Box Office Stink Bomb 45 Years Later Sgt Peppers The Movie
Box Office Stink Bomb 45 Years Later Sgt Peppers The Movie
45 years ago Some friends in the neighborhood rode bikes up to the Macomb Mall Cinema to see the movie of the Summer, Sgt Peppers’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. A movie about the Beatles album Sgt. Peppers. All the makings of a super box office mega-hit right?
Released on July of, 1978, starring Peter Frampton, the Bee Gees, Aerosmith appears as Future Villian Band. Alice Cooper was also huge at the time, and Earth, Wind & Fire. The narrator of the story, comedian George Burns tried his best to help the audience figure out what the hell was going on in the movie, all while singing hit Beatles songs.
While the movie bashed by critics did deliver Aerosmith’s cover of “Come Together.” Steven Tyler even got to choke Peter Frampton. Steve Martin was at a peak of popularity playing crazy surgeon to the Beatle’s classic song, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.
Seeing the movie theater was packed to the rafters for Sgt. Peppers. The Opening credits started and on the screen read. All songs written by Lennon-McCartney. Right then the audience went nuts with cheers. That was the last cheer the movie would get that day. We left the theater numb asking what the hell did we just see on the screen?
We didn’t understand Peter Frampton, at the time the biggest-selling artist in the world after Frampton Comes Alive album. In school, it was a requirement for every kid to have this album. Bee Gees were the disco kings and popular but no one would admit the fact in fear of getting beat up. Both artists bruised their careers by being picked to be in that movie. On paper, it was an all-star cast, what could go wrong? Everything went wrong.
Aerosmith seems to be the only band to make it through the Sgt. Peppers curse unscathed. The Beatles’ cover song they did for the movie, “Come Together”, charted for 12 weeks peaking at #23.
The movie slowly becomes a cult classic since its re-release on Blue-Ray. So if you don’t want to watch the entire Sgt. Peppers movie. Use the official movie trailer as sort of a cliff notes so you get a small piece of history without having to stomach the whole thing in one sitting. Click Here