"By implication, the award system apparently exerts a chilling impact on artistic differentiation," the study suggests, "even though the intentions of award sponsors are often the reverse". Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which won Album of the Year in 1968, rewrote the rules of rock with its baroque, psychedelic musical experiments. Rather than repeat themselves, however, The Beatles' ditched Pepper's lush orchestrations in favour of a stripped-back, avant garde aesthetic. Helter Skelter's distorted guitars presaged heavy metal, while the tape collage Revolution 9 introduced radical art to the mainstream. The resulting album is one of their most celebrated and eclectic works.
