Everyone on Earth who has attempted to make a halfway decent pop song has been indebted to The Beatles for years. As much as people might say that they are overhyped or just a touch overrated in the broader context of rock history, there will never be another band who left that great an impact on the world at large ever again. Naturally, any band would want to pay their respects to their idols, but George Harrison admitted that the Bee Gees severely jumped the shark when trying their hand at their songs in the movie Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Before we go over this dumpster fire of a movie, let me just say that I can almost see this working. Prior to becoming known as God’s gift to discos everywhere, every one of the Bee Gees were known for making songs that sounded closer to The Beatles’ early records, including some amazing harmony singing that most still can’t figure out.
Aside from their medallions and open-chested shirts, though, The Gibb brothers did at least have the respect of the biggest artists in the world too. They had written the classic country hit ‘Islands in the Stream’ and had even managed to make the biggest hits for other artists along the way.
But when you put that in the context of a movie with a god-awful script, nothing can save it. Playing alongside Peter Frampton as Billy Shears, the Bee Gees turn in some of the most milquetoast versions of Beatles songs ever committed to tape, including a shockingly weak version of Paul McCartney’s ‘Oh Darling’.
Even though there are still some decent versions of Beatles songs in the movie from Aerosmith, hearing what they did to songs like ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ feels all wrong. The original was meant to be this plodding piece of sonic dread, and now it sounded like the kind of tune that would be played in the background of a particularly dead dentist’s office.
While Harrison was heavily against the mythology of his own band, he thought that the Bee Gees did themselves no favours by starring in the movie, saying, “I think it’s damaged their images, their careers, and they didn’t need to do that. It’s just like The Beatles trying to do The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones can do it better.”
Then again, that didn’t stop people from mythologising the band for years to come. When other wiser heads prevailed, though, they made for the kind of soundtrack that everyone actually wanted to hear half the time.
For as many times as the Fab Four’s story has been overexplained, the beauty of movies like Nowhere Boy or Across the Universe is about how they adapt their material through a modern lens, occasionally creating something that makes everyone see their music in a different light. It’s one thing to pay tribute to one of your idols, but Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is what happens when everyone has the style down with no substance.
