In the case of The Beatles, their intense, all-encompassing fame and influence can often overshadow the fact that they were a pretty weird group. In fact, a not insignificant part of their appeal came from the very fact that what they were attempting had never been done before. Prior to The Beatles, no rag-tag group of kids from Liverpool could ever dream of becoming the world’s biggest band; they completely broke the mould.
Musically, the band’s weirdness caught up with them during their flirtations with psychedelia. From their early days as a young group playing predominantly poppy love songs and Motown covers, the advent of LSD caused a complete redirection in their sound. All of a sudden, the group had gone from ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ to ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’. After embracing the weird and wonderful world of psychedelia, the band created some of their finest records, including the likes of Revolver, Rubber Soul and, of course, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
By any stretch of the imagination, these albums are all incredibly weird. Sgt. Pepper, in particular, was virtually unrecognisable from any other album that had been made up to that point. With its locked-groove ending, stunning artwork and bizarre lyrics, the record stunned audiences upon its release and, indeed, to this day. Nevertheless, according to John Lennon, Sgt. Pepper did not see The Beatles reach the peak of their weirdness.
For Lennon, the strangest moment in the discography of the Fab Four came with the release of Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. Released in conjunction with The Beatles’ film of the same name, the album contained some of the band’s most outlandish, far out songwriting to date. Magical Mystery Tour is perhaps best remembered for the John Lennon masterpiece ‘I Am The Walrus’, which provided stark contrast to some of the band’s lovey-dovey early work.
In 1974, years after the final break-up of Britain’s biggest band, Lennon revealed, “Magical Mystery Tour is one of my favourite albums, because it was so weird”. Admittedly, viewing the release as an album probably depends on your geography. In the USA, the record was released as an 11-track LP, whereas in the band’s native UK, Magical Mystery Tour was only released as an EP, depriving the nation of five extra tracks.
Like many fans, Lennon selects ‘I Am The Walrus’ as the stand-out effort from the album, saying, “‘I Am The Walrus’ is also one of my favourite tracks,” explaining, “because I did it, of course, but also because it’s one of those that has enough little bitties going to keep you interested even a hundred years later”. It’s worth noting here that Lennon said that 50 years ago and, to his credit, people are still incredibly interested in the song to this day.
It is hard to argue against the idea that Magical Mystery Tour sees The Beatles perform at their weirdest. Everything from the lyrical content to the cover art is beautifully bizarre, showcasing both the incredible creativity of the group, as well as the copious amounts of mind-altering substances that were experimenting with at the time.
