Supposing they had stopped with Revolver...??

Hopefully this can be a semi serious discussion although I have my doubts (but I'll try, anyway). Sgt. Pepper is an album-perhaps THE album-which is nearly always cited as the one which took Pop/Rock album making to a whole other level...the album which was the true "starting point" of Rock albums being taken seriously as an art form and so on. Supposing The Beatles had called it quits with Revolver and there was no Sgt. Pepper album...? Were there enough bands already in full swing who would have, in one way or another, presented an album of theirs in such a way so as to make critics and peers take note and hence, take album-making to that "whole other level"? I'm thinking "probably" yes but I'm not certain which band this might have turned out being (possibly Pink Floyd or maybe The Beach Boys with Brian Wilson now feeling less threatened since The Beatles would be gone and out of the way). Interesting to note as well that The Stones would not have made that sudden left turn with Satanic Majesties leaving the question, what type of album would have followed up Between the Buttons (it's too easy, well as unlikely, to say they would have gone straight to Beggars Banquet)..? Any imaginative -and hopefully viable-thoughts?

 

First thought -
What would have transpired, if the musical bridge that The Beatles laid down - for other musicians to cross, had not been blueprinted...?

“...In 1968, Roy Wood — guitarist, vocalist and songwriter of The Move — had an idea to form a new band that would use violins, cellos, string basses, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound, taking rock music in the direction to "pick up where The Beatles left off". The orchestral instruments would be the main focus, rather than the guitars. Jeff Lynne, the frontman of fellow Birmingham group The Idle Race, was excited by the concept...”

 

we'd still love them and not missed what we didn't know...

 

Brian Epstein would have doubled down on Gerry and the Pacemakers.

 

Here we go again....

 

Okay, I’ll play...

Then there would have been a SMiLE in 1967, and it would have been cited as the greatest album ever made, like SPLHCB is today.

 

...a thread-crasher that has no interest in the topic...?

 

Picking up on the concept -
What would the now-solo Beatles members have done...?
They couldn’t quite go back to The Cavern Club, nor work in anonymous clerical occupations.

They wouldn’t have ceased to be musical.

Without the yoke of The Beatles moniker,
Perhaps their individual musical themes and ideas would have expanded even further, faster.

 

Ringo would have become a comedian and Paul would have gone solo and perhaps had a few film roles. Don’t know about John and George.

 

We’d have none of those recent remixes.

 

They would have gone out on top like they did 3 years later.

 

A world without the White Album and Abbey Road? Hard to imagine but an interesting question.

 

If it had ended late 1966 there would have been no All You Need Is Love 6/25/1967 live Our World satellite broadcast.
The song with the Fabs is synonymous with 1967 and whole culture of the time.
The song is like the Fabs infrastructure.

 

I expect that the Velvet Underground and their collaboration with Warhol would have ensured that "art" had a foothold in "the biz".

 

Be strong. You will survive it!

 

we would have been deprived of some great music, and spared from some crap

 

I think there should be a thread for every album the Beatles released with the same question on here.

 

Poor @Johnny Action would have a heart attack...

 

Suppose we could enjoy few meaningless Beatles threads on this forum?

 

Yes, we could enjoy “meaningless” Beatles threads on this forum.
Or, one can skip over them, or refrain from posting a negative comment.

It’s not required reading, kids!!!

 

What if Hitler had won the war? Would we still have The Beatles?

The mind boggles.

 

With each album that is imagined as non-existent, the culture of our being is further reduced and minimized...

 

Brian Epstein may not have been available for managerial duties.

 

What if Decca didn't think that guitar bands were on their way out?

 

“What if Napoleon had a B52 bomber?”