10 Fascinating True Stories Behind Iconic Music Album Covers
1. Abbey Road - The Beatles (1969)
Originally to be titled Mount Everest, the cover on The Beatles' Abbey Road is the stuff of legend. To this day, constant traffic chaos is caused by eager Beatles fans recreating this famous photo on the zebra crossing outside London's Abbey Road Studios.
Originally in line with the planned titled, The Fab Four were to fly all the way to the titular Mount Everest to take the photo. They eventually settled on the much less exotic, and cheaper, zebra crossing outside of Abbey Road Studios.
Photographer Iain Macmillan was given just ten minutes to take the photo of the band, with a policeman behind the camera holding back traffic for the photo. Just six photos were taken in total, with the final being chosen by Paul McCartney
The footwear of the band on the cover - specifically McCartney being barefoot on the crossing - was one of the several ideas which gave birth to the now legendary Paul is Dead conspiracy theory, with fans and theorists clinging on to this detail as proof Paul McCartney had died and was replaced by a body double.