Timeline: 1978 - "July 24, 1978... A Day That Lives In Infamy"
By Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor
People are always full of bright ideas, aren't they? Especially those in the business of distracting the general public from reality. From ‘Cop Rock’ to ‘New Coke,’ the roads are littered with questionable decisions. One large blunder took place on July 28, 1978 with the release of the film, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.'
At the dawn of the decade the most significant rock and roll band in history were no more, as the Beatles called it a day. Although their four individual solo careers would roll on, the public wanted more. They wanted the Beatles! Each member would receive the obvious "when is the band getting back together?" grilling at every corner, usually played off in playful, polite and non-committal fashion.
Throughout the 70s, a handful of Beatles compilation albums were issued along with the constant presence of solo material, there was a lot to appease Beatles fans. In 1976 concert promoter Sid Bernstein made an offer of $230 million dollars for a one-off reunion concert. Bernstein had previously promoted the Beatles in the US upon first arrival, The offer was declined.
In a wonderful sarcastic move, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels made a counter offer on live television shortly thereafter. "NBC has authorized me to offer you a certified check for $3,000," going on to joke about how they could divide it anyway they wanted, “If you want to give Ringo less, that's up to you." As the story goes, Paul was in NYC visiting John at the time and upon seeing this they briefly thought about going over the NBC studios, but opted to stay in.
With no reunion happening, ideas were floating here and there as to how to satisfy this Beatle withdrawal. Enter music impresario Robert Stigwood, manager of the Bee Gees (arguably the biggest pop group of the late 70s) who had arrived at the idea of a movie based, in part, on the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' album, complete with star studded cast.
Never mind that said album, though undeniably classic, had no narrative, plot or concept to base anything on, that didn't seem to faze Stigwood and Co. They had another secret weapon! Alongside the Bee Gees would be Peter Frampton, arguably the biggest solo rock act at the time. How could this fail?! The better question was, how do you kill the careers of two of the biggest pop acts in the world with one shot?
By 1978, the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton were at the top of their game, selling millions of records, faces on magazine covers everywhere and sold-out concerts across the globe. The sky was the limit, and they reached it, with nowhere to go but down.
A few years earlier, Stigwood had produced a Broadway adaptation of Sgt. Pepper's. The movie took the stage production as a starting point with the plot, what little there was of one, told via a variety of Beatles songs – not just Sgt. Pepper's tracks. Beatles producer George Martin even served as the movie's musical director, conducting, arranging and producing the soundtrack. But even that couldn't save things.
In Hindenburg-like fashion, the story unfolds. George Burns stars as the film's narrator, telling the tale of Billy Shears (Frampton) and band (Bee Gees). The beloved actor even serenades us with his rendition of 'Fixing a Hole.' Things head quickly downhill from there. There's no dialogue in the movie other than Burns' narration, so it's up to a number of Beatles classics to tell the story of the Lonely Hearts Club Band, whose instruments are stolen by the evil B.D. Brockhurst (played by Donald Pleasance).
Steve Martin portrays Dr. Maxwell Edison (owner of one deadly silver hammer), The plot sickens as Alice Cooper checks in as the Sun King to deliver a freaked-out take on "Because." Aerosmith show up as the Future Villain Band to battle it out with the Lonely Hearts Clubbers. Between watching Frampton duke it out with Steves Martin and Tyler, not to mention the scene where robots sing 'Mean Mr. Mustard,' it's a stamina test for one's brain to say the least.
Most of the interpretations of Beatles classics are simply terrible. And cameos from Curtis Mayfield and Heart do little to help the situation.
Against all odds, the film's soundtrack album was a hit, reaching the Top 10 platinum status. Aerosmith and Earth, Wind & Fire even managed to score Top 40 hits with ‘ Come Together’ and ‘ Got To Get You Into My Life’ respectively.
The fate of the film, however, was nowhere as bright. Released on July 24, 1978, it was not surprisingly slammed by critics and fans. It might be easy to point fingers for this wreckage, but the fact is, both the Bee Gees and Frampton were caught up in a soulless music-industry machine - ironically, just like the one the movie's heroes fight against in the film. Though it was a simple case of overkill and over exposure, the movie was merely the sour cherry on top. It did manage to help topple the careers of the Bee Gees and Frampton, for a moment anyway, both of whom faltered greatly following this debacle.