Editing Rubber Soul (section)

==Influence and legacy==
===Rivals' response===
{{See also|Album era}}
{{quote box|quote= It was the most out-there music they'd ever made, but also their warmest, friendliest and most emotionally direct. As soon as it dropped in December 1965, ''Rubber Soul'' cut the story of pop music in half – we're all living in the future this album invented. Now as then, every pop artist wants to make a ''Rubber Soul'' of their own.<ref name="Sheffield/RS" />|source=– [[Rob Sheffield]], 2015|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}

Music historian [[Bill Martin (philosophy)|Bill Martin]] says that the release of ''Rubber Soul'' was a "turning point" for pop music, in that for the first time "the ''album'' rather than the song became the basic unit of artistic production."{{sfn|Martin|1998|p=41}} In author David Howard's description, "pop's stakes had been raised into the stratosphere" by ''Rubber Soul'', resulting in a shift in focus from singles to creating albums without the usual [[filler (media)|filler]] tracks.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}} The release marked the start of a period when other artists, in an attempt to emulate the Beatles' achievement, sought to create albums as works of artistic merit{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=36}} and with increasingly novel sounds.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=68–70}} According to Steve Turner, by galvanising the Beatles' most ambitious rivals in Britain and America, ''Rubber Soul'' launched "the pop equivalent of an arms race".{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=69–70}}

[[Brian Wilson]] of the Beach Boys described ''Rubber Soul'' as "the first album I listened to where every song was a gas" and planned his band's next project, ''[[Pet Sounds]]'', as an attempt to surpass it.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=75}} ''Rubber Soul'' similarly inspired [[Pete Townshend]] of [[the Who]] and [[the Kinks]]' [[Ray Davies]],{{sfn|Decker|2009|p=77}} as well as Jagger and [[Keith Richards]] of the Rolling Stones, who issued their first album of all-original material, ''[[Aftermath (The Rolling Stones album)|Aftermath]]'', in April 1966.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=36}} The album was also an influence on Bob Dylan, [[Stevie Wonder]]<ref name="Myers/WSJ" /> and the Byrds.{{sfn|Du Noyer|2020|p=80}} [[John Cale]] recalled that ''Rubber Soul'' was an inspiration as he and [[Lou Reed]] developed their band [[the Velvet Underground]]. He said it was the first time "you were forced to deal with them as something other than a flash in the pan" and especially admired Harrison's introduction of Indian sounds.<ref name="Alexander/Mojo">{{cite magazine|last=Alexander|first=Phil|title=The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|date=July 2006|page=90|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

In his chapter on ''Rubber Soul'' in the [[List of Cambridge Companions to Music|Cambridge Companion to Music]]'s volume on the Beatles, James Decker credits the album with effecting the "transformation" of 1960s pop.{{sfn|Decker|2009|pp=75–76}} In addition to citing it as the precedent for early experimental works by bands including the Kinks, [[Love (band)|Love]] and [[Jefferson Airplane]], Decker writes that ''Rubber Soul'' presented "a variety of techniques hitherto unexplored in popular music" while encouraging listeners "to be cognizant of more flexible dimensions of pop music and to ''desire'' and ''expect'' them as well".{{sfn|Decker|2009|p=89}} Music historian Simon Philo also sees it as heralding the experimentation that characterised late-1960s rock. He describes it as an album-length confirmation of the "transformation of pop's range and reach" that the Beatles had first achieved when "[[Yesterday (Beatles song)|Yesterday]]", McCartney's introspective and classically orchestrated ballad, topped US singles charts in late 1965.{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=87–88}} In a 1968 article on the Beach Boys, [[Gene Sculatti]] of ''[[Jazz & Pop]]'' recognised ''Rubber Soul'' as the model for ''Pet Sounds'' and ''Aftermath'', as well as "the necessary prototype that no major rock group has been able to ignore".<ref name="Sculatti">{{cite web|last=Sculatti|first=Gene|url=http://www.teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714191639/http://teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/ |title=Villains and Heroes: In Defense of the Beach Boys|magazine=[[Jazz & Pop]]|date=September 1968|publisher=teachrock.org|archive-date=14 July 2014|access-date=20 June 2017}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Du Noyer comments that the Beatles' contemporaries from their pre-fame years playing at [[the Cavern]] in Liverpool, such as [[The Searchers (band)|the Searchers]] and [[Gerry Marsden]], faded as a result of their ignoring the changes presented by ''Rubber Soul''. He adds: "Some went cabaret and [[Cilla Black]] became the new [[Vera Lynn]]."{{sfn|Du Noyer|2020|p=80}}}}
{{Clear}}

===Cultural legitimisation of pop music===
''Rubber Soul'' is widely viewed as the first pop album to make an artistic statement through the quality of its songs,{{sfn|Hoffmann|2016|p=261}} a point that was reinforced by its artsy cover photo.{{sfn|Simonelli|2013|p=96}} The belated acceptance of the Beatles by the editors of ''Newsweek'' was indicative of the magazine's recognition of the band's popularity among American intellectuals and the cultural elite.{{sfn|Lindberg et al.|2005|p=118}} This in turn was reflected in ''[[The Village Voice]]''{{'}}s appointment of [[Richard Goldstein (writer born 1944)|Richard Goldstein]], a recent graduate and [[New Journalism]] writer, to the new position of rock critic, in June 1966,{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=191–92}} and the Beatles' central role in achieving cultural legitimisation for pop music over 1966–67.{{sfn|Lindberg et al.|2005|pp=113–14, 118}}{{refn|group=nb|In Gendron's description, one of two substantial early pieces by Goldstein was a laudatory assessment of ''Revolver'' that represented "the first substantial rock review devoted to one album to appear in any nonrock magazine with accreditory power".{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=192}} In the review, Goldstein referred to ''Rubber Soul'' as being "as important to the expansion of pop territory" as the "revolutionary" ''Revolver''{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=155}} through its popularising of "baroque progression and Oriental instrumentation".{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=192–93}}}} Referring to the praise afforded the band, particularly the Lennon–McCartney partnership, by ''Newsweek'' in early 1966, Michael Frontani writes: "The Beatles had a foothold in the world of art; in the months that followed, their efforts would lead to the full acceptance and legitimization of rock and roll as an art form."{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=122}}

[[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy)|Paul Williams]] launched ''[[Crawdaddy (magazine)|Crawdaddy!]]'' in February 1966 with the aim of reflecting the sophistication brought to the genre by ''Rubber Soul'' and Dylan's ''[[Bringing It All Back Home]]'' – the two albums that, in music journalist [[Barney Hoskyns]]' description, "arguably gave birth to 'rock' as a more solid concept than 'pop{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite web|first=Barney|last=Hoskyns|title=Music Journalism at 50|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/music-journalism-at-50|publisher=[[Rock's Backpages]]|date=April 2013|access-date=7 November 2019|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628163701/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/music-journalism-at-50|archive-date=28 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Sculatti, ''Rubber Soul'' was "the definitive 'rock as art' album, revolutionary in that it was a completely successful creative endeavor integrating with precision all aspects of the creative (rock) process – composition of individual tracks done with extreme care, each track arranged appropriately to fit beside each other track, the symmetrical rock 'n' roll album".<ref name="Sculatti" /> Christopher Bray describes it as "the album that proved that rock and roll could be suitable for adult audiences", "the first long-playing pop record to really merit the term 'album{{'"}} and the LP that "turned pop music into high art".{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=269 & pic. section p. 8}} Historian [[Marc Myers]] similarly credits it with "mark[ing] rock's shift from formulaic pop to studio experimentation and high art".<ref name="Myers/WSJ" />

According to Du Noyer, through ''Rubber Soul''{{'s}} blurring of the traditionally distinct dividing line between pop and high culture, and the perceived inferiority of singles, "a rift occurred [in the UK] between pop and rock". He quotes writer [[Nik Cohn]]'s complaints that the "danger signs" for pop music's loss of innocence were apparent on ''Rubber Soul'', and poet [[Philip Larkin]]'s comment that "[The Beatles'] fans stayed with them, and the nuttier intelligentsia, but they lost the typists in [[the Cavern]]." Du Noyer says the album started a process that grew to become a "gulf between albums and singles, between rock or pop" that "shape[d] British music for decades".{{sfn|Du Noyer|2020|p=80}}

===Development of subgenres===
[[File:KFRC Fantasy Fair Dryden Balin Kantner.png|thumb|[[Jefferson Airplane]] performing in June 1967. ''Rubber Soul'' especially resonated with musicians in the emerging [[San Francisco Sound|San Francisco scene]].]]
The album coincided with rock 'n' roll's development into a variety of new styles, a process in which the Beatles' influence ensured them a pre-eminent role.{{sfn|Harrington|2002|pp=190–91}} [[Andrew Loog Oldham]], the Rolling Stones' manager and producer at the time, has described ''Rubber Soul'' as "the album that changed the musical world we lived in then to the one we still live in today".<ref name="Kubernik/RBP" />{{refn|group=nb|[[Stevie Winwood]], who formed the [[psychedelic rock]] band [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]] in 1967, sees ''Rubber Soul'' as the LP that "broke everything open", in that "It crossed music into a whole new dimension and was responsible for kicking off the sixties rock era."{{sfn|Kruth|2015|p=9}}}} "Norwegian Wood" launched what Indian classical musician [[Ravi Shankar]] called "the great sitar explosion",{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=171}} as the Indian string instrument became a popular feature in [[raga rock]]{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=345}}{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=256}} and for many pop artists seeking to add an exotic quality to their music.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=66–67}} The harpsichord-like solo on "In My Life" led to a wave of [[baroque rock]] recordings.{{sfn|Harrington|2002|p=191}}{{sfn|Gendron|2002|pp=174, 343}} ''Rubber Soul'' was also the release that encouraged many folk-music aficionados to embrace pop.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=296}} Folk singer [[Roy Harper (singer)|Roy Harper]] recalled: "They'd come onto my turf, got there before me, and they were kings of it, overnight. We'd all been outflanked{{nbsp}}..."<ref name="Alexander/Mojo" />{{refn|group=nb|Harper also said: "After a few times on the turntable, you realised that the goal posts had been moved, forever, and you really wanted to hear the next record – now. You could sense ''Revolver'' just over the horizon. You were hooked."<ref name="Alexander/Mojo" />}}

Author George Case, writing in his book ''Out of Our Heads'', identifies ''Rubber Soul'' as "the authentic beginning of the psychedelic era".{{sfn|Case|2010|p=27}} Music journalist [[Mark Ellen]] similarly credits the album with having "sow[ed] the seeds of psychedelia",<ref name="Kubernik/RBP">{{cite web|first=Harvey|last=Kubernik|title=''Rubber Soul'' 50 Years On|publisher=[[Rock's Backpages]]|date=December 2015|url=http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/irubber-souli-50-years-on-|url-access=subscription|access-date=7 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629230900/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/irubber-souli-50-years-on-|archive-date=29 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> while Christgau says that "psychedelia starts here."{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=36}}{{refn|group=nb|According to Christgau, the album also "smashed a lot of alienation", in that "Without reneging on the group's mass cult appeal, it reached into private lives and made hundreds of thousands of secretly lonely people feel as if someone out there shared their brightest insights and most depressing discoveries."{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=36}}}} Writing in ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'' in July 1966, [[Lillian Roxon]] reported on the new trend for psychedelia-themed clubs and events in the US and said that ''Rubber Soul'' was "the classic psychedelic album now played at all the psychedelic discotheques". She attributed pop's recent embrace of psychedelia and "many of the strange new sounds now in records" to the LP's influence.<ref>{{cite news|first=Lillian|last=Roxon|title=Psychedelics: That's the New Fad|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=17 July 1966}} Available at [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/psychedelics-thats-the-new-fad Rock's Backpages] (subscription required).</ref>

In Myers' view, the Capitol release "changed the direction of American rock".<ref name="Mochari/Inc">{{cite web|first=Ilan|last=Mochari|title=What a 50-Year-Old Beatles Album Can Teach You About Creativity|url=https://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/rubber-soul.html|magazine=[[Inc. (magazine)|Inc]]|date=3 December 2015|access-date=9 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109170119/https://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/rubber-soul.html|archive-date=9 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In the ongoing process of reciprocal influence between the band and US folk rock acts, the Beatles went on to inspire the [[San Francisco Sound|San Francisco music scene]].{{sfn|Smith|2009|p=36}} Recalling the album's popularity in the [[Haight-Ashbury]] district of San Francisco, where Jefferson Airplane were based,{{sfn|Womack|2007|pp=197–98}} journalist [[Charles Perry (food writer)|Charles Perry]] said: "You could party hop all night and hear nothing but ''Rubber Soul''."{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=345}} Perry also wrote that "More than ever the Beatles were the soundtrack of the Haight-Ashbury, [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] and the whole circuit", where pre-hippie students suspected that the album was inspired by drugs.{{sfn|Sheffield|2017|p=97}}

Citing a quantitative study of [[tempo]]s in music from the 1960s, Walter Everett identifies ''Rubber Soul'' as a work that was "made more to be thought about than danced to", and an album that "began a far-reaching trend" in its slowing-down of the tempos typically used in pop and rock music.{{sfn|Everett|2001|pp=311–12}} While music historians typically credit ''Sgt. Pepper'' as the birth of [[progressive rock]],{{sfn|Hoffmann|2016|pp=261–62}} Everett and Bill Martin recognise ''Rubber Soul'' as the inspiration for many of the bands working in that genre from the early 1970s.{{sfn|Martin|1998|p=41}}{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=95}}{{refn|group=nb|As with ''Revolver'', Everett sees the album as prefiguring progressive rock with its combination of "rich multipart vocals brimming with expressive dissonance treatment, a deep exploration of different guitars and the capos that produced different colors from familiar finger patterns, surprising new timbres and electronic effects, a more soulful pentatonic approach to vocal and instrumental melody tinged by frequent twelve-bar jams that accompanied the more serious recording, and a fairly consistent search for meaningful ideas in lyrics".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=30}}}}

===Appearances on best-album lists and further recognition===
''Rubber Soul'' was voted fifth in [[Paul Gambaccini]]'s 1978 book ''[[Critic's Choice: Top 200 Albums]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/world_critics_lists.htm|title=The World Critic Lists|publisher=rocklistmusic.co.uk|access-date=5 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505150910/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/world_critics_lists.htm|archive-date=5 May 2017|url-status=usurped}}</ref> based on submissions from a panel of 47 critics and broadcasters including Richard Williams,{{sfn|Heylin|2007|p=265}} Christgau and Marcus.<ref>Leopold, Todd (7 March 2007). [http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/blogs/marquee/2007/03/really-infuriating-top-200-list.html "A really infuriating top 200 list"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622120007/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/blogs/marquee/2007/03/really-infuriating-top-200-list.html |date=22 June 2018 }}. ''The Marquee'' at [[CNN.com]]. Retrieved 5 June 2017.</ref> In the first edition of Colin Larkin's book ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]'', in 1994, it was ranked at number 10,{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=145}} and in 1998 it was voted the 39th greatest album of all time in the first "Music of the Millennium" poll,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/50266.stm "The music of the millennium"]. [[BBC News Online|BBC News]]. 24 January 1998. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160902041735/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/50266.stm Archived] from the original on 2 September 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2017.</ref> conducted by [[HMV]] and [[Channel 4]].{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=586}} It was listed at number 34 in the third edition of Larkin's ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', published in 2000.<ref>{{cite news|first=Paul|last=Kelso|title=Radiohead challenge Fab Four as Bends leaves Sgt Pepper in the cold|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/sep/04/paulkelso1|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=4 September 2000|access-date=11 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030124916/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/sep/04/paulkelso1|archive-date=30 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Badman|2001|p=671}}

Since 2001, ''Rubber Soul'' has appeared in critics' best-albums-of-all-time lists compiled by [[VH1]] (at number 6),{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=150}} ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' (number 27) and ''Rolling Stone'' (number 5).{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=794}} It was among ''Time'' magazine's selection of the "All-Time 100 Albums" in 2006<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=2 November 2006|title=All-Time 100 Albums |url=http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/index.html |access-date=20 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217225818/http://entertainment.time.com/2006/11/02/the-all-time-100-albums/ |archive-date=17 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was favoured over ''Revolver'' in Chris Smith's book ''[[101 Albums That Changed Popular Music]]'' three years later.<ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Hirst|title=101 Albums That Changed Popular Music, By Chris Smith|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/101-albums-that-changed-popular-music-by-chris-smith-1739610.html|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=9 July 2009|access-date=27 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217205207/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/101-albums-that-changed-popular-music-by-chris-smith-1739610.html|archive-date=17 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Smith|2009|pp=35–36, 244}} In 2012, ''Rolling Stone'' again placed it at number 5 on the magazine's revised list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".<ref name="RS500 2012" /> In September 2020, ''Rubber Soul'' was ranked at number 35 on the same publication's new list.<ref>{{cite web|editor-last=Fine|editor-first=Jason|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: 35. The Beatles, 'Rubber Soul'|url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-beatles-rubber-soul-2-1063198/|publisher=[[Rolling Stone|rollingstone.com]]|date=22 September 2020|access-date=24 September 2020}}</ref>

''Rubber Soul'' appeared in ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s 2014 list of the "40 Most Groundbreaking Albums of All Time", where the editors concluded: "You can say this represents 'maturity,' call it 'art' or credit it for moving rock away from singles to album-length statements – but regardless ''Rubber Soul'' accelerated popular music's creative arms race, driving competitors like the Stones, the Beach Boys and Dylan to dismantle expectations and create new ones."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/most-groundbreaking-albums-of-all-time#rubber-soul|author=Rolling Stone staff|title=40 Most Groundbreaking Albums of All Time: The Beatles ''Rubber Soul''|publisher=[[Rolling Stone|rollingstone.com]]|date=December 2014|access-date=5 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521051406/http://www.rollingstone.com/most-groundbreaking-albums-of-all-time#rubber-soul|archive-date=21 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Three years later, ''Pitchfork'' ranked it at number 46 on the website's "200 Best Albums of the 1960s". In his commentary with the entry, Ian Cohen wrote: "Every Beatles album fundamentally shaped how pop music is understood, so ''Rubber Soul'' is one of the most important records ever made, by default{{nbsp}}... Even in 2017, whenever a pop singer makes a serious turn, or an anointed serious band says they've learned to embrace pop, ''Rubber Soul'' can't help but enter the conversation."<ref>{{cite web|author=Pitchfork staff|title=The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/?page=8|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=22 August 2017|access-date=9 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225232745/https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1960s/?page=8|archive-date=25 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2000, ''Rubber Soul'' was inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]],{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=795}} an award bestowed by the American [[Recording Academy]] "to honor recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that are at least 25 years old".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame|title=Grammy Hall of Fame|publisher=grammy.org|access-date=30 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110122042616/http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame|archive-date=22 January 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> The album has been the subject of multi-artist tribute albums such as ''[[This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul|This Bird Has Flown]]'' and ''Rubber Folk''.{{sfn|Womack|2014|p=794}} Writing in December 2015, Ilan Mochari of ''[[Inc. (magazine)|Inc.]]'' magazine commented on the unusual aspect of a pop album's 50th anniversary being celebrated, and added: "Over the next several years, you can bet you'll read about the 50th anniversary of many other albums – thematic volumes composed by bands or songwriters in the tradition ''Rubber Soul'' established. All of which is to say: ''Rubber Soul'', the Beatles' sixth studio album, was the record that launched a thousand ships."<ref name="Mochari/Inc" />