Robert Fraser (art dealer) first met John Lennon. Fraser art-directed the cover for The Beatles' 1967 LP "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" – he dissuaded the group from using the original design, a psychedelic artwork created by the design collective The Fool, instead suggesting the pop artist, Peter Blake, who created the famous collage cover design. Fraser also gave McCartney a small painting of an apple by René Magritte which is believed to have been the inspiration for the name and logo of the Beatles' record company, Apple Records. It was also through Fraser that Richard Hamilton was selected to design the poster
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band idea convincing to most ears." Author Martina Elicker similarly writes that, despite earlier examples, it was "Sgt. Pepper" that familiarised critics and listeners with the notion of a "concept and unified structure underlying a pop album", thus originating the term "concept album". Carys Wyn Jones locates "Pet Sounds" and "Sgt. Pepper" to the beginning of art rock; Julien considers the latter a "masterpiece of British psychedelia". According to historian David Simonelli, "Sgt. Pepper" established the standard for rock musicians, particularly British acts, to strive towards in their self-identification as artists rather than pop stars, whereby, as in the Romantic tradition,