Robert Whitaker, the world renowned photographer famous for his work with the Beatles died of cancer at 71 on September 20th. Whitaker photographed many of the Beatles’ album covers, including the original cover to the album “Yesterday and Today” often known as the “Butcher” cover. The cover was a photograph of the Beatles members covered in chunks of meat and dismembered plastic dolls.
The "Butcher" album cover
Whitaker, who claimed that the idea for the cover was solely his was inconsistent in explaining its meaning; sometimes he’d say it was for no other purpose than a simple cover. Other times he claimed that it was reflective of how the Beatles were just flesh and bone creatures, despite the limelight they enjoyed. On another occasion he said the image would be one of three that would tell a story. Regardless, the album was recalled and the cover was replaced with another image (the Beatles standing around a steamer trunk) because the original was thought to be too controversial. Hundreds of thousands of albums were recalled, and the album was the only one that Capitol Records lost money on. The Beatles were one of the first rock bands, and accordingly were often the subject of controversy. Remarks by John Lennon that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus is just one example of such. It fascinates me how much criticism the Beatles received for these actions; more modern rock artists have more brazenly and obscenely “crossed the line” and make the Butcher cover and Lennon’s remarks seem PG. For instance, Marilyn Manson, a 90’s metal band frontman called himself the “Antichrist Superstar”. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ album “The Abbey Road EP”, named after the Beatles album featured a parody of the Abbey Road album cover; the band is portrayed as crossing a street just like the Beatles only they are almost entirely naked. Another example is KoRn’s self titled album, the cover of which shows a girl in a park in the shadow of a likely abductor. I find it amazing that as rock n roll progressed, so did people’s perceptions of obscenity. Society as a whole shifted its view of obscene and accepted since the 60’s in all areas including music, television, art, and sexuality. The article can be found here.
I decided to not post a picture of the Abbey Road EP by the Red Hot Chili Peppers for obvious reasons.
The original Abbey Road album cover by the Beatles.
The KoRn self titled album
Marilyn Manson- The self proclaimed "Antichrist Superstar"
- The “Butcher” album cover that was recalled
The term “Avant Garde” originated as a military term to refer to the first wave of soldiers, the ones out in front , venturing first into the unexplored and most dangerous territory, to be followed by the less adventurous. As a term for artistic expression, it usually refers to artists who lead the way into new and uncharted territory. Since the turn of the 20th Century, artists have routinely been expected to be proponents of the Avant Garde. This topic is worth some class time for discussion.
Although I see how the original “Yesterday and Today” album can be found mildly disturbing, it certainly does not come close to album covers I see in the isles of stores today. At the end of your post you began to explore the way that society’s perception of obscenity has shifted. Music has certainly become more profane but the visual arts is a different category. When I Love Lucy ran in the 50s, it was considered improper and shocking to say the word “pregnant” on TV. And Lucy certainly never appeared in anything less decent than her modest nightgown. However, when you visit the Met there is no shortage of nudity in the paintings and statues on display. So why weren’t the societies of Ancient Greece or Europe’s Middle Ages in an uproar when artists painted nude women and and chiseled men?
Today, almost every advertisement you see includes half decent women and can be rated R. The level of dignity has been degraded in the visual world. When we see the Beatle’s album cover and laugh at a generation who thought that was offensive, it is proof of how low our level of sensitivity has become. But why does pop culture’s art have a way of upsetting us, while Bottecelli’s The Birth of Venus is deemed pure and classy?