Summer of love

The year 1967 will always be remembered for its messages of Peace and Love, for Flower Power, and for the legendary Summer of Love, when a whole generation fostered the dream of a better and peaceful world under the unifying mantra, „Make love, not war“. The soundtrack to the Summer of Love was provided by The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a recording immediately recognised as a masterpiece of historic dimension. Sgt. Pepper was a cultural milestone, musically and lyrically, certainly, but also in terms of the studio techniques it employed and for the cover art that assumed its own iconic status. The Beatles' eighth official album topped the British charts for 27 weeks and still ranks among the top ten best-selling albums of all time. It was voted „greatest album of all time“ by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003 and was invested as „most definitive rock and roll album“ by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. This volume collects eighteen articles – ranging in subject from pop music, poetry, film and television to general concepts of love, gender and youth culture – by international contributors to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, the release of the Beatles' most famous album and the artistic, cultural and political ideas associated with that time.