10 Musical Shifts That No One Saw Coming
2. Sgt. Peppers - The Beatles
Looking back on the '60s now, it seemed like there was no one who could ever hope to compete with the Beatles. Even though they were retiring from touring, albums like Revolver and Rubber Soul were unprecedented works of art that were leaving acts like The Rolling Stones and the Kinks in the dust. If that was the start of the experimentation, Sgt. Peppers was the leap of faith that made the world stand up and take notice.
Gone were the boyish good looks of the moptop days, replaced with drooping mustaches and some of the most varied instrumentation of their entire career. You can tell that they were paying attention to hard rock on the title track and Good Morning Good Morning, but each song feels like a separate musical adventure, from the psych pop classic Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to the tearjerking ballad She's Leaving Home.
Framing the whole thing as a pseudo concept album, the final song A Day In the Life feels like the mission statement for all of the greatest songs that the band ever did, combining avant garde music, pop song smarts, and orchestral grandeur into one 5 minute piece that left the entire music community stunned. The Beatles may not have been playing concerts anymore, but this was only the beginning of the most impressive run of albums by any band.