Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie: What was the Bee Gees-starring Beatles musical about?

28 February 2024, 10:00 | Updated: 13 June 2024, 21:15

"We hope you will enjoy the show."

That was the famous request chorused by The Beatles' conceptual characters, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, on the song of the same name.

However, when a musical based on the concept group came out over a decade later, fans of The Beatles weren't overly impressed.

The 1967 album is widely regarded as one of the most influential of all time, not only because of the concept or the timeless songs, but also the otherworldly production.

Alongside the Fab Four, George Martin's vision in the recording studio opened the door for artists to create sounds and textures exclusive to the studio, that weren't intended to be replicated live on stage.

With Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and The Beatles revolutionised pop music and its parameters, so no wonder why so many of their peers and successors hold it in such high regard.

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That's exactly the stance that the Bee Gees took, who have consistently preached about their adoration for The Beatles and their cultural impact.

They took their adoration to new heights however, when they starred in a 1978 jukebox musical comedy film based on the concept band and their music.

But what is the film actually about? Who starred in it? Was it a success at the time? What did The Beatles think?

Read on to find out all the facts about the largely forgotten musical Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

How did Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band come together?

The concept for the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band musical film didn't come out of the blue, as it was based on a 1974 live Broadway musical called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on the Road.

The play was produced by The Robert Stigwood Organization, helmed by the Bee Gees' famed producer and RSO Records founder Robert Stigwood.

Stigwood secured the rights to use twenty-nine of The Beatles' songs for the play, and still in ownership of the rights, was determined to make use of them in a film.

Impressed with the musical analysis he'd written for The New York Times, he approached writer Henry Edwards about putting together a script, though by that point, he hadn't written a script for a film before.

"I spread the songs out on my apartment floor and went to work", Edwards later revealed. "Mr. Stigwood wanted a concept. I told him I'd like to do a big MGM-like musical."

"We'd synthesise forms and end up with an MGM musical, but with the music of today."

After Henry completed the script, Stigwood assembled his cast which included his prized asset in the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, with The Beatles' own producer George Martin signing on to produce the soundtrack album.

What the film about?

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 1978 Trailer HD

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is about the titular group wrestling with opposing evil forces and maniacal music industry powers who are hell-bent on destroying the band, their home, and their legacy.

Whether it be stealing their instruments or attempting to corrupt the band's wholesome hometown of Heartland, the group must battle a series of villains, eventually performing a benefit concert to save their town.

The thin plot was overcompensated by its wackiness, and was presented in the form of a rock opera with little spoken dialogue - with the exception of Heartland's mayor played by George Burns - with the song lyrics driving the narrative throughout.

Largely based on the songs from The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, the musical film also features all the songs from 1969's Abbey Road.

Who starred in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?

The Bee Gees' Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, and Peter Frampton made up the film's central cast as the titular Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Alongside them, was a series of legitimate actors, comedians, and other notable bands that featured prominently throughout.

Amongst the film's actors and comedians were British horror movie staple Donald Pleasance, sitcom actor Phil Nicholas, British comedian Frankie Howerd, and US comedy icon Steve Martin who also performs a song.

There was also a swathe of musical guests that featured in the film, and contributed to the original soundtrack including Aerosmith, Sandy Farina, Alice Cooper, Earth, Wind & Fire, Billy Preston, and Jeff Beck.

Was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band a success?

Upon its release, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was a moderate commercial success, making $20.4 million at the box office against a budget of $13 million.

Critically, it was panned from all corners including the media, fans, and fellow musicians.

Billed as "this generation's Gone with the Wind" according to Universal, the film was anything but, and was regarded as "blasphemous" to The Beatles.

Even Alice Cooper who starred in the film said: "Nobody realised what a stinker it was and as soon as they were in the middle of it, everybody says 'you know what, this is absolutely blasphemous to the Beatles'."

Ahead of the film's release, Robin Gibb didn't do the Bee Gees any favours by making an ill-judged announcement that said "When ours comes out" referring to their version of The Beatles' album, "it will be, in effect, as if theirs never existed."

"Kids today don't know The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper," Gibb said in the full statement. "And when those who do see our film and hear us doing it, that will be the version they relate to and remember. Unfortunately, the Beatles will be secondary."

"You see, there is no such thing as The Beatles. They don't exist as a band and never performed Sgt. Pepper live, in any case."

"When ours comes out, it will be, in effect, as if theirs never existed. When you heard the Beatles do 'Long Tall Sally' or 'Roll Over Beethoven', did you care about Little Richard's or Chuck Berry's version?"

Though they were riding high from the success of Saturday Night Fever and their accompanying soundtrack, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band marked a major shift in the Bee Gees' career fortunes, with many once again referring to them as Beatles rip-offs, and with the impending decline of disco they would never quite recover.

Two starring bands didn't receive any of the negative press however - Aerosmith's cover of 'Come Together' was a huge hit, and Earth, Wind & Fire scored a Grammy Award for their rendition of 'Got to Get You Into My Life'.

As recent as 2024, Peter Frampton said he was tricked into starring in the film, revealing: "I was told by (producer) Robert Stigwood that Paul McCartney was going to be the saviour of the Heartland."

"When Stigwood said, 'Paul is going to be in the movie,' I said, 'Really! Well, if a Beatle's going to be in the movie, he's sanctioned it, then it can't be bad."

"I fly out to Los Angeles, I go to the first meeting out there, no Paul McCartney. So I was lied to," Frampton explained on The Bob Lefsetz Podcast.

"Then I realised from the first day of shooting, oh this was a disaster. I didn't walk because I would have been sued to high hell. But we all hated being in that movie."

What did The Beatles think?

Both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr attended the premiere of the musical film in 1978, though Macca later admitted he always thought the film would fail.

"I said, 'This is never going to work' because everyone has their own image from Sgt. Pepper, the album. And so, if you select one image, that's never going to be enough. Because your vision is different from mine."

John Lennon didn't make any public comments about it, he was spotted attending the play on Broadway.

George Harrison wasn't as sympathetic in his view, dubbing the Bee Gees and their manager Robert Stigwood as "greedy".

He told Rolling Stone magazine in 1978: "I just feel sorry for Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees, and Pete Frampton for doing it, because they had established themselves in their own right as decent artists."

"And suddenly… it's like the classic thing of greed. The more you make the more you want to make, until you become so greedy that ultimately you put a foot wrong."