I recorded this documentary off of the Discovery network. I played it at least a hundred times and showed it to everyone I knew. Then in about 2003 I found out there was an even longer version of the film which an acquaintance had taped from PBS. It is based on a book of the same name by Beatles publicist Derek Taylor. It really isn't just about the Sgt. Pepper album, but uses it as a platform to discuss a variety of experiments in the counterculture. Having only been 10 years old in 1967, I was clueless about these social changes. It goes into everything: experiments in the Netherlands, Hoppy Hopkins arrest for marijuana in the UK, San Francisco culture, mass arrests in L.A., the Diggers, the underground press in the UK and the US, the anti-war movement, the levitation of the Pentagon, pot and LSD, the influx of Eastern religions, psychedelic art and music, happenings, the Monterey Pop Festival, the San Francisco Be-in, and of course Sgt. Pepper. I've watched anything I could get ahold of about the 1960s (including the 6 hour PBS special "Making Sense of the Sixties") but nothing comes close to this film in capturing the range of ideas being explored at the time or the exhilaration of it. The film features many important participants of the times: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, Paul Kantner, Peter Coyote, Ron Thelin, Barry Miles, Chet Helms, Allen Cohen, and so many others. The role of Sgt. Pepper was to put a small slice of the counterculture in the bedrooms of millions of kids around the world. It took the counterculture from a cult interest to a mainstream interest. If you haven't seen this film and you are a sixties buff, it is essential viewing.
We have seen a few countercultures since this time, like the punk movement and the rave scene, but neither of those seem to have had the breadth or heart of the 1960s breakthroughs. I think this is why the 60s counterculture is a reference point for youth of each succeeding generation. "It Was Twenty Years Ago Today" is an excellent introduction to the 1960s and the Sgt. Pepper album.
We have seen a few countercultures since this time, like the punk movement and the rave scene, but neither of those seem to have had the breadth or heart of the 1960s breakthroughs. I think this is why the 60s counterculture is a reference point for youth of each succeeding generation. "It Was Twenty Years Ago Today" is an excellent introduction to the 1960s and the Sgt. Pepper album.