Is 'Sgt. Pepper' overrated?

“I was struck by the thunderbolt that was “Please Please Me.” I immediately bought a copy in a seaside shop. It triggered a tremendous personal awakening, a leap into a new realm. In no time I knew more than a hundred Beatles songs on piano.” – Peter Gabriel

“It was terrifying; I had no idea what it was…Then it kept going. Then, there was this enormous whine note of strings. Then there was this a colossal piano chord. I discovered later that I’d come in half-way through Sgt. Pepper’s… My life was never the same again.”  - Robert Fripp on hearing “A Day in the Life” on the radio for the first time

"If it weren't for the Beatles, there wouldn't be anyone like us around." - Jimmy Page

"I wish I'd been in the Beatles." - David Gilmour (who has played with Paul McCartney on a number of occasions) 

“I learned from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison that it was OK for us to write about our lives and express what we felt… More than any other record [Sgt. Pepper’s] gave me and my generation permission to branch out and do whatever we wanted.” – Roger Waters

If it weren't for the Beatles, I wouldn't be a musician." - Dave Grohl, Nirvana/Foo Fighters

"Everyone influenced someone. But everyone was influenced by the Beatles." - Alice Cooper

"Everyone thought the Beatles will just pass by. But to me, they had staying power." - Bob Dylan

"The Beatles are the reason I'm a musician." - Sting

"When the Beatles first played on the Ed Sullivan Show, they looked so cool. I knew something changed that night." - Joe Perry, Aerosmith

"There's no way I'd be doing what I do now if it wasn't for the Beatles. I saw them on the Ed Sullivan Show, and it blew me away how 4 guys from the middle of nowhere can make that kind of music." - Gene Simmons, KISS

"I fell in love with music through The Beatles. I still think there hasn't been a better band than them." -Adam Levine, Maroon 5

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is probably the best album I've ever heard." -Brian Wilson, Beach Boys

“The Beatles built our bible as far as musical composition, arrangement and production went. The White Album is a complete catalogue of how you should use a studio to build songs. ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’ and ‘Dear Prudence’ are blinding examples of how music can be like painting a picture on a canvas.”" - Brian May, Queen

"I saw the Beatles. I was able to relate to them. I'm going to play in a rock band." - Tom Petty, Heartbreakers/Traveling Wilburys 

"I watched the Ed Sullivan Show and said F*ck School! This makes it! I went to see them at Shea Stadium and screamed with those chicks." - Joe Walsh, The Eagles

"The Beatles were the first to find that path between artistic and intellectual." - Keith Richards

“The single biggest moment that I can remember being galvanized into wanting to be a musician for life was seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.” - Billy Joel

"Without The Beatles I don’t think women would be taking their cardigans off in hallways. They were responsible for the birth of the sexual revolution for women.” - Lady Gaga

“The lightning bolt came out of the heavens and struck Ann and me the first time we saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. There’d been so much anticipation and hype about the Beatles that it was a huge event, like the lunar landing: that was the moment Ann and I heard the call to become rock musicians. I was seven or eight at the time." - Nancy Wilson, Heart

“It’s impossible for me to talk about popular music without mentioning probably my greatest mentor, John Lennon. I guess he defined for me, at any rate, how one could twist and turn the fabric of pop and imbue it with elements from other artforms, often producing something extremely beautiful, very powerful and imbued with strangeness.” – David Bowie

“If you hear something like "Man Behind The Curtain" or "Raining", you’ll see that it really is an attempt at combining the pop sensibilities of The Beatles and the Indian part of The Beatles—the George Harrison part. Speaking just about The Beatles in general though, they meant everything to me—I can’t overstate it because they changed my life.” – Adrian Belew 

“Sgt. Pepper’s was a great record. The Beatles are my favorites, you know. When I met Paul McCartney, it was the highlight of my life.” – Ozzy Osbourne

“Dear Beatles, it’s my earliest memory of music. I was three years old and in the back garden of 10 Cedarwood Road… I associate the song with the smell of freshly cut grass as I was lying on my back on the damp green patch after my Da had cut the lawn.” - Bono, writing a fan letter to the Beatles about the first time he heard “I Want to Hold Your Hand”

Jimi Hendrix, XTC, Electric Light Orchestra, Todd Rundgren and Utopia, The Squeeze, Crowded House, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, Oasis, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Kate Bush, The Flaming Lips, Kurt Cobain (who wrote 'About a Girl' after listening to 'Meet the Beatles' for three straight hours), Jeff Beck and Al Di Meola are just a few artists who directly acknowledge the Beatles influence.