Nick Mason picked his favourite song by The Beatles
As a member of one of the most influential bands of a transformative era, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason holds a unique perspective on contemporary music history. Having experienced firsthand the remarkable artistic developments of numerous legendary figures, he possesses invaluable insight into the industry.
Across his time, Mason has commented on the significance of everyone from his own group to rock ‘n’ roll pioneers such as Elvis Presley. One outfit that he is particularly well-versed in, like everyone from his era interested in guitar music, is The Beatles, the cultural vanguard of the 1960s. Notably, they opened the floodgate for most rock acts of the 1960s, from Pink Floyd to Black Sabbath.
Like all Beatles fans, Mason has a favourite song by the group that he holds dear, and unsurprisingly, it comes from arguably their most significant record, the one that brought psychedelia to the masses, 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s. Furthermore, this was the sonic environment that Pink Floyd materialised in, with their wild debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, one of the most notable releases of the year behind The Beatles masterpiece. They were even recorded in the same London studio.
When appearing on BBC’s Tracks of My Years, Mason was asked by host Ken Bruce to give a rundown of the songs that have soundtracked his life. During the conversation, he recounted his love of the Liverpool band and picked the Sgt. Pepper’s highlight, ‘Lovely Rita’, as his ultimate moment by them for personal and sonic reasons.
The drummer recalled: “I put this in because it was such a great moment for us. We were recording our first album in Abbey Road. We were in studio three recording The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and down the corridor, The Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper. There was an invitation to go and visit the gods on Mount Olympus.”
“It was a pivotal moment because actually, without The Beatles, we probably wouldn’t have existed,” continued Mason, “Because Sgt. Pepper was the album that absolutely changed the face of the record industry because, up until then, it was all about singles. Sgt. Pepper was the first album that actually outsold singles. That enabled bands like us to have more studio time and more freedom to do what we wanted”.
Listen to ‘Lovely Rita’ below.
