The Monkees Used a Copy of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ to Show They Liked The Beatles
During an interview, Micky Dolenz said there was a false rumor that The Monkees had an issue with The Beatles. Members of The Monkees used a copy of The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to show that the rumor was false. Dolenz said some onlookers were surprised when The Monkees did that.
The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz said The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ changed his life
During a 2014 interview with Music Radar, Dolenz discussed the records that changed his life. He named an eclectic group of albums that included Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America Volume One: The Early Years, the West Side Story soundtrack, and Chuck Berry‘s “Johnny B. Goode.” He also mentioned Sgt. Pepper.
Dolenz remembered the contemporary reaction to Sgt. Pepper. “Certainly a ‘life-changing’ album,” he said. “I was now an artist myself — I was in The Monkees and was recording and doing the whole thing. Sgt. Pepper just blew me and everybody else away.”
During a 2010 interview with Goldmine, Dolenz said all of The Beatles’ albums influenced him. “If I chose one, it would be Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” he elaborated. “There’s a picture of me holding the album out a window in 1967 while The Monkees were on tour in Europe.”
What happened when The Beatles’ fans and The Monkees’ fans collided
Dolenz recalled a false rumor that The Monkees had an issue with The Beatles. “There was this made-up Monkees/Beatles controversy,” he said. “We found that hilarious, because there was no one in the world who was bigger fans than we were. The Monkees’ fans were the younger brothers and sisters of The Beatles fans; it was almost like the next generation.”
Dolenz remembered a time when The Beatles’ fans and The Monkees’ fans collided. “I remember some kids outside the hotel were yelling, ‘Monkees! Monkees! Monkees!’ and there were other kids yelling ‘Beatles! Beatles! Beatles!'” he said. “And so we held out the Sgt. Pepper’s album, and it made the press. It was like, ‘Surprise! The Monkees like The Beatles!'”
The way the world reacted to The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’
Dolenz probably wasn’t the only one who enjoyed Sgt. Pepper. The album was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 15 weeks. It sent a total of 233 weeks on the chart. None of The Beatles’ other studio albums lasted as long on the chart except Abbey Road, which lasted on the chart for 446 weeks.
The Official Charts Company reports Sgt. Pepper was popular in the United Kingdom too. Sgt. Pepper lasted 28 weeks at No. 1 and 277 total weeks on the chart. None of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper was a huge hit and a copy of it played an interesting role in The Monkees’ history.
