10 Pop Albums That Are Perfect From Front To Back
3. Sgt Pepper's - The Beatles
By the time The Beatles arrived in the mid '60s, they had already revolutionized the entire culture of music once. Ever since their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, the band had become one of the biggest names in rock with countless #1 hits and some of the best odes to teenage love in the rock canon. After a while though, that pretty boy persona tends to wear on you a bit.
Instead of pumping out another collection of hit tunes, the band started embarking on more experimental material until they finally arrived at Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Structured as a pseudo-concept album of an imaginary band, this showed the Fab Four taking a nosedive into the psychedelic scene, with songs ranging from rockers to ballads to Eastern-influenced tunes. Rather than fall on their faces, this became the beginning of the band's second act of perfect pop rock.
Going beyond your typical teenage tunes, most of these songs feel like they're from another planet, with cuts like "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" outlining a circus atmosphere while "She's Leaving Home" tells the heartbreaking story of a teen runaway that paralleled the mindset of every child of the '60s. As opposed to other artsy ventures, Sgt. Pepper's is the one album that throws caution to the wind with tunes that are as impactful today as they were back in 1967.