Please Please Me | With the Beatles | A Hard Day's Night | Beatles for Sale | Help! | Rubber Soul | Revolver
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Magical Mystery Tour | The White Album | Yellow Submarine | Abbey Road | Let It Be
Past Masters | The Beatles Anthology | The Beatles: Get Back
- Creator Backlash: John Lennon felt "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" was the worst thing he'd ever written, as he just put some lines from an old carnival poster to music.
- Cut Song: George Martin suggested that three songs be dropped from the album — "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane" (which became a standalone single, and Martin regretted removing them from the album) and "Only A Northern Song" (which he found boring and wanted George Harrison to replace - he put "Within You, Without You" instead, and the original song eventually emerged in Yellow Submarine).
- Feelies: Some original LPs shipped with various thematic props such as cutout masks and badges designed by the Beatles themselves. The original idea was to include a baggie with (presumably already cut-out) badges, little pencils, and other trinkets; but would have proven too expensive.
- Follow the Leader: Paul acknowledged that Pet Sounds was a big influence on the album, which itself was inspired by Beatles' own album, Rubber Soul.
- Hitless Hit Album: Upon release, it had no singles issued (though "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were recorded during the sessions for the album and originally intended for inclusion there, and the title track was a single in 1978 to piggyback on the film). In America, Top 40 radio stations played most of the songs in rotation in the spots on their playlist where they would typically have played a Beatles single (with "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "A Day in the Life" getting the most airplay), and often listed the album as a whole on their weekly charts, leading some observers to call the album "the first 39-minute single".
- Killer App: This album really showed how rock bands could use the album as a medium, creating extended concepts that could stretch across whole LPs.
- Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: A 6-disc CD/DVD/Blu-ray box set
containing redone-mixes, outtakes, videos, etc. was issued in 2017 to commemorate the album's 50th anniversary. More modest (but still enhanced) single-CD, 2-CD, and 2-LP anniversary editions were also released. - Magnum Opus Dissonance: This is frequently regarded as The Beatles' greatest album, but the Beatles themselves were divided over it.
- Although not disliking it, George Harrison and John Lennon would later admit they didn't see what all the fuss was about. Lennon himself preferred The White Album. Harrison's ambivalence over the album was ultimately for personal reasons — given the emphasis on lush, orchestral psychedelia on the album, there wasn't a lot of call for his skills as a lead guitarist, and since he only had one written song on the album he was nudged to the sidelines a bit as well.
- Ringo Starr preferred The White Album and Abbey Road, for similar reasons to Harrison—he claimed that he felt out of the loop and "like a session drummer" during the recording of Sgt. Pepper, a claim that becomes particularly hilarious when you remember what teeth-pulling frustration and fighting took place during the next albums' recording sessions. (Regardless, many people consider "A Day in the Life" to contain some of his best work.)
- No Export for You: The U.S. version of the original LP does not contain the infamous inner groove. It was eventually included on on the 1980 U.S.-exclusive version of the Rarities compilation album, and used on the worldwide CD reissue of Sgt. Pepper itself.
- Referenced by...:
- The Title Track to Young Americans by David Bowie features the line "I heard the news today, oh boy," quoting "A Day in the Life".
- The cacophonous orchestral part in "A Day in the Life" would directly inspire the Drone of Dread accompanying the Fifth Doctor's regeneration in the Doctor Who serial "The Caves of Androzani".
- The self-described "mad ending" to "Every Little Counts" by New Order is a direct homage to "A Day in the Life", featuring a synthesized rendition of the orchestral crescendo and a fake record skip parodying this album's locked groove.
- Serendipity Writes the Plot: The boys had a problem with the recording of "A Day in the Life". The transition between John Lennon and Paul McCartney's parts of the song was initially left blank because they couldn't think of a way to change from one to the other, consisting mainly of a bar count and Mal Evans triggering an alarm clock to mark the beginning of Paul's section. Eventually they settled on the now-iconic noisy orchestral glissando, but they were unable to remove the alarm clock from the song, and ultimately decided to leave it in. Considering that Paul's section begins with "Woke up, fell out of bed", that ringing alarm clock fits in perfectly.
- Throw It In!: The alarm clock in "A Day in the Life" was originally just marking when it would change, but it fit well as the first lyric that follows is "Woke up, fell out of bed..."
- What Could Have Been:
- "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were recorded during the sessions for this album with the intention of them being part of it, but they ended up being released as non-album singles instead. Additionally, there was supposed to be a television special based on the album, but it was scrapped before completion. There was, however, a promotional video produced for "A Day in the Life" (as well as the aforementioned singles). What's more, the release of "Strawberry Fields Forever" as a single was a direct contributor to the infamous collapse of The Beach Boys' Smile of all things; Brian Wilson heard the Beatles song on the radio and was wracked with anguish over a perceived inability to make anything half as good as it, his Friendly Rivalry with the Liverpool quartet having been internalized to a dangerous degree. Many speculate that had the song remained on the album, the Beach Boys probably would've had an easier time completing their own late 60's masterpiece. Fortunately, to make it up for it, the 50th Anniversary Edition of the album offers alternate takes of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane".
- "Only a Northern Song" was briefly considered, too.
- A sequel was also considered at one time, which would have featured "Baby, You're a Rich Man" (or at least its prototype, "One of the Beautiful People")
- Faces originally intended to be among the crowd on the cover included Adolf Hitler, Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi and actor Leo Gorcey. The idea to put Hitler and Jesus there came from Lennon, who wanted to provoke. Eventually they were dropped because their images would certainly offend people, especially since Lennon had already hit controversy when his 1966 quote that "The Beatles are more popular than Jesus" was taken out of context. Gandhi was dropped under pressure of EMI, who feared a backlash in India where Gandhi's status is practically divine. And Gorcey was airbrushed out because he was the only celebrity who wanted a fee for appearing on the cover (which is why there's a noticeable gap to the left of Gorcey's Bowery Boys sidekick Huntz Hall, who had no objections to being on the cover).
- Mae West came close to not appearing on the cover: "What would I be doing in a lonely hearts club?" After a very nice letter explaining the concept of the cover, she acquiesced.
- Reportedly, Mexican comedian Germán Valdes would have also appeared on the cover, but ultimately didn't appear after Valdes asked to not be featured. Valdes, however, was supposedly the one who suggested the Tree of Life ceramic craft that appeared on the album. However, there hasn't been any concrete confirmation of Valdes even being slated to appear on the cover in the first place.
- The liner notes for the 2009 release reveal the original track order for Side A was different aside from the first two ("Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" > "Fixing a Hole" > "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" > "Getting Better" > "She's Leaving Home"). The extreme tonal shifts when trying to listen them that way (not to mention the Downer Ending) makes for a weird experience.
- Reportedly, the original name for the album was Dr. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; Paul McCartney wasn't aware of the soft drink Dr Pepper's existence at the time.
- "With a Little Help from My Friends" originally opened with "What would you think if I sang out of tune?/Would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?" Ringo requested that the second part of the line be changed for fear that fans would throw tomatoes at the group if they performed it live.
- Word of God: John Lennon repeatedly denied that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" had anything to do with LSD, despite him having LSD experiences and writing "She Said She Said" beforehand about a bad trip. According to Lennon, he was not aware of the LSD abbreviation at the time, had only heard the substance referred to as "acid," and was inspired by a painting that his son Julian made in school of his classmate Lucy O'Donnell. His son and Lucy also confirmed this answer, and the painting actually exists. However, the explanation didn't deter his fans, and Paul McCartney has said that John was well-aware of the drug connotations in the lyrics.
- Working Title: One Down, Six to Go.
