It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (film)
Granada Television commissioned a documentary to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band release in 1987. Director John Sheppard had previously worked on the pop program Ready Steady Go! and Granada's World in Action current affairs shows during the 1960s. He approached the project with a specific vision for that summer, stating it was a time when social, sexual, and musical revolutions were happening together. Sheppard believed Sgt. Pepper sat at the heart of this movement, calling it the year of the hippie and Peace Flower Power. The production team gathered archive footage from ITN outside EMI Studios dated the 20th of December 1966. This footage captured early recording sessions where each Beatle commented on rumors of the band splitting up after they announced retirement from live performance.
Historians cite the Monterey International Pop Festival held in California between 16 and the 18th of June 1967 as the start of the Summer of Love alongside the album release. Sociomusicologist Simon Frith described 1967 as the year everything came together regarding the youth movement's search for independence from societal norms. This counterculture embraced communal living, pacifism, consciousness-raising hallucinogenic drugs, psychedelic fashions, art, and Indian mysticism. The Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco served as the main center while movements also occurred in London, Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris. Timothy Leary, a former Harvard professor, urged students to turn on, tune in, drop out, creating a catch-cry for the hippie phenomenon. Derek Taylor co-founded the Monterey festival after becoming a leading publicist in Los Angeles following his work with the Beatles in 1964.
The documentary features interviews with key figures including George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and Timothy Leary. Derek Taylor served as consultant on the production and wrote a book accompanying the film's release. Other interviewees included William Rees-Mogg, editor of The Times, Barry Miles from International Times, and actors Peter Fonda and Peter Coyote. Michelle Phillips was the only female interviewee who recalled the ethos behind the Summer of Love by saying they would take care of the world through a unified front. The film includes footage of Jagger and Richards' court hearing and their subsequent meeting with establishment figures like the Archbishop of Canterbury. Contemporary music is represented through clips of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Buffalo Springfield, and Janis Joplin.
Allen Ginsberg provided a song-by-song rundown of the album's themes while remarking on the joyous celebration of life expressed throughout Sgt. Pepper. The film connects the album to social revolution, drug culture, and anti-war protests using archival material from events like the Human Be-In in Haight-Ashbury. It shows the ideological division between hippies and the older generation through tourist coach trips around San Francisco and a clip from Inside Pop where Leonard Bernstein asks if Mr Jones represents them. Performances from the Monterey Pop Festival appear alongside the Beatles' appearance before an audience estimated at up to 400 million during the Our World satellite broadcast. They performed the purpose-written song All You Need Is Love which became central to the documentary's conclusion questioning whether love was truly all that was needed.
The documentary premiered on the ITV network in Britain on the 1st of June 1987 exactly twenty years after the official release date of the album. Its North American premiere occurred two days later on CBC-TV on the 3rd of June 1987. The film was shown in the United States on PBS in November 1987 specifically on the 11th of November. The album itself was issued on compact disc for the first time and peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart during this period. Derek Taylor expressed feelings of dread about Beatlemania returning when he saw the final product in interviews conducted shortly after its completion. This wave of programming honored the twentieth anniversary of Sgt. Pepper with many television and radio programs appearing across multiple countries simultaneously.
Richard Harrington of The Washington Post described the documentary as much more than musical nostalgia or a Beatles memorial, calling it a thoughtful expansive look back at the times and dreams. He noted Harrison offered the most insightful comments on the era while inviting viewers to participate in a new community and explore changes. John Corry writing in The New York Times welcomed the insights from McCartney and Harrison but questioned the filmmakers' contention that the Beatles were solely responsible for cultural changes. Jonathan Gross of the Toronto Star gave an unsympathetic review claiming the documentary lost perspective by blindly slashing through the enchanted forest of the sixties. Abbie Hoffman called Sheppard's film simply brilliant and the only thing he would ever recommend about the sixties despite other critics finding links tenuous.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
Who directed the It Was Twenty Years Ago Today film?
Director John Sheppard created the documentary. He had previously worked on Ready Steady Go! and Granada's World in Action during the 1960s.
When did the It Was Twenty Years Ago Today film premiere on ITV?
The documentary premiered on the ITV network in Britain on the 1st of June 1987. This date marked exactly twenty years after the official release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
What was the main center for the Summer of Love movement mentioned in the script?
The Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco served as the main center for the counterculture movement. Other locations included London, Los Angeles, New York, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris.
Which album is the focus of the It Was Twenty Years Ago Today documentary?
Granada Television commissioned the project to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band release. The film connects this album to social revolution and drug culture.
How many people watched the Our World satellite broadcast featuring All You Need Is Love?
The Beatles performed before an audience estimated at up to 400 million during the Our World satellite broadcast. They performed the purpose-written song All You Need Is Love which became central to the documentary's conclusion.