By Scott Westerman – Curator, Keener13.com
To paraphrase the Cannon, “It was 42 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper blew the world away..” On June 2, 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in the United States. The collection ranks as number 1 on the Rolling Stone list of all-time great albums. its spawned a thousand imitators up to and including the Simpsons, and four decades later, the Beatles classic is still a household word. So why didn’t any of the album tracks ever make it to the WKNR Music Guide? What two Pepper session recordings weren’t included in the LP, but made it to number 2 on Keener before being included in The Magical Mystery Tour? Who ARE all of those people on the album cover? Which Pepper track did Russ Gibb study during his quest to solve the Paul McCartney death mystery? And what role did a famous WKNR personality play in promoting Sgt. Pepper’s release nationwide?
For many who grew up listening to Keener, the Beatles and WKNR were inextricably connected. Keener sponsored the concerts when the Four Lads came to town, and through a combination of hard work and serendipity, the Key Men were part of many Detroit Beatle firsts. So its particularly strange that the Beatles most honored album never charted on the WKNR Music Guide.
If you’re counting EMI releases, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the the Beatles eighth album, recorded over a four month period at the famed Abby Road studios, beginning on December 6, 1966. The album’s British release happened on June 1, 1967. It hit American record stores one day later.
Reaction was instantaneous and effusive. The Times of London’s music critic Kenneth Tynan called the album "a decisive moment in the history of Western civilization." Everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Frank Zappa had an opinion on Sgt. Pepper and the LP quickly shot to number one on the Billboard charts, holding the top spot for 15 weeks and winning four Grammys, including album of the year.
So why didn’t any of the songs chart on WKNR? First and foremost, none of the tracks were released as singles. This wasn’t unique. 1965’s Rubber Soul didn’t include a single and it wasn’t until later in 1967 that two tracks recorded during the Pepper sessions found their way to Keener playlists. Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields, both spent six weeks on the WKNR Music Guide, reaching the number 2 spot. George Martin originally wanted to include this double-A side in the Pepper collection and was pressured to release them in between Beatle albums. Both tracks were later included on the Magical Mystery Tour LP.
Although it didn’t make a chart appearance, Sgt. Pepper got a ton of airplay on WKNR. Scott Regen was hired to record a commercial promoting the album which got national airplay and the Keener air staff featured album cuts throughout the broadcast day as Pepper became an instant classic.
An important dimension of the Paul is Dead story, amplified to the national stage on WKNR-FM by Russ Gibb, are the supposed clues to be found in A Day in the Life, where some say you can hear the sound of a horrific traffic accident. In fact the Sgt. Pepper album cover is laden with symbolism for Paul is Dead detectives. The left handed guitar, depicted in yellow flowers seems to show the word "Paul" with a question mark. The three strings on the typically four stringed bass could represent the loss of one of the four band members. Some say that two dolls have a McCartney onnection, one with a "Welcome the Rolling Stones" shirt, a toy car on one knee and a bloody left-handed driving glove on the other. Another doll has a cracked head, symbolizing McCartney’s supposed fatal head injury.
Sgt. Pepper is cryptically mentioned in Don McLean’s America Pie opus. In the “10 years we’ve been on our own” since “the day the music died,” the Beatles had become a dominant creative force which McLean notes with the line, “sergeants playing a marching tune.” McLean seemed to feel that the Beatles had moved music away from the danceable tunes of the Buddy Holly, Big Bopper era, saying, “We all got up to dance but never got the chance.”
There’s no doubt that the record did help redefine pop music, but it wasn’t until 1978 that Sgt. Pepper / With a Little Help From My Friends finally got its due on the singles charts. The song with A Day in the Life as a B side was released in support of the film version, released that same year. It
peaked at 71, eleven years after the album first burst onto the American scene.
Link:Scott Regen tells how the National Sgt Pepper Spot Happened
Link:Scott Regen’s National Sgt Pepper Radio Commercial
Link:The Beatles in the Keener Photo Gallery
Link:Sgt. Pepper Wikipedia Entry
Link:Beatles Discography
| What’s on the Cover? In addition the the flowers and plants, there are 87 items on the Sgt. Pepper album cover, including: 1. Sri Yukestawar Giri (Guru) 2. Aleister Crowley (Dabbler in Sex, Drugs and Magic) 3. Mae West (Actress) 4. Lenny Bruce (Comic) 5. Karlheinz Stockhausen (Composer) 6. W.C.Fields (Actor/Comic) 7. Carl Gustav Jung (Psychologist) 8. Edgar Allen Poe (Writer) 9. Fred Astaire (Actor) 10. Richard Merkin (Artist) 11. Das Varga Girl (by Artist Alberto Vargas) 12. * Leo Gorcey (Actor) 13. Huntz Hall (Actor with Leo Gorcey, one of The Bowery Boys) 14. Simon Rodia (Creator of Watts Towers) 15. Bob Dylan (Musician) 16. Aubrey Beardsley (Illustrator) 17. Sir Robert Peel 18. Aldous Huxley (Writer) 19. Dylan Thomas (Poet) 20. Terry Southern (Writer) 21. Dion (di Mucci) (Singer) 22. Toni Curtis (Actor) 23. Wallace Berman (Actor) 24. Tommy Handley (Comic) 25. Marilyn Monroe (Actress) 26. William Burroughs (Writer) 27. Sri Mahavatara Babaji (Guru) 28. Stan Laurel (Comic) 29. Richard Lindner (Writer) 30. Oliver Hardy (Comic) 31. Karl Marx (Philosopher, Socialist) 32. H.G.Wells (Writer) 33. Sri Paramahansa Yoganandu (Guru) 34. Anonymous (Wax hairdressers’ dummy) 35. Stuart Sutcliff (Artist, former Beatle) 36. Anonymous (Wax hairdressers dummy) 37. Max Miller (Comic) 38. The Petty Girl (by Artist George Petty) 39. Marlon Brando (Actor) 40. Tom Mix (Actor) 41. Oscar Wilde (Writer) 42. Tyrone Power (Actor) 43. Larry Bell (Artist) 44. Dr. David Livingstone (Missionary & Explorer) 45. Johnny Weismueller (Swimmer and Actor) |
46. Stephen Crane (Writer) 47. Issy Bonn (Comic) 48. George Bernhard Shaw (Writer) 49. H.C.(Horace Clifford) Westermann (Sculptor) 50. Albert Stubbins (Soccer Player) 51. Sri Lahiri Mahasaya (Guru) 52. Lewis Carroll (Writer) 53. T.E.(Thomas Edward) Lawrence (Soldier, Lawrence of Arabia) 54. Sonny Listen (Boxer) 55. The Petty Girl (by Artist George Petty) 56. Wax Model of George Harrison 57. Wax Model of John Lennon 58. Shirley Temple (Kinder Actress) 59. Wax Model von Ringo Starr 60. Wax Model von Paul McCartney 61. Albert Einstein (Physicist) 62. John Lennon (Holding a French Horn) 63. Ringo Starr (Holding a Trumpet) 64. Paul McCartney (Holding a cor anglais) 65. George Harrison (Holding a Flute) 66. Bobby Breen (Singer) 67. Marlene Dietrich (Actress) 68. ** Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi (Indian Leader) 69. Legionnaire from the Order of the Buffalos 70. Diana Dors (Actress) 71. Shirley Temple (Child Actress) 72. Cloth Grandmother Figure of Jann Haworth 73. Cloth Figure of Shirley Temple (Child Actress) by Jann Haworth 74. Mexican Candlestick 75. Television Set 76. Stone Figure of Girl 77. Stone Figure 78. Statue from John Lennon’s House 79. Trophy 80. Four-Armed Indian Doll 81. Drum-Skin, Designed by Joe Ephgrave) 82. Hookah (Water tobacco pipe 83. Velvet Snake 84. Japanese Stone Figure 85. Stone Figure of Snow White 86. Garden Gnome 87. Tuba * Leo Gorcey was painted out because he requested a fee to use his image. ** Ghandi was painted out by request of EMI as they feared it would offend record buyers in India. |
Link:Out-takes from the Sgt. Pepper Photo Shoot (YouTube)
Link: More Pepper Fun Facts.
