So many anniversaries! Yesterday Star Wars turned 40, and today Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band turns 50 — at least in the U.K.
It’s strange to feel the tug of these cultural milestones from the past, and to ponder how powerfully their long reach continues to resonate. Film as a medium of popular entertainment fundamentally changed with the release of Star Wars.
And of course rock and roll was fundamentally altered the moment the Beatles released Sergeant Pepper. From the perspective of today, it’s almost hard to imagine the world that had existed before.
Before May 26, 1967, rock was just silly kid’s music, without any cultural caché. Then, in one fell swoop, it entered the pantheon of the Arts, alongside theatre, cinema, painting and opera.
Kind of cool, when you think about it.
It’s strange to think that the releases of Star Wars and Sgt Pepper were only ten years apart. I guess it’s my age. I think of the Beatles’ height of popularity and “newness” as before my time (I was 4 in 1967) and yet I have vivid memories of going to see Star Wars when it first came out and I was in high school.
And this is the perfect crossover between the two: a remake of the complete Sgt. Pepper album, with Star Wars lyrics: https://youtu.be/NYD3QtyEGGM
Wow, that is so wonderful. Thanks for sharing that link!!!
I am still completely blown away by the congeniality, especially given the fact that they re-recorded everything, and match the sounds of the originals so perfectly. Here’s the blog post of the creators about it: http://www.paletteswapninja.com/2017/05/01/new-album-princess-leias-stolen-death-star-plans/