Well, that’s my question.
It’s a great picture, but it certainly is iconic.
Why is it so iconic?
I’d offer that it’s iconic because of the backstory to it. Being the last real Beatle’s album cover - Let it Be just being some headshots arranged on a grid - and being followed a few months later by their dissolution gave it gravitas in the public mind.
Also, it combines a striking image with a lot of unexplained woo and mystery. When confronted with such an image people LIKE to think that there’s some sort of overall plan in place. Combine that with a lack of explanation and it gets a lot of coverage most album covers wouldn’t.
They’re at the crossroads.
I personally think that pretty much every Beatles album cover is iconic.
Maybe not the white album. 
mmm
The Beatles are iconic.
Paul’s bare feet and John’s absurdly white suit.
It’s a pretty good visual composition, combining parallelism with individuation. It represents the memetic idea of the band well: Pretentious, artsy John in his white suit is the only one hiding his hands in his pockets. Modest, self-effacing Ringo is in a humble black suit like a butler. Paul’s suit is faded, his feet are bare, he’s holding a cigarette; his hair may be dirtier than the others; he’s been pulled into this shot suddenly, apparently, from whatever he was doing inside, and you can imagine your own story. George is in blue jeans, like an earthy hippie, and a bit dourly fulfilling his role as “the other one.” It’s a good picture of them, and I think many a photographer (or visual artist of whatever kind) would be rather pleased with the effect.
(To clarify: I like George a lot, but he wasn’t one of “the famous songwriting duo,” and he wasn’t Ringo. He was “the other one” more than any of the other three were “the other one.”)
Coincidentally I was reading this earlier today - How many strategic departments does it take to make a Beatles album cover?
I believe the following is the story behind the name and the album cover (any Beatlephiles are welcome to chime in with corrections):
The feeling amongst the group was that this was going to be the final album with all four players ready to move on to other pursuits.
They decided that “Everest” was going to be the title and didn’t give it much added thought.
As things were wrapping up, they realized they needed an album cover. The idea of actually going to Mt. Everest or some other similarly-themed photo shoot was met with a collective “Fuck that” and they figured, let’s just get a shot on the street in front of the studio.
There are several takes with the boys choosing the one of them (presciently) walking away from the studio.
Lastly you have to feel the local commuters along that strip who show admirable patience toward the flocks of tourists recreating the shot at all hours of the day.
There is (or was) a live feed set-up on the site where you can look in at any time to see what’s going down, if anything. If you’re lucky you’ll see a group re-creating the photo.
[a minute later]:
It’s still there: link
mmm
Reminder: The crossing has been moved from it’s original location. So it’s basically not the “same” one.
So you can’t recreate it. Just like The Beatles after Abbey Road, it is all gone.
Why does nearly every car going past there drift over the center line?
I know this is Cafe Society but do you have a cite for this? I’ve walked across that zebra crossing several times. The guy leading the London Beatles tours knows his stuff. Now, if the zebra crossing was repainted by a few centimetres, ok, I can understand that.
Sure enough, the instant I click, there was a group recreating the photograph, although they only had four in their party, so three crossing, and one holding the camera.
It helps that like Sgt. Pepper, it’s a cover that easily lends itself to recreations/parodies. “Dark Side of the Moon” is also an iconic album cover, but it’s not parodied nearly as often because there’s not much you can do with it.
Another aspect that made people pay a lot of attention to this, and many other Beatles covers were the “Paul is Dead” rumors of the late 60s. Many albums had “clues” and Abbey Road was no exception. The “28IF” license plate on the Beetle suggested he would have lived to 28 … if he hadn’t died. There is also a crack through the word “Beatles.” Some have gone so far to suggest that John is Preacher, George the Grave Digger, Ringo the Pall Bearer and Paul, with his bare feet that symbolize death, the deceased.
It’s certainly not the main reason the cover is iconic, but it didn’t hurt sales any.
Ok nice. I guess I’ve at least seen where the original crossing was. A couple of years ago, I went to the area and streamed the Abbey Road album on my phone while walking around the area there. Who says you can’t have cheap fun in London?
I’d say the top “iconic” Beatles album covers are Abbey Road, Sgt. Peppers, Meet the Beatles, and the “Meat” cover of Yesterday and Today.
Of those four Abbey is the easiest for amateurs to mimic. Sgt. Peppers probably gets the most professional imitation (a Sgt. Peppers imitation offers room for dozens of visual jokes).
The iconic covers don’t depend entirely on the Beatle’s faces; the photo style, props, and poses are more important. Abbey Road’s poses don’t depend on costumes so, again, that makes imitation fun (but challenging to do well).
The cover is the most “motion” heavy of any Beatles cover. The photo is interesting in looking spontaneous, while obviously being an artificial scenario. The picture is unusual in that the no one is facing the camera. And the photo shows four young artists traveling in the same direction – but definitely being different types of people (the days of matching outfits are certainly gone.).
Those are some of the factors in play for me, but the factors don’t explain everything.
The back cover has someone in motion as well.