Today in 1978, the American release date of what looked like a blockbuster movie.
It had some of the biggest names in rock music and some of the biggest names in movies stepping onto the big screen to play some of the most popular rock songs of all time… and it turned out to be a big flop.
The movie was called “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and it was based on the Beatles album (or more technically, a 70s stage musical based on the Beatles album).
The producer was Robert Stigwood, who’d had huge hits onstage with musicals like “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Hair.”
His movies were even bigger: think “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever.”
Stigwood was also the manager of the Bee Gees, and so when he decided to make a film version of the Sgt. Pepper musical, he cast the three Brothers Gibb.
The fourth band member was 70s megastar Peter Frampton, who had come alive on his double concert album and had also played guitar on the title track for “Grease.”
Frampton played Billy Shears, the late Sgt. Pepper’s nephew, who teams up with his three friends the Hendersons, aka the Bee Gees.
Together, they resurrect the Pepper band, save their town, fall in love and stop an evil band played by Aerosmith and an evil record executive played by Donald Pleasance.
The Bee Gees/Frampton alliance recorded its own versions of songs from the original Sgt. Pepper album as well as the Beatles’ Abbey Road.
So did some of the guest stars; if you ever wanted to hear gravelly voiced comedian George Burns sing “Fixing A Hole,” here’s your chance.
Earth Wind and Fire did win a Grammy for their version of “Got To Get You Into My Life,” and even at one of the most bonkers moments in the plot, we at least get to hear Billy Preston sing “Get Back.”
Those musical highlights aside, reviewers said the plot was a mess, the visuals were over the top, and the stars were better musicians than they were actors.
As for the actual Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were on hand for the premiere but kept the movie at a distance after that.
George Harrison said he felt bad for the people involved, and John Lennon seemingly pretended it didn’t exist.
Maybe it’s no surprise that the soundtrack went platinum while the movie only turned a slight profit.
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” still seems to pop up on TV from time to time, though its fans are often those who enjoy a cinematic train wreck.
So I can’t say the movie’s reputation is, to quote the “Sgt. Pepper” album, getting better all the time.
Today in 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after completing the first-ever visit to the surface of the moon.
They ended up at Honolulu Airport in Hawaii, where they, like so many other travelers who had left the United States and returned, had to fill out a customs declaration.
The listed cargo was “moon rock and moon dust samples.”
Beatles-Based Movie Is A Box Office Bomb (Songfacts)
Back from the Moon, Apollo Astronauts Had to Go Through Customs (Space.com)
