This. Though I was going to ask for clarification on original releases or compilations.
I am pretty sure those rumors go back at least to the back cover of Sgt. Pepper, where Paul has his back to the camera. He is also wearing a black armband in the gatefold. Also, the closeout jabbering on Sgt. Pepper was supposed to say “Turn me on dead man,” if played backwards, and of course, the first verse of “A Day in the Life” is about “a lucky man who made the grade” dying in a car crash.
Several of the cover images are sufficiently iconic to be imitated, parodied or visually referenced without need for explanation.
Abby Road and Sgt. Peppers are the big two in that category.
Hard Days Night (the top half of the heads), The White Album, and Meet the Beatles (half-shadowed faces) are in the second tier.
The Butcher cover and the Beatles on Balcony images are another step down.
So if being embraced by popular culture means something, those are the winners.
My favorite is Sgt. Peppers.
But I don’t think it does. John, George and Ringo are all looking in pretty much the same direction.
And here’s a link to parodied album covers. It looks like Abby Road is the champ (at least in this guys collection). It’s an easier image to imitate, and probably more instantly recognizable at small sizes.
There was a rumor in 1967 that he had been killed in a car crash, but the whole death-clues thing started in 1969… once it got going, people went back to the older LPs looking for clues.
The rumor may have taken off in '69, but it did not start with the Abbey Road cover, and, indeed, the “clue” in that cover is considerably more of a reach than most of the other ones.
Incidentally (to return to topic) I do think Abbey Road is the best cover. I doubt if that is a very controversial opinion.
On “Rubber Soul”, John looks cool in the suede leather jacket, and all of their hair is full, and, with all the styles they had, that one is my favorite hair style.
Q
BTW, I took a look at that “backward masking site” referenced above in the parody covers comment, and think that some of that stuff is a real “reach”, especially that “fuck” reference in the Popeye theme song. I know that backward masking is deliberate and the other just happens to sound like a word, but some of those folks have too much time on their hands, IMO! Made me smile though! 
Another vote for the iconic Abbey Road cover.
1962-1966 (Red) and 1967-1970 (Blue) because those were the albums we had when I was a kid. Those are “my” Beatles albums.
As an amateur photographer, Beatles for Sale, I’d kill to take a picture like that.
The end of Sgt Pepper is a loop of “don’t you ever kiss me any other way”. You are thinking of “Revolution # 9” from the White Album, where “number nine” is in a loop and played backwards it says “urn me on dedmen” a few times. I spent a lot of time in college playing it backwards by first taping it, and then reversing the tape.
I vote for Abbey Road. One of the nicest album covers by any band.
A good photo, but probably their worst album.
Yeah, I also like that cover the best, but not the record inside it so much.
Really? The two compilation albums came out on the same date in 1973. I remember plenty of people remarking on it.The Beatles discography - Wikipedia
I suppose if I had to pick one it would be Sgt Pepper because you could try to identify who the people were.
People in the USA obviously could see that the two album covers referred to each other. But most of us had never seen the British Please Please Me album and so didn’t know that the original stairwell photo was from the Beatles’ very first album. The actual joke, though, didn’t involve the red and blue albums, but Please Please Me and Get Back, the unreleased precursor the Let It Be, for which the Beatles originally recreated that stairwell pose. I myself, not knowing the background of the two photos at the time, wondered if they had been faked for the 1973 releases.
“Revolver”
What’s the joke y’all keep referencing, Biffy? Just that it’s the same hotel?
Thanks
Q
The joke is that they recreated the pose from their first album (at the EMI office building, not a hotel) for another album that was to be called Get Back and was meant as a back-to-basics move. The intended cover closely mimicked the first album’s graphic design as well as the actual pose.
Rubber Soul, then Revolver, Magical Mystery Tour, Sgt Peppers, Abbey Road, With The Beatles.
(For the music content, White Album.)
Is said to be the first album cover where the artist’s name was not noted. It was certainly the first Beatles’ album where that occurred.
Another vote for Revolver.