It was 45 years ago today (June 1) that The Beatles released the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Rolling Stone magazine says it’s the #1 rock album of all time. You could fill a book with superlatives about this landmark album that came out in the 1967, the dawn of what they called “the summer of love”. Every note, every phrase, every square inch of it’s iconic album cover has been documented and analyzed. We can learn a lot from the old skool journalists because many of them were there.

 But the question is, would Sgt. Pepper’s be huge today? Would it knock Adele’s 21 album off the top of the charts? How long would it stay at #1? Would the  Rock of Ages Soundtrack (ugh) take its place?

I wonder. 

Yesterday I asked one of the guys who works at our brother station, CKTB,  what his favourite song on Sgt. Pepper was. He said he didn’t know any. Later I found one of the girls in the promo department couldn’t name all 4 Beatles.

Whoa!?

Should I be worried?

Would Sgt. Pepper still hold up today?

 Damn right it would.

If Adele’s 21 album, which has dominated the top of album charts around the world for over a year, has taught us anything it’s that genuine music, genuine performance and real emotion are still qualities valued by music fans. In spite of the success of dozens of superficial artists and contrived music, people still connect with great songs and real music.

If we were to take Sgt. Pepper out of its late sixties context, throw out the album cover and the lyric sheet and listened to the Beatles for the first time, I am certain that Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band would BLOW YOU AWAY. It’s still sounds like one of the most ambitious albums you’ll ever hear. It’s music palette runs the gamut. There’s that familiar brand of rock but there’s so much more. There’s a concept of a “show” presented here. It presents you with characters and places that are both familiar and imagined. There are unforgettable melodies and lyrics that reveal something new with each listen.

 How could 4 musicians have jammed so much greatness into one recording? Well, they were The Beatles.

 And then there is the iconic album cover, one of finest pieces of album art ever.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band should be in your record collection and if it already is, then put it on today and play it from start to finish.

This is genius: