10 Albums That Changed Rock Music Forever

When the Beatles first broke onto the scene, they seemed to capture some sort of lightning in a bottle energy on their first few records. Shaping the sounds of the British Invasion, the kind of puppy love songs coming out of the moptop version of the band turned them into one of the biggest bands in the world, touring all around the globe and becoming the heartthrobs of many a screaming girl in their time. Once they departed from the road though, the Fab Four decided to take a long look at what they could do in the studio.

While albums like Rubber Soul and Revolver had hit on something that was a lot more experimental that was coming out of their psychedelic period, Sgt. Peppers was the quantum leap into something a lot more interesting. Framed as a concept record by a fictional band, every member turns in some of their greatest songs on here, from George Harrison wearing his Indian influences on his sleeve on Within You Without You and John Lennon capturing the circus atmosphere on Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.

The Beatles were all about their collaborative spirit and the greatest moments of the record were about making the most out of every member of the group, including A Day in the Life taking two fragments of songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and turning it into an existential experience, with a sweeping orchestra behind it and some of the sharpest songwriting of their career. Before the Beatles, rock and roll was still more about a teenage trend than anything all that spectacular. Once listeners got ahold of this album, it was about more than just trends. The Summer of Love was now underway, and rock could now be seen as high art.