"Against “Sgt. Pepper”: The Beatles classic made pop seem male, nerdy and “important” — and that wasn’t a good thing"
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| Dolce & Gabbana |
"Mikal Gilmore of Rolling Stone called the album "a central touchstone for the 1960s" and "an exemplar for a generation that was forging new ideals."
"Sgt. Pepper's," you see, is the album that marked the shift in rock music away from the grubby fingers of the teenybopper crowd and into the hushed halls of Great Art. It was the transition album that turned rock from a debased music for ponytailed fans twisting the night away to music for grown men whose tastes are far too refined to worry about whether a pop song has a beat you can dance to.
"Sgt. Pepper's" was the point when rock stopped being the music of girls and started being the music of men.
"'Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band' was the album that made it possible and intelligible for people to say that a rock ’n’ roll album had changed music," writes Jack Hamilton for Slate, explaining why this album tends to rate above all others in the annals of pop music.
But during all this celebration, I'd like to take the time to pour one out for teenyboppers, who always get there first and all too rarely get the credit for it. In fact, the fate of the teenybopper is to watch her music get sneered at, right up until it gets taken away and turned into a respectable art form that it's OK for grown men to like."
https://www.salon.com/2017/05/29/against-sgt-pepper-the-beatles-classic-made-pop-seem-male-nerdy-and-important-and-that-wasnt-a-good-thing/
28 comments:
When I was around 15, my sis, a year younger, got into the Beatles. I was immediately addicted. Loved all the records she had. When I left home I got an 8-track of 'Let It Be,' which I viewed with suspicion; it didn't sound like the Beatles, I was so used to her set of albums.
"the shift in rock music away from the grubby fingers of the teenybopper crowd and into the hushed halls of Great Art"
More like the final emergence of the Lefty Baby Boomers' erroneous sense of their own importance and intellect.
PS My sister was a Beatlemaniac as soon as it started. Fortunately, she moved on.
When I was around six I love to hear I Wanna Hold Your Hand on the radio, but other than that did not have much exposure. As girls my sisters and I love the Elvis movies.
"The men don't know what the little girls understand."
I've got about 10 years on you.
I never got into album cover art, but I do like this album cover.
Least favorite Beatles album. It probably seemed really revolutionary and cool and arty at the time, especially if you were on drugs. Was it the first "concept" album? Too boring to debate, but it is debatable. They'd arguably already done a concept album and were being encouraged by the pseudointellectual rock press to do another and this is what fell out. FArt.
That's who they were trying to impress, the media. The concept was mostly Paul's idea.
The teenyboppers had it right; their early hits were pure wonderful pop music and after they got past this phase they turned out great albums as well as great songs. This album to me was like a transitional phase between pop music and rock music.
I shunned The Beatles while establishing my tastes in rock music early on. I distinctly recall a Beatles vs. Stones dichotomy and I chose the harder path. But Lemmy (not our Lem), said:
Everybody thinks the Stones were the hard man and the Beatles were the sissies and it's really opposite. The Beatles were from Liverpool and the Stones were from the London suburbs--you know, going to art school and shit and so it wasn't that way at all. And The Beatles--I always thought were the best band in the world you know? link
I appreciated The Beatles only after Lennon died. I still think McCartney's a talented prick.
And don't get me started on Ringo -- there's really nothing profound or new in his drumming. Any 12 year-old could get his chops down. I think he knew that -- and didn't care.
Dolce & Gabbana? This one is for Trooper
Is she what is known as a "clothes horse"?
I found the Miranda character more loathsome than the Carrie one.
Amartel, I think Sgt. Pepper is iconic and lives up to the hype. If they were under pressure to be arty, they succeeded from there on out. I think they really never lost the quirky, arty thing, but it worked.
Chick, I always disliked Lennon, till the last 15 years when my son appreciated him. I think as a girl his nude album cover with Yoko creeped me out. Now he's my favorite. Of course, Harrison was dreamy.
Never cared for Sex in the City, but that's a great clip. I don't mind Carrie so much.
Comparing the Stones and Beatles is like apples and oranges. The Beatles were sui generis, the Stones one of the best Rock bands ever.
Comparing the Stones and Beatles is like apples and oranges.
Well, I recall the sentiment from the time (late '60's/early '70's) as pre-teen and teenager. Of course the dichotomy has faded with time.
Never cared for Sex in the City, but that's a great clip. I don't mind Carrie so much.
My wife loved it and I admit watching all of the early episodes with her. It ended poorly, IMO.
Just look at who wrote that Salon piece you quoted, Deborah. It explains a lot.
lol I know. I had it all set up, then saw who wrote it, but posted anyway. I wonder what Camille Paglia would think of Marcotte's notion.
(I had saved it a while back, and only looked at the title. Though Salon was a big clue :)
I never like contrived choices. Coke or Pepsi. Stones or Beatles, there are many more. I like both sodas and both bands and feel no reason to choose one or the other.
Coke or Pepsi is pretty legitimate as a choice! But choosing between Beatles and Stones is like choosing between a rose and an iris.
deborah, I realize I am a distinct minority on the Coke/Pepsi. But, I like both. Although I rarely drink sweetened soda anymore. When my bride is sick she needs Pepsi, "NOT COKE."
As a teen I never liked sodas. Too fizzy. But when I rarely have one it is usually root beer. And Coke is my choice over Pepsi, which reminds me of how some aftershaves smell.
deborah,
Just giving my take on the album. I was barely just alive when it came out so I don't know and can never understand how it felt in the moment, which I acknowledge must have been pretty revelatory/revolutionary/revolting? I don't know. My little sister fell totally in love with the Beatles in the late 70s when there was a minor resurgence due to Good Day Sunshine (?) somehow becoming a hit again. She got all the albums and played them all the time. Annoying!
Then shortly thereafter Lennon got shot and everyone started really piling on the plaudits. I liked them okay but seeing them through the intervening lens of the rock era they seemed kind of just okay. And I liked Elton John's Lucy in the Sky better than theirs. Sorry, but it's true. It's just pop music so I don't sweat it too much!
Coke, Pepsi, whatever. Sodastream!
Understood, Amartel. When my kids were teens I got them some CDs from when I was young. My son fell in love with the Beatles.
I was ten when the Beatles turned up on the Tube, and Beatlemania didn't take hold as the die had already been cast. From prebirth on, my ears were picking up the harmonies of hymns from the Dutch "Psalter" with pre-teen exposure to the Four Seasons and Kingston Trio having more appeal and hold (for their story and sing-ability) than the Beatles ever managed to summon.
The same was true for the SonsM. No Beatle love in the Mhouse, no active dislike either, closer to indifference.
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