Sgt. Pepper's 40th Anniversary

It was 40 years ago this month that the Beatle's groundbreaking album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band hit the scene. I was 5 years old and didn't know a Beatle from a Herman's Hermit at that point in the game. I'm not really sure when the Beatles were introduced to me but it was pretty early on.

My first remembrance was hanging out in the bedroom of my then teenaged Uncle David and his girlfriend (I think her name was Mary Ann?). I distinctly remember looking at the album covers for Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. I remember really thinking they were cool. I also remember looking at other albums like The Rascals Time Peace: Greatest Hits. At that point of my life I guess the albums with the best graphics got my attention. I'm sure I was listening to the music with my uncle but I don't remember that part.

My next memory is perhaps the beginning of my lifelong love of the Beatles. I think I was middle school age at the time. My cousins, sister and I would spend a week with my Uncle Terry on his farm in Milligan, Florida. Perhaps at times we got bored because we would end up raiding my uncle's record collection. We would listen to Herman's Hermits, the Carpenters and whatever else we thought was cool or funny. I remember vividly loving the James Taylor/Carly Simon duet Mockingbird. At some point, my uncle let me pick several albums to take home and keep. I don't remember how many I grabbed but I do remember getting Sgt. Pepper, Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced and Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. The latter two proved to be too sophisticated for my young ears and I remember selling them to some guys at school. Sgt. Pepper was different. I listened to that album over and over again. The only song I would skip over was George Harrison's Within You Without You. My musically ignorant ears couldn't handle it. (I love the new mix of that song on the Beatles LOVE) But every other song captivated me. I also remember turning the balance knob back and forth so I could listen to the music without vocals and vice versa. I wore that album out. (I wish I still had it)

Sgt. Pepper is a definite landmark in my musical growth. I think it was the first musically sophisticated album that I ever started to really listen to. Sure, Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Osmonds, the Jackson 5 and other bubblegum pop music lead up to my musical maturity but it was the Beatles that plunged me over the falls into the waters of rock and roll.

The first rock and roll album I ever purchased with my own money was Kiss Alive. Much to the world's chagrin, I was never the same after that. (cue maniacal laughter)