Editing Art rock (section)

====Influential albums====
=====1965–66=====
The December 1965 release of the Beatles' ''[[Rubber Soul]]'' signified a watershed for the pop album,{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}} transforming it in scope from a collection of singles with lesser-quality tracks to a distinct art form, filled with high-quality original compositions.{{sfn|Perone|2004|p=23}} The album garnered recognition for the Beatles as artists from the American mainstream press,{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=595}} anticipating rock music's cultural legitimisation as an art form.{{sfn|Frontani|2007|p=122}} Writing in 1968, [[Gene Sculatti]] of ''[[Jazz & Pop]]'' recognised ''Rubber Soul'' as "the definitive 'rock as art' album" and "the necessary prototype" that major artists such as the Rolling Stones (with ''[[Aftermath (The Rolling Stones album)|Aftermath]]'') and the Beach Boys had felt compelled to follow.<ref name="Sculatti">{{cite web|last=Sculatti|first=Gene|author-link=Gene Sculatti|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>

The period when rock music became most closely aligned with art began in 1966 and continued until the mid 1970s.{{sfn|Campbell|2012|p=250}} Academic Michael Johnson associates "the first documented moments of ascension in rock music" to the Beach Boys' ''[[Pet Sounds]]'' and the Beatles' ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' (1967). Released in May 1966, ''Pet Sounds'' came from Wilson's desire to make a "complete statement", as he believed the Beatles had previously done with ''Rubber Soul''.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=56}}{{refn|group=nb|In March 1966, Wilson called ''Pet Sounds'' "a more conscious, arty production ... it's like I'm right in the golden age of what it's all about. ... The folk thing has been important. I think it has opened up a whole new intellectual bag for the kids. They're making "thinking" records now. That's really what it is."<ref name="MelodyMakerBlast">{{cite journal|last=Grevatt|first=Ron|title=Beach Boys' Blast|journal=[[Melody Maker]]|date=19 March 1966|url=http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd420/kwan_dk/MMMarch191966.jpg}}</ref>}} In 1978, biographer [[David Leaf]] wrote that the album heralded art rock,{{sfn|Leaf|1985|p=74}} while according to ''[[The New York Observer]]'', "''Pet Sounds'' proved that a pop group could make an album-length piece comparable with the greatest long-form works of [[Leonard Bernstein|Bernstein]], [[Aaron Copland|Copland]], [[Charles Ives|Ives]], and [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]]."<ref name=Sommer2015>{{cite news|last1=Sommer|first1=Tim|title=Beyond the Life of Brian: The Myth of the 'Lesser' Beach Boys|url=http://observer.com/2015/07/beyond-the-life-of-brian-the-myth-of-the-lesser-beach-boys/|work=[[The New York Observer]]|date=21 July 2015}}</ref> ''Pet Sounds'' is also noted as the first rock concept album.{{sfn|Kent|2009|pp=23–24}}<ref name="Davis1972">{{cite magazine|author-link=Stephen Davis (music journalist)|first=Stephen|last=Davis |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/pet-sounds-19720622 |title=Pet Sounds |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=22 June 1972 }}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Carys Wyn Jones observes that ''Pet Sounds'', the Beatles' ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'' (1966) and ''Sgt. Pepper'', and [[the Who]]'s ''[[Tommy (The Who album)|Tommy]]'' (1969) are variously cited as "the first concept album", usually for their "uniform excellence rather than some lyrical theme or underlying musical motif".{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=49}}}} In 1971, ''[[New York (magazine)|Cue]]'' magazine described the Beach Boys as having been "among the vanguard" with regard to art rock, among many other aspects relating to the counterculture, over the period up to late 1967.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Pet Sounds|journal=Cue|date=1971|volume=40|issue=27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwgwAQAAIAAJ}}</ref>

[[File:Frank Zappa Mothers of Invention 1971.JPG|right|thumb|[[Frank Zappa]] and [[the Mothers of Invention]], 1971]]

Jacqueline Edmondson's 2013 encyclopaedia ''Music in American Life'' states that, although it was preceded by earlier examples, [[Frank Zappa]] and the Mothers of Invention's debut album ''[[Freak Out!]]'' (June 1966) came to be seen as "the first successful incorporation of art music in a pop context". With Los Angeles as his base since the early 1960s, Zappa was able to work in an environment where student radicalism was closely aligned with an active avant-garde scene, a setting that placed the city ahead of other countercultural centres at the time and would continue to inform his music.{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=1233}} Writer and pianist Michael Campbell comments that the album "contains a long noncategorical list of Zappa's influences, from classical avant-garde composers to obscure folk musicians".{{sfn|Campbell|2012|p=251}}

The Beatles' ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'' (August 1966) furthered the album-as-art perspective{{sfn|Perone|2004|pp=118–19}} and continued pop music's evolution.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=2}} Led by the art-rock single "[[Eleanor Rigby]]",{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=138}} it expanded the genre's scope in terms of the range of musical styles, which included Indian, avant-garde and classical, and the lyrical content of the album,{{sfn|Greene|2016|pp=9, 21–22}} and also in its departure from previous notions of melody and structure in pop songwriting.{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=67}} According to ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', "''Revolver'' signaled that in popular music, anything – any theme, any musical idea – could now be realized."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/the-beatles-revolver-20120524 |author=Rolling Stone staff|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time: 3. The Beatles, 'Revolver'|magazine=[[Rolling Stone|rollingstone.com]]|date=31 May 2012|access-date=22 July 2017}}</ref> As with ''Rubber Soul'', the album inspired many of the progressive rock artists of the 1970s,{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=95}} and each of its songs has been recognised as anticipating a new subgenre or style.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=xiii}}

=====1967=====
{{Main|The Velvet Underground & Nico|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band}}

''[[Clash Music]]'' names the Velvet Underground's debut March 1967 album ''[[The Velvet Underground & Nico]]'' "the original art-rock record".<ref>{{cite news|date=11 December 2009|url=http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/classic-albums-the-velvet-undergrond-and-nico|title=Classic Albums: The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico|newspaper=[[Clash Music]]|access-date=28 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402112235/http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/classic-albums-the-velvet-undergrond-and-nico|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|In late 1966, the Velvet Underground's principal songwriter [[Lou Reed]] praised Spector, crowning his "[[You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin']]" (1964) "the best record ever made". In addition, he wrote: "There is no God and Brian Wilson is his son."{{sfn|Unterberger|2009|p=122}} }} Bannister writes of the Velvet Underground: "no other band exerted the same grip on the minds of 1970s/1980s art/alternative rock artists, writers and audiences."{{sfn|Bannister|2007|p=44}} Their influence would recur from the 1970s onwards to various worldwide [[indie music|indie]] scenes,{{sfn|Bannister|2007|p=44}}{{refn|group=nb|Bannister adds that [[indie rock]] musicians would be significantly influenced by the "pop" offshoots of psychedelia that includes the later Beatles, the later Beach Boys, [[the Byrds]], early Pink Floyd, and [[Love (band)|Love]].{{sfn|Bannister|2007|p=37}} }} and in 2006, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico'' was inducted into the [[Library of Congress]]' [[National Recording Registry]], who commented: "For decades [it] has cast a huge shadow over nearly every sub-variety of [[avant-garde rock]], from 70s art-rock to [[no wave|no-wave]], [[new wave music|new-wave]], and [[punk rock|punk]]."{{sfn|Unterberger|2009|pp=6, 358}} However, when the Velvet Underground first appeared in the mid 1960s, they faced rejection and were commonly dismissed as a "fag" band.{{sfn|Bannister|2007|p=45}} In 1982, musician [[Brian Eno]] famously stated that while ''The Velvet Underground & Nico'' initially sold just 30,000 copies, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band."<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Gensler|first1=Andy|title=Lou Reed RIP: What If Everyone Who Bought The First Velvet Underground Album Did Start A Band?|url=http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/legal-and-management/5770584/lou-reed-rip-what-if-everyone-who-bought-the-first|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|location=New York|date=28 October 2013}}</ref>

The Beatles' [[Paul McCartney]] deemed ''Pet Sounds'' "the record of the time", and in June 1967, the band responded with their own album: ''Sgt. Pepper's'',{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=50}}{{refn|group=nb|It is frequently cited for its ''Pet Sounds'' influence, as McCartney explains: "If records had a director within a band, I sort of directed ''Pepper'' ... and my influence was basically the ''Pet Sounds'' album."{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=50}} The interplay between the Beach Boys and the Beatles' creative work thus inextricably links the two albums together.{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=50}}}} which was also influenced by ''Freak Out!''{{sfn|Julien|2008|pp=158–160}} [[AllMusic]] states that the first wave of art rock musicians were inspired by ''Sgt. Pepper's'' and believed that for rock music to grow artistically, they should incorporate elements of [[European music|European]] and classical music to the genre.<ref name="prog-rock"/>{{refn|group=nb|In the ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]'', [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]] wrote of ''Sgt. Pepper'': "[It] turned out to be no mere pop album but a cultural icon, embracing the constituent elements of the 60s' youth culture: pop art, garish fashion, drugs, instant mysticism and freedom from parental control."<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|year=2006|publisher=[[Muze]]|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|volume=1|pages=487–489|isbn=0-19-531373-9}}</ref>}} Many British groups flowered in the album's wake; those who are listed in ''Music in American Life'' include [[the Moody Blues]], [[the Strawbs]], [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]], and "most notably", Pink Floyd.{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=184}}{{refn|group=nb|Pink Floyd recorded their 1967 debut album ''[[The Piper at the Gates of Dawn|Piper at the Gates of Dawn]]'' next door to the ''Sgt. Pepper's'' sessions at London's [[EMI Studios]]. Fans believe that the ''Piper'' track "[[Pow R. Toc H.]]" would derive from ''Pepper's'' "[[Lovely Rita]]", whose sessions Pink Floyd were witness to.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Geslani|first1=Michelle|title=Nick Mason details Pink Floyd and The Beatles' first encounter in 1967|url=https://consequence.net/2014/11/nick-mason-details-pink-floyd-and-the-beatles-first-encounter-in-1967/|magazine=[[Consequence of Sound]]|date=14 November 2014}}</ref>}} The band's bassist, [[Roger Waters]] later stated that both ''Sgt. Pepper'' and ''Pet Sounds'' "completely changed everything about records" for him.<ref>{{citation |title= Roger Waters Interview|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date= 12 March 2003}}</ref>