the real story behind this John Byrne painting, alt. White Album artwork, and the finalized album artwork done by Richard Hamilton
the above image is frequently incorrectly cited as being an unused album cover for The Beatles’ self-titled album colloquially known as the White Album, however the artist himself, John “Patrick” Byrne, had this to say about that claim:
“I created The Beatles artwork for [Alan Aldridge’s] The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics and NOT for the White Album. I was never contacted by Paul McCartney nor anyone to do with The Beatles with regard to the White Album.” — John Byrne
Alan Alridge’s aforementioned The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics was published in 1969, and this artwork was later used as the album cover for The Beatles Ballads pictured below, a compilation album that came out in 1980
with this being said, Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn confirmed that Apple “commissioned various designers to come up with sleeve ideas” for the White Album
to my knowledge, the only rejected proposed artwork that has surfaced for the album’s inner gatefold was done by artist Paul Whitehead in 1968, shown below:
“I was working as the Art Director for Time Out In London [sic], and I had friends at Apple records and one, Wayne Bardell, told me that Apple was looking for ideas for the cover and possibly for material to go inside the cover. I submitted my design but they passed on it.” — Paul Whitehead
this artwork was done when the album’s working title was A Doll’s House, named after the 19th century Henrik Ibsen play, which was changed after the band Family released Music in a Doll’s House in the middle of the White Album sessions, as they did not want to have a similarly titled project
the artist that was ultimately chosen to create the artwork for the White Album was Richard Hamilton, who designed the album’s completely white cover, its inner gatefold, and the collage poster that came with the original and current pressings of the album, pictured below:
+ the backside of the collage poster includes the lyrics to the songs on the album
the White Album’s collage poster came about as a result of Richard Hamilton feeling somewhat bad for creating the completely white cover, which Paul McCartney was initially not fond of
“So now he was saying, ‘Let’s call it The Beatles and have it white, really white.’ I was saying, ‘Well, I dunno. It’s a great concept, but we are releasing an album here. This is not a piece of art for a rather elite gallery, this is more than that. I see the point. It’s a nice idea, but for what we were to people, and still are, it doesn’t quite fit, we’re not quite a blank space, a white wall, the Beatles. Somebody ought to piss on it or smudge an apple on it for it to become the Beatles, because a white wall’s just too German and marvellous for us.’” — Paul McCartney
“Then I began to feel a bit guilty at putting their double album under plain wrappers; I suggested it could be jazzed up with a large edition print, an insert that would be even more glamorous than a normal sleeve.” — Richard Hamilton
pictured above, Paul McCartney and Richard Hamilton working on the collage poster for the album in 1968
“Richard and I worked together on the collage for The Beatles’ White Album. Richard and I sat down all week while he did the collage from childhood photos of us all. The thing that impressed me at the end of the week was that after he’d filled the whole board with pictures and got his composition right, his final move was to take pieces of white paper and place them strategically to give space through the whole thing so that it wasn’t just crammed with pictures. It was beautiful and I remember being very impressed with the way he put this negative space on – it was the first time that I’d ever seen that idea.” — Paul McCartney
Hamilton’s white cover for the album was done as a deliberate contrast to the very busy and colorful cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band created by Jann Haworth and Peter Blake
“Since Sergeant Pepper was so over the top, I explained, ‘I would be inclined to do a very prissy thing, almost like a limited edition.’ [Paul McCartney] didn’t discourage me so I went on to propose a plain white album; if that were too clean and empty, then maybe we could print a ring of brown stain to look as if a coffee cup had been left on it – but that was thought a bit too flippant.” — Richard Hamilton
the album also came with 4 smaller poster portraits pictured below of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, respectively. these portraits were photographed by John Kelly in the fall of 1968, towards the end of recording the album
black and white versions of these portraits were also used on the inner gatefold design for the packaging of the album pictured below, also designed by Richard Hamilton
even though the completely white cover was Richard Hamilton’s idea, it was Paul’s to have the embossing
“‘Maybe if we emboss the word “Beatles” out of the white, that’ll be good. We’ll get a shadow from the embossing but it’s white on white. It’s still white. That’ll be nice.’ But I still wanted something on the white, an idea, like the apple smudging.” — Paul McCartney
according to Pete Shotton, it was also Paul’s idea to have each copy of the White Album numbered, though not for the reasons you might expect
“It was Paul who had decided that each album should be individually stamped with a separate number. He confided in me that this was to be part of a unique marketing strategy. Paul said, ‘In a few months, we’re going to have an enormous lottery, and the person with the winning number will win some fantastic prize. It’ll be a real selling point. Everybody will want to buy the album to get that number.’ I said, ‘Actually Paul, I really don’t think that’s such a terrific idea. It sounds a bit cheap to me. The Beatles don’t need those kinds of gimmicks to sell records.’ He replied, ‘Yeah, Pete. I suppose you’re right.’ But, that’s why each White Album sported its own number.” — Pete Shotton
Richard Hamilton still did much of the design work for the White Album, even being credited by Paul for coming up with the final title of the album
“Richard asked, ‘Has there been an album called The Beatles?’ so I referred back to EMI and they said, ‘No. There’s been Meet the Beatles, Introducing… The Beatles in America, but there’d never been an album called The Beatles.’ So he said, ‘Let’s call it that’; which is the official title of the White Album.” — Paul McCartney
as you can see, the design work and packaging for the White Album went through many different creative stages and proposed ideas throughout the period it was being recorded in 1968
in another world we could’ve had The Beatles’ A Doll’s House (a title i adore!!!!!) or maybe even a different album cover. however, i love the design work Richard Hamilton did for the album; i think it operates as a blank canvas of sorts that is compensated for by the explosions of creativity and individualism on the album’s tracklist
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Year-End Poll #56: 2005
[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, Mario, Kelly Clarkson, Ciara, Kanye West, Green Day, 50 Cent, The Pussycat Dolls, Kelly Clarkson. End description]
More information about this blog here
2005 time. With Kelly Clarkson, we're seeing the first example of an artist jumpstarting their career off of the reality TV boom of the early 2000's. Simon Fuller, the manager for a number of UK acts including Spice Girls (until he wasn't) and S Club 7, created the show Pop Idol in 2001. In 2002, Pop Idol was brought overseas under a new name, American Idol. Kelly Clarkson won the first season of American Idol, and we'll see at least two more winners featured on these polls as we continue on.
Also notable is Hollaback Girl, specifically for the production behind the scenes. Songwriting and production duo, The Neptunes, was created in 1992 by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. In addition to Timbaland (who we will cover in more detail on the next poll), The Neptunes would become a production powerhouse in the 2000's and beyond, helping to carve out what pop music sounds like this decade while also allowing their sound to evolve. For more information (because music production techniques aren't really my strong suit), I found two videos that go into more depth about their work and history. (1) (2)
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It is downright, below the belt, un-fucking-fair of Davey to be wearing that sweater out in public.
It’s not even a nice sweater – Jack knows for a fact that Davey has a variety of hoodies and crew-necks that he has spent far too much money on, all with something cute embroidered on the collarbone (because Davey could, has, and will weep over an actual piece of garbage as long as it’s been sewn well enough), and Jack can say with certainty that they all do a wonderful job of making Davey look like a wrapped-up present, just-barely-too-big fabric hanging off his shoulders like an invitation, elasticated cuffs cradling his wrists in the gentlest of ways – Jack could go on. Jack has gone on, multiple times, mostly when he’s drunk off his ass at Crutchie’s place waxing poetic about Davey’s face in a way that, as Crutchie describes it, “is cute in words but incredibly pissed off in tone – inconsistent, B-minus”. But the point, the point, is that this sweater is downright offensive.
It’s obscenely ugly in a way only Davey can pull off, all dull greens and earthy browns and mind-numbing greys in a pattern pulled directly from a grandmother’s curtains – but the way it all blends together, the clumsy harmony of it all, only makes Davey’s grey-green eyes all the more piercing. It’s too big for him in the worst of ways, rumpled at the hem and lopsided on one shoulder, the sleeves stretching down all the way for him to tangle his fingertips in the cuffs... And the wool’s so worn it’s fuzzing lightly at the edges, giving the affect of a pencil sketch that’s been erased and redrawn so many times that the love of the sketcher is almost embedded in the feathering paper; Jack should know, he’s seen it enough, just not for real, not right there in front of him, beautiful and holdable and so fucking-
“Soft,” tears its way through Jack’s lips, and it’s only when Davey turns to stare at him, doe-eyed and devastating, that he realizes everyone else has, too.
“Ex-” Davey stammers, his cheeks pinking like the bramble flowers that grow in Medda’s garden, infuriatingly charming for all their trouble. “Excuse me?”
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