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John Lennon Considered This Iconic Beatles Album To Be the Worst Album of All Time
There are few albums in the history of music, let alone The Beatles’ discography, that hold as much cultural significance as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was the beginning of the band’s new studio-bound experimentation, particularly for Paul McCartney, who reveled in the opportunity to illuminate The Beatles’ kaleidoscopic psychedelia. However, it also faced a dimming opinion from John Lennon. Despite Sgt. Pepper’s being arguably the most mythical prevalent album by The Beatles, Lennon had complicated thoughts that some of the record’s results were “garbage.” Lennon felt creatively detached from the artistry of the record when McCartney took control, and felt the music on records like The White Album was “far superior.”
What Led The Beatles to Create ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
After deciding to end the live concerts, which Lennon described as “Nothing to do with music anymore. They’re just bloody tribal rites.” The Beatles soon returned to the studio. But this time, they had the reassurance that the music they created would not need to be toured. This gave a wonderfully exciting sense of opportunity to the band, but some more than others. Paul McCartney suggested that The Beatles should use the new album to represent a performance by a fictional band to embrace the elements of live music that they had put aside. As well as no more live shows, this idea would release the band from their intensely curated image of them as The Beatles.
Funnily enough, it was Lennon’s writing of “Strawberry Fields Forever” that “set the agenda for the whole album,” according to producer George Martin. It was scrapped from Sgt. Pepper’s when it failed to reach the number. 1 spot, sparking speculation that the band’s run of success had come to an end. Sgt. Pepper’s became a cultural pivot, selling over 2.5 million copies in the first three months of its release, so there wasn’t much to worry about.
57 Years Ago, the Beatles Delivered What Is Arguably Their Best Album of All Time
A bold move that changed everything for the Fab Four.
The Reasons John Lennon Hated ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
McCartney wrote over half of the album’s material, and with that, his creative control over the actual recordings was also increased. McCartney confirmed this by sharing in the ‘90s that “If records had a director within a band, I sort of directed Pepper.” But not every band member was exactly thrilled with the new direction.
In Lennon’s last interview before his tragic death, which was the January 1981 issue of Playboy, he gave some rather searing remarks about McCartney’s contributions to Sgt. Pepper’s. When discussing “When I’m Sixty Four” in a rather caustic manner, Lennon denigrated that “I would never even dream of writing something like that.” It’s unclear exactly why, but let’s not speculate. Lennon would hate that. Backing his opinions up, Lennon shared the work he did approve of: “I always preferred it to all the other albums, including Pepper, because I thought the music was better. The Pepper myth is bigger, but the music on the White Album is far superior.” The latter was released 57 years ago on November 22, and is widely received as The Beatles’ most assured and sophisticated work.
57 Years Ago, the Beatles Delivered What Is Arguably Their Best Album of All Time
A bold move that changed everything for the Fab Four.
In all fairness, it wasn’t just Lennon who had negative feelings towards Sgt. Peppers. George Harrison’s take on the recording of the album was that “It became an assembly process—just little parts and then overdubbing.” With McCartney carefully supervising the technical aspects, the other members’ creativity was somewhat diminished.
John Lennon Contributed to ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ Himself
Despite branding Sgt. Pepper’s as McCartney’s vision, Lennon did still make considerable contributions to the record’s writing. He was less interested in the conceptual, narrative angle that McCartney was so invested in, and instead wanted to write songs with an experimental, art-driven approach. McCartney wanted an idea, and Lennon wanted music for music’s sake. One particular fan favorite from the album is the psychedelic masterpiece, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” Often attributed to being a song about drug use, Lennon cleared up in the famous Playboy interview that it really was a more innocent story than that. He noted that “My son Julian came in one day with a picture he painted about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched some stars in the sky and called it ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ Simple.” Even though the inspiration came from a place of love, Lennon still maintained that, “It’s abysmal, you know. The track is just terrible.”
Lennon also wrote the jaunty “Good Morning, Good Morning,” which he dubbed as “a throwaway, a piece of garbage.” He repurposed the title lyric from a Kellogg’s commercial that was running at the time. Lennon would have the TV running at a low volume in the background, and was struck by a moment of influence. Despite his own harsh opinions of the song, it is a moment of fun in the highly theatrical album. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Lennon’s relationship with Sgt. Pepper’s. Lennon also wrote the majority of “A Day In The Life,” which is fairly assumed to be a unanimously adored Beatles song among fans. It’s a wonderful blend of classical music and soft rock, perfectly signing off the album of experimentation. Lennon was proud of it, saying that “I thought it was a damn good piece of work.”
Part of its greatness is the simplicity of the lyrical narrative in contrast with the instrumental intricacies. Lennon said that the meaning of the lyrics was “Just as it sounds: I was reading the paper one day and I noticed two stories. One was the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car. That was the main headline story.” This assertion traces back to the idea that Lennon was more interested in writing music in a more focused sense, and not overthinking a concept. He not only loved the power that everyday words held in themselves, but was spectacular at using them in a gently poetic way.
