beatles timeline]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
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* {{cite book|last=Hannan|first=Michael |author-link=Michael Hannan (composer) |year=2008|chapter= The sound design of ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|title= Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today|editor-last=Julien |editor-first=Olivier|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-6708-7|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vZ-SB57WBo8C}}}}
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* {{cite book|last=Julien|first=Olivier |year=2008b|chapter= 'Their production will be second to none': An introduction to ''Sgt. Pepper''|title= Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today|editor-last=Julien |editor-first=Olivier|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-6708-7|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vZ-SB57WBo8C}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Julien|first=Olivier |year=2008c|chapter= 'A lucky man who made the grade': ''Sgt. Pepper'' and the rise of a phonographic tradition in twentieth-century popular music |title= Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today|editor-last=Julien |editor-first=Olivier|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-6708-7|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vZ-SB57WBo8C}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Kimsey|first=John |year=2008|chapter= The Whatchamucallit in the garden: ''Sgt. Pepper'' and fables of interference |title= Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today|editor-last=Julien |editor-first=Olivier|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-6708-7|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vZ-SB57WBo8C}}}}
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* {{cite book|last=Moore|first=Allan F.|year=2008|chapter=The act you've known for all these years: a re-encounter with ''Sgt. Pepper'' |title= Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today|editor-last=Julien |editor-first=Olivier|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-6708-7|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vZ-SB57WBo8C}}}}
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* {{cite book|last=Norman|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Norman (author)|title=Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation|publisher=Fireside|location=New York, NY|year=1996|orig-year=1981|isbn=0-684-83067-1}}
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* {{cite book|last=Northcutt|first=William N.|chapter=The Spectacle of Alienation: Death, Loss, and the Crowd in ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''|editor1-last=Womack|editor1-first=Kenneth|editor2-last=Davis|editor2-first=Todd F.|title=Reading the Beatles: Cultural Studies, Literary Criticism, and the Fab Four|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8Ob1bL_ongC&q=Paul+said+Come+and+see+the+show%2C+I+said+I+read+the+news+today+oh+boy&pg=PA137|year=2006|publisher=SUNY Press|location=Albany, NY|isbn=0-7914-6716-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Philo|first=Simon|title=British Invasion: The Crosscurrents of Musical Influence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WqiDBQAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-0-8108-8626-1}}
* {{cite book|first=Mark|last=Prendergast|title=The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Moby – The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age|url=https://archive.org/details/ambientcenturyfr00pren|url-access=registration|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=New York, NY|year=2003|isbn=1-58234-323-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Reck|first=David |year=2008|chapter= The Beatles and Indian Music |title= Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today|editor-last=Julien |editor-first=Olivier|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-6708-7|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vZ-SB57WBo8C}}}}
* {{cite book|last1=Reising|first1=Russell|first2=Jim|last2=LeBlanc|chapter=Magical Mystery Tours, and Other Trips: Yellow submarines, newspaper taxis, and the Beatles' psychedelic years|editor-last=Womack|editor-first=Kenneth|year=2009|title=The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-68976-2}}
* {{cite book|first=Tim|last=Riley|author-link=Tim Riley (music critic)|title=Tell Me Why – The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXn8AgAAQBAJ |publisher=Da Capo Press|location=Cambridge, MA|year=2002|orig-year=1988|isbn=978-0-306-81120-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Michael James|title=Tell Tchaikovsky the News: Rock 'n' Roll, the Labor Question, and the Musicians' Union, 1942–1968|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pIBXAwAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham, NC|isbn=978-0-8223-5475-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Rodriguez|first=Robert|title=Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'n' Roll|year=2012|publisher=Backbeat Books|location=Milwaukee, WI|isbn=978-1-61713-009-0|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=farlJScWrTMC}} }}
* {{cite book|last=Romano|first=Will|title=Mountains Come Out of the Sky: The Illustrated History of Prog Rock|date=2010|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=978-1-61713-375-6 }}
* {{cite book|last=Romanowski|first=William D.|title=Pop Culture Wars: Religion and the Role of Entertainment in American Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D41LAwAAQBAJ|year=2006|publisher=Wipf and Stock|location=Eugene, OR|isbn=978-1-59752-577-0}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Scapelliti|first=Christopher|title=The Making of ''Sgt. Pepper'': Rock's Big Bang|magazine=[[Guitar World]]|volume=28|issue=6|date=June 2007}}
* {{cite book|last=Schaffner|first=Nicholas|author-link=Nicholas Schaffner|title=The Beatles Forever|year=1978|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=0-07-055087-5|url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesforever00scha}}
* {{cite book|last=Sheff|first=David|author-link=David Sheff|editor1-last=Golson|editor1-first=G. Barry|year=1981|edition=2000|title=All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono|publisher=St Martin's Griffin|isbn=978-0-312-25464-3|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=HL7X-YyrINUC}}}}
* {{cite book|last1=Sheffield|first1=Rob|author-link=Rob Sheffield|chapter=The Beatles|chapter-url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=t9eocwUfoSoC|page=51}}|title=[[The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]]|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-last=with Hoard|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York, NY|date=2004|isbn=978-0-7432-0169-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Simonelli|first=David|title=Working Class Heroes: Rock Music and British Society in the 1960s and 1970s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mnrwy7P3KvQC&q=%22jack+Kroll%22+%22A+Day+in+the+Life%22|year=2013|publisher=Lexington Books|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-0-7391-7051-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Chris|title=101 Albums That Changed Popular Music|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York, NY|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-537371-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Sounes|first=Howard|author-link=Howard Sounes|title=Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney|publisher=HarperCollins|location=London|year=2010|isbn=978-0-00-723705-0|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=jQJk-qRy5IUC}} }}
* {{cite book|last=Spitz|first=Bob|author-link=Bob Spitz|title=The Beatles: The Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesbiography00spit|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|isbn=978-0-7394-6966-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Tillery|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Tillery|title=Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison|year=2011|publisher=Quest|isbn=978-0-8356-0900-5|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ajhTvx3NQPYC}} }}
* {{cite book|last=Turner|first=Steve|author-link=Steve Turner (writer)|title=Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year|year=2016|publisher=Ecco|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-06-247558-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Wagner|first=Naphtali|year=2008|chapter= The Beatles' psycheclassical synthesis: psychedelic classicism and classical psychedelia in ''Sgt. Pepper''|title= Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today|editor-last=Julien |editor-first=Olivier|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-6708-7|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vZ-SB57WBo8C}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Wiener |first=Allen J.|year=1992 | title=The Beatles: The Ultimate Recording Guide |publisher= Checkmark Books |isbn=978-0-8160-2511-4 }}
* {{cite book|last=Whiteley|first=Sheila|year=2008|chapter= 'Tangerine trees and marmalade skies': cultural agendas or optimistic escapism? |title= Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today|editor-last=Julien |editor-first=Olivier|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-6708-7|url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=vZ-SB57WBo8C}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Winn|first=John C.|year=2009|title=That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966–1970|publisher=Three Rivers Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-307-45239-9}}
* {{cite book|last= Womack |first= Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Womack|year= 2007 | title = Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles|publisher= Continuum |isbn= 978-0-8264-1746-6 }}
* {{cite book|last=Womack|first=Kenneth|year=2014|title=The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, CA|isbn= 978-0-313-39171-2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Womack |first1=Kenneth |title=Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Later Years, 1966–2016 |year=2018 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |location=Chicago, IL |isbn=978-0-912777-77-1}}</ref>
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite web|last=Blackwell|first=Thomas|title=Sgt. Pepper Sets the Stage: The Album as a Work of Art|website=[[PopMatters]]|date=22 November 2009|url=https://www.popmatters.com/feature/115779-sgt.-pepper-sets-the-stage-the-album-as-a-work-of-art/|access-date=21 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129043659/http://www.popmatters.com/feature/115779-sgt.-pepper-sets-the-stage-the-album-as-a-work-of-art/|archive-date=29 January 2015|url-status=live|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Browne|first=David|author-link=David Browne (journalist)|title=I Have to Hide My Love Away? Help!|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|date=14 September 2007|url=https://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w070910&s=browne091407|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070918163423/http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w070910&s=browne091407|archive-date=18 September 2007|access-date=24 July 2020|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|title=A Brief History of Album Covers|first=Jason|last=Draper|publisher=Flame Tree Publishing|location=London|year=2008|pages=48–49|isbn=9781847862112|oclc=227198538}}
* {{cite book|last=Echard|first=William|year=2017|chapter=The Later 1960s|title=Psychedelic Popular Music: A History Through Musical Topic Theory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJoqDwAAQBAJ|location=Bloomington, IN|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253026590|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Gould|first=Jonathan|title=Why the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' Hasn't Shown Signs of Aging|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=26 June 2017|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/why-the-beatles-sgt-pepper-hasnt-shown-signs-of-aging|access-date=24 July 2020|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Heylin|first=Clinton|author-link=Clinton Heylin|title=The Act You've Known for All These Years: The Life, and Afterlife, of Sgt. Pepper|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwTJGAAACAAJ|location=Edinburgh, UK|publisher=Canongate|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84195-955-9|ref=none}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Irvin|first=Jim|title=The Beatles: After Pepper|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=Summer 2005|ref=none}} Available at [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-after-pepper Rock's Backpages] (subscription required).
* {{cite news|last=Rosen|first=Jody|author-link=Jody Rosen|title=Everything You Know About ''Sgt. Pepper's'' Is Wrong|url=https://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2007/06/everything_you_know_about_sgt_peppers_is_wrong.html|magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date=June 2017|orig-year=8 June 2007|access-date=2 July 2020|ref=none}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links |display=''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' |commonscat=yes |c=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
 |d=Q169226 |q=Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|n=no
 |b=no |m=no|mw= no |s=no  |species=no |species_author=no |v=no|voy= no|wikt=no}}
* {{Official website|https://www.thebeatles.com/sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-0}}
* {{Discogs master|23934}}

{{The Beatles albums}}
{{Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band}}
{{Navboxes
| title      = Awards for ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''
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{{Brit British Album}}
{{Grammy Award for Album of the Year}}
{{Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album}}
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{{UK best-selling albums (by year) 1956–1969}}
{{UK Christmas No. 1 albums in the 1960s}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1967 albums]]
[[Category:The Beatles albums]]
[[Category:Parlophone albums]]
[[Category:Capitol Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by George Martin]]
[[Category:Albums arranged by George Martin]]
[[Category:Albums arranged by Mike Leander]]
[[Category:Albums arranged by Paul McCartney]]
[[Category:Albums arranged by George Harrison]]
[[Category:Albums conducted by George Martin]]
[[Category:Albums conducted by Paul McCartney]]
[[Category:Albums with cover art by Peter Blake (artist)]]
[[Category:Grammy Award for Album of the Year]]
[[Category:Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album]]
[[Category:Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical]]
[[Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients]]
[[Category:Brit Award for British Album of the Year]]
[[Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings]]
[[Category:Fictional sergeants]]
[[Category:Fictional musical groups]]
[[Category:1960s concept albums]]
[[Category:Psychedelic music albums by English artists]]
[[Category:Art rock albums by English artists]]
[[Category:Baroque pop albums]]
[[Category:Proto-prog albums]]
[[Category:United States National Recording Registry albums]]