Revolver is Released
When Revolver was released on 5th August 1966, it took people by surprise. How could a group that two years earlier had released a great soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night, composed of great pop and folk rock songs, transition so much in those two years. A good friend of mine, Andrew Phillips, when he bought and first played Revolver, was not impressed, put it down and went to listen to the Monkees. He then returned to it a few months later and, after a few plays, realised how incredible an album it was, and got back into the Beatles. This album probably took fans longer than any other to fully appreciate its groundbreaking musical evolution, or more accurately, a revolution.
In 1966, there were important albums by Dylan, the Byrds, the Kinks, and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. Did Lennon and McCartney feel they couldn’t be left behind? How important was the competition to The Beatles?
Lennon and McCartney were definitely aware of everything happening in the music scenes on both sides of the Atlantic. The was now making huge leaps in terms of songwriting, as well as the advances in technology in the studio, meaning that nobody could stand still, especially John and Paul. Their thirst for continued success meant that, instead of being prepared to sit back and keep generating the same musical genres on each album, which still would have sold, they were determined to lead the revolution from the front. They listened to every album by their competitors, and then set out to improve upon what they were producing. This drove them on to greater and greater success.
For this reason, I say that Revolver was the most important album of the 1960s. With so many great tracks, everything was leading up to the most transformative song on the album, “Tomorrow Never Knows”. At that point, all the other bands must have thought to themselves: “How do we beat that?” And the answer was, they couldn’t.
Revolver stands tall and proud as the most incredible and culturally important album of the 1960s.
The Beatles: What If?
Discover how Andrew Phillips and I debate the importance of Revolver, and 70 other key moments in Beatles history, in our book, The Beatles: What If?
