Controversial
20. The Beatles: Yesterday and Today Why this isn't ranked in the top ten is beyond me, rest assured that this cover caused quite a stir. The original cover -- showing the band surrounded by decapitated, dismembered baby dolls -- created so much controversy that it was quickly replaced a studio photo of the band posed around a foot locker.
Released in June 1966, this album's controversial cover marked the first time that the Beatles' judgment was severely criticised by the media and the public. Nevertheless, the album reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts by July 30, 1966 and was certified gold soon after. Apart from the butcher cover, this album is of interest to collectors for the appearance of unique mixes of Revolver-era tracks unavailable elsewhere.
The record was released just after John's infamous interview in which he stated that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus", which angered Americans and provoked many bans on their music and public incinerations of memorabilia. In early 1966, photographer Robert Whitaker had The Beatles in the studio for a conceptual art piece entitled "A Somnambulant Adventure." For the shoot, Whitaker took a series of pictures of the group dressed in butcher smocks and draped with pieces of meat and body parts from plastic baby dolls. The group played along as they were tired of the usual photo shoots and the concept was compatible with their own "black humour." Although not originally intended as an album cover, The Beatles submitted photographs from the session for their promotional materials. In particular, John Lennon pushed to use it as an album cover. A photograph of the band smiling amid the mock carnage was used as promotional advertisements for the British release of the "Paperback Writer" single.
In the United States, Capitol Records printed approximately 750,000 copies of Yesterday and Today with the same photograph as "Paperback Writer". They were assembled in Capitol's four U.S. plants situated in different cities: Los Angeles; Scranton, Pennsylvania; and Jacksonville, Illinois. Copies from the various plants may be easily differentiated by examining the number printed near the RIAA symbol on the back; for example, stereo copies from the Los Angeles plant are designated "5" and mono Los Angeles copies are marked "6". Mono copies outnumbered stereo copies by about 10 to 1, making the stereo copies far more valuable today. A small fraction of the original covers were shipped to disc jockeys and store managers as advance copies. Reaction was immediate. The record was immediately recalled. All copies were ordered shipped back to the record label, leading to its collectability. It has been substantiated that the record was indeed for sale in some stores in limited areas, probably for only one day.
Capitol initially ordered plant managers to destroy the covers, and the Jacksonville plant delivered most of its copies to an area landfill. However, faced with so many jackets already printed, Capitol quickly changed course and decided instead to paste a new cover over the old one, cropping the open end of the album jacket by about 1/8 inch to address problems where the new sheet was not placed exactly "square" on top of the original cover. Tens of thousands of these were sent out. As word of this manoeuvre made the rounds, people attempted, sometimes successfully, to peel off the pasted-over cover of their copy of the album, hoping to reveal the original image hidden below.
Copies that have never had the white cover pasted onto them, known as "first state" covers, are very rare and command the highest prices. Copies with the pasted-on cover intact above the butcher image are known as "second state" or "pasteovers"; today, pasteover covers that have not been altered in an attempt to remove the white cover are also becoming increasingly rare and valuable. Covers that have had the white cover steamed or peeled off to reveal the underlying butcher image are known as "third state" covers; these are now the most common (and least valuable, although their value varies depending on how well the cover is removed) as people continue to peel second state covers to reveal the butcher image underneath. In December 2005 a "first state" copy of the album was sold for $10,500.
Then-president of Capitol Records, Alan Livingston, has in recent years confirmed the existence and private sale of twenty "first state" butcher covers, salvaged from his personal collection. These still-sealed pristine items with the controversial cover are the very rarest specimens. The so-called "Livingston Butchers" today command prices of $40,000 and up among collectors.
At the time, some of the Beatles defended the use of the photograph. Lennon said that it was "as relevant as Vietnam" and Paul McCartney said that their critics were "soft". However, not all of them were as comfortable with it. George Harrison commented, "I thought it was gross, and I also thought it was stupid. Sometimes we all did stupid things thinking it was cool and hip when it was naïve and dumb; and that was one of them." Capitol Records apologized for the offense. Yesterday and Today was the only Beatles record to lose money for Capitol.
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Weirdest
20. Blue Oyster Cult: 'Heaven Forbid' Heaven Forbid is a Blue Öyster Cult album released in 1998. It was the band's first studio album in a decade. American science fiction and horror writer John Shirley wrote lyrics for several songs on the album, so the album cover, a half mutilated face and a woman screaming in the background, fit perfectly and certainly complimented the lyrics on the album
Blue Öyster Cult is an American rock band formed in New York in 1967 and still active in 2008. The group is well known for three songs: The 1976 single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" from the album Agents of Fortune, the 1981 single "Burnin' for You" from the album Fire of Unknown Origin, and "Godzilla" (1977) from Spectres . The band is a pioneer in heavy metal music both for its hard-edged musical assault and its use of sci-fi and occult imagery. They have sold over 14 million albums worldwide.
The name "Blue Öyster Cult" came from a 1960s poem written by manager Sandy Pearlman. It was part of his "Imaginos" poetry, later used more extensively in their 1988 album Imaginos. Pearlman had also come up with the band's earlier name, "Soft White Underbelly", from a phrase used by Winston Churchill in describing Italy during World War II. In Pearlman's poetry, the "Blue Oyster Cult" was a collection of aliens who had collected to secretly guide Earth's history.
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Worst
20. Orleans – ‘Waking and Dreaming’ What? Makes the worst list with those pleasant male bodies so elegantly pictured? Yep, and I would rate it even higher on my list. A popular myth suggests that the band posed nude for the cover of the Waking and Dreaming album. In fact, they were wearing jeans but the photo was cropped above their waists. Oh, now that makes it better!
Orleans is an American pop-rock band best known for its hits "Dance With Me" (1975), "Still the One" on the album Waking and Dreaming (1976) and "Love Takes Time" (1979). Orleans was formed in Woodstock, New York in February 1972 by guitarist/songwriter John Hall, vocalist/guitarist Larry Hoppen and drummer/percussionist Wells Kelly. In November of that year the group expanded to include Larry’s younger brother Lance on bass. Drummer Jerry Marotta later joined, thus completing the quintet.
Now approaching their 35th anniversary, Orleans continues to play live and record. Their latest studio album, Dancin’ in the Moonlight, was released in late 2005. The current lineup includes Lance and Larry Hoppen, youngest brother Lane Hoppen on keyboards, Dennis "Fly" Amero (replacing John Hall) on guitar and, on drums, Charlie Morgan (best known for his 14-year stint with Elton John). During his 2006 bid for a US Congressional seat, Hall appeared with the group on rare occasions. On November 7, 2006 Hall was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives from the state of New York.
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Best
20. Pink Floyd: ‘Atom Heart Mother’ - Atom Heart Mother is a 1970 progressive rock album by Pink Floyd, engineered by Alan Parsons and Peter Bown. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England, and reached number 1 in the UK, and number 55 in the U.S. charts, and went gold in the U.S. in March 1994. A re-mastered CD was released in 1994 in the UK, and in 1995 in the U.S.
The original album cover shows a very ordinary cow standing in a very ordinary pasture, with no text nor any other clue as to what might be on the record. (Some later editions have the title and artist name added to the cover.) This concept was the group's reaction to the psychedelic "space rock" imagery associated with Pink Floyd at the time of the album's release; the band wanted to explore all sorts of music without being limited to a particular image or style of performance. They thus requested that their new album have "something plain" on the cover, which ended up being the image of the cow. Storm Thorgerson, inspired by Andy Warhol's famous "cow-wallpaper", has said that he simply drove out into a rural area near Potters Bar and photographed the first cow he saw. The cow's owner identified her name as "Lulubelle III". More cows appear on the back cover (again, with no text or titles), and on the inside gatefold.
Somehow, this cover with a 'rump' roast as its feature makes the best list.
I love cows, especially on a bun with ketchup and mustard.
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