Rare and Controversial Beatles Album Fetches a Massive Price at Recent Sale
via Тот который / YouTube
A Shocking Album Cover That Made History
The Beatles quickly became one of the most popular bands in the world with their original sound and songwriting. While many fans loved their early music, the group began to challenge expectations with bolder creative moves in the mid-1960s. One of their biggest shocks came in 1966 with an album that stirred up serious controversy.
The U.S.-only release Yesterday and Today came with an original cover that featured the band sitting among raw meat and broken baby dolls. The disturbing photo surprised fans and stores alike. It was pulled from shelves shortly after release. Today, very few copies of the original design still exist, making them valuable collector’s items. One recently sold for over $12,000 at auction.
View this post on Instagram
The Beatles’ Reasoning Behind the Cover
The band had never released anything so graphic before. Most of their previous covers simply showed the members posing. Many people were confused by this strange new image, but according to some reports, it was meant to be a message against the Vietnam War. Others say it reflected frustration within the group.
John Lennon explained their feelings at the time in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He said, “It was inspired by our boredom and resentment at having to do another photo session and another Beatles thing. We were sick to death of it.” He also pointed out that the photographer liked surreal art and Salvador Dalí, which influenced the picture.
Fans and Stores Were Not Amused
The backlash came fast. Music stores refused to sell the album, and the band’s U.S. label, Capitol Records, responded by recalling the cover. New versions were made with a safer image pasted over the original one. This made the untouched versions, known as “first state” covers, extremely rare.
While Lennon and Paul McCartney didn’t say much about the criticism, George Harrison was more honest about how he felt. In The Beatles Anthology, he said, “I think [Beatles manager] Brian Epstein had met a photographer in Australia called Robert Whitaker… He set up a photo session which I never liked personally at the time.”
View this post on Instagram
Regret and Rare Collectibles
Harrison continued, “I thought it was gross, and I also thought it was stupid. Sometimes we all did stupid things, thinking it was cool or hip when it was naive and dumb, and that was one of them. But again, it was a case of being put in a situation where one is obliged, as part of a unit, to cooperate.”
One of these rare “first state” albums was recently sold through RR Auction. According to the listing, it was “in fine to very fine condition, with radio station call letters (‘KISN’) inked to the back cover and a small, quarter-inch edge fracture at the lower left corner.” It also came with a copy of Capitol’s original recall notice.
The album, called “remarkably well-preserved” by the auction house, sold for $12,501, showing that Beatles history—controversial or not—still attracts serious attention.
