More popular than Jesus group, but was persuaded to stay on the condition that the Beatles would from now on focus solely on their work as recording artists. After a break, they reconvened in November 1966 to begin recording "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which was a major critical and commercial success when released in June 1967. Lennon was asked about the controversy during a trip to Canada in 1969. He repeated his opinion that the Beatles were more influential on young people than Christ, adding that some ministers had agreed with him. He called the protestors in the US "fascist Christians", saying
Fifth Beatle the "fifth Beatle", but over the years he and producer George Martin have clearly been recognised as the inner circle members who most profoundly affected the band's career. In an interview in the 1990s describing Epstein's involvement in the band's rise to fame, Martin declared "He's the fifth Beatle, if there ever was one." McCartney summarized the importance of Epstein to the Beatles when he was interviewed in 1997 for a BBC documentary about Epstein. He stated: "If anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian." In 2013 Epstein was the subject of a graphic novel entitled "The Fifth Beatle"