Sergent Pepper album cover did include Hitler.. Which Beatle chose who to put on.

I know its old news but I didn't know the story.


The scene has become one of the world's most imitated, iconic and widely owned artworks. Since its creation 40 years ago next month, the cover of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album has sparked debate about the cultural heroes who were picked or excluded for the final cut.
For generations it has been accepted that John Lennon's wish to place Jesus Christ, Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi on the cover was ruled out because of the upset their inclusion would cause. But now the artist who created it, Sir Peter Blake, has revealed for the first time that Hitler did make the final line-up for the sleeve, but was simply obscured by the Fab Four.

Sir Peter said: "Yes he is on there - you just can't see him."

The record, bought by around 32 million people since it was released in " the summer of love", features a crowd of some of the most famous faces of the previous century, including Stan Laurel, Bob Dylan and Marlon Brando.

Each of the band members chose their favourites, with George Harrison opting for a number of Indian gurus to reflect his spiritual leanings, and Ringo Starr happy to go along with the others' choices.

Lennon's list, thought to be half-joking, included Jesus, Hitler and Gandhi. However, following his infamous comment the previous year, 1966, that the band was "bigger than Jesus", it was thought best not to even commission a cardboard cut-out of Christ for the collage. Gandhi was included but edited from the final image, and Hitler has long been thought to have been pushed to the edge of the studio on the grounds of taste.

But Sir Peter said: "Hitler and Jesus were the controversial ones, and after what John said about Jesus we decided not to go ahead with him - but we did make up the image of Hitler. If you look at photographs of the out-takes, you can see the Hitler image in the studio. With the crowd behind there was an element of chance about who you can and cannot see, and we weren't quite sure who would be covered in the final shot. Hitler was in fact covered up behind the band."



Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/wheres-adolf-the-mystery-of-sgt-pepper-is-solved-13411115.html#ixzz1epUFSC7l

the backdrop, and how it was staged....

Thank you

enjoy!

sugarplum fairies sugarplum fairies...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0gu35YpBbQ

looks like Hitler to me.

if they had included Allah on the cover?

as well. That's how I inferred it 40 years ago and to this day.

Not accusing him of anything untoward, mind. That kind of fixation was not uncommon for Britons who lived through WWII--especially those who were children at the time.

I believe would have been heavily influenced by a war torn environment and post war conditions. Naturally would have a huge impact on a young person's life and imagination. Lennon holds a special place in my heart and thoughts as the anniversary of his state sponsored assassination approaches a la J.Edgar Hoover and the CIA.

I really hate statements like yours... with just a fucking opinion.

All rightie then. :eyes:

"Fixation" may not be exactly the word but Lennon did make frequent word play with Nazi references. He was a war child, after all.

I used "fixation" because I couldn't think of a better word, although I made sure to point out I didn't mean "obsession". I've been a Beatles fan for decades, ever since I was a teenager, and I read everything I could find about them and watched every documentary I could to learn about the band and the members' personal lives, including their early years. And I often noted that John enjoyed making Nazi jokes, saying "Heil Hitler" and giving the Nazi salute, and displaying other behavior that showed he was deeply affected by the war. He also had a certain level of inner conflict when the Beatles spent all that time in Hamburg (IIRC, didn't he greet the audience with "Heil Hitler" often?), because he had only known the Germans as "the enemy" (when he was a child) and he had to shift his perception afterward.

None of this is unusual, as I posted earlier--lots of other people whose lifestyles were altered so drastically by the war did the same thing--use humorous but repeated references to Hitler and the war as a coping mechanism, even into adulthood. (John Cleese springs to mind as well; the "don't mention the war" Fawlty Towers episode is an example.)

or describe it which I think degrades him.

Maybe you are not clear enough for readers to understand
in your post.

Now about Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?
Lennon was well read, besides his Music
He knew what anti hero meant.

I started my thread because of the thread where

Hitler lived in Liverpool.

:hi:

They wouldn't have to explain such a "joke" because they know not to make such "jokes" to begin with.

Score one for Oasis.

of consciousness of the ones that go to a chain store to shop
to pick up things that might be an item
one picks up at your supermarket of choice.

Whole foods....... A fucked up place now.

John was anything BUT a pro-fascist.........maybe it was random, or really done for laughs?

for many reasons.


His thoughts on hero-ship and leaders were being formulated
at that young age... when they did Sergeant Peppers..

Which is why I think he wanted to included the good and bad.

they just got lucky that Hitler was hidden in the pic!

Hitler is to the left of him in the photo.


I met Johnny who lived in my town of Titusville before he died.

He had a Tarzan, Florida thing going then.
His brain was gone by then but he at least , I met him.

quite clearly.. as I mentioned up thread, Lennon has held a very special place in my heart and thoughts throughout my life, as I have with Dylan and a few other artists. I often see Lennon as a visionary and an in-your-face sort of prankster among other things. I hope people aren't assuming/asserting that Lennon had an iota of reverance for Hitler in any way.

I was all of 7 but a big Beatles fan. All the "hidden" messages like LSD and Paul is dead a year later. I think the Lucy in the sky with diamonds was from the 60's Lucy Show where at the beginning had her in a blue background with sparkles. Hence Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Lennon said the song Good Morning was inspired by a corn flake TV ad. Perhaps a sit in day frying on acid watching the boob tube was the result of 2 songs for Sgt. Pepper. Great album. It changed everything.

lives of English children

Had a huge influence on me and the imagery it conjured up sticks with me to this day.