In other words, they didn’t want to just exorcise the group that made “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, they wanted to smother them with a pillow. McCartney had even come up with an alter ego and pseudo-unifying backstory-a move Lennon later said only worked because the band said it worked. Where The Beatles had once sought to distil and consolidate, now they were looking to expand. McCartney in particular had been fascinated by things like Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention’s 1966 debut, Freak Out!, a double album whose hodgepodge of songs, noise, skits and sound gags mirrored conceptual art’s breaking of the painterly frame.
Pepper’s, Bob Dylan had released Blonde on Blonde, an album so expansive it had to literally be pressed onto two records, while The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds stretched the dimensions and possibilities of the three-minute pop song. A few months before The Beatles were set to record Sgt. Songs got longer, albums grew concepts and the idea of the LP as a concise product meant to showcase a performer’s talents gave way to the suspicion that commercial concerns ultimately only served The Man. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band helped set the precedent that rock bands could (and should) do more or less whatever they wanted.
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