Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The concept was born from Paul McCartney's idea that the Beatles would "become" an entirely fictional band — Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band — and perform as alter egos. The cover depicts the band in colorful satin military uniforms standing in front of a crowd of life-size cardboard cutouts of famous and influential people. The 70+ figures include Edgar Allan Poe, Marlene Dietrich, Karl Marx, Marilyn Monroe, Oscar Wilde, Aleister Crowley, Bob Dylan, and many others. Each Beatle submitted a wish list of people they wanted included.

Several figures were removed to avoid controversy. John Lennon originally requested Hitler and Jesus; both were vetoed. Gandhi was included in an early mock-up but removed at EMI's request, reportedly to avoid offending Indian record buyers. Wax figures of the "younger" Beatles from Madame Tussauds were placed looking down at a floral arrangement that spelled "Beatles" — as if attending the funeral of the band's earlier identity.

Pop artist Peter Blake and his wife Jann Haworth constructed the elaborate set, which was physically built in a studio rather than composited. The shoot cost approximately £2,868 — an astronomical sum for album art in 1967 (roughly £60,000 in today's money). Michael Cooper photographed the final tableau.

The back cover was equally groundbreaking — it was one of the first major albums to print the full lyrics on the packaging, which the label initially resisted. The gatefold interior featured a photo of the band in their uniforms with various included extras: a cardboard cutout sheet of a mustache, sergeant's stripes, badges, and a stand-up figure of the band.

The cover won the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover and has been endlessly parodied. It essentially invented the concept of the album cover as a major artistic statement, raising expectations for what packaging could be. Rolling Stone, Time, and virtually every music publication have ranked it as the greatest album cover of all time.