THE BEATLES' SGT PEPPER'S COVER (2017): An image for all seasons

 |   |  2 min read

Good Morning Good Morning (Basic track, from Anthology 2)
THE BEATLES' SGT PEPPER'S COVER (2017): An image for all seasons

Within weeks of the release of Beatles' album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 50 years ago, its front cover image -- photographed and constructed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth -- was being copied, parodied and appropriated.

Numerous bands and companies down the decades have used the idea, and Frank Zappa was quick to grab onto it for the Mothers of Invention album We're Only In It For The Money.

Zappa asked permission (McCartney said yes, perhaps not realising the Mothers were taking a poke at the Beatles) but in the 50 years since few others would have bothered.

The Sgt Pepper's cover -- like all the Beatles album art -- entered public domain and it was open slather.

Over time also other outtake images from the original photo shoot appeared so here we start with the Zappa and some of those, then venture further and further into strange and funny versions.

And there are many, many more out there.

Meantime though, we hope you will enjoy the show . . .

The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is reissued Universal Music on May 26 as a single CD, double CD, double vinyl, and a box set of four CDs with a DVD, a booklet and memorablia. 

were_only_in_it_for_the_money

sgt_pepper_clean_1_zpsch0xaufy

90867c2dd0c50c9819ff9e61e75d5946

MC_0013_08comp

making_cover_other

Cover_shoot_for_Sgt_Pepper__4_

the_beatles_sergeant_peppers_lonely_hearts_club_band_sargento_peppers_odeon

peter_blake

THE_BEATLES_SGT._PEPPERS_LONELY_HEARTS_CLUB_BANDREVOLVER_474861

bigdaddysgtpeppers_front

d6eda67494a24919752ba700e64f6a43

The_Yellow_Album sgt_peppers_pastiche_large1

05_Gatefold

16ab7f811c7f9cf29a1f8a8de785c86c

album_the-Monkees-Unknown_1

e3b4a012d1add94b8e3fb049612bbc93 Burning_ambitions

foto_0000001720161209172639

AND SO, WHO WERE THOSE PEOPLE ON THE ORIGINAL COVER? HERE'S WHO.


sgt_pepper_1

Sgt.Pepper.Faces_

people_names.2

. 

That's the shorthand, check out this extensive article for more on the who's who

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Cultural Elsewhere articles index

ROLL OVER GO-KART MOZART AND TELL LUDWIG VAN THE NEWS (1995): Beethoven the omnipotent

ROLL OVER GO-KART MOZART AND TELL LUDWIG VAN THE NEWS (1995): Beethoven the omnipotent

In the Nineties when I was writing a regular column for Real Groove magazine, the idea was offered to do something on Ludwig Van Beethoven . . . in a way that lay people might actually read. In... > Read more

CURATOR GAIL BUCKLAND INTERVIEWED (2012): It's not only rock'n'roll

CURATOR GAIL BUCKLAND INTERVIEWED (2012): It's not only rock'n'roll

Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders – appropriately wiry and driven, often in black, her signature fringe below her eyebrows – once said, “presentation is half of it in... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . JOHN FRED: Soulman in disguise (with Beat pop)

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . .

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . JOHN FRED: Soulman in disguise (with Beat pop)

During the height of Beatlemania (1963-65) there were numerous tribute songs, parodies and humorous copies in the Beatles' style. Not to mention hundreds of artists covering the Lennon-McCartney... > Read more

ALLIGATOR RECORDS 1971 - 2011: Four decades of brittle and often brilliant blues

Blues at Elsewhere

ALLIGATOR RECORDS 1971 - 2011: Four decades of brittle and often brilliant blues

In his excellent book More Miles Than Money, subtitled “journeys through American music”, the expat London-based writer Garth Cartwright meets Bruce Iglauer who founded the Alligator... > Read more