Good commentary here:
The LP was released in August 1966, when “Wild Thing” by the Troggs topped the Billboard charts. It was a fascinating musical moment historically: “Revolver” arrived just as pop music was pivoting from straightforward rock toward psychedelia, experimentation, and studio-driven albums. The Beatles were not the only ones evolving, of course. The year 1966 saw a remarkable wave of experimentation that also produced “Pet Sounds,” “Blonde on Blonde,” “Freak Out!,” and other ambitious studio works, as popular music rapidly evolved from straightforward rock-and-roll into a vehicle for artistic exploration. A creative arms race, if you will. Still, “Revolver” — raw, edgy, avant-garde, kaleidoscopic, and at times unsettling — ushered in a sound that would go on to define the rest of the 1960s.