10 Rock Bands That Had Alter Egos

As the '60s progressed, the sheer frenzy of Beatlemania was getting to be too much for any of the Fab Four to bear. For all of the new and inventive techniques they were making in the studio, there was no way to translate it to the life stage, especially when their female fanbase all but drowned out most of the music coming from the stage anyway. Once they left the road for good though, Paul McCartney hit on an idea to start a new band altogether.

Being in the spirit of the rambling names of Western bands, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was Paul's attempt at breaking the Beatles out of their comfort zone. Without having to have the Beatles' persona behind them, the Fabs could experiment with any genre that they wanted to, tying the whole thing together like some variety show pressed onto two slabs of vinyl.

What it became turned into one of the most daring records that the Beatles would ever write, with the opening overture song setting the scene before going into everything from psychedelic rock on Lucy in Sky With Diamonds to Eastern sounds on Within You Without You and even old time numbers like When I'm 64. Granted, this was not always the plan for the rest of the group, with John Lennon and George Harrison just looking at it as the next album that they were making at the time. Then again, something like this doesn't really get this kind of recognition until a few years later, marking one of the boldest artistic statements of the '60s and kicking off the Summer of Love. In just a handful of tracks, the Beatles broke away from the moptops and set the tone for what the rest of the '60s were going to be.