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Once Pepper's newness faded there was never a question that it's value lie as a cultural event and not in it's musical value, George Martin's producing achievement aside.
As a sonic artifact it's value is indisputable but it's role as a bellwether in an ascendant youth culture is what has earned it the rep it enjoys.
It's old news that everything the Beatles were or became is present in Revolver, it's vitality contrasting starkly with Pepper's decadence of only a few months later, another symptom of the acceleration of space age pop culture.
Pepper doesn't explain it's era, it's of it. To look for answers in the grooves is an error. We had a great need for relief from the tensions of Viet Nam and civil rights. The entertainment world was changing along with everything else and in no small part by the Beatles contribution and we treasured them for bringing Fun from Merry Olde.
But the sixties was a period like any other, with one foot in the past on it's way forward. Because of our esteem, we gave them a pass on Pepper's excesses and music hall barminess when we weren't tripping over each other over-analysing everything about it.
But events soon overshadowed it and the hippies made the Beatles begin to appear passe. And the white album was confusing and...
