Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne is one of modern musics most important purveyors of psychedelia.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Naturally, EW wanted to connect with Coyne as the source material celebrates its 50th anniversary this month.
Credit: Andrew Chin/Getty Images
Coyne has a predictably eccentric story about how he fell in love withSgt.
All the while Im growing up, the Beatles are beginning to happen, he explains.
But from there, things got weird and thats whereSgt.
One side of the stereo didnt actually work.
Most of the things they would play, you couldnt really tell.
What record is this?!
It was just an utterly different, bizarre experience.
I had sort of fallen in love with the other version.
I thought, Oh yeah, the voice can drift in and out of a song.
If the Beatles do that, it must be something cool.
Coyne has since rectified his listening situation and continues to praiseSgt.
Peppersand its cultural significance a half-century after its release.
I dont think people even associate it now with the 60s.
Beatles music has become Beatles music.
Its all already done and made.
That probably makes it even more appealing, that its not locked into a certain time or age group.
But, like most Beatlesmaniacs, the allure ofSgt.
Pepperscomes back to the songs for Coyne.
They are really, really great songs, he says.
you’re able to just sing along with them.
you’re able to wonder at their meaning.
Theres a lot to know about the way they did things.
All those things make it better and better.
Peppers,purchasePEOPLEs new collectors editionThe Beatles: Sgt.
