The Beatles’ groundbreaking 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is often hailed as the greatest album ever made—but not everyone agrees. Legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards recently shared a very different opinion, criticizing both the Beatles’ celebrated record and his own band’s psychedelic-era project, Their Satanic Majesties Request, as musical missteps.
Richards Takes Aim at Psychedelia
In a candid interview with Esquire, Richards opened up about his take on the 1960s music scene, and he didn’t hold back. “The Beatles sounded great when they were the Beatles,” Richards said. “But there’s not a lot of roots in that music. I think they got carried away.”
He added, “Some people think Sgt. Pepper is a genius album, but I think it’s a mishmash of rubbish—kind of like Satanic Majesties. ’Oh, if you can make a load of s**t, so can we.’”
Touring Mayhem and Beatlemania
Richards also reminisced about the chaotic energy of touring in the ’60s. “3,000 screaming chicks could just wail you out of the whole place,” he said. “You’d see them getting dragged out, sweating, screaming, convulsing. It was astonishing.”
Reflecting on The Beatles’ live performance history, Richards claimed the constant attention wore them out. “Those chicks wore those guys out. They stopped touring in 1966—they were done already. They were ready to go to India and s**t.”
Sgt. Pepper Goes from Stage to Syllabus
Despite Richards’ harsh review, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band continues to receive critical acclaim and academic recognition. Earlier this year, Britain’s largest exam board, AQA, announced that GCSE music students will now study three tracks from the album—“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “With a Little Help from My Friends,” and “Within You Without You.”
