The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" marks the 50th anniversary of its release on June 1, 2017 — but the legendary album still has
secrets to be shared from 50 years ago...
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1)
Paul McCartney first suggested recording an entire album by the fictional "Sgt. Pepper" band — hoping that posing as another act would allow The Beatles to experiment musically.
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2) The gatefold cover, designed by artist
Peter Blake, was one of the most expensive ever created at the time, costing $4,000 rather than the usual $70.
John Lennon originally wanted
Adolf Hitler and
Jesus Christ among the figures on the famous cover design. That was finally considered too controversial.
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3) The original LP release included a sheet of cardboard cutouts featuring a mustache, badge and military stripes.
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4) McCartney wrote "She’s Leaving Home" after he read a newspaper article about 17-year-old runaway Melanie Coe — unaware he’d actually met the teen earlier while judging a 1963 TV contest. The real-life Melanie was pregnant and had run off with a croupier, only to be found by her parents three weeks later.
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5) Sessions for "Sgt. Pepper" totaled more than 400 hours. The band’s first album, "Please Please Me," had taken less than 20 hours to record!
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6) "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" was inspired by a Victorian-era circus poster that Lennon had purchased at an antique shop.
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7) The BBC banned "A Day in the Life" — thinking that lyrics about having “a smoke” implied drug use, and that “4,000 holes” referred to a junkie’s track marks.
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8) The gatefold sleeve featured the Beatles in their colorful "Sgt. Pepper's" military uniforms, with the photo later contributing to rumors that Paul McCartney had actually died in 1966. He was wearing a badge for the "Ontario Provincial Police"— with the initials often misread as "O.P.D." Some fans determined that to mean "Officially Pronounced Dead."
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9) The album inspired a 1978 movie of the same name starring The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. Entertainment mogul Robert Stigwood was hoping the film and soundtrack album would match the success he'd had with "Saturday Night Fever." Instead, critics ripped the box-office bomb to shreds!
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10) Record executives originally forced "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" off the album, preferring to release the classic tunes together as a vinyl single on Feb. 13, 1967. The legendary tracks were returned to their rightful place for a 50th anniversary reissue of the classic album.
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