Actually, 40 years ago today.

A fellow member on JU had an article recently where we looked at the top songs of the Rock and Roll era.  Many commented on the omissions, or agreed with the list.  It was a trip down memory lane for some of us.  On it, I noted that I thought the most influential album of all time was the Beatles - Sgt Pepper.

I personally like the album, and while not a big Beatles fan, I do love their middle year music.  Especially that Album (and Magical Mystery Tour).  But I picked Sgt Pepper because I thought it did more to redefine Rock and Roll than any other single album before or since.  Strong statement I know, but as I was there, it did affect my taste in R&R greatly, and I think many in my generation.

Before Sgt. Pepper, you had either the 50s hop and sugar sweet melodies, or the (what I call) bubble gum pop of the 60s.  But it was pretty much tame (by today's standard), melodic (is that a word), and easy to sing and dance to.  In 64, along came the Beatles, but anyone listening to their early works see that it is just more of the same.  Which I guess is natural as they had to get noticed first, before they could then start producing a new sound.

And Sgt Pepper was the beginning of that new sound.  It took R&R from the "bubble gum" stage to the anthem and beyond stage (I see the Beatles middle years as more of anthem rock than Hard or metal rock.  Grunge, New Wave and Nirvana were still to come).  Without that breakout, I think R&R would have died (or become a niche like big band is today) as it would have atrophied.  And while almost no one would call what the Beatles did Hard Rock, Acid, or Metal, they opened the doors for it to become mainstream.

That is not to say they were the first.  Before the Beatles decided to come out with something more substantial than "Help" and "Hard Days Night", there were other groups out there producing the sounds that would later be classified with other labels.  And they had a following (otherwise they would be a foot note in R&R history like Zagar and Evans).  But the Beatles took innovation mainstream (yes, that is an oxymoron - but an appropriate one here).

That innovation also enabled my favorite group to get a solid following, and produce a different genre of music that they still play today.  And so far, no one has really had success in duplicating (although their have been imitators).

For me, modern Rock and Roll had, if not its birth, its baptism with the Beatles and Sgt Peppers.  And for that, it will always be my favorite Beatles album, one of my favorite albums, and have my thanks for making music so varied and able to appeal to us "grups" as well as our children (something that did not happen between my parents and I).

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies ...

Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begings
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more

I read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad

Thanks John,  Paul, George and Ringo.