Sgt Pepper was a huge influence on psychedelia and prog, tho I think that it was really Abbey Road that was the first straight up progrock album.

Much of Sgt Pepper has absolutely nothing to do with rock. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can make the adjustment. For listeners that want straight up rock, forget it, but the hybridized sound and wild juxtaposition from song to song was something that was very new to the youth culture of the late 60s. The album is still quite the trip when swallowed whole.

I don't see Yes, Genesis, Moody Blues etc ever happening without The Beatles opening that artistic and creative door first. Yeah, eventually someone else would have done it, but the Beatles in fact did do it first.

Sure, if you have an adversity to progrock then you can easily dismiss the sarge, but if you love it, it's influence on countless good and (arguably) important bands and albums through the 70s is blindingly obvious.

Just for the record, there are factions here at RR that hate prog and factions here that love it. We coexist thru mutual respect.

So anyway, what was the question?