If there's a topic about this feel free to link me to it and not type out an answer. I did a search using the keywords Beggars Banquet Cover and got no results, but the search function often doesn't work, as I'm sure if this has not been discussed (I'd bed $100 it has) that somebody has at least mentioned the cover.

I was just curious what it was about the Beggars Banquet cover the record companies found so offensive. I don't own a vinyl copy of the album to see an enlarged version, and on my CD I can't read all the graffiti, but is there something written on the wall that's pretty bad? At least for the time?

A bathroom wall with graffiti hardly seems like something to cause a fuss. Especially considering some of the subject matter on the album, with songs like Sympathy For The Devil, Stray Cat Blues, Parachute Woman, etc. I just find it odd that with all that stuff on the album, the straw that broke the camel's back was a photo of a bathroom wall, and that is what London and Decca records decided to make a stand on.

Because it is a picture of a toilet. A thing that people use to S*#@ in.

I think it might have been the phrase "God Rolls His Own."

Some discussion of Beggars cover here ....[www.iorr.org]



ROCKMAN

Thanks Rockman. Appears to be just a bunch of hooplah over nothing. One of the clippings mentioned the piece of Dylan graffiti, it says "Mick Jagger protests against 'Dylan Offensive' charge". But only a little bit of the article is visible. I can't tell if that means that Dylan didn't like it, his record company didn't like it, his fans didn't like it, or what. I had wondered if maybe that had something to do with it, not that I think Bob himself would have really been all that offended.

Thanks for the re-direct, Rockman.

Ha - guess I've been stuck on the Bible Belt too long - thought it must've been the "god" comment.

BTW: When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite albums to look at = I was mesmerized by the inside cover's green meatball. But I didn't play the Stones - they were reserved for my older brothers. I do remember hearing Factory Girl and thinking it sounded so strange compared to the Beatles.

It's all about the old close minded farts at Decca etc, they and they alone are the one's who found it offensive hence why it wasn't used for the original release.

The image of the toilet was a no-no on an album cover in those times.
Decca was not the only record label with such senstivities.
The Mamas & The Papas debut LP "If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears" (which outsold any Rolling Stones LP of the 60's) had its cover shot in a bathroom and the image of the toilet had to be covered up with some of the song titles.

I happen to like the old, original 'invitation' cover.

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memphiscats
Thanks for the re-direct, Rockman.

Ha - guess I've been stuck on the Bible Belt too long - thought it must've been the "god" comment.

BTW: When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite albums to look at = I was mesmerized by the inside cover's green meatball. But I didn't play the Stones - they were reserved for my older brothers. I do remember hearing Factory Girl and thinking it sounded so strange compared to the Beatles.

I always thought that was an apple.

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memphiscats
But I didn't play the Stones - they were reserved for my older brothers. .

Well, glad they finally decided to let you grow up a bit. peace

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Palace Revolution 2000
I always thought that was an apple.

smile: it is an apple - but to memphiscats it was/is a meatball, and i find that ... special :E
and if they'd asked me, one of Michael Joseph's shots would've been on the front cover as well.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-05 11:01 by with sssoul.

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tkl7
Because it is a picture of a toilet. A thing that people use to S*#@ in.

I don't think that's really the case. Aside from shitting in it, people also vomit and piss in it, as well as sit on it, regardless of what they are doing. It has many functions. If there is a light nearby it can be used as a...stool.

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WeLoveToPlayTheBlues

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tkl7
Because it is a picture of a toilet. A thing that people use to S*#@ in.

I don't think that's really the case. Aside from shitting in it, people also vomit and piss in it, as well as sit on it, regardless of what they are doing. It has many functions. If there is a light nearby it can be used as a...stool.

Some people(while in a drunken state)have been known to have sex in a toilet - with the opposite sex of course!!!

Some people(while in a drunken state)have been known to have sex in a toilet

.......damn hard on the legs and those in the other cublicles



ROCKMAN

I wonder what Decca would have thought about this...

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NoCode0680
If there's a topic about this feel free to link me to it and not type out an answer. I did a search using the keywords Beggars Banquet Cover and got no results, but the search function often doesn't work, as I'm sure if this has not been discussed (I'd bed $100 it has) that somebody has at least mentioned the cover.

You need to make sure to enter the correct timeframe for the search. The default is only 30 days, and if you are looking for something older it won't show up. That doesn't mean the search function isn't working.

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Koen

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NoCode0680
If there's a topic about this feel free to link me to it and not type out an answer. I did a search using the keywords Beggars Banquet Cover and got no results, but the search function often doesn't work, as I'm sure if this has not been discussed (I'd bed $100 it has) that somebody has at least mentioned the cover.

You need to make sure to enter the correct timeframe for the search. The default is only 30 days, and if you are looking for something older it won't show up. That doesn't mean the search function isn't working.

That explains why I have NEVER been able to find anything with the search. 9 times out of 10 I get the message saying no results, even when I know I've read about it in threads. I've never even seen that down there.

Do you feel it's offensive?

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Tonstone
Do you feel it's offensive?

Me?

Haheha - I thought it was a bit on the surreally large side...well, it will always be a great green meatball in my mind's eye

Yeah - I guess my parents must've really taken the "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone thing" seriously. Sticky Fingers was "banned" in our household. I'm happy to be an oldster now - a little late to the party - but I'm finally here!

You need to look at the cover with 1968 eyes. Remember, a couple of years prior when the Stones were on the Ed Sullivan Show, Mick had to change the words to Let's Spend the Night Together to Let's Spend Some Time Together.

Greetings from the Jersey Shore.

Today? Nothing of course. Adn the white cover is much better of course. 1968 The White album (a white album), 1969ish: Let it (be)bleed. Seriously, the toilet cover hasnt aged well.

The toilet cover is not specifically offensive, it's tacky. Inappropriate for the grand music on the grooves within.

The RSVP cover, conversely, is tasteful, like the man of wealth and taste we meet when we put the record on.

I for one am happy it was refused by Decca, despite the fact that it delayed public release of the music. In my iTunes library I use the RSVP cover. I obviously much prefer it.

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misterfrias
You need to look at the cover with 1968 eyes. Remember, a couple of years prior when the Stones were on the Ed Sullivan Show, Mick had to change the words to Let's Spend the Night Together to Let's Spend Some Time Together.

But that's the thing I don't get. If a picture of a bathroom was so offensive to 1968 sensibilities, how was the music about Satan, Parachute Woman landing on and blowing a dude, 15 year old groupies, and all that all fine and dandy? I'm certainly not saying the music should have been censored, but the cover seems rather harmless in comparison to some of the subject matter in the music.

It just seems weird to me that they were allowed to sing about questionable subject matter, but a picture of a bathroom (even with the proposed compromise of having a brown paper cover in stores covering the actual artwork) was just too much.

Yes



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-05 03:30 by klrkcr.

And embarassing!!!!

I have a cassette cover of the original RSVP cover

[thepowergoats.com]

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NoCode0680
But that's the thing I don't get. If a picture of a bathroom was so offensive to 1968 sensibilities, how was the music about Satan, Parachute Woman landing on and blowing a dude, 15 year old groupies, and all that all fine and dandy? I'm certainly not saying the music should have been censored, but the cover seems rather harmless in comparison to some of the subject matter in the music.

It just seems weird to me that they were allowed to sing about questionable subject matter, but a picture of a bathroom (even with the proposed compromise of having a brown paper cover in stores covering the actual artwork) was just too much.

Good points. My guess is that the cover is immediate -- everyone can see it. Versus more offensive material & themes that are only fully revealed by repeated listening (and listening closely) to the album.

I dunno. It's a shot of the typical gas station men's room, at least here in the USA. No blood.

Greetings from the Jersey Shore.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-05 04:28 by misterfrias.

>But that's the thing I don't get. If a picture of a bathroom was so offensive to 1968 sensibilities, how was the music about Satan, Parachute Woman landing on and blowing a dude, 15 year old groupies, and all that all fine and dandy?


Their *only* concern was that record stores would not stock or display it. It wasn't about morals, it was about $.

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Glam Descendant
>But that's the thing I don't get. If a picture of a bathroom was so offensive to 1968 sensibilities, how was the music about Satan, Parachute Woman landing on and blowing a dude, 15 year old groupies, and all that all fine and dandy?


Their *only* concern was that record stores would not stock or display it. It wasn't about morals, it was about $.

Yes, the very image of a toilet was unacceptable back then. In the US in 1968, a toilet (clean one) would still not be shown on television for a few more years. I also expect the drawing of a woman's crotch would also have been offensive to the general public as well. Sex is still frowned upon here.