ABSTRACT
Sgt. Pepper remains the only album within popular music whose cover has attracted as much attention and debate as the music it contains. The patterns, themes and associations discussed are plausible inasmuch as they approach Sgt. Pepper's cover as an active partner of the music inside. Inside the gate was a magic land called Pepperland, where flowers grew, butterflies flew, and the people were all happy. The perception of the Beatles as magicians or shamans provided an apt contemporary illustration of Weber's comments on the attribution of charismatic powers by devoted followers to their leaders. A careful inspection of the album cover would thus reveal, according to the myth, an abundance of clues. Freed from any restrictions, boundaries or guidelines by the group itself, audiences were able to construct a complex modern myth that combined elements of collective excitement, religious ecstasy and personal involvement.
