Coyne knew Sgt Pepper cover album was risk

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Flaming Lips frontman prepared for backlash over Beatles tribute

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne says he’s ready for a negative reaction to their Beatles tribute album With A Little Help From My Fwends, which sees them tackling Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in full.

And he believes the Fab Four faced a similar risk when they launched the original in 1967.

Coyne tells MusicRadar: “People get very proprietary about this sort of thing. When we did Floyd’s Dark Side there were some who had these violent, outraged reactions. It’s like we defiled a classic or something.

“There’s only one Mona Lisa, so if you put a moustache on it, you really fucked it up. But music isn’t like that – The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd still exists, and Sgt Pepper by The Beatles will still exist. We just did our homages to those records, because they inspired us.”

The frontman admits it was a challenge to sing like John Lennon, saying: “He’ll trick you; you’ll think you can do him, then you realise he was really something.”

And he says of the classic album: “The Beatles took chances. There was nothing safe about Sgt Pepper, and it probably could have been a huge disaster. But the Beatles wanted to follow their own path, and that’s something to be celebrated.”

With A Little Help From My Fwends, featuring a range of guest musicians, is released on October 27 via Warner Bros.

Tracklist

  1. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – My Morning Jacket, Fever the Ghost, J Mascis

  2. With a Little Help from My Friends – Flaming Lips, Black Pus, The Autumn Defense

  3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – Miley Cyrus, Moby, Flaming Lips

  4. Getting Better – Dr Dog, Chuck Inglish

  5. Fixing a Hole – Electric Wurms

  6. She’s Leaving Home – Phantogram, Juliana Barwick

  7. Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite – Flaming Lips, Maynard James Keenan, Sunbears

  8. Within You Without You – Birdflower and Morgan Delt

  9. When Im Sixty-Four – Flaming Lips and more

  10. Lovely Rita – Tegan & Sara, Stardeath, White Dwarves

  11. Good Morning Good Morning – Zorch, Grace Potter, more

  12. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) – Foxygen, MGMT

  13. A Day In The Life – Flaming Lips, Miley Cyrus

Martin Kielty
Freelance Online News Contributor

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.